Winning is nice, but enough about the spoiler's role already

This is just the way an Orioles fan probably envisioned it several weeks ago. Rick VandenHurk would not make it into the fourth inning. But Willie Eyre would come on to get the win. Pedro Strop would pitch a shutout eighth inning. Jim Johnson would get a save and, of course, Jo-Jo Reyes would pitch three key shutout innings. To top if off, Robert Andino would end Jonathan Papelbon's 22-inning scoreless streak and 25 straight saves run with a three-run double. To the off field. Yeah, that's exactly how we drew it up. It won't bother me even a little if an O's player never has to hear another question about playing the spoiler's role. Even as a reporter, I wish reporters could come up with something better than that. I guess that's an obvious question and means they are winning some games. But enough is enough. Papelbon had an ERA of 1.50 in his career and was 31-for-32 in career save chances against the Orioles until the eighth last night. You could hardly blame an Orioles fan for enjoying a win over Papelbon. If fans had a dollar for every time that guy thrust his fist in the air after a save against the Orioles, they could make a nice down payment on next year's season tickets. He's rather excitable, but didn't seem to have the same enthusiam last night. Isn't it ironic, don't you think, that on the night that happened, a Yankees win help save the Boston bacon? Andino has been given a bigger chance to play in the majors this year than at any point in his life. He had 403 career big league at-bats over parts of five seasons until this year, when he has 424 at-bats. Andino is batting .344 over his last 17 games with two homers and 11 RBIs. He is batting .316 in September. The Red Sox certainly have some pitching issues. In this series, the Orioles have scored 22 runs on 35 hits and are batting .313 and are 10-for-30 with runners in scoring position. An Orioles win tonight would leave Boston at 5-16 in September and give the Orioles their first run of three straight series victories all year. I guess some Red Sox fans that were throwing some nasty barbs and shots at Orioles fans a few months back on talk shows and on blogs like this one are feeling a little more humble this morning.