The Orioles lose their first series of the season by losing 2 straight games to the Oakland Athletics. After a great showing on Opening Day, the O's offense produced one run and gave up 14 runs. The second game of the series seemed to be doomed when Daniel Cabrera gave up 5 runs in the 2nd inning. The offense during the second game didn't show up at all, so the O's put up a donut. The relief pitchers didn't put up much of a fight after Cabrera left the game in the 4th inning. The relief gave up another 4 runs before the end of the game. The final game of the series was a pitching duel between Eric Bedard and Danny Haren with both pitchers only allowing 1 run. Then, in the 8th inning, the wheels fell off for the Orioles when Steve Kline came in the game. Kline was pitching to Eric Byrnes and was crushed by Byrnes for a three run homerun. The A's scored another run in the 8th inning. The sole run the O's scored during the final game came from Brian Roberts, currently the O's homerun leader with 2.
After the game on Thursday, the O's travelled up to New York to start a three game series with the Yankees. Under the Friday Night Lights, the Orioles had their way with the Yankees pitchers. The O's had 12 runs off of 18 hits and one homerun from Brian Roberts. Sidney Ponson started the game for the O's and lasted until the 6th inning and allowed only 3 runs. It was not Ponsons best performance, but it was a good performance against one of the best offenses in baseball. Ponson did allow Jeter to get on base every time, but he didn't allow A-Rod to reach base at all. Sheffield did homer off of Sidney in the 5th inning, but by that time the O's had a big lead. Later in the game, B.J. Ryan threw a slider over the center of the plate to Matsui, who homered with no one on base. The bats finally came alive against the Yankees, yet the only homeruns from the O's have been from Brian Roberts (2) and Luis Matos (1) so far this season. If the the Orioles want to have a chance at a Wild Card spot, the homerun hitters need to start hitting homeruns. Other then Cabrera's outing, the pitching has been there.
Posted by helimech24 at April 9, 2005 09:52 AM | TrackBack