Playing their first interleague steries of the year, The Orioles lost two out three games against the Phillies this weekend. The O's have struggled over the last couple of years against the Phillies by only winning one game out of six over the last two years. This series was no different with the Phillies winning both games 9-2 and 7-2.
The Phillies came into the series completing a series win against the Cardinals. They carried the momentum into the Orioles series when they hammered Daniel Cabrera in the first game for 7 runs in 4 innings. Cabrera had no control with his curveball or breaking ball. Cabrera had to depend on just his fast ball which is the wrong way to pitch the hard hitting Phillies.
Bedard started the second game, and he was fantastic yet again. He shut out the Phillies through 7 innings, and Bedard is still the most consistant pitcher the Orioles have at the moment. When Bedard did get into a jam, he was able to pitch his way out of it. Bedard has proven so far that the front office of the Orioles were right not to trade him. He has just been that solid with the ball in his hand. Jorge Julio and Steve Kline finished the last two inning to complete the shut out.
In the rubber game, the Orioles got off to good start with a triple from Roberts and a sac fly by Fiorentino. The Phillies were held in check by Sidney Ponson until the 3rd inning when Pat Burrell hit a three run shot. Ponson allowed another homer in the 4th inning to Lieberthal giving the Phillies a 4-1 lead. Ponson didn't give up any more runs in his 7 inning which gave the Orioles a chance to come back. Miggy Tejada hit a solo home run in the 6th inning, but he couldn't rally the rest of the team in his come back effort. The game got out of reach in 8th inning when Steve Kline came in relief. Kline gave up 3 runs and got no one out. So far this season, Steve Kline and Steve Reed have been hit and miss. It seems like if Reed is struggling, Kline is awesome. If Kline is struggling, Reed is pitching well. The last one was the case last night. Kline couldn't miss a bat, and Reed allowed one walk and no hits.
I still read in the papers, Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, that the panic button should be hit. To me, the only starting pitcher to struggle in this series was Daniel Cabrera. Bedard was lights out, and Ponson pitched well enough to win by only giving up 4 runs. Sure, Lopez has struggled as of late, but I think he is mature enough to recover soon. I believe Sidney Ponson when he told the AP reporters this:
"It's only the first series. We're not going to dwell on it," said Sidney Ponson, who allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings. "We're much better than last year. Let's wait and see. Things are going to turn around."Posted by helimech24 at May 23, 2005 08:01 AM | TrackBack