After a 20 minute rain delay, the Orioles opened their home stand against the Seattle Mariners tonight. They welcomed back ex-Oriole manager Mike Hardgrove, two years removed, with a much different lineup then he was used too.
The Orioles had southpaw Bruce Chen on the mound tonight to face the Mariners. He pitched great despite not having good control in the cold soggy weather. Chen gave up 2 runs to the Mariners off of 8 hits in 7 innings of work. Both runs came from Ichiro Suzuki getting to second base, and Richie Sexson singling him in. Was I the only one that noticed that Ichiro had his first name on the back of his jersey during the game? Richie Sexson showed tonight how valuable he would have been if he joined the Orioles tonight. Sexson was clutch in both at bats with Suzuki on second. The Mariners could have scored a lot more runs had it not been for Chen pitching himself out of jams. Chen got 2 clutch double plays, one of which was started by Chen, and he picked off a runner with Suzuki at the plate. In the end, Chen got a no decision, but he did his job in keeping the Orioles in the game. Todd Williams came in for relief in the 8th inning and pitched a scoreless inning to earn the win. B.J. Ryan closed the game to get his 13th save of the season, which is 2nd in the league.
The Orioles batters struggled during the game in clutch situations tonight. They left 13 men stranded on the bases, and they had the bases loaded twice only to score one run. Mora drove in one run with Jeff Fiorentino on second in the in the first inning. Sammy Sosa returned to the lineup for the first time since May 4th, and he tied the game up with a sac fly when the bases were loaded in the 7th inning. The 7th inning turned out to be good and bad, for the O's tied the game but Brian Roberts got hit by a pitch on the side of the knee and was taken out of the game. So far, Brian Roberts status is still in question with a bruised knee. Jay Gibbons won the game for the Orioles when he hit a solo homerun in the 8th inning to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. On a couple of websites, I have seen that a trade of Gibbons for a veteran pitcher is a posibility. I have even mentioned this much in a previous post comments, but I don't think it is very likely now with the injuries the O's keep having. Javy Lopez was also injured during the game with a broken hand that he sustained on his throwing hand while trying to catch a foul tip. Lopez got hit by the foul tip in the third inning , and he will be out for 6 to 8 weeks.
The O's widen the Al East lead between themselves and the Red Sox with the win tonight. The Sox lost tonight against the B-Jays, and opened the gap up to 3 games. The Orioles will have to make some roster moves to replace Javy Lopez on the 40 man roster, I'm not sure how that is going to work, with Geronimo Gil being the only catcher on the team. Chris Gomez will likely be taking the place of Brian Roberts for at least a couple of days. Gomez has been a hot hitter no matter how much he plays, but he is not as versitile as Roberts.
Tomarrows game will be broadcasted on CSN at 7:05. The Orioles will have Rodrigo Lopez (2-2) pitching against the Seattle Mariners' Jamie Moyer (4-1). Can the Orioles finally stick it too Moyer tomarrow? I think so, even if they are a little beat up.
Posted by helimech24 at May 25, 2005 12:30 AM | TrackBack