Sir Sidney Ponson pitched the third game of a four game series last night, and he actually pitched well. He only allowed 3 runs in 6+ innings, but he had a 5 run lead by the third inning. Ponson has allowed a lot of runs so far this year despite his 6-3 record. Why you ask? Because he is getting over 6 runs a game an outing. This year, he doesn't have to be perfect to win, which allows him to pitch more freely. He has made some costly mistakes thus far this year, but his team has been able to recover from Ponson's mistakes. That is the difference between this year, and last year. The Orioles can comeback from being down, or they can get a big lead early in games. Last year, the O's had to have great pitching from a young staff, and clutch hits from injured young batters. The O's added depth with Chris Gomez in the infield and kept David Newhan to compensate for the Brian Roberts and Luis Matos injuries. When Sosa was out, the O's were able to move Jay Gibbons from 1B/DH to right field. This fact help them handle the injuries. Even the Javy Lopez injury isn't as bad as it could be. Gil and Fascona aren't going to be able to replace Javy's bat, but they both command the pitchers very well.
People, this is how good teams are made. Every team has injuries, but can they still with the injuries. So far, the answer for the Orioles is YES.
My rambling is now over. The O's got the game started offensively by a Geronimo Gil three run shot off of Tim Wakefield in the second inning. Miggy and Sosa went back-to-back in the 3rd inning with homers. That was all the O's need for the game, but they added some more runs in 5th (1), 6th (1), and 9th (2) to insure a win against a great comeback team.
A Funny Note: In center field, there was a chalk outline where Johnny Damon ran it to the wall. It looked like what a cartoon character looks like when they run through a wall.
Posted by helimech24 at June 2, 2005 07:54 AM | TrackBack