O’s bullpen bullied by those pesky Yankees

The Orioles lose another, extremely tough game in Yankee Stadium in 10 innings, 6-5.

At first, the game was looking to be a turn-around game for the O’s. Arrieta had 4 1-2-3 innings. In the 5th, he gave up back-to-back doubles to allow a run. Still not terrible at all. In the 6th, he gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. That totals him at 6 innings, 5 hits and 3 runs, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. A pretty decent start, especially after his last (and horrible) outing. So, the starting was looking good.

Phil Hughes looked like he bounced back as well. For two innings. Izturis (who I refer to as Caesar Salad in my spare time) singled in the third followed by a Markakis home run to make it 2-0. In the fourth, Mark Reynolds hit a sac fly to score Luke Scott putting the O’s up 3-0. In the 5th, the O’s went up 5-0 on 3 more hits.

Just a note: Derrek Lee made a few awesome catches at first base for outs.

When the bullpen relieved Arrieta (starting with Berken), it all went crumbling away. At this point the score was 5-3. Berken gave up a hit and a run, making it 5-4.

Another few notes: Mark Reynolds was robbed of a home run by Granderson in center field at the wall. Brian Roberts was also robbed of a homer by Swisher in right field at the wall.
AND, Joba Chamberlain played catcher after throwing a wild pitch with Felix Pie on third. Pie ran to home plate and Yankees catcher Martin got a perfect rebound of the ball of the wall behind home plate, threw it to Chamberlain-who was at home plate-who tagged Pie on the shoulder before he touched the plate because Chamberlain blocked the plate with his leg like he was Martin. It was a great play and a great call by home plate umpire Dana Demuth.

Bottom of the 9th, Kevin Gregg, the O’s new-fangled “closer” (in quotes because he didn’t close jack), gives up the tying home run to the lead-off hitter Jorge Posada on the first pitch. NO. This cannot happen. Period. I was in utter disbelief. Actually, I had a feeling this would happen. As soon as the bottom of the 9th rolled around and the O’s only had a one run lead, I figured it wouldn’t be enough. After giving up a double on the second pitch, Gregg got out of it. After the O’s did NOTHING in the top of the 10th (first extra innings game for the O’s), Gonzalez gave up a walk and then a double to A Rod, sending Teixeira to third (he didn’t score because of a good play by Adam Jones). Following this, Swisher got the RBI to send Teixeira home for the 6-5 win.

The O’s really needed this one and ended up with a painful loss. They lose the series 2-0 (remember they have another game to play to be made up later). The Yankees are now at the top of the division…for now.

The Orioles take on the Indians in Cleveland for a 3-game weekend series, with Zach Britton getting the start tomorrow. It’ll be good to seem him pitch again, hopefully another gem. The Indians have been a lot better than expected, like the O’s, and this should be a pretty good series. Look for the preview tomorrow.

But hey, the Red Sox are the worst team in baseball right now.