Seattle sizzled with aftertaste of ’08 trade

The Orioles have gotten something right again. I don’t know what has happened but the pitching has been great, the offense has been great, and the defense has been stellar like it has been the whole season. This series against the Mariners has looked like the beginning-of-the-season O’s did.

In 2008 the O’s and Mariners had a trade where the O’s received Chris Tillman and Adam Jones for Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard. It seems pretty obvious now that this trade was lopsided and the O’s got the better deal. Just so you know, Erik Bedard is 1-4 this season with a 4.78 ERA.

We all know how inconsistent Tillman has been this season. His first start of the season he threw 6 hitless innings against the Rays. But, he’s also had his share of terrible outings where he didn’t make it through 2, 4, and 5 innings. Luckily for the O’s, last night’s game was like the former one described. He went 6 innings giving up only one run on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts.

On the offensive end, Adam Jones, the second part of the trade, went 4 for 4 with a 2-RBI triple. He has been on an insane hot streak the past few games. In the last 7 days, he’s gone 10 for 25 (.400) with 6 RBIs and his current batting average is up at .286. He also has the most RBIs on the team with 21.

As for the other players, Guerrero has a .283 batting average with 4 homers and 13 RBIs. Wieters’ average is .238 with 20 RBIs, the second highest on the team. Nicky is also getting hot, raising his average to .239.

J.J. Hardy may have a very big part in the team’s success the past 2 days. His batting average is at .348 and like I wrote after Tuesday’s game, at his first at-bat back from the DL he hit a homer. He also has 3 RBIs.

Last night, Markakis didn’t play because he has the flu. Felix Pie took his place in the line-up and is hitting .297 I really really like Pie because he’s super fast and seems to be pretty good in the clutch and in left field.

Also, Reynolds sat out of the game last night because of his TERRIBLE time at the plate. His average is down to .177 and he’s like 7 for his last 97 or something horrific like that. Andino played for him at 3rd and went 0 for 3 last night.

The bullpen did a good job last night too. Berken came in and gave up 3 hits and a run (a homer by Saunders) but then Koji and Gregg were solid. Gregg got the save and a 1-2-3 9th inning.

We can only hope that after these 2 great games by the O’s, they’re finally coming around. Granted, it’s against the Mariners who are now 16 and 21 but their pitcher Pineda on Tuesday night is awesome and Hernandez, who pitched last night, is the reigning AL Cy Young winner so obviously he’s really good too.

The O’s are now 16-19, still in last place in the division, and 5 GB from the division-leading Rays, who the O’s take on this weekend. So, if they can take a few from the Rays, we can start getting back in the division. Also, let’s get out our brooms for tonight’s game!