Crazy Day in Baseball; Orioles in Rare Form

First, Jim Thome hit his 599th and 600th career home run yesterday, becoming only the 8th member of the 600 home run club. So congratulations to him, it’s a huge milestone.

Second, Brian Wilson- yes, the crazy beard guy with a quirky personality that I personally really enjoy- blew a save. He allowed the Braves to score 3 runs in the 9th to win the game. Sucky for him.

Third, onto the Orioles.

Brace yourself. I’m about to tell you something that will blow your mind. And trust me: I’m telling the truth and I’m talking about the Orioles. Yep, the losing-est team in the AL East who can’t win a series or multiple games in a row to save their lives. The team who you all think try their hardest to lose.

Ready? They have won 2 games in a row! Take a breath. For the first time in the middle of July, the O’s have won consecutive games. Ready for another piece of hard-to-believe news? They won a game against the Athletics…in Oakland! For only like the 2nd time in 3 years or something crazy. Ok, last piece of jaw-dropping info: the Orioles also signed Dylan Bundy, their first round pick in the draft!

Alright, let’s break all these down starting with the win in Oakland.

Looking at the starting pitching, you would think the A’s had the upper hand until you look at the earned runs. Tommy Hunter went out for 6 2/3 innings but gave up 10 hits. However, he only allowed 2 runs and a walk and earned his first Oriole win. Gio Gonzalez, on the mound for the A’s, pitched 6 innings but gave up only 4 hits…and 3 walks and 4 earned runs. He got the short end of the stick last night. Lucky for us. Gonzalez pitched the rest of the game until the 9th, when for some unknown reason, Showalter put Gregg back in the game. The O’s were up by 4 in the bottom of the 9th and we know that even when up by 7, the game isn’t in the bag. Luckily, Gregg got it done giving up a hit but getting 3 outs with no damage done.

Let me also just give a big welcome back to the offense, the O’s are averaging close to 5 runs a game in August (even though they’ve only won enough games to count on one hand). The offense has arrived (took ’em long enough) and it’s been pretty consistent. Last night was no different. Matt Wieters got it started with a solo shot, his first long ball for a very long time. The bottom of the inning is when Hunter gave up the 2 runs but he also got out of a 2-on, none out situation after the 2 runs scored with a double play and then a fly out. Good for him.

The Orioles came and won it in the 7th inning. The bases loaded with no outs on a lead-off single by Adam Jones, a single by Vlad Guerrero, and a walk to Matt Wieters with no outs. Mark Reynolds stuck out of course but Andino came up and smacked a 2-run double to center. Then, Josh Bell (aka Ding Dong) came to the plate and he hit a 2-run single making the score 5-2. The rest of the game was quiet until the top of the 9th when, adding an insurance run and making up for that bases loaded no out strikeout, Mark Reynolds launched a solo shot 400+ feet into the stands, his 27th on the season.

Happy day for O’s fans as they won in good fashion and signed Dylan Bundy as well as all of their top 10 picks in the draft. Maybe, just maybe, they can take the momentum and go and win their 3rd straight game and finally win a series!