The Orioles were tasked with beating possibly the best southpaw in the league in C.C. Sabathia. Obviously Sabathia was non-decisioned, however the O’s got to him. NY took a 1-0 lead early on Robinson Cano‘s solo home run in the first inning, followed by David Adams‘ solo shot in the second (his first big league home run). Aside from that, Orioles’ starter Freddy Garcia pitched very effectively. Garcia’s line: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K. Garcia was lifted after throwing only 66 pitches, as manager Buck Showalter claimed that he was starting to be “not as crisp” in his last inning. While Troy Patton immediately came in and surrendered a home run to Lyle Overbay to break a 2-2 tie, the devision to lift Garcia didn’t really figure into the game’s ending.

Chris Davis continued to stay hot with his second inning solo home run which cut NY’s lead to 2-1. Nick Markakis also singled home Steve Pearce in the last of the fifth to tie the game at two. This game also featured two egregiously bad calls, both of which were made by first base umpire Eric Cooper, and both of which went against the Orioles. In the sixth Bret Gardener walked, and appeared to be picked off by Matt Wieters at first base, however he was ruled safe. In the last of the inning Matt Wieters his a deep grounder to third and appeared to beat the throw, but was ruled out. Showalter protested vehemently and at one point appeared set to be ejected from the game, but to no avail. It’s worth mentioning that neither of those plays affected the final outcome of the game, but from the Orioles’ standpoint that doesn’t mean that the nature of the call went unnoticed.

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Alexi Casilla singled to start the seventh inning with the Orioles trailing 3-2, however Nick Marakkis’ RBI-double tied the game. Markakis would later score on an RBI-double by J.J. Hardy, and the Orioles had the lead. As for Jim Johnson, it’s tough to say what he’s thinking at this point. After the game Buck Showalter said he’s sticking with Johnson as his closer. That’s really all you can do, and in fact I would say that the next time the Orioles have a large lead going into the ninth inning they should consider putting Johnson in. Perhaps pitching without the pressure of a one-run game might help him to garner his confidence back up. The Orioles had a runner at third base in the eighth inning, so getting an insurance run would have been nice also. Showalter was quick to use the term “we” in his post game presser, indicating that it’s not all on Jim Johnson. You win and lose as a team, and that’s important to note. If someone doesn’t strike out here, or someone doesn’t pop out there, it might be a different game. It’s not all on Johnson.

The two blown calls illustrate how things go when you get on a cold streak like this. In no way should ANY Orioles fan think that there’s some sort of conspiracy to prop up the New York Yankees. I do feel that some teams get the benefit of the doubt a bit more than others, but I don’t think that the league is trying to make things easier for certain teams. (What I do think is that MLB needs to take a look at the calls their umpires are making and come down on umps that blow blatant calls, such as Eric Cooper last night). Miguel Gonzalez will return to the Orioles’ rotation tonight after being on the DL with a blister on his hand. That means that the Orioles will need to make a roster move before tonight’s game. I don’t know, but I would think that infielder Danny Valencia might be the guy sent back to Norfolk. While Sabathia wasn’t on his A-game last night, throughout this losing streak the Orioles have run into some pretty good pitching. Tonight they’ll see Phil Hughes, who’s struggled in his previous two starts.

Upon further review, the ball did hit off the side of the foul pole (which was painted black) and thus it was a homer. Most of the conversation post-game seemed to focus on why the base of the pole(s) was painted black as opposed to yellow. Furthermore, the goal is to get the call correct, and that’s what the umpiring crew did. HOWEVER, according to NBC Sports the play should have never gone to instant replay. If the play was not ruled a home run on the field, it cannot be reviewed (according to NBC).

Chris Tillman ended up taking the loss for the O’s, although he turned in his sixth consecutive quality start. Tillman’s line: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Tillman had a moderately high pitch count at 111, however a lot of that was due to Tampa hitters fouling balls off left and right. Many people like to  point out that the term “quality start” is a fairly broad one, however at the very least Tillman put the team in a position to win the game. At most he pitched a pretty decent game.

Tillman’s lone walk of the game came in the third inning when he walked Yunel Escobar on four straight pitches. Former Oriole and current MASN analyst Rick Dempsey always says that nothing good ever happens after a walk, and sure enough Desmond Jennings followed that up with an RBI-double to give Tampa a 1-0 lead. However Manny Machado led off the last of the fourth with a triple (due in part to a mis-communication between two Tampa outfielders), and he tied the game on Adam Jones‘ RBI-single. Jones would proceed to steal both second and third base before being stranded. So after the Orioles tied the game up they were haunted by a former teammate in Luke Scott, as he belted a homer to right field in the fifth, followed by Joyce’s controversial home run in the sixth.

For the most part, Tampa starter Matt Moore (the league’s only 8-0 pitcher) shut the Orioles down. That’s important to note because while the team is struggling right now, they’re also running into pitchers that are pitching their lights out. T.J. McFarland made a huge contribution to this game as he pitched 2.1 innings in relief of Tillman which probably saved a bullpen arm or two. Pedro Strop was also solid out of the pen (save for one walk) for the last two outs in the ninth inning. While Jim Johnson has effectively taken his spot as the apple of the fans’ ire at the moment, Strop has really figured some things out in the past two weeks or so.

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But going back to that disputed home run call, the play was called correctly. The problem is that it shouldn’t have been allowed to go to instant replay, and Buck Showalter should have vehemently complained about that the moment the umpires went to the cameras. (And incidentally, regardless of the “reviewability” of the play, the ten minutes that it took the umpires to decide to look at it was equally as ridiculous.) With that said, Showalter had an opportunity to play the game under protest. According to MLB rule 4.19, “Each league shall adopt rules governing procedure for protesting a game, when a manager claims that an umpire’s decision is in violation of these rules. No protest shall ever be permitted on judgment decisions by the umpire.” 

That rule also says that a replay of the game will not be ordered unless the infraction adversely affected the team’s chances of winning the game. One could argue that since the Orioles never scored another run in the game that lone call didn’t affect their chances of winning. After the game Showalter was quick to say that the umpires got the call right, and he’s correct in that. However the fact is that the rules were violated when the umpires reviewed the play, similar to the rules being violated when the umpires in the George Brett pine tar game called Brett out after his home run. That protest was upheld by then-AL President Lee MacPhail. This one might have been a bit more complex considering that the league would be forced to in effect reverse the correct call, however if they’re really going to go by the rule of law they’d have had no choice but to admit that the play couldn’t have been reviewed. Perhaps the most bizzare aspect of the entire episode is that had Showalter not gone out to argue (fair/foul), Maddon might not have argued for a home run. So in effect Buck Showalter protested a double into a home run for the other team. (That’s not said in an accusatory manner by any means, just a strange quirk of the game.)

The Orioles have their work cut out for them in breaking this five-game losing streak with the division-leading New York Yankees coming to town. NY of course was supposed to be back in the pack, but the guys in their lineup have been playing out of their minds and they have the team in first place. By virtue of a rain out yesterday against Toronto, the Orioles will end up seeing C.C. Sabathia tonight at the yard. Lucky them. The O’s will counter with former Yankee Freddy Garcia.

After Jurrjens quickly retired the side 1-2-3 in the first, the Orioles jumped all over Tampa in the last of the inning. Nate McLouth started things off with a single, and was moved to second by Manny Machado. Nick Markakis‘ RBI-double scored McLouth, and the Orioles had an early 1-0 lead. With the count at 0-2 Adam Jones sent a home run into the left field grandstand that I think might have reached Pimlico race track (where they were about to run the Preakness Stakes). That was followed up by Chris Davis‘ home run and suddenly the Orioles had given Jurrjens a 4-0 lead.

However as the Orioles ultimately found out in a big time manner, Tampa has the propensity to come back. Tampa’s three-run third inning which included a home run by Matt Joyce brought Tampa back to within one. Orioles fans are used to seeing the Orioles come back on teams, however as I’ve said previously Tampa is probably the original “play ’till the last out” team. The thing that frustrates a lot of teams about Tampa is that they seem to do everything right in that they force you to throw the ball over the plate and they hang in there until they get the pitch that they want. This comes from their manager, Joe Maddon, who is probably one of the more underrated managers in the game. From the Orioles’ standpoint that can be very frustrating to watch, however Maddon and his players force the opposition to stand up and respect them (and they don’t go away until you do). That’s probably good life advice as well as sound baseball advice.

After the game Jurrjens said that he wanted to work on his command a bit, as well as going deeper into the game. Tommy Hunter came in to start the sixth inning, and as he’s consistently done this year Hunter was lights out. Orioles fans have to be careful not to forget the likes of Hunter and even Pedro Strop, because in focusing so much on results sometimes the performances of middle relievers get lost. Sportscaster Mark Viviano appeared on MASN’s Wall to Wall Baseball program yesterday afternoon, and he equated middle relievers such as Tommy Hunter to offensive linemen in the NFL. People only really recognize them when they make a mistake, and when that happens people’s attitudes are “cut him.” Hunter bridged the gap very well yesterday between the starter and the back end of the bullpen by pitching 2.2 innings. Brian Matusz came in to get the final out in the eighth, and closed Tampa down with two pitches.

The other frustrating thing about the Tampa Rays is that they take what they can get and they seem to appreciate it. With Jim Johnson on in the ninth to close out what was looking like a 6-4 Oriole victory, Kelly Johnson stepped to the plate with one down. Johnson promptly sent a solo home run into the seats to cut the lead to 6-5. Johnson then issued two consecutive walks to put the go-ahead run on base for Tampa. Again, Tampa’s a team that takes what they can get; Joe Maddon has no issue taking a walk because it’s virtually as good as a base hit, and any man on base is just another opportunity to score a run. A single to left field by Dan Jennings loaded the bases; again, Tampa’s a team that takes what it can get and nothing more. Jennings’ single was a blooper that fell into no-man’s land in shallow left field. With the game on the line, many base runners would have taken off running from second base. Instead, Lobaton waited and made sure that the ball fell in and appeared perfectly content standing at third base.

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Matt Joyce was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as his double with the bases loaded scored two runs and suddenly Tampa had a 7-6 lead (at which point Jim Johnson was pulled). They would go on to score three more runs and defeat the Orioles by a 10-6 final. This was Jim Johnson’s second consecutive blown save, which also snapped the Orioles’ 109-game win streak when leading after seven innings.

Let’s be frank about this; you can’t blow leads like that, especially at home and against AL East opponents. However the good news and the bad news is that this was probably more mental on Johnson’s part than anything else. That’s bad news because mental issues are tough to needle through. However it’s good news because Johnson still has that lights-out stuff that we’ve seen in the past. The best way for Johnson to right the ship would be for the Orioles to call on him in a non-save situation this afternoon so as to let him pitch in a non-pressure situation. You don’t want to use your closer when you have a five or six run lead, however if that pressure isn’t there it might help Johnson to relax on the mound a bit. And once he gets a positive outing under his belt he can start to recover from this bump in the road.

The O’s will try to salvage one game against Tampa this afternoon, and hope that Chris Tillman can act as a stopper in this four-game losing streak. He’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Matt Moore…who go figure, is 7-0.