Probably the Ugliest Win I’ve Ever Seen

Yesterday’s day game was another roller coaster ride but what else can you expect with this team. Thankfully, it ended in a win but it took a very long time to get there.

Both teams were playing pretty sloppily because the last few days have been crazy, tiring, long, and sleep-deprived. To top it off, the game Wednesday went into extras and then yesterday’s game went into extras as well.

After the jump is my breakdown of the game (not play-by-play, my analysis of it)…

However, this game should have been put away by one of the teams very early on. The Yankees got the first opportunity to take a giant lead because the starter, Alfredo Simon, was not very good. His command was for shit. He only lasted 4 innings because he could not get ahead of guys much less get them out. He issued 6 walks. SIX. In 4 innings. He also gave up 6 hits and 4 runs. All 4 coming because of the damn walks. However, the Yankees didn’t blow it out of the water like they could have. Simon got lucky getting a double play or having Wieters catch someone stealing so that the game didn’t get out of hand. However, he was only in there 4 innings because the pitch count was so high, obviously.

From there, the entire bullpen was lights out again. 5 members made an appearance: Jo-Jo Reyes, Jeremy Accardo, Troy Patton, Kevin Gregg, and Clay Rapada. Combined, they gave up nothing. No runs, no hits, and 8 strikeouts. NO HITS. Gregg gave up a walk but besides that, the entire bullpen was perfect. Another note on Gregg, have we ever seen him strike out FOUR batters?? I don’t think so. Yesterday was probably his best outing as an Oriole this season. The pen was just phenomenal.

With that said, the Orioles still pissed me off. They had many, many chances to put the game away from the 2nd inning on. The only time they ever went down 1-2-3 was the bottom of the first. Every other inning, they had at least one guy on base. For example, in the 4th, Reimold was on 3rd and Chris Davis on 2nd with 2 outs. Andino came to the plate and struck out to end the inning with the O’s down 4-2. Again in the 5th, 2 men were in scoring position with only 1 out but the O’s couldn’t score.

The 7th gave me a new-found love for Nick Markakis but a new-found hate for 3rd base coach Willie Randolph. Nick was walked and then Guerrero hit a double. Now, Randolph sent him home, testing the relaying ability of Robinson Cano which you never do and it hurt them. Markakis was thrown out at the plate, but he tried his hardest. Cervelli barely had time to plant himself after getting the ball and Markakis charged and hit him in the upper body full force to try and force the ball out. It didn’t work but as Buck Showalter put it, “it was a baseball play.” As for Randolph, I understand Nick is fast but Cano is faster and Granderson is no shabby center fielder. It was clear he wouldn’t make it home and when you’re behind and would have a man on 2nd and 3rd, you don’t risk that. At least in my opinion. The same sort of thing happened in the next inning. Chris Davis hit a “Bermuda Triangle” ball so that a pop-up falls in a territory where no players (typically 3) can’t catch it. It fell right behind 2nd base and Reynolds attempted to score from 2nd. He was out by a mile. I believe he made that decision on his own and that Randolph did not send him. It was just really poor base running. Andino then hit an RBI single but ended the inning when he was caught stealing 3rd.

He was in the doghouse for striking out with 2 in scoring position but redeemed himself with the game-tying RBI single in the 8th. However, he lost them the chance to take the lead when he was caught stealing. Luckily, he got himself back out of the doghouse in the bottom of the 10th, when he hit a walk-off single to score Reimold from first, who ironically, was walked.

Even though the O’s won, it was pretty unsettling that they couldn’t score guys on base for 9 innings. Luckily they got it done when it mattered and took a game from the Yankees that was pretty important to them in the AL East race. So ha! Now the O’s head to Toronto for a series with the Blue Jays. Let’s hope the offense can carry the starters and the bullpen continues to shut it down.