Adam Loewen loses his 3rd game of the year, despite holding the Mariners scoreless through 6 innings.
Loewen pitched outstanding through the first 5 innings. Then he struggled a bit in the 6th, but still got out of it without letting up a run. He was obviously tired after the 6th, but Perlozzo ran him out to start the 7th anyway. And thats when he blew up. Without getting an out in the 7th, Loewen was charged with 5 runs (4 earned). Recently brought up Julio Manon came in for Loewen and got through the inning, but not before allowing a walk and a hit. We were still in it at that point, but then Eddy Rodriguez came in. I’m going to have to admit I was wrong about this guy. I guess there are pitchers that can dominate at AAA, but can’t even be decent at the Major League level. He pitched the final 2 innings of tonights game, and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk. That included 2 homeruns. So don’t rush to judgement on Loewen’s performance tonight. He actually pitched really good. I would be more critical of Perlozzo’s decision to leave him in to start the 7th.
The offense was solid. Not too many notable performances, but we actually hit some homers tonight. Brian Roberts hit his 3rd homerun, Melvin Mora hit his 12th, and Nick Markakis hit his 4th. Roberts and Markakis also each had singles in the game. Everyone else except for Brandon Fahey and Ramon Hernandez had a hit. Markakis’ homerun brought us back into the game at 5-4, but then we brought in Eddy Rodriguez, and the rest is history.
Markakis watch: 2-3 (.297)
The other big thing for today was the trade deadline. And the Orioles did absolutely nothing. Which is unreal to me, since it was reported something like 14 teams had interest in Rodrigo Lopez, 11 in LaTroy Hawkins, 5 in Jeff Conine, and 5 in Miguel Tejada. And we didn’t trade anybody? Theres no excuse for it. I guess we’ll see if we can pass these guys through waivers and see if we can still deal them. I’m guessing Conine, Kevin Millar, and Javy Lopez would pass through, while Rodrigo, Hawkins, and definitely Tejada would not. In other notable deals around the league the Dodgers got Greg Maddux and Julio Lugo, the Royals got Ryan Shealy, the Yankees got Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle, and Craig Wilson, the Rangers got Kip Wells, the Padres got Todd Walker, and the Tigers got Sean Casey.
Tomorrow night is game 2 against the Mariners. Rodrigo Lopez (7-11, 6.57) inexplicitly is starting for the O’s against Oriole killer and soft tossing lefty, Jamie Moyer (6-9, 4.21). It doesn’t look good yet again for the Orioles chances tomorrow. Can’t wait until september call ups… Go O’s.
