Rodrigo Lopez gets the loss, his 13th.

Lopez was batted around for 13 hits in his 6 innings of work. Somehow he managed to only let 4 runs score from those 13 hits, and he struck out 3 batters. It seemed like a bunch of the hits were hard luck for Rodrigo, but hes given up more hits than any other pitcher in the Major Leagues so its not like it came out of nowhere. But he did manage to keep it at 4 runs over 6 innings. The real story (for me at least) was James Hoey’s major league debut. See my previous post for more on Hoey. After Byrdak came in and got 2 outs in the 7th, Hoey came in with runners on 1st and 3rd. He walked the first runner he faced on a full count. He was hitting 97 on the radar gun and struck out the next hitter he faced on 3 pitches. Watch out for this guy, he’ll be a set up man next year and very important for our future. Todd Williams and Bruce Chen pitched a scoreless inning each to round it up.

The offense seemed to get robbed for multiple hits and could not manage more than a single run tonight. Nick Markakis was especially robbed of an RBI single by a Michael Cuddyer diving catch in right field. Even with that, Markakis had the Orioles only RBI with an RBI single in the 3rd. Miguel Tejada, Jay Gibbons, Kevin Millar, and Ramon Hernandez were the only other O’s with hits, all singles. Tough night for the bats, the Twins bullpen basically dominated us.

Markakis watch: 1-4 (.305)

Kris Benson (10-9, 4.63) and the obsurely named Boof Bonser (2-4, 5.51) face off in the series deciding game tomorrow night. Go O’s.

Adam Loewen evens his record at 4-4 with the win. Chris Ray gets his 29th save.

Loewen pitched an absolute gem, going 8 innings and only giving up 4 hits and 1 run. He struck out 7 and didn’t walk anybody, which is probably the most impressive thing. He retired the last 20 batters he faced and did it all in 108 pitches. It would’ve been nice to see him go for the complete game, but I can’t argue with what went down. And its not like he shut down the Kansas City Royals, the Twins have a pretty god lineup. So I’ve been very impressed with Loewen lately and the future looks promising with Loewen, Bedard, Cabrera, Penn, etc. LaTroy Hawkins came in and promptly diminished his trade value by walking 2, giving up a hit and 2 runs. Chris Ray came in and struck out the only hitter he faced to get the save.

And speaking of the future looking promising, how about Nick Markakis last night? In his first at bat, he hit a homerun. In his second at bat, he hit a homerun. In his third at abt, he hit a homerun. In his fourth at bat, he got out… But he did end the night with 3 solo homeruns. So that give Nick 6 homeruns in 6 games since being moved up in the lineup. And his 9th, 10th, and 11th on the season. The offense was full of homeruns as Brian Roberts hit his 7th and Corey Patterson hit his 13th. Jay Gibbons had 2 hits including a double and Miguel Tejada had 2 singles. Jeff Conine and Ramon Hernandez were the only hitless O’s.

Markakis watch: 3-4 (.306)

Tonight, its Rodrigo Lopez’ (9-12, 6.03) turn to shine on the mound. He’ll be going up against Matt Garza (0-2, 11.74). I think it might be a high scoring affair tonight. Go O’s.

Erik Bedard gets his 9th loss of the year.

Bedard had a shaky outing, but I think the umps were part of it, at least in the beginning. Erik got the first 2 batters out no problem, but then on a full count pitch to Vernon Wells it looked like Bedard hit the outside corner to end the inning. But instead the umpire called it a ball and Wells walked to first. The next batter was Troy Glaus who knocked the ball out of the park to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. It seemed like Bedard was getting squeezed in the first and it looked like it bothered him. Still no excuse for the 7 runs (5 earned) he let up over 5 innings, but it could be a reason. He gave 7 hits and that Wells walk was the only one he gave up. He struck out 4. Chris Britton pitched a scoreless inning, then Russ Ortiz (…) came in and gave up a homerun and 2 runs over 2 innings. I would rather have Sidney Ponson pitching for us right now than this loser. Bruce Chen pitched a perfect 9th to stop the bleeding.

The bats were held hitless by Roy Halladay until the 6th inning. Halladay was on his A game and you could tell we were fighting a losing cause after the first couple innings. He leads the Major Leagues in wins with 16. We lose our first game with Nick Markakis batting second, but he did have a walk and an RBI. For the second day in a row Miguel Tejada hit a homerun, his 22nd. Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora, Jay Gibbons, and Brandon Fahey each recorded a hit. But that was about it for the offense today.

Markakis watch: 0-3 (.301)

The O’s get another day off Monday before the Minnesota Twins come to town for a 3 game series. Tuesday it will be Adam Loewen (3-4, 6.12) pitching against Carlos Silva (8-10, 6.30). Silva is a pretty hitable pitcher, so I think we should do well against him. Go O’s.

Daniel Cabrera won his 6th game of the season as I was dominating a fantasy football draft.

Cabrera was absolutely outstanding tonight. He pitched a complete game shut out and struck out 10 batters. He only gave up 5 hits and 2 walks. You couldn’t ask for much more than that. Its Cabrera’s second shut out of his career. Maybe he put it all togeter for once today and he’ll be the ace we all know he can be, but its much more likely that he’ll walk 6 batters in 5 innings the next time out. Its hard to figure out wat to do with DC. We send him to the minors, he comes back and pitches good, then gets bombed, then pitches a shut out. If we ever get rid of this guy, thats when he’ll blow up into the next Pedro Martinez. If we never get rid of him, he’ll probbly never change. No bullpen necessary today.

The offense exploded for 15 runs when a measly one would have got the job done. And we are still undefeated with Nick Markakis in the 2nd spot of the lineup. If I keep saying it, maybe it’ll stay that way. And of course he hit a homerun, his 8th, to prove to our skipper that he needs to stay there. Brian Roberts hit another homerun, his 6th. Which leaves him with what I predicted he would hit after he went 3 months before hitting his first. Miguel Tejada hit a double and his 21st homerun of the season. Jay Gibbons, Ramon Hernandez, and Kevin Millar (twice) hit doubles. I guess its that time of the year for Millar to start hitting like he needs a contract next year. Jeff Conine also had a multi-hit game. I guess it wouldn’t matter how bad our pitching was if we hit like this every game.

Markakis watch: 1-4 (.304)

We have a good chance of winning our 5th in a row tomorrow since Erik Bedard (12-8, 3.81) is pitching. But he is going up against Toronto ace Roy Halladay (15-3, 3.20), so we’ll see. Go O’s.

Kris Benson gets to double digits in the win, his 10th.

Benson pitched a great game, so that makes 4 games in a row our starter has had a solid outing. You had to like what you saw out of Benson tonight. He went 7 strong innings striking out 5. He gave up 6 hits and the only runs he gave up came on back to back homeruns from Vernon Wells and Troy Glaus in the 6th. Benson is one pitcher who has pitched almost exactly as we expected him to. Most amazingly about the pitching recently has been the bullpen, which continued to throw blanks. LaTroy Hawkins and Todd Williams finished off the final 2 innings without giving up a run or a hit.

3 games with Nick Markakis hitting from the 2nd spot, 3 wins… Markakis continued his excellence from the 2 spot, going 3-4 with a double. Melvin Mora had a huge night. He was 3-4 also and hit a 2-run homerun (his 13th) and had a 2-run single, he also stole his 8th base. Miguel Tejada joined the 3-4 party, he also had a double. Brian Roberts, Jeff Conine, Corey Patterson, and Ramon Hernandez each had hits in the game. Two big innings in the early goings were all the O’s needed tonight.

Markakis watch: 3-4 (.304)

Daniel Cabrera (5-8, 5.40) looks to bounce back from a bad outing against Shaun Marcum (1-2, 5.12). The O’s are trying to extend their winning streak to 4 games. Go O’s.

Rodrigo Lopez wins his 9th.

Maybe the brief move to the bullpen was a wake up call for Rodrigo. Hopefully he understands that he has to pitch well to remain in the starting rotation. And yesterday, he pitched well. Except for 2 solo homeruns in the first 2 innings, Rodrigo shut down the Yankees heavy hitters. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, and a walk, striking out 8. When he left he had a 12-2 lead, and it stayed that way after Russ Ortiz (…) and Bruce Chen combined for 2 scoreless innings. Rodrigo deserves to stay in the rotation if he can pitch like this, but we all know whats gonna happen. He gives us a brief taste of quality before he goes back and pitches like hes awarded for giving up hits.

The hitting was also great. 2 games with Markakis batting second, 2 wins… And he hit another homerun today, his 7th. He also singled in a run (he had 4 RBI) and walked. Brian Roberts started it all off with his 5th homerun of the season. He also had a single, a stolen base, and a walk. Miguel Tejada had 2 hits, including a double. Jay Gibbons had a hit and a couple of RBI. Fernando Tatis hit his 3rd double and 2nd homerun of the season. Corey Patterson walked twice and stole a base. Melvin Mora and Branden Fahey each had a walk also. It was a very productive outing for the offense. We scored 12 runs on only 9 hits.

Markakis watch: 2-4 (.299)

The O’s next game is tonight back at home versus Toronto. It’ll be Kris Benson (9-9, 4.74) going up against Scott Downs (6-1, 4.03) for the Jays. Go O’s.

Adam Loewen gets his 3rd win of the season, and Chris Ray goes 2 innings to get his 28th save.

Nice bounce back game for Loewen after getting beat by the Red Sox. This makes 2 solid efforts against the Yankees in the last 2 weeks. This time he went 5 and 2/3rds innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 5. The bullpen came in and actually pitched excellent. In an astonishing turn of events Todd Williams, Tim Byrdak, and LaTroy Hawkins pitched an inning and a third of shutout ball before Chris Ray came in to shut out the Yankees over 2 innings and get the save. The game looked like it might slip out of our grasp when CB Buckner called Melky Cabrera safe, when he was clearly out. But we managed to excape with the win.

Nick Markakis gets moved to the 2nd spot in the lineup and we win, coincidence? Maybe, but he did contribute to the run total by hitting his 6th homerun of the season. Corey Patterson hit a double and Ramon Hernandez hit a triple as part of his 2 hit game. Everyone else besides Kevin Millar and Jeff Conine hit a single. Millar, Miguel Tejada, and Jay Gibbons each had a walk and Conine had 2. Solid effort by the team and a gutsy win. Held on to a lead for once.

Markakis watch: 1-4 (.296)

Next is an afternoon game with Rodrigo Lopez (8-12, 6.20) returning to the rotation against Jaret Wright (9-6, 4.24). Go O’s.

LaTroy Hawkins blows the lead and gets the loss, his 2nd.

Erik Bedard pitched great just like he has been for the past 2 and a half months. He pitched 6 innings and struck out 6, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, and a run in the process. In the 6th inning he got out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam without giving up any runs. When he left he had a 3-1 lead. But then the bullpen came in. Hawkins came in and 2 batters later the game was tied. He ended up giving the Yank the lead before he was taken out for Tim Byrdak. Byrdak gave up a hit before he retired the final hitter of the inning. In the 8th, Chris Britton gave up 2 runs on 3 hits for insurance. So if it wasn’t for our bullpen and defense, I think Bedard would have 15 wins or so. Instead, hes stuck at 12.

Not too much going for the offense last night. If Bedard would have pitched all 9 innings it might have been enough, but not when he only went 6. Brian Roberts was 2-4 with his 30th double and a walk. Miguel Tejada had a double. Kevin Millar had 2 hits including his 10th homerun of the season. Melvin Mora, Chris Gomez, and Jay Gibbons each had singles. Mora hurt himself grabbing a line drive, but he’ll be ok, it was minor. He’s back in the lineup tonight. Nick Markakis has also been moved up to the 2 hole in the lineup. Its about time, way to go Nick.

Markakis watch: 0-4 (.297)

Tonight its Adam Loewen (2-4, 6.41) matching up against Cory Lidle (9-8, 4.66). Go O’s.

Daniel Cabrera goes back to being Daniel Cabrera, loses his 8th.

Every pitcher that appeared in the game for the O’s let in at least one run. Cabrera went 4 innings and gave up 5 hits, 5 walks, and 7 runs. He struck out 3 and one of those hits was a homerun. Still no consistency from Cabrera, but theres no harm in running him out there every 5th day anymore. We have nobody better to throw out there. Russ Ortiz (arghhh) pitched 2 innings and gave up a run along with a walk. Todd Williams pitched a third of an inning and gave up 2 hits and 2 runs. Bruce Chen finished it off, pitching the final inning and 2/3rds. He gave up a homerun (shocker) and that was about it (seriously, shocker). The pitching was just absolutely horrible in this series. We can’t compete with Boston and New York (who we play next) if we continue to pitch like this.

If it wasn’t for the pitching, we probably would have won today. The hitting broke out for 9 run on 14 hits and 3 homeruns. Everybody had at least one hit except for Jay Gibbons, who has been slumping lately. Brian Roberts went 2-4 with a double, his 4th homerun of the season, 2 walks, and a stolen base. Melvin Mora had 3 hits and a walk. Jeff Conine and Ramon Hernandez both had 2 hits, Hernandez added a walk. Kevin Millar hit his 9th homerun and Corey Patterson hit his 12th. Nick Markakis had 2 hits including a double and a walk. The offense had a great day and its a shame the pitching had to ruin it.

Markakis watch: 2-4 (.301)

A short relief with a day off Monday and Erik Bedard (12-8, 3.91) pitching on Tuesday. He’ll be facing ex-Orioles ace Mike Mussina (13-5, 3.50) who has been having a fine season. Go O’s.