W – Wade Davis (7-9)     L – Chris Tillman (1-4)

The second half of the season is starting off as bad as the first half did. Chris Tillman was coming off a no hit bid where he pitched excellently for seven plus innings. Unfortunately he couldn’t back that up and joined his buddy Brian Matusz with a quick exit in back to back games. Matusz couldn’t make it out of the 2nd inning on Sunday and Tillman was pulled from the game during the 3rd inning last night. The first two innings went pretty well, one run scored in the second, but things got ugly in the 3rd. A single led off the inning, then he hit Carlos Pena with a pitch before Matt Joyce doubled in a run. A walk loaded the bases, another walk scored a run, and a single scored two more. Sean Rodriguez laid down a safety squeeze to score a run while he was out at first. After Tillman got the second out Carl Crawford sent a triple into right center field to score the Rays seventh run of the game. Matt Albers was brought on in relief and he immediately gave up a single to finish Tillman’s line at 2.2 IP, 7 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. But after that Albers was in top form, as he has been lately, throwing 3.1 scoreless innings. He didn’t give up another hit after the first batter he faced, although he did walk two batters and struck out four. David Hernandez, Koji Uehara, and Alfredo Simon each pitched a scoreless inning so the bullpen didn’t get too worn out despite the early exit.

Theres not much to say about the offense again. We scored a run in the 5th when Cesar Izturis singled in a run after Scott Moore walked to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Craig Tatum’s single. Izturis and Tatum each had two hits in the game and Cesar was also hit by a pitch. Again we were terrible with runners in scoring position, going 1-7. Ty Wiggington doubled while Felix Pie and Luke Scott each singled for the rest of our offense. Yet again Josh Bell didn’t play. I can’t wait for either Brian Roberts to come back so we can send Bell back to AAA to get everyday at bats or Miguel Tejada gets traded so he can get them at the major league level. I also can’t wait until we get Buck Showalter in here.

Player of the game: Matt Albers – 3.1 IP, H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (4.31 ERA)

Jake Arrieta (3-2, 4.38) needs to go at least five or six innings tonight to help the bullpen out. Oriole killer Matt Garza (10-5, 4.05) pitches for Tampa Bay.

W – Shaun Marcum (8-4)     L – Brian Matusz (3-10)

So Chris Tillman took a step forward in his last start and now Brian Matusz has taken a step back. In what has been an extremely up and down season for the young lefty, he couldn’t make it out of the 2nd inning yesterday. The 1st inning went well enough, a  lead off single was stranded at first base. But the 2nd was a disaster. A single, walk, and double tied the game up. Two strikeouts made it look like it might not be too bad but Fred Lewis was hit by a pitch to load the bases and recent acquisition Yunel Escobar hit a grand slam to bust the game open. Another run scored on a walk and a double before Mark Hendrickson was brought in to mercifully end Matusz’ outing. Hendrickson got out of the inning and went on to pitch four more innings but gave up a run each in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. Frank Mata pitched the last three innings of the game in mop up duty, giving up a run in the 9th.

The offense jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis hit back to back singles and Adam Jones later singled in Tejada. But that was it. We had 12 hits in the game but were 1-15 with runners in scoring position. That might be a new low for that category in a year where we’ve struggled mightily in it. Markakis also doubled twice, increasing his MLB leading total to 31. The rest of our hits were singles. Jones had two, Josh Bell who finally got into a game had two, Cesar Izturis had three, and Felix Pie had one. Scott Moore walked in the game. I think its time that Andy MacPhail stopped messing around and got our next manager in here. Give the team a direction and some hope.

Player of the game: Nick Markakis – 3-5, 2 doubles (31) (.308 AVG)

We’ll see if Chris Tillman (1-3, 5.64) can duplicate his last performance tonight against Wade Davis (6-9, 4.69) as the Orioles welcome the Tampa Bay Rays into town.

W – Brandon Morrow (6-6)     L – Jason Berken (2-2)     SV – Shawn Camp (1)

It looks like the all-star break did Jeremy Guthrie some good. He was on a streak of bad starts before the break and he came out last night and pitched a great game. He gave up a solo homerun on the first pitch of the game and that was it. After that he shut down the Blue Jays over 6.2 innings. He gave up that lone run on 7 hits and a walk while striking out 6 batters. He was pulled from the game with two outs in the 7th inning and Will Ohman struck out the first batter he faced to end the threat. Unfortunately, a rare occurrence for this season, Jason Berken struggled coming out of the bullpen. He came in for the 8th inning and gave up a two run homer to Jose Bautista that gave Toronto the lead and the eventual win. He did settle down after that and pitch a scoreless 9th but the damage was already done.

We struggled offensively but it looked for a while like we were going to pull off a victory. Our only runs came on a Cesar Izturis two RBI single to score Adam Jones and Felix Pie who had both singled. Izturis had two hits in the game while Jones and Pie each also walked. Nick Markakis hit his major league leading 29th double while Miguel Tejada and Craig Tatum each singled. Tatum also walked and was pinch hit for in the 9th by Scott Moore. I’m fine with that, but why didn’t Juan Samuel pinch hit for Izturis with the bases loaded and two outs? Josh Bell sat on the bench again and Samuel isn’t confident in him enough to pinch hit him for even Cesar Izturis? Then why is one of our top prospects in the major leagues to never play when he could be getting everyday at bats down in AAA Norfolk? It makes no sense. Either play him or demote him, its that simple. Theres no reason for Josh Bell to go a week without seeing a single in game at bat.

Player of the game: Jeremy Guthrie – 6.2 IP, 7 H, ER, BB, 6 K (4.58 ERA)

The Orioles are 0-8 against the Blue Jays this season and we’ll try to avoid another sweep today with Brian Matusz (3-9, 4.77) on the mound. Shaun Marcum (7-4, 3.44) starts for Toronto, fresh off the disabled list.

W – Ricky Romero (7-6)     L – Brad Bergesen (3-7)     SV – Kevin Gregg (21)

The all-star break couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Orioles. Coming off of our four game sweep in Texas it appears we lost all momentum over the four day break. We were facing a tough lefty in Ricky Romero. We traditionally struggle against lefties and tonight was no different. We scored two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning on an RBI single by Julio Lugo and a fielding error on a ball hit by Cesar Izturis. We had seven hits split between four batters. Miguel Tejada singled and walked, Lugo singled twice, Ty Wiggington doubled, singled, and scored a run, as did Felix Pie. 3-10 with runners in scoring position isn’t horrible but we just didn’t have too many opportunities. Josh Bell sat on the bench like I had feared, although he struggles against lefties but I’d still like to see him get an opportunity to show what he can do.

Brad Bergesen pretty much mirrored his last start, giving up 4 runs over 6 innings on 9 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts. He gave up a run in each of the first three innings and another in the 6th. He got 11 ground outs to only four fly outs but he gave up a solo homerun, his 12th allowed on the season. Thats way too many for a pitcher that relies on a high ground ball rate. Matt Albers pitched a scoreless 7th inning and Will Ohman got the first two outs of the 8th. Koji Uehara came in after a single and struck out the last batter of the inning. He came back out for the 9th and recorded the first two outs before a walk caused Juan Samuel to bring David Hernandez in, who got out the only batter he faced. The bullpen continued to pitch well so at least theres that. I’m not quite sure why we still have Frank Mata on the roster when we’re dealing with a three man bench with no real backup catcher. Sometimes the roster management of this team makes me shake my head…

Player of the game: Felix Pie – 2-4, R, double (3) (.350 AVG)

Tomorrow night brings another game with Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 4.77) potentially pitching in one of his last games as an Oriole against Brandon Morrow (5-6, 4.86).

W – Jake Arrieta (3-2)     L – CJ Wilson (7-5)     SV – Alfredo Simon (13)

Pretty encouraging weekend for the Orioles. Their first four game sweep on the road since 1995 against a first place team. And back to back very good performances from our young starting pitchers. After Chris Tillman’s outstanding outing on Saturday night, Jake Arrieta came out yesterday and had a fine performance of his own to earn the victory. He went through 6.1 innings allowing one run, 6 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He gave up a solo homerun in the 1st inning to Ian Kinsler but other than that was able to keep the Rangers off the board. I’m not quite sure why he came out of the game in the 7th inning since he got the first batter out and his pitch count was only at 90. I would’ve let him finish the inning with how good he was pitching, but Juan Samuel decided to bring in Will Ohman instead. Ohman walked the first batter and then gave up a single before Jason Berken was brought on to get the last two outs. He also pitched a scoreless 8th inning to keep the O’s in the lead. Alfredo Simon notched his 13th save with a scoreless 9th even though he allowed a pair of hits in the frame.

The offense jumped into a two run lead in the top of the 2nd inning. Adam Jones led off with a double, Craig Tatum walked, and Julio Lugo doubled to score the first run. Corey Patterson blooped a double down the left field line to score Tatum and Lugo and that was enough for the birds to win the game. We added an insurance run in the 9th when Miguel Tejada hit his 7th homerun of the season. Tatum and Cesar Izturis each stole a base in the game. Tejada also walked three times. Nick Markakis, Ty Wiggington, Tatum, and Lugo each singled and Izturis walked. The Orioles are rolling now heading into the all-star break. There are rumors that Buck Showalter could be signed after the all-star game and be our manager to start the second half. I’d like to see our “core” players do well in the second half and hopefully that leads to more wins. Hopefully we trade a few veterans and can get some momentum going towards 2011 in the second half of the season. We need some good fortune after our horrendous beginning of the year.

Player of the game: Jake Arrieta – 6.1 IP, 6 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (3-2) (4.38 ERA)

We get four days off in a row before Toronto comes into town for a three game set. I believe the pitchers for Fridays match up will be Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 4.77) for us and Ricky Romero (6-6, 3.71) for the Blue Jays.

W – Chris Tillman (1-3)     L – Cliff Lee (8-4)

What a difference a couple of weeks make. Chris Tillman looked like a different pitcher out there last night, more like the top prospect that hes been coming up the minor league system. He had much better command of his fastball, his velocity was back to normal, he was throwing his curveball for strikes, mixing up his pitches, and showed off his new cut fastball on a few occasions. He carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning but that hope was ended when Ian Kinsler grounded a seeing eye single into left field. Tillman bounced right back and retired the next two batters. He came out for the 8th and you could tell he was tiring. He gave up an unearned run when Adam Jones played a line drive single into center into a triple as it bounced off his leg and rolled towards the wall and then a wild pitch allowed the runner to score. Tillman came back and retired the next batter before being replaced, leaving his line at 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, 3 K. He didn’t strike out many guys but thats alright when you command the zone as well as he did. Hes typically been a flyball pitcher throughout his career but he got 11 outs on the ground last night, compared to only 7 through the air. If he can keep that up he’ll be fine. At 22 years old theres still room to improve and reach his full potential. Will Ohman came in and got both left handed hitters he faced out to end the 8th inning. David Hernandez pitched a scoreless 9th but not before giving up two singles. He also struck out a pair of batters.

The offense spoiled Cliff Lee’s Rangers debut after the big trade on Friday and it started right away in the 1st inning. Corey Patterson led off with a double after his late inning heroics Friday night and scored on Miguel Tejada’s single into right field. Then we busted out the long ball in the middle innings. Nick Markakis led off the 4th inning with a solo homerun, Cesar Izturis of all people knocked one out in the 5th – a solo shot, and Adam Jones crushed a two run bomb to dead center field after Ty Wiggington singled in the 6th. We added an insurance run in the 9th. Jones led off with a single and moved to third on a Jake Fox single. Craig Tatum hit into a double play but it allowed Jones to come in and score. The Orioles finally busted through against Lee as hes been very effective against us in the recent past. The fact that the Orioles were able to come into Texas and beat the Rangers in the first three games of the series is pretty impressive. Texas has been playing good ball and was sitting on top of the AL West by five and a half games coming into the series.

Player of the game: Chris Tillman – 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, 3 K, W (1-3) (5.64 ERA)

The Orioles will try to finish off the sweep this afternoon. The hope rests on Jake Arrieta’s (2-2, 4.96) shoulders to follow up Chris Tillman’s great outing. CJ Wilson (7-4, 3.24) pitches for Texas.

W – Jason Berken (2-1)     L – Dustin Nippert (3-4)     SV – Alfredo Simon (12)

Well that was exciting. The Orioles are making a habit of dramatic endings to games. We don’t win often, but when we do its usually exciting. After falling behind early 4-0 the offense cut the Texas lead in half in the middle innings. Nick Markakis led off the top of the 4th with his 27th double of the season and scored on Ty Wiggington’s RBI single. In the 5th Matt Wieters led off with a single and advanced to third on Scott Moore’s double but not before pulling up lame with a hamstring injury. Thats not what this team or Wieters needs right now as he was starting to get in a groove at the plate. Hopefully its not too serious. Craig Tatum replaced him and scored on Corey Patterson’s RBI single. After giving two runs back in the bottom of the 8th we entered the 9th inning down 6-2. Adam Jones and Tatum singled and then Moore walked to load the bases. After Josh Bell struck out as a pinch hitter it was up to Patterson. On a 2-2 pitch he crushed a grand slam into the upper deck to tie the game in dramatic fashion. After a pitching change Miguel Tejada singled, Markakis doubled again, and Wiggington walked to reload the bases but Jones grounded out to end the threat. In the 10th Jake Fox led off with a solo homerun to complete the comeback and give us our first winning streak since sweeping the Nationals. Felix Pie strained his quad muscle on a swing when he grounded out in the 6th inning. Not sure how serious it is but its becoming quite worrisome how often Pie hurts himself. Hes full of talent but he has to be able to stay on the field to be of any use to the club.

Brian Matusz must hate pitching in Texas. His worst start of the year came here earlier in the season and he struggled again last night. After scoreless 1st and 2nd innings Matusz lost his way a bit. After getting the leadoff batter to groundout, back to back singles preceded a Vladimir Guerrero three run homer. He struck out Josh Hamilton but then loaded the bases, giving up a single, a double, and a walk. Another walk with the bases loaded pushed the Rangers lead to 4-0. He got out of the inning but didn’t come back out for the 4th inning. He finished with 3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. Maybe they were worried about him throwing too many pitches in the 3rd but I would’ve let him go back out there and see if he could turn it around. Instead Matt Albers came into the ballgame and he did a very good job. He pitched three scoreless innings and turned it over to Koji Uehara for the 7th. Koji pitched a scoreless inning and started the 8th but came out after an error by Miguel Tejada put the lead off batter on first. Will Ohman came in and gave up a double to the first batter he faced and then a sacrifice fly to make it a three run disadvantage. Frank Mata came in next and another error and then an intentional walk loaded the bases. Another sacrifice fly made it 6-2 before Mata ended the inning. You can’t give teams five outs. Jason Berken pitched a scoreless 9th and Alfredo Simon shut the door in the 10th to give us the win.

Player of the game: Corey Patterson – 4-5, R, 5 RBI, BB, double (10), HR (5) (.292 AVG)

Tonight Cliff Lee (8-3, 2.34) makes his Rangers debut tonight. He’ll face Chris Tillman (0-3, 8.40), called up from AAA Norfolk today.

W – David Hernandez (4-7)     L – Frank Francisco (6-4)     SV – Alfredo Simon (11)

It looked like the Orioles were headed for another lopsided loss after the first three innings. Jeremy Guthrie struggled again, this time only lasting 4.2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks, and a strikeout. The Rangers strung together a three run 2nd inning and Josh Hamilton hit a solo homerun in the 3rd. Texas didn’t score another run the rest of the game. Mark Hendrickson replaced Guthrie and got through the 5th inning and also recorded the first two outs of the 6th. David Hernandez finished off the 6th and also pitched a scoreless 7th inning. Jason Berken was perfect in the 8th, striking out a batter and Alfredo Simon had an easy 1-2-3 9th for the save. If the bullpen had pitched like this on Wednesday we would’ve beat the Tigers 5-1 or something along those lines. Regardless it was a nice job to keep us in the game and then shut the door once we took the lead.

The Orioles got their first run in the top of the 5th on Scott Moore’s solo homerun. It was his third of the season since being called up. Felix Pie led off the 7th with a solo homerun of his own to make it 4-2. It was his first homerun since he came off the disabled list and second of the season. Craig Tatum singled and Moore walked, knocking the starting pitcher from the ballgame. Corey Patterson hit an RBI single to make it a one run game. We finally took the lead for good in the top of the 8th inning. Nick Markakis reached base on an error and then stole second base. Ty Wiggington singled and Adam Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A new pitcher was brought in and Pie was hit by a pitch also to bring in the tying run. A Tatum walk gave us the lead and Julio Lugo’s RBI single gave us our final score. Markakis and Miguel Tejada each had doubles in the game.

Player of the game: Felix Pie – 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HBP, HR (2) (.364 AVG)

Brian Matusz (3-9, 4.56) tries to pick up where he left off against the Red Sox tonight in Texas. Scott Feldman (5-8, 5.51) pitches for the Rangers.

W – Max Scherzer (6-6)     L – Brad Bergesen (3-6)     SV – Phil Coke (1)

The good news about last night is that our core young positional players continued to play well after such a terrible start. The bad news is that we lost again. We only scored two runs but it was the same two players involved in each situation. Adam Jones led off the 7th with a double down the left field line and scored on a Matt Wieters line drive single up the middle. Jones was going to stop at third but the centerfielder let the ball trickle past him and the run to score. In the 9th Jones led off with a triple down the right field line and scored on Matt Wieters’ sacrifice fly. Nick Markakis singled and walked, Felix Pie tripled, and Josh Bell hit a single in three at bats. Cesar Izturis singled and walked in the game. Tigers starter Max Scherzer has been pitching very well since a short trip to the minors about a month ago and he continued that last night. He overpowered the Orioles early on and limited the damage in the later innings.

Brad Bergesen did a decent job getting ground balls but he just gave up too many hits and on a couple of occasions when he left the ball up he got hit hard. The first batter of the game doubled, moved to third on a bunt, and scored on a groundout. He hung a slider to the number nine hitter to lead off the 3rd inning and he hit it out of the ballpark to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Detroit made a two out rally in the 5th to score two more runs with a double, single, double string. Bergesen came out for the 7th but gave up a single and a walk without recording an out and was taken out of the game. His final line was 6 IP, 11 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Matt Albers came in and was able to get out of that jam in the 7th and pitched a perfect 8th inning to keep the game close. Its clear that Juan Samuel doesn’t trust Albers as much as Dave Trembley did. He was Trembley’s go to guy in the beginning of the season but doesn’t see near as much time nowadays. You can see why a manager might like him in outings like last night but hes way too inconsistent to be put in many high leverage situations.

Player of the game: Adam Jones – 2-4, 2 R, double (11), triple (4) (.275 AVG)

Its off to Texas now for a four game series with the Rangers. Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 4.64) starts things off against another rookie thats been on a roll, Tommy Hunter (5-0, 1.98).

W – Ryan Perry (2-4)     L – David Hernandez (3-7)

Jake Arrieta pitched a very good game and deserved to be rewarded with a win on his record but the bullpen made sure that didn’t happen. Arrieta gave up a run in the bottom of the 2nd inning but was able to keep Detroit off the board other than that over 6.1 strong innings. He gave up 7 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 4 batters. Hes really bounced back from those two consecutive bad outings which is encouraging. The young guys have been pitching better than the veterans recently. With one out and a runner on second with a lefty due up, Will Ohman came into the game. He got Johnny Damon to ground out and then Jason Berken was called upon. He struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning and came back out for the 8th. Unfortunately he didn’t have much success after the break between innings. He gave up a triple to lead it off, then a single, a strikeout, and another triple knocked him out of the game. Alfredo Simon came in and got out of the jam without allowing any more damage. While I would’ve went with David Hernandez in the save situation, Simon is our “closer” so he stayed on for the 9th. With a two run lead he walked the lead off batter. After a strikeout Miguel Cabrera made him pay with a two run bomb to tie it up. Hernandez did come in for the 10th and got a 1-2-3 inning but gave up the game winning two run homer without getting an out in the 11th.

The offense was all over Tiger pitching, lashing out with 17 hits in the ballgame. The problem was we were 3-17 with runners in scoring position and only three of the hits went for extra bases. In the 7th Miguel Tejada led off with a single and Nick Markakis gave us a 2-1 lead with his 5th homerun of the season. It was a laser beam into right center field. After a couple of outs Matt Wieters laced a triple into the right center field gap and scored on Felix Pie’s single. Wieters also doubled in the game and his swing looks much better than it had for the past couple months. I have a feeling hes much more comfortable at the plate and is about to break out like we’ve all expected him to. Pie made a nice return from the disabled list with a pair of singles in the game. Markakis brought in another run in the 8th when he singled in Cesar Izturis after an intentional walk to Tejada. Adam Jones led off the 9th with a single and scored on Julio Lugo’s single. Jones had a pair of hits in the game. He also walked and was hit by a pitch to help out his on base percentage. Ty Wiggington punched in two singles of his own. The only starter without a hit was Corey Patterson (0-6) but he got on base with a walk.

Player of the game: Nick Markakis – 3-6, R, 3 RBI, HR (5) (.308 AVG)

The series comes to a close tonight as Brad Bergesen (3-5, 6.44) tries to repeat his last performance against Max Scherzer (5-6, 4.88), who has been pitching good as of late.