Orioles 2 Blue Jays 5
That was a very enjoyable game to watch. Lots of stuff happening.
First, a great start for Shaun Marcum. The one run against him was unearned. John Buck was charged with a throwing error on an Adam Jones stolen base. Buck didn't throw from his knees, as he has been doing. I didn't think he had a shot at the runner but his throw glanced off the outside of John McDonald's glove. It wasn't a great throw but I thought Mac should have made the catch. Jones moved to third on the error and scored on a sac fly. In all Marcum went 7, allowed 4 hits, walked 2 and struck out 7. He never looked to be in trouble.
Cito brought Shawn Camp in for the 8th. He's used Camp a lot lately and he hasn't been as sharp as earlier in the year. Camp gave up 3 hits and a run before Jason Frasor came in for the last out of the inning. Frasor stayed in for the 9th and pitched a perfect inning for the save, his 4th of the year. Normally Cito would have brought Kevin Gregg in for the save but Gregg's pitched a bunch lately too and looks like he is wearing out a bit. Good move to keep Frasor in today, even though Frasor has been in a number of games too.
Offensively we did enough. Vernon drove in a run in the first. Mac had a sac fly in the second. Lyle Overbay had an RBI double in the 3rd and Mac drove in 2 more in the 6th. Johnny was also throw out for trying to stretch his 2 RBI single to a double. After the inning Jose Bautista seemed to be talking very seriously to Mac. I can't imagine he was telling Mac off for the mistake but it seemed strange. Jose was hit by pitch twice and didn't seem in the best of moods.
We had 9 hits on the day, no homers for a change. 3 hits for Lind, 2 for Buck. Aaron Hill, Edwin Encarnicion and Bautista had 0 fors. Bautista did have the 2 hit by pitch. The second one got the pitcher Alfredo Simon and his manager Buck Showalter booted. I didn't think the pitch was on purpose but you hit the best player on the team twice, it does look bad. I imagine there was a warning given out, perhaps after a Marcum pitch glanced off a Luke Scott, that we didn't see.
Travis Snider stole a base in the first inning. In the 7th he took off from first again and then didn't see the ball when Hill flied out and was doubled off. Snider has to know that if you can't find the ball you have to look to your 3rd base coach. It is a lot easier to find the coach than the ball.
We made some nice plays on defense. EE had a couple. Lyle made a great throw to second to get the force with runners on first and second in the 8th. I thought he would take the easy play, walking over to first, but he made a perfect throw and it saved a run when the next batter singled. Mike McCoy came in for Hill in the 8th and made a nice/lucky play in the 9th, ground ball, to his right, hit the heel of his glove and popped up in front of him. He grabbed it with his bare hand and made a nice throw.
Jays of the Day are Marcum (.272 WPA) and Lind (.125). Honorable mention to Frasor, Buck, Overbay and Mac. Edwin (-.121) gets the Suckage award.
We finish the season series 15-3 against the O's. Not too bad, considering they were supposed to be better than us this year. Shawn Marcum said that they would remember the Orioles hitting Jose twice next season.
The Yankees come to town for our last home series starting tomorrow. A.J. Burnett, having a rough year, starts for the Evil Empire. Marc Rzepczynski goes for us. The Yankees have the Wild Card pretty much wrapped up, but a sweep against them will, at very least, worry their fans some. Let's do it.
Fun game today and fun game thread. Join us tomorrow.