Gameday Thread: O's at Angels 6/1/07

   Game Time: 10:05 | TV: MASN, MASN2 | Radio: WHFS
                    
   Daniel Cabrera - RH                  John Lackey - RH
   (4-5, 4.78)                         (8-3, 2.36)

Well, what a month of May we just survived, huh? More ups and downs than a whore on a pogo stick...Let's review:

We start the month by losing Loewen for the bulk of the season - major downer. Then, hey - we split a series with red hot Cleveland and actually win a game against the Sox in Boston. Things are looking up! But, Sam proceeds to forfeit game 2 of the series and we all remember what happened that Sunday. Ugly, ugly stuff. Brutal loss. We all call for Sam's head on a platter as the team heads into a total shame spiral - losing a whole mess 'o games to Toronto and blowing a gem by Bedard against Les DC Expos. During these dark times, the fantastic performances from the starting rotation are overshadowed by the absolute putridness of the offense, back end of the bullpen and gross mismangement. O's fans everywhere contemplated finding a new hobby once and for all. BUT WAIT! We take two out of three from Oakland as our hitters (mostly that Tejada guy) start...hitting. For power, even. Then, God bless those Royals - we sweep them and start to appear like a major league team and the momentum continues as last night Brian and Nick keep their hittin' pants on and we take an unlikely win in LA against a good pitcher and a good team. After winning 7 of our last 8 games and 6 in a row, we end the month at .500, 10 games behind Boston, in sole possession of 2nd place and 3.5 back in the Wild Card race. Oh, and 3.5 games ahead of the 22-29 MFY. Erik Bedard leads the majors in strikeouts with 88, We're 4th in the AL for team ERA at 4.01, first in fielding percentage and 2nd in stolen bases. Warm Fuzzies all around.

I'm a well trained pessimist, so I fully expect us go into another freefall any minute now and wind up 6 games below .500 in a week. I mean, Danys Baez and Jay Gibbons are still on the team. That can only end badly. But I'm choosing to put aside my fears for one day and enjoy the simple pleasure of having a glimmer of hope for my baseball team. Not hope for a WS, just a hope that they play some competitive baseball and make me happy more often than they make me sad.

Anyway - tonight's game: I may have some hope for the team's season for the moment, but I don't have much for tonight's game. Lackey is having a terrific season so far - I'd say best case scenario is that we score 2 or 3 runs off him. He hasn't allowed more than 4 so far this year. Cabrera has been a bit of a pain in the ass lately, regressing a bit with his control and proud owner of the highest ERA of any O's starter. I never know what to expect from him, except that it will be an odd combination of frustrating and fun.

So, find yourself some meats and beverages and get ready for some late night Orioles Baseball! And don't worry, if it looks like Nick is having a bad night - I'll break out the boobies again.

Go O's!