Orioles 5, Reds 4 (12): Derrek Lee carries the day
by Eat More Esskay on Jun 24, 2011 11:45 PM EDT
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PrintI have a confession to make. I spent a lot of time in the last six or so innings of this game composing in my head a story about the Orioles losing this game. I was all ready to start writing under the geeky subtitle of "LOBstrosities" and make a bunch of jokes involving The Dark Tower by Stephen King. I was fully prepared for the O's to find a way to lose this game. For a while it seemed like they were trying so hard to lose it. The box score was strewn with squandered opportunities. But then came Derrek Lee, who remembers the face of his father. Lee led off the bottom of the 12th with a walk-off homer, and just like that a night that seemed ticketed for disaster instead ended up with lovely totals.
You can't really blame me for starting to think negatively on a night like tonight. It felt like the Orioles had their big chance in the bottom of the 11th inning, when J.J. Hardy (extend this man!) led off with a fly ball to center that clipped off the glove of Reds center fielder Drew Stubbs as he chased it to the warning track. Hardy ended up on second and was credited with a double, where he still stood at the close of the inning. How do you fail to score the winning run when it's in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom of the inning of a tie game in extra frames? Nick Markakis grounder to third, Adam Jones fly ball to right, Vladimir Guerrero intentional walk, Felix Pie fielder's choice. That's how.
The nightmare scenario seemed to be underway for O's fans as Michael Gonzalez came on to pitch the top of the 12th. Brandon Phillips got a cheap single to right that Markakis just couldn't rein in. Gonzo was pitching, so we all had to expect nothing less than disaster. But Gonzo got a ground ball from Joey Votto, erasing Phillips at second, then a lazy fly ball by Scott Rolen and was almost out of danger.
The next batter was Jay Bruce, and he lined a ball into center field. Jones broke for the catch and for a moment it looked like he might get it as he dove, but the ball slipped underneath him. "Oh God, no!" screamed the Birdland faithful, as it looked like a sure disaster. Jones wasn't done yet though, because the tip of his glove wiped out most of the ball's momentum and it didn't get far beyond him. He fired a ball in to Hardy, who spun and delivered a strike to a perfectly-positioned Matt Wieters at home plate. Votto tried his best to arrest his slide and jump over the swipe tag, but a divine being like Wieters is not so easily led astray. The tag was applied, and the inning was over.
All momentum favored the Orioles after such a thrilling play, but how many times have we seen them squander the chance to step on the other team's throat and put them away? Not tonight, though. Lee ended all the possible angst with his walkoff.
There might have been a hell of a lot of angst, too, because before Lee's homer the O's had ten hits, nine walks and only managed four runs. That was an abominable 2-14 with RISP, with a total 0-for after the fourth inning.
Blake Davis gave the O's some positive vibes early in the game. He came to the plate with two men on base in the bottom of the second and tripled to deep center. Davis, who was starting because Buck Showalter wanted to get him back in a game quickly after his mistake on Wednesday afternoon, redeemed that decision and got some atonement for his error.
Jones homered in the bottom of the third and Hardy scored Wieters on an RBI single in the fourth to stake the O's to a 4-0 lead that almost looked like it might hold for a while. Chris Jakubauskas had the Reds scoreless through four, but as is his wont he lost his edge in the fifth. He gave up three hits and a walk and three runs scored, so he didn't come out for the sixth even though he'd only thrown 76 pitches. I hope Jack O'Boskie has some more stamina to build up in that arm, because he's not going to be doing much innings-eating the way he is.
Jason Berken pitched the sixth and allowed the Reds to complete the comeback. Jonny Gomes doubled with one out and ended up on third thanks to a wild pitch. He then scored on a single by Reds SS Paul Janish, who is hitting .233 on the season. Yeah, it could have been one of those games. There were a plethora of missed scoring opportunities, including 13 men left on base as a team, but the post-Berken pitchers chose tonight to not suck: Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara threw two scoreless innings each, with even Kevin Gregg and Gonzalez going a scoreless inning.
The game went a lot longer than it might have, but thanks to Lee's 12th-inning heroics, all ended well, for this night at least. Lee was 3-for-5 on the night with the walk-off homer and a double.
Although Markakis extended his hitting streak to 14 games, he ends up with the most demerits tonight thanks to his rally-killing GIDP in the bottom of the 2nd. Reds starter Edinson Volquez, who was wild as hell and showing horrible body language on the mound, could have been on the ropes but Markakis bailed him out. In the top of the third, Markakis just failed to catch a fly ball from former Oriole Ramon Hernandez that was scored a double.
Still, one can't be too negative on a night like tonight. There were many ways the O's might have lost but they found one way to win, and that's what counts. The O's will look to make it two in a row tomorrow night on Buck Showalter bobblehead night. The O's will need Brian Matusz to get his game together, because the bullpen's depleted after this extra-inning affair. Maybe they can continue the offensive onslaught against Bronson Arroyo and actually score with RISP this time.
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A thousand words and I didn't even mention one of my favorite parts of the game.
The counterpoint to Wieters’ awesome block of home in the top of the 12th was Ramon Hernandez on the Davis triple. Wieters was running from second on the play and somehow he was barely getting to home as the throw came in from deep center. Maybe he thought it was going to be caught.
Anyway, Ramon did his Ramon thing and he was just standing there about three feet off the plate. Wieters did an awesome body twist to avoid the tag as he was sliding by. The plate ump, to his credit, had the angle and made the right call. It was a close one.
For all Ramon’s sporting an .888 OPS this year, I think I’ll stick with a catcher who destroys base runners, blocks the plate, and actually catches balls in the dirt.
"That ball is gone. We'll pause ten seconds to commit suicide ... I mean, for a station identification." - Joe Angel, 6/17/11
by Eat More Esskay on Jun 24, 2011 11:53 PM EDT reply actions
I don't know man
on the replay it sure looked like ramon got Matty’s arm on the tag.
I am eating you, motherfucker. You cannot hurt me. - PhilR8
Yeah
I watched it again on MLB, and it looked like the tag was made on Wieters. I suspect that if the roles were reversed, we would be screaming our heads off.
"The ball always seems to find Ed Reed...The man is a menace"
by UMBC Oriole fan on Jun 25, 2011 8:30 AM EDT up reply actions
The O's are owed 13 years of umpires screwing up calls in their favor.
So even if that’s what happened, I don’t feel bad at all.
"That ball is gone. We'll pause ten seconds to commit suicide ... I mean, for a station identification." - Joe Angel, 6/17/11
by Eat More Esskay on Jun 25, 2011 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Throws strikes!
Like a boss.
Awesome sideburns!
Like a boss.
by Holymittens on Jun 25, 2011 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions
We might be signing Tyler Wilson soon.
UVA got eliminated from the College World Series…in painful fashion.
JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!JACK!
Guy remains UNDEFEATED, qualifies for another W and DOESN’T EVEN MAKE IT ONTO THE VOTE LIST?!? I mean, WTF?!?
Oh wait, I get it. The anti-Lithuanian thing. Look, I’m just not going to support prejudice like that. Some of my best friends are Lithuanian. I would have no problem with Lithuanians moving into my neighborhood. Hey, Lithuanian marriage is now legal in a bunch of states.
So yeah, I’m not voting til Jack You! gets a fair shot — just like any other post-Captive Nation anti-Soviet plucky Baltic nationality whose language is at least Indoeuropean, unlike the Estonians’, Bog bless ’em.
OK, it’s B-Mats 2-nite to Keep Not-Sucking Alive!
Go O’s!
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
RIP Peter Falk (1927-2011)
I was never a big fan of Columbo, and was stunned to learn two things (in retrospect): (1) that it was the top-rated show in the US for a period and (2) that it had a huge following worldwide (it remains the gf’s favorite show). With the exception of a few episodes — like the one with “Danger Man” P. McGoohan — I was pretty indifferent to the whole thing: the after-the-fact plots weren’t that engaging (to me) and the detective character was, c’mon, a long-running shtick.
That said, nothing succeeds like success, and he/it had plenty o’ that. Plus, the detective’s casual-interrogation methodology was said to be modeled on Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment. So thumbs up for that!
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
I always liked the
“Oh, and just one more thing…” The exasperated suspect would invariably roll their eyes (I recall Donald Pleasance as some kinda California wine snob doing this well). He was like toilet paper on a shoe you can’t get rid of.
Falk was wonderful in the original In-Laws. “Serpentine, Shel.”
Falk and Cassavetes
Falk was in a couple of John Cassavetes (perhaps best known as the husband in Rosemary’s Baby and one of the Dirty Dozen) films as well, including Women Under the Influence, which won Cassavetes and his wife Gena Rowlands Best Director and Best Actress Golden Globe awards, as well as Academy Award nominations. Falk partially bankrolled it.
O'Boskie's not a Lithuanian name.
Everybody’s at least a little Irish to 3DG.
From the Land of Pleasant Living...
Silky D!!
I was yelling this from Section 83 in the bottom of the 12th – what an electric game.
I was with 14 other friends at the game, but when we showed up, pretty much all the tickets were sold out. So we figured we’d just go to the inner harbor, when a lady came up to us and offered us 12 tickets for free! It was unbelievable, and we were so excited to be able to get in to the stadium and be part of the sellout crowd. We found 3 more tickets and managed to squeeze all of us into the same section.
The stadium was absolutely electric – fans were doing the wave the entire game, most fans were on their feet at the key moments in the game, and the walkoff was the perfect ending to the night for me and my friends. The fireworks just put the whole experience over the top. But phew, I sure am tired now, good night Birdland =)
Fucking Nicky
Not only did he stupidly dive head first into second to get spiked on his arm, GIDP, and miss that fly ball in right, he selfishly went after the first outside pitch with JJ on 2nd and nobody out. Selfish prick was going for a single instead of trying to move the runner over. Get it together Nicky.
I am eating you, motherfucker. You cannot hurt me. - PhilR8
do you ever have anything good to say about Nick Markakis?
Damn it feels good to be a contributor, Music City Miracles.
@DPR9
by danielreese05 on Jun 25, 2011 2:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Around the minors 6-24
Norfolk lost to Buffalo 4-2. Ryan Adams went 0-4 with 2 Ks. Brandon Snyder went 1-3 with a homer and a walk. Josh Bell went 1-4 with 2 Ks. Steve Johnson had a better start, going 6 innings, allowing 2 earned runs of 3 hits (1 homer) and 4 walks, striking out 4.
Bowie lost to Binghamton 5-3. Xavier Avery went 2-3 with a double and 2 walks. LJ Hoes went 1-4 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Joseph Mahoney went 1-5. Caleb Joseph went 1-5 with 2 strikeouts. Ronnie Welty went 0-3.
Frederick lost to Winston Salem 5-1. Manny Machado went 1-2 with a walk. Jonathan Schoop went 0-4. Kipp Schutz went 0-3 with a K. Clayton Shrader went 1 scoreless inning allowing a hit and a walk while striking out 1.
Delmarva was rained out in Lakewood.
Aberdeen lost again to Staten Island, 6-5. Mychal Givens went 2-5 with 2 Ks. Connor Narron went 1-4 with a walk and a K.
The GCL Orioles beat the GCL Rays 5-4. Glynn Davis went 3-4. The Hobgoblin went 1.2 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 1. Ryan Berry went 2 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits (1 homer) and recording 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Matt Bywater recorded 4 outs, but allowed 1 earned run on 3 walks and a hit, while striking out 1.
The DSL Orioles doubled up the DSL Dbacks, 10-5. Hector Veloz went 1-3 with 2 walks and a K. Byron Capellan went 1-4 with a walk.
If you look at those UZR ratings or whatever
Still can't believe Gonzalez pitched an entire inning w/o giving up a run.
I don’t have much tolerance for stupid. Or cheese on food that doesn’t need it. -duck
A “career inning”!
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
by Titov on Jun 25, 2011 9:46 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
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