Orioles fans, take a good look at your closer: George "Shutdown" Sherrill, flat brim and all, looking something like a 19-year old that still thinks Eminem is good.
He's getting the job done. Shutdown Sherrill closed his third game for the O's tonight, extending our win streak to the same number, and making us 3-1 in our first four games. How about that?
This is Birdland!
Player of the game was Luke Scott, who went 3-for-3 with a walk and drove in two. Millar was 1-for-2 with three walks (one intentional) and scored not once, not twice, but thrice. Brian Roberts got on base three times and made three baserunning outs, being wrongly called out at third on a steal attempt, getting thrown out at home by Mike Morse on a dumb mistake by third base coach Juan Samuel, and then getting caught in a rundown off of a Nick Markakis swinging bunt in the bottom of the eighth.
As a team, the Mariners did their share in helping us out, throwing the ball willy-nilly all over the damn place, including Miguel Batista, who walked in a run among his four free passes over five innings. If you had listened to Jim Palmer, you would have known that Batista was the ace of Seattle's staff last year because he won 16 games.
Speaking of the commentary, Gary Thorne continues to say "Richie Sexton." Can someone at MASN or in the front office or in the Mariners booth PLEASE send him a memo? Jesus. For the record, Richie Sexton looks absolutely cooked as a player, too. He is awful. He struck out not once, not twice, but thrice. Luckily, he did avoid the old Golden Sombrero.
In all honesty, without massive help from Seattle's four errors and ridiculous gaffes (Batista walking a run in, Beltre being safe at second and then falling off the bag, becoming out), the Orioles don't win this game. But just like yesterday, you take 'em where you can get 'em with a team like this. And who knows? Maybe they get in the winning spirit, it starts carrying over, yada yada...
I'm not all caught up in craziness just yet, but it's always fun to watch your team win some ballgames.
And I know we're going to get the, "Oh just you wait and see!" crowd here, but...
Adam Loewen looked like the same old tired song and dance as before. Loewen couldn't make it out of the fifth inning, can't throw strikes, has no control over any of his pitches, and doesn't even really look like he has a single plus pitch. His velocity was 84-89 on his fastball by the MASN gun -- I think he may have gotten over 90 a couple times, but it wasn't the norm by any means. Loewen is one of these guys that we might have to just face facts on in the midst of rebuilding. Command issues like his don't just go away very often. And if he can't make it past five innings, is he really helping us?
Attendance was up. So that's good. And we won! This is Birdland, son!