Mercifully, today is the last game the Orioles will play in Boston this year. So far this year they've won one game there. It's downright embarrassing. Yeah, the Orioles are bad, but are they really this bad? I don't think that they are. I think they are intimidated. They need to get over it.
Jason Berken makes his third start against the Red Sox this year, but his first at Fenway Park. In his last start against them on August 2nd, he was pulled after just 1.1 innings having given up 6 runs. So, I mean, tonight can't get much worse than that, can it?
Paul Byrd has pitched two games this year that were pretty much total opposites. In his 2009 debut on 30 August he pitched a 6 inning shutout against the Blue Jays, then five days later in Chicago he lasted just 2.1 innings against the White Sox, giving up 7 runs on 10 hits. Hopefully the 2.1 innings Byrd is the one we got.
Brian Roberts has been sitting on 49 doubles for about a week now. My gut tells me tonight's the night he gets number 50.
If you're bored, go to orioles.com and vote for the "All Time 9." It's for the best individual season at each position. I don't care one bit about how many HR Tony Batista hit in 2002, there's no way on earth I'm voting him as best anything related to the Orioles.
Let's Go O's! Oh, and you might notice today's Game Thread was authored by "Camden Chat." We created that name for threads that exist every day, like the game thread, to make it easier for all of the mods to communicate.
-Stacey