The first baseball game I ever went to was played between the Orioles and the White Sox. I was five years old and I already loved baseball. So of course, I was excited to get to go to Memorial Stadium for the first time. We had seats pretty much right next to the visitor's dugout, which I believe was also right next to the tarp because I remember a foul ball bouncing right off the tarp in front of us. Being so excited, I talked and talked about I don't even remember what. After a few innings, I guess I had gotten on the nerves of one or more White Sox players, and Ron Kittle came over to me and said, "Hey, kid, why don't you shut the hell up and buy me a beer?" Mortified, I remained silent for the duration of the game. I don't remember the score of that game or even whether the Orioles won, but I've hated the White Sox ever since.
The Orioles are starting a three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago tonight, so it seemed appropriate to mention. The starting pitchers are Jeremy Guthrie and Gavin Floyd, who have identical 3.97 ERAs on the season in mostly the same number of innings pitched. Floyd got beaten around a bit in his last two starts, which both came against the Twins and contributed to the White Sox falling farther behind in the standings. Still, it was Floyd who sent the Orioles to their first loss of the Buck Showalter era, and if he duplicates his performance from that day - 7 IP, 2 ER - it'll be tough for the Birds to get back in the win column.
Probably a bad sign for the Orioles, who will be looking to get some offense back from players who aren't named Luke Scott. Luke's followed up a monster July (1.019 OPS) with a monster August (1.100 OPS) and he's now got the 7th highest slugging percentage in all of MLB at .580 on the season. His previous career high? .504. We saw a lot of the streakiness in his earlier seasons with the Orioles, but I don't remember him ever having such a prolonged hot streak.
On the baseball rumor mill today was the news that the Dodgers will be placing Manny Ramirez on waivers early this week and it's believed that he will be claimed by the White Sox. So there's the outside possibility we'll see him in this series. Wouldn't that be something?
Guts, watch out for Carlos Quentin. He doesn't hit much but when he does he hits homers. I'd say watch out for Paul Konerko too but he only bats .190 off you, but still, two of his hits are homers. If the ball is going to be flying out of New Comiskey all night I'd much rather it be Orioles home runs. Wouldn't you? Go O's!