This afternoon, Stacey and I held an executive conference concerning the confluence of sporting contests taking place this evening. With the Monday Night Football game between the Ravens and the Jets kicking off around the same time the Orioles and Blue Jays will be throwing the first pitch, we considered whether non-Ravens fans might be offended if there was not a separate NFL thread like we used yesterday. This is what we concluded: this is a Baltimore blog and we both like the Ravens, so deal with it.
That said, for those who are flipping between the two games, or watching the Ravens mostly, let's have some consideration for those who aren't Ravens fans or football fans at all. We don't need breathless posts every time Bart Scott gets a stupid personal foul, every time Mark Sanchez is sacked, or every time LaDainian Tomlinson removes himself from the game with an "injury" because he doesn't want to run into Ray Lewis again. But if you want to share your elation over big plays, that is appropriate. If you're looking for a more Ravens-dominated evening, I certainly won't hold it against you if you are at Baltimore Beatdown, the SBN Ravens blog, instead.
Now let's get down to something we can all agree on: baseball. Toronto is coming to town for a three-game series beginning tonight. As you may know, the Orioles have yet to beat the Blue Jays in 2010. In 12 Toronto wins, the Blue Jays have outscored the Orioles by a margin of 70-23. Let's stop thinking about it. The last game between these two teams was July 28 and we're in a new era now.
Things are going to change tonight because Brian Matusz is pitching for the O's, and he's working on a string of four straight winning starts in which he's thrown a total of 27 innings and given up only 6 earned runs. That works out to a 2.00 ERA since August 19. ERA's pretty simple when it comes to judging pitchers and doesn't give the whole picture, but a 2.00 ERA is good.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays starter Marc Rzepczynski (whose name I'm tired of typing) is 0-3 with an 8.18 ERA in his last five starts. It's safe to say an 8.18 ERA is bad, and the O's will be administering some payback for a season's worth of ridiculous losses to these Canadian clowns. Just where the hell does Canada get off sharing a border with countries far superior to it?
May the Jets crash and burn in bright orange flames and may the Blue Jays get beaten 'til they're purple and black. Them's some Baltimore colors, hon. Go Ravens! Go O's!