The constant references to the Orioles' potential to play the role of spoiler towards the close of this season are as relevant tonight as they will ever be. Not only do the O's have a chance to send the Yankees back out of first place in the AL East, but they can once again deny C.C. Sabathia from recording his 20th win, thus making it so stupid baseball writers who are lazily looking to pointless milestones in a pointless stat don't have an easy reason to proclaim him to be the best pitcher in the AL this season. Now, those stupid baseball writers will vote for him anyway, but let's not make their job any easier.
Anybody who votes for Sabathia for the Cy Young is an idiot. That's all I'm saying. Okay, it's not all I'm saying. Anybody who votes for Sabathia, or can't vote but still thinks Sabathia is the best AL pitcher this season, is such an idiot that their opinion on all subjects, ever, is completely invalidated. If they tell me the sun rises in the east, I will suddenly doubt that it will happen tomorrow. That's how stupid it is to think that Sabathia deserves the Cy Young.
Sometimes I feel like I'm on shaky ground ethically when it comes to this whole spoiler thing. After all, here I am, actively rooting for misery of a fellow human being (Sabathia) and by extension, an entire group of people (Yankee fans). But then I think about it some more and I remember that Sabathia is making $23 million a year every year from now through 2015. So that's a lot of $100 bills to wipe away his tears. I think about it some more and I realize that Yankee fans aren't even human beings, because they have surrendered their claim to humanity by virtue of rooting for the Yankees. Ethical quandary averted.
Jeremy Guthrie will be looking for a solid start for the Orioles to help the team get the win they should have gotten yesterday. Guthrie's thrown 190 innings on the season, and a lengthy start here will put him on the cusp of back-to-back 200 inning seasons. Fortunately for O's fans, his ERA this year is a full 1.3 runs lower and he's nearly cut his HR/9 in half. Now that's what I like to see.
Go O's!