The Orioles offense had a decent day today, scoring three runs off of Cliff Lee (he really doesn't like facing the Orioles, does he?) and three more off of the relief staff, but it wasn't enough to overcome the incompetence by the O's pitching staff and defense which allowed thirteen runs, three of which were unearned.
First, the good stuff. Adam Jones had another good day at the plate with an RBI ground out in the first inning and a solo home run in the third. Nick Markakis tripled in J.J. Hardy (who had two hits today) in the first. Joe Mahoney added a two-run double in the 8th inning off of Phillies' closer Brad Lidge, and Robert Andino added a solo home run in the ninth.
Over on the pitching side of things, Jeremy Guthrie gave up four runs in his four innings of work, two of which came on a first inning home run by Raul Ibanez. Guts walked one and struck out one. Kevin Gregg was even worse, giving up four runs in just one inning, including two home runs (Ryan Howard and Ross Gload). After that Clay Rapada and Jason Berken combined for three perfect innings, but things got messy again in the ninth when Rick VandenHurk took the mound. After retiring the first two batters he saw, Vandy allowed a single and then hit a batter, setting up a two-run double by Brandon Moss. A ground ball to Brandon Snyder at first base should have ended the inning, but he booted it, allowing Moss to score. That was followed by a two-run home run, adding three unearned runs to the two earned Vandy had already allowed.
Sucky day to be an Orioles pitcher, that's for sure.