The gods of the diamond deemed that the Orioles need a little more time to think about how pathetic they've been, so their Saturday matinee against the Rays has a late-afternoon start.
Die-hard baseball fans everywhere won't want to miss today's compelling rematch between Brad Bergesen and Wade Davis. These two titans squared off last Sunday in Baltimore and produced a spectacular affair that will be discussed for the ages. Davis lasted for five full innings, giving up 3 earned runs on 5 walks and 4 hits! Not to be outdone, Bergesen went an unholy four and two-thirds innings (!), giving up 5 earned runs on 2 walks and 9 hits! I expect MASN's ratings to reflect a suitable spike today. (Note: snark aside, Wade Davis is actually a pretty good pitcher. On the plus side for the Birds, he uses his right hand to throw the ball.)
To further whet your appetite for spectacular baseball, Jake Fox will be sitting in for Matt Wieters today. According to Roch, "Fox's game-calling has come into question, to put it mildly. You've heard manager Buck Showalter talk about bad 'pitch sequences.' You've seen instances where Fox and the starter haven't been on the same page."
In the four games that Fox has started at catcher this year, the Orioles have given up 32 runs. Woo-hoo!
After last Sunday's loss to complete Tampa Bay's sweep, Nick Markakis said, "It's definitely frustrating. We know what kind of ball clubs we are up against. We're just not getting the job done."; and Brian Roberts added, "It's one of those stretches where we can't seem to get the big hit, we can't seem to get the big out," Roberts said. "We can't seem to do a whole lot right, to tell you the truth."
Well boys, it's a week later. And last night, I didn't see anything to indicate you've figured out how to play like major leaguers just yet.
Ummmmm, go O's?
 | 1. Brian Roberts (S) 2B |  | 1. Sam Fuld (L) LF 2. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B 3. Johnny Damon (L) DH 4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B 5. Matt Joyce (L) RF 6. B.J. Upton (R) CF 7. Casey Kotchman (L) 1B 8. Reid Brignac (L) SS 9. John Jaso (L) C |