The Baltimore Orioles do not deserve any respect. They are a joke and it's been that way for about as long as I can remember.
Manager Buck Showalter can talk tough in the off-season and Kevin Gregg can cry to the press after he gets thrown out of a one-sided game (following his "fight" with David Ortiz on Friday) but the bottom line is that the team has money yet they always find ways to spend it on the wrong players and managers while their talented young guys seem to slip into a parallel universe at some point, never to be heard from again.
As if you needed any more proof that Baltimore (36-51) is a complete mess, they got shutdown by John Lackey (6-8) last night. Boston (54-35) won its third straight against the Orioles, 4-0 at Fenway Park.
One of the worst pitchers in MLB went 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. As always with Lackey, I refuse to get the least bit excited until either A) he does this consistently or B) he does it against a worthy opponent.
Alfredo Simon (1-2) was the starting pitcher for the Orioles. You might remember him as their former closer or from his mysterious trial Dominican Republic (somebody got killed by a gun that might have been his).
Kevin Youkilis celebrated his addition to the American League All-Star team (replacing the injured Alex Rodriguez) by going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run.
He produced the first Red Sox run with an RBI double in the fifth that scored Dustin Pedroia.
Josh Reddick continued to play great with Carl Crawford out and J.D. Drew getting fitted with his cement cleats. Reddick is hitting .414 and he went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. He added a two-run double in the fifth which scored Adrian Gonzalez and Youk.
Youk put up another RBI double in the seventh, again scoring Pedroia.
Daniel Bard continued his hot streak (his ERA is down to 2.09) with four outs, including two strikeouts.
Jonathan Papelbon got a rare 1-2-3 in a non-save situation in the ninth.
The last game before the 2011 All-Star game is this afternoon. Boston goes for its sixth straight win (and tries to maintain its one-game lead in the AL East over the New York Yankees) as Kyle Weiland makes his MLB debut against journeyman Mitch Atkins.
Follow @RichSlate
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment