Hunt For an Orange October

I was about to write this post earlier today, but I decided to wait until the conclusion of the Angels Rangers game, and I am so very glad I did.

McLouth teeing off in the 1st to start
the O's in the right direction early. 

The Orioles came out of the gate today, acting like they had something to prove. Nate McLouth (left) started the bottom half of the first inning with a lead off home run. This was the one and only "lead-change" of the game. With a 1-0 lead the O's never looked back. By the end of the 1st inning it was 3-0 Orioles. From here on out Boston was playing damage control, trying to limit the Orioles offense, while praying their own could catch fire. It simply did not work that way for Boston's starter Zach Stewart. Hardy lead off the 3rd inning with another solo home run. With two outs in the 3rd, Jim Thome singled, scoring Adam Jones, and that was it for the struggling Boston starter.

Jim Johson celebrating his 50th
save of the season with Wieters.

Boston homered in the 4th, making it now a 5-1 game in favor of the O's. But the Orioles quickly responded in the 5th with Chris Davis' 5th home run in the last 4 games, and 31st of the season. Boston would try and mount a rally in the 7th, but would ultimately fall short again. Jim Johnson (right) came on in the 9th to seal an O's victory, and his 50th save of the season. Jim Johnson is only the 10th player in major league history to have 50 saves in a single season. Jim Johnson, along with the rest of the O's bullpen has been instrumental in the success of the Orioles this season.



To go along with Jim Johnson's history making performance, this weekend would set several new land marks for both teams. This loss clinched a series sweep for the O's, the 10th time they have done that this season. It also was the 90th loss of the season for the Red Sox, their first 90 loss season since 1966, obviously a disappointment. Back to the bright side, this weekend's attendance rates boosted the O's over the 2,000,000 mark for the first time in a season since 2007. Over the past 4 games the O's offense has exploded, scoring 31 runs, 24 of them off home runs.

Now as I alluded to in the opening, I am extremely excited that I waited until after the Angels Rangers game.

The Angels lost game 2 of their double header with the Rangers tonight, which means for the first time since 1997, the Orioles have clinched a playoff birth. Obviously the team will celebrate their success tonight, but Manager Buck Showalter is not the type of person to take his foot off the gas pedal. The Orioles begin the final series of the season tomorrow against Tampa Bay. The Orioles are pleased with a playoff birth, but they will not be truly happy until they have clinched the AL East pennant. BUCKle up everybody, Baltimore is in for one crazy ride these next 3 days!

O-mazing

This weekend has been spectacular thus far. Friday night kicked off fan appreciation weekend in Baltimore, and the Orioles wasted no time making it special.

Boston started the game with a bunt single by lead-off hitter Podsednick, which was the first and last hit that Boston got all night. Podsednick advanced to 2nd on a throwing error, then quickly moved to 3rd on a sac-bunt. Later in the inning, Pedroia hit a sac-fly to deep center, bringing home Podsednick for Boston's only unearned run of the game. 

From here on out the story was Baltimore's red hot offense, and a lights out performance by starting pitcher Chris Tillman. 

Flaherty hitting his first career
grand-slam. 

Nate McLouth opened the bottom half of the first with yet another lead-off single. With one out, Davis hit his 29th homer of the season, giving the lead to the Orioles, now 2-1. Now with two outs, Thome singled, Reynolds was walked, and Machado singled. With the bases now loaded, Ryan Flaherty (right), a native of Maine and long time Red Sox fan, came up to bat. Flaherty hit his 6th home run, and first career grand slam on a hanging slider from Boston's starter Cook, extending the lead to 6-1. 

Tillman threw a one hitter
through 8 innings for the O's
90th win of the season.

As mentioned above, Chris Tillman was on fire all night. After allowing a lead off single, the Boston bats were quickly silenced. For the first time since 2009, the Red Sox were held to only one hit. After 8 spectacular innings, reliever Troy Patton was brought in to finish off the game. Last season, Tillman was only 3-5 with an ERA of 5.52 in 13 starts. He has done more than turn it around this season, going 9-2 with a 2.78 ERA in his 14 starts. Bobby Valentine, Boston's manager, had nothing but praise for Chris Tillman after Friday's game. Valentine said "We were behind his fastball most of the time, we were out in front of his breaking ball. His curveball, he threw effectively. We didn't solve him." Chris Tillman retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced. With the O's bats as hot as they were, and Tillman throwing a gem, the Orioles were able to post their first positive run differential since June 26th.

Now I was lucky enough to go to this game, only my second game this season. The stadium was packed, it was loud, and it was certainly an amazing game for the fans. After Chris Davis gave the Orioles an early lead, the crowd erupted into The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army," one of the Raven's theme songs. The crowd was loud most of the night, cheering on the O's to their 90th win of the season.

Brooks Robinson threw out the
cerimonial first pitch today, after
being honored with the unveiling
of his statue. 

The fan appreciation weekend continued today, as the O's took on Boston. Unlike last nights game, this one was not a blow out victory. It came down to the 9th inning, and a one run ball  game. The scoring sheet started and ended with Machado, only fitting as the Oriole's were honoring Hall Of Famer 3rd Basemen, Brooks Robinson (left) tonight. Machado hit a single in the 2nd, scoring Davis, his 25th RBI of his short season.

Davis jogging home after hitting
his 30th HR of the season. 

In the 4th, Davis (top right) hit a two run home run, to extend the Orioles lead to 3-0, his 30th HR of the season. This home run gave the O's their 6th pair of 30-plus home run hitters in franchise history (joining Adam Jones who has 32).

With the game now tied in the 7th, Machado (bottom right) came up to start the inning. Machado wasted no time hitting his 7th home run of the season, giving the Orioles a 4-3 lead in the 7th inning. For those of you who don't know, the Orioles have yet to lose this season when leading after the 7th inning.

Lew Ford helping Machado celebrate
his game winning HR. 

Like the rest of this season, the O's did not look back after taking the lead. Jim Johnson came on in the ninth to post his 49th save of the season, giving the O's their 91st win of the season, and a share of 1st place with only 5 games remaining.

The Red Sox fell to 69-89 on the season, 1 loss away from the franchises first 90 loss season since 1966.

Typical AFC North Matchup

This was a typical AFC North Division match up: pound the ball, tough defense, and a game that came down to the last second. So what was the difference last night?

The Ravens were playing at home, a place where they have now won 13 straight games, and they were playing the Browns, a team they have not lost to in the last 9 games. But around the NFL questions were surrounding the Ravens, this was their fourth game in 18 days, not an easy schedule for any team at any time. Not only were these 4 games close together, but the Ravens were playing just 92 hours after the emotional win over the Patriots. But this Ravens team has faced more than just scheduling adversity, the team has fought through the death of former owner Art Modell, and death of Torrey Smith's younger brother. Let us put it this way, last night was the Raven's first home game this season without a moment of silence. The Ravens could have come out of this stretch 1-3 or 2-2 and many people would have attributed it to the schedule and the adversity, but not the Ravens. The Ravens are 3-1 after what seems like an impossible stretch of games. Harbaugh said it best, "Adversity does one of two things: it either drives a team apart, or in this case, because of the people that we have, it's driving us together."

The Ravens did not simply win due to current streaks, or a desire to defeat adversity, it came down to a couple special performances last night.

Boldin putting the team on his
back in last night's win. 

First lets look at the outstanding play of receiver Anquan Boldin. In the first three games, Boldin had 10 catches, 118 yards and a touchdown, he had been targeted only 16 times. Boldin claims he does not think about any stats other than the win column, and that could be true, but last night he exploded off the field. Boldin notched 9 catches for 131 yards, and was targeted 12 times, the most of any Ravens' receiver last night.


This night for Boldin may not have been possible without the incredible start to the year for Torrey Smith. In the month of September, Smith has 16 receptions for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns. This includes last nights 6 catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. Teams have been putting attention on the speedster and taking attention off of Boldin and Rice (exactly how Ozzie planned it).

Flacco celebrating his TD run. 

Now obviously these two receivers were not on the field themselves, Flacco had an outstanding game last night, continuing the red-hot beginning to the season. Last night Flacco completed 28 of 46 passes (61%), for 356 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately Flacco's night was not perfect, he did throw a redzone interception for the first time in almost 3 years. Flacco also had a 5 yard TD run on a planned bootleg style 3rd and Goal play.  Despite the pick, Flacco and the offense were able to do just enough to help the Ravens avoid an embarrassing loss.


The Ravens look forward to a weekend off, while already beginning to prepare for next Sunday's game against the Chiefs.

Game Day Preview

Today the Ravens will take on a division rival, the Cleveland Browns.

The past three weeks the Ravens have faced three former ProBowl quarterbacks, this week it is rookie QB Brandon Weeden. Head Coach John Harbaugh was asked if their is any relief in getting to face a rookie quarterback, instead of a ProBowl caliber QB.  Harbaugh came back saying, "The challenge is that they (rookies) haven't seen anything, it's the first time for everything, so you don't know how they're going to respond, and they don't know how they are going to respond." In week 1 Weeden was 12-35, 118 yards, and 4 interceptions. However in week 2, Weeden bounced back strong, completing 26 or 37 passes, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.

With this stat line in mind, Ed Reed was asked if he was foaming at the mouth to face a rookie again, especially one who has already thrown 6 picks. Reed commented saying "You see he still has a lot to learn, that's with any rookie quarterback coming into the league. But you can see that he can throw every ball."

Many players echoed the same ideas as Harbaugh and Reed, they are not going to underestimate Weeden, they know what he is capable of, so they will prepare for the best.

The Ravens have won 12 straight games at M&T Bank Stadium, and 9 straight against AFC North teams, they are looking to keep both streaks alive in this short week.

Both teams are fairly healthy, but one key injury does stand out. Starting WR for the Browns, Massaquoi has been ruled out of today's game. Massaquoi has been one of Weeden's most reliable targets, and it will be hard for them to replace his production.

Bigger news is who will be on the field rather that who is injured. Last night the NFL and NFL Referees Association reached an 8 year deal. Even though the deal will not be ratified until Friday or Saturday, Goodell has lifted the lock out for tonights game, a relief to all to many fans, players, and coaches.

Ed Hochuli signaling his joy for the agreement between
the two sides. Hochuli will be the referee for tonights game. 

Homerun Derby

The O's came into tonight's series finale in a must win situation. This was not a literal must win, meaning if they lost, it would only make it less likely that they will have a shot to win the division. A loss would not have eliminated them from playoff contention. Tonight only felt like a must win, the city wanted needed this win. The O's were looking to split the 4 game series and head into the weekend winners, rather losers of 3 straight. The Orioles organization is looking forward to a sell-out playoff atmosphere this weekend, and that would be less likely had the Orioles entered the weekend on a 3 game slide, looking lost against a losing team. The O's will say that they were looking at this as 1 of 162 games, just another game on another day, but there seemed to be some sort of a sense of urgency as the game started.

Gonzalez pitchers in the O's 12-2 win
over the Blue Jays.

In the top of the 1st, Gonzalez (right) gave up a two out solo shot to center field, not the start they wanted, but certainly not a death sentence. The Orioles came back in the bottom of the 1st with McLouth's lead off long ball.

After two separate home runs in the 1st, the game was fairly quiet until the 5th. In the top of the 5th, Toronto's Anthony Gose singled to right, scoring J.P. Arencibia, making it 2-1 Jay's. Fortunately for the O's, that was practically the end of the night for Toronto's bats, and the O's were just getting started. In the bottom of the 5th, the O's homered 3 times (Thome, Machado, and Davis) scoring 5 runs. Again in the 6th, Reynolds went yard, scoring Wieters, making it now 8-2. In the 7th, Davis hit his second home run of the game, scoring Hardy. Not to be outdone, Machado came up in the 8th and homered to left, scoring Reynolds, making the final scoring line 12-2 Orioles.



The Orioles tied a franchise record hitting 7 home runs in one game. Davis and Machado each hit two home runs tonight, but the Home Run Derby title goes to Davis (below) by virtue of RBIs.

Jone's congratulating Davis on his 2 HR night.

The O's will remain 1.5 games back of the Yankees, but remain a .5 game ahead of the A's in the wild card race. This weekend's series against the Red Sox will be nothing short of spectacular.

Wow, What a Finale.

I tried to sit down after last nights game and write this, but lets be honest, that simply wasn't going to happen.

Lets start with the series finale between the Red Sox and the Orioles. This was not a particularly exciting game, but it did come down to the 9th inning. Down by one, the O's had the bases loaded with only one out. However they could not capitalize when they needed too, Machado grounded into a fielders choice and then Flaherty struck out looking. Luckily for the O's, the Yankee's also lost, so they remained just one game back for 1st place in the AL East.

The O's will look for a quick rebound today, they have to play Toronto in a crucial double header tonight.

Now lets move on to the wild weekend's wild finale. A weekend full of Boston vs. Baltimore came down to football, and a rematch of the AFC Championship Game.

In the first quarter, the Patriots came out of the gate with their high flying offense, quickly going up 3-0. On the Raven's first drive, Flacco threw for an interception, which the Patriots capitalized on, now leading 10-0. Before the 1st quarter came to an end, the Patriots were on top 13-0 and it looked like it would be a long night for Baltimore.

Torrey Smith mid-catch for his first
of two touchdowns.

Flacco came back firing in the second quarter, and if you blinked you probably missed it. Flacco connected on two beautiful touchdown passes to Torrey Smith (pictured right) and Pitta, and before you knew it the Ravens were back on top 14-13 with just over a minute left in the first half. Unfortunately the Patriots still have Tom Brady, and a minute is all he needs. The Patriots marched down the field and the Patriots headed into half time with a 6 point lead over Joe Flacco and the Ravens.

The Ravens got the ball to start the second half, and picked up right where they left off, scoring on a Ray Rice 7-yard touchdown run to make it 21-20.

From here on out it was simply a dueling contest between two elite quarterbacks. Flacco, down by 9, needed two scoring drives and a little bit of help from his defense in the 4th quarter, and that is exactly what he got. Flacco again hit Torrey Smith for a touchdown with just over 4 minutes remaining. On the Patriots ensuing drive it looked like it would be all over for the Ravens. The Pat's were driving and trying to kill the clock. Penalty after penalty was called on the Ravens, including a bench penalty called a John Harbaugh (who just wanted a time-out). The refs were bad enough to elicit a stadium wide chorus of expletives that rhymed with bull spit. (If you don't believe me, or just want to laugh check it out here.)  M&T Bank is always loud, but this chorus was loud enough that on TV, that you could not hear the announcers. The Ravens defense seemingly reacted to the crowd, and forced a punt with 2:01 left in the game. Flacco is no stranger to last minute drives, which would prove crucial in deciding this game.

Tucker celebrating his game winning
last second field goal.  

It all came down to a last second field goal by Justin Tucker (right). For many Ravens fans, this looked all to familiar. The Patriots called a time-out just before Tucker drilled one right down the middle, so the teams lined up once more. With two seconds left on the clock, it was hit or miss, Tucker would either be a hero, or most likely run out of town. The snap wasn't perfect, but veteran punter Sam Koch was able to get the hold down in time. With the kick on its way all of Baltimore held its breath. The kick sailed just inside the right post, and the Ravens win it 31-30.

Now lets focus on some individual players that made this game so great to watch.

First lets look at both quarterbacks. This offseason Flacco was asked if he thought he was an elite quarterback. He responded saying that to be the best you have to think you are the best. National media blew this out of proportion mis-quoting Flacco saying that he thinks he is better than Brady and Rodgers. Well yesterday (and in the AFC Championship game) this proved to be true.

Flacco standing tall in the pocket

Brady went 28/41 with a touchdown, 335 yards and was sacked twice.
Flacco went 23/39 with 3 touchdowns,  382 yards and was not sacked at all.

Flacco simply out dueled Brady last night, putting any ref indecision aside.

Next we have to look at the spectacular play of Torrey Smith. Smith was playing just 16 hours after finding out his younger brother died in a motorcycle accident.

Smith overcome with emotion
following the death of his brother.

Out of no-where Torrey became the Raven's leading receiver, catching 6 balls for 127 yards and two touchdowns. And on plays where Torrey didn't catch the ball, he was usually responsible for one of the underneath routes being wide open. Most of the night Torrey was able to command the respect of a double team, leaving Boldin, Pitta and Ray Rice open for big gains off short throws.

Torrey had his best career game last night, especially considering the extra unusual circumstances under which he was playing. 


Now I was not lucky enough to acquire tickets to the Ravens, Patriots showdown, but several of my friends were. They all said they heard the same thing: as M&T Bank Stadium emptied into the streets of Baltimore their was a loud "Lets Go O's" chant echoing through the city. To be clear, that is "Lets go O's" not "Lets go Ravens."

The Ravens will always be a pride of Baltimore, but this year the city has been swept up in the late September playoff race of our Oriole Birds.

Baltimore vs. Boston

This weekend two cities take center stage in the sports world, Baltimore and Boston square off both in baseball and in football.

The weekend started with baseball, as the O's took on Boston and John Lester. John Lester had never lost a decision against the Orioles, going 14-0 leading into his start Friday Night. Starting against Lester was Orioles pitcher, Miguel Gonzalez. Gonzalez was once a minor leaguer for the Red Sox, so this game posted an opportunity for him to get some revenge on a team the looked past him this offseason. Both pitches pitched great, each giving their team an opportunity to win, so this one really came down to the batters. In this game, Wieters (coming off of a rare two days off) came up huge for the O's with a 3 RBI night. O's pitchers were able to hold off the Red Sox bats, limiting them to just 2 runs. The O's won 4-2 and were able to stay just one game back of the AL East lead. With this win, Baltimore was able to jump out of the gates on a very important weekend. 

Today was just about what you would expect from the Orioles, especially when they are playing in Boston this season. Nothing can be settle in a 9 inning game when in Boston, having played 3 extra-inning games so far this season. The O's were 8-4 against Boston so far this year, and 6-1 when playing in Fenway. This game featured two struggling pitchers, who continued their struggles against each other today. Fortunately, they struggle about as equally as possible. Heading into the 6th inning it was tied 3-3 when Flaherty tripled to deep center field, scoring Davis and Machado, giving the O's a 5-3 lead. Due to a Adam Jones solo home run, the O's took a 6-3 lead into the 7th inning. Arrieta came in and gave up two runs in the 7th, and Strop allowed one in the 8th, eventually tying the game up at 6, setting up yet another extra inning game. Action resumed in the 12 as the O's bats came back to life, scoring 3 runs to make it 9-6. For Baltimore this was great, it set up Jim Johnson to do what he does best, close the game out for a win. Jim Johnson recorded his 47th save and the O's 16th consecutive extra-inning victory. Unfortunately for the O's, the Yankees were once again able to beat the A's in extras, so they are still 1 game back for the AL East lead, but remain in control of the 1st wild card position.

American League East standings as of 9/22

American League Wild Card Standings as of 9/22

This sets the stage for a crucial Sunday for both cities. The Orioles will look to close out their second sweep of Boston at Fenway this season, while the Ravens will look to bounce back from a heartbreak loss to the Eagles, against none other than Tom Brady and the Patriots.

This match up between The Patriots and The Ravens could not be more intriguing for sports fans. In a season that has already been full of surprises, the NFL appears to have done at least one thing right (finally), the put the biggest match up of the weekend in primetime. The Ravens and Patriots both enter this weekend as surprising 1-1 teams. Most NFL analysts would have predicted this match up to be two 2-0 teams both trying to avoid the seasons first loss and looking seize the opportunity to take control of the AFC. But as ESPN's Chris Berman always says, "thats why they play the game." Neither team has had a losing record in quite some time, The Ravens since 2008 and the Patriots not since 2003. The Ravens come into this game on a 11 game home winning streak, but have the vivid memory of losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game stuck in their minds.

This weekend has already proven to be as spectacular as promised for these two cities, with two exciting baseball games, can they finish it even stronger with Sunday afternoon Baseball and Sunday night Football?

What could be more exciting than watching two future Hall of Famers
go at it live in primetime?

O's Magic or Just a Dream

The Orioles just won't stop, they have to make everything difficult!

Following an 18 inning, nearly 6 hour, marathon on Tuesday night the Orioles had one thing in mind, keeping the game short, and getting to Boston as early as possible. Any road series is difficult, but having six consecutive games on the west coast, an all to short day off, and three games in Boston could have been deadly for O's. Making everything worse is the fact that the O's just couldn't seem to put away the Mariners in 9 innings of baseball.

Joe Saunders got the start for the O's on Wednesday and, following the 18 inning game, was giving just one job, pitch as deep into the game as possible. Saunders took that one job with open arms. In the first two innings Saunders threw just 16 pitches, a fairly standard one inning performance. Saunders kept this up allowing just 1 run in 8 innings pitched. On any normal team this would have been perfect, call in the closer and game over, but not the O's. Yes Saunders pitched great, but unfortunately he was pitching against Felix Hernandez, the Mariners ace. Because King Felix also only allowed 1 run through 8 innings, the O's brought in relief pitcher Darren O'Day instead of closer Jim Johnson. O'Day pitched great in the 9th and was relieved by struggling pitcher Pedro Strop. Strop continued to struggle last night, walking the first batter he faced, allowing him to steal second, and then walking another to end his night. Brian Matusz came on to face a pinch hitter, which he struck out on 4 pitches. But instead of getting out of the inning, he walked the next batter he faced, loading the bases for Luis Ayala. Ayala was able to get out of the jam and keep a win possible for the O's.

With one out and the bases empty Nate McLouth came to the plate in the top of the 11th. McLouth singled to center field securing yet another multi-hit game. This brought up Adam Jones, king of late game heroics. Adam Jones then homered giving the O's a 3-1 lead, Jones' 30th home run of the year, and his 19th home run that has either tied the game, or giving them the lead. The O's never looked back from this 3-1 lead, bringing in Jim Johnson in the bottom of the 11th. Johnson wasn't perfect in his 45th save, needed a crucial double play to keep the save intact, but he got their. With 2 outs and runners on the corners, Mariners Michael Saunders attempted to steal 2nd. "Second string" catcher Taylor Teagarden did his best Matt Wieters impression and threw him out at 2nd ending the game. This put the O's 21 games above .500 and advanced them to 15-2 in extra inning games this season.

This is either a magical year for the O's, in which records have been broken, and players have come out of no where to play a major role (McLouth), or it is just a dream. The next series against the Red Sox will be tough, they will be looking for revenge from last years late September match ups. The Red Sox and O's are in a complete role reversal from last year, The O's looking to make the playoffs and the Sox looking to play spoiler. It came down to the last game of the year last year, when O's were able to win and knock the Sox playoff hopes down the drain.

O's Win Another Marathon

This week has been able to post two great O's games. Monday night the Oriole's came out swinging, putting up 7 runs in the first two innings. The Mariners had to go to the bull pen early, starting the parade in the 2nd inning. Oriole's starter Chris Tillman came out dealing, and combined with the power hitting early, this game was over before it really started. With a few late inning scores, the Mariners made the game look a lot closer than it actually was. The final line was a 10-4 Orioles victory.

Tuesday night could not have been more different of an experience. Both starting pitchers were fantastic, yet Mariners' starting pitcher, Ramirez had the upper hand. Chen only pitched 5 and a third innings, throwing 103 pitches. Ramirez was able to pitch into the 9th, yet was unable to put the game away. Chen started great, and really only had one mistake, a 2 run shot in the 4th of the bat of catcher Miguel Olivo. The score remained the same, 2-0 Mariners, until the top of the 9th inning. Ramirez came out to try and finish off a complete game shut-out. O's manager Buck starting pushing all the right buttons here, bringing in pinch hitter Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty singled, and was followed up by another Nate McLouth single, ending Ramirez's night. Hardy sacrifice bunted to move the runners over for struggling Chris Davis. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, Chris Davis poked a single just through the gap by second base, breaking his 0-8 mini-slump. Both runners were able to score making the game 2-2 at the end of 9. In the top of the 11th the o's had the bases loaded with 2 outs for catcher Matt Wieters, it looked like the game could be almost over. Wieters proceeded to strike out on three straight pitches ending the O's chances. (Now to be honest, this is when I stopped watching and went to bed). It was not until the 18th inning that the O's were finally able to break through. Pinch hitting Teagarden came on with McLouth already on 3rd, due to a Reynolds "hit-and-run" style play and Reynolds on 1st. On what looked like a hit-and-run, Teagarden singled and allowed McLouth to score and Reynolds to move over to second. Later Reynolds scored to make the game 4-2. Johnson then came on to do what he does best, getting his MLB leading 44th save in 47 attempts.

The O's look to keep the magic going, after all the are 20 games about .500 for the first time since 1997! The Yankees were inactive Monday, and rained out last night, so the O's were not able to take over control of 1st, but they are practically tied heading into Wednesday. With the Yanks playing a double header today, and the O's trying to finish out a sweep of the Mariners, today could prove crucial in the AL East post season race.

In the aftermath of an 18 inning marathon, the O's have called up top prospect Dylan Bundy. Bundy is 19 and becomes the O's first player under 20 to make his debut since 1967. Bundy is currently listed as No. 2 on MLB.com's 100 top prospects list. Because the O's used 7 relief pitchers last night, Bundy is expected to be available out of the bullpen for tonights series finale. Should he be needed to come on, O's fans will be looking for a strong performance, after all you can never have to many solid arms in the thick of a late September pennant race.

Intro to Me and My Blog

Hello Everyone!

I am a college sophomore living and studying in Maryland. I am a history major with absolutely no experience or training in journalism. Ask my mom, I have always loved sports, everything to do with sports. As a kid, I would wake up nice and early, watch an hour or so of Animal Planet, and then switch over hours and hours of SportsCenter. I have always loved to talk sports, and often get very frustrated by national media.

My goal for this blog is to cover major sports events across the nation, as well as focus on the Baltimore Ravens, and Baltimore Orioles. Yes, I do have a hometown bias for both of these teams, but I will do my best to look at these two teams with as much objectivity as possible.

Hope you all enjoy!