Nate The Great

Game 4 of the ALDS between the Yankees and the Oriole's was as exciting as advertised.

The pitching matchup is not as intriguing as a typical post season matchup, Phil Hughes of the Yankees was taking on Joe Saunders for the Orioles.

Phil Hughes is a typical number 4 for any organization, but Joe Saunders would fit into most teams minor league systems. Saunders does not have a particularly quick fastball, he does not have any spectacular "strike-out" pitch, he is by many standards, average. But how he uses his pitches, his command, and his experience were all the O's needed. Saunders pitched the Orioles to victory in the Wild Card game, and facing elimination, all they needed was a repeat performance, shouldn't be too hard right? Well maybe not, but with the Yankees, nothing is easy, especially not in the post season.

At the start, everything seemed to be going the Orioles way, McLouth led off with a walk, and Hardy attempted a sac-bunt to move him over. But Hardy's bunt rode the foul line all the way to the bag, staying just far, allowing Hardy to reach safely, and Hardy to advance. But Hughes was able to rally for three straight fly-outs to end the O's early chance.

Saunders settled into the game nicely, not allowing a hit until the 3rd. In the 3rd, Hughes walked the lead off man for the second time, Machado was able to draw the walk, and McLouth quickly doubled to right to advance Machado all the way to third. But then Hardy grounded to short, and Machado was thrown out at home. So just like the first inning, the O's went quietly after a quick start.

Nate McLouth homers to
take the lead in the 5th 

Now fast forward to the top of the 5th, and McLouth is lead off man again. McLouth had walked and doubled in his two at bats so far, and he wasted no time adding to an impressive game. McLouth his a solo HR to break the ice and give Baltimore a 1-0 advantage in the 5th.

McLouth saving a run with
 his spectacular catch and
double play in the 5th

After an impressive HR, Saunders walked the Yankees lead off man, and quickly struck out a struggling Granderson. Jason Nix stepped up with one out and a man on first, and he hit the ball hard to deep left field. McLouth, who had just hit his home run, made a leaping catch up against the wall, and had the presence of mind to get the double play at 1st, ending the Yankee's chances in the 5th. However the Yankee's were eventually able to score on an RBI single from Jeter in the 6th.

With the game tied at 1-1, and the endless parade of match-up relief pitchers, the game was now in the 13th inning, the second straight extra inning game, and the first time in league history the same post-season series has gone more than 12 innings in back to back meetings. With most of their match-up pitchers already used, both managers had to turn to their long relievers. The Orioles went with red hot O'Day and then followed with a well rested Pedro Strop. The Yankees went with Joba Chamberlain, but then quickly had to bring in Phelps, (due to an elbow injury to Chamberlain) and eventually Clay Rapada.

Hardy with a stand up double
to score Machado in the 13th

In the top of the 13th, Clay Rapada gave up a lead off double to Many Machado, McLouth grounded out to second advancing Machado to 3rd. Hardy came up with one out and a runner on 3rd. All night the O's went hitless with runners in scoring position, but a quick look to the jovial O's dugout gave you the sense that this would result in a different story. Hardy hit the ball hard to deep left, where it dropped in just in front of the fence, giving the O's a 2-1 lead with Hardy on 2nd.

O's celebrate an extra inning
 victory to force a game 5. 

Jim Johnson came on in the bottom of the 13th, and did what he does best, retire the side.

The O's were able to pull out the victory in Game 4, just past midnight eastern time. This forces a Game 5 to be played this evening, with a first pitch scheduled for just past 5. This gives coaches and players just about 17 hours to recoup from last night and get ready to play again. Both teams will pitch the same pitchers from Game 1, meaning Hammel for the O's and CC Sabathia for the Yankees. This marks the first time since the beginning of the divisional series that all 4 series will have a game 5. Both the Orioles and Yankees will be looking for the opportunity to take on Detroit in the ALCS with a win tonight.


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Birdland Woes

Sunday promised to be an exciting day for sports fans across the nation, but a special note went to the fans in Baltimore. Across that nation there were great match ups across the board in several sporting events, the NFL and MLB took center stage. Brady vs. Manning is an intriguing match up at any point in any season, especially when its been more than a year since the two have met. Andrew Luck leading a comeback against Aaron Rodgers, a match up featuring two quarterbacks facing the same role, following a legend. Drew Brees completing a touchdown pass for the record breaking 48th time. And of course, you have the MLB playoffs.

In Baltimore, The Orioles were playing their rival The Yankees in Baltimore, and the Ravens were taking on the Kansas City Chiefs, two exciting games for the city of Baltimore. 

Ray Rice powering for a first down
in Sundays victory. 

For the Ravens many will call it a disappointing game. One of the top five offenses in the Ravens were going up against a 1-3 Chiefs team. It certainly was not a pretty game. The offense went 3-11 on third down, notching just under 300 total yards. The defense gave up 214 rushing yards, 140 of them to Jamaal Charles. But as Ray Lewis said, "The ones that count the most are never the prettiest. The ones that count the most are the ones that you have to fight through. Anybody on each side of the ball will tell you they'll take a 'W' before anything."

The Ravens did come out victorious, winning on 3 Tucker FG's, 9-6, and at the end of the day, the Ravens are 4-1, and in control of the AFC North. The few bright spots of the game were Ray Rice and Paul Kruger. Ray Rice rushed for 102 yards on the day, and racked up 6.0 yards per carry. Ray was able to power his way for a few 3rd and 1 type rushes for 1st downs. Kruger came up big in the 2nd half, having 3 tackles for a lose, and many more big time run stops.

Moving on to baseball, The Orioles vs. The New York Yankees. This game ultimately was to be decided 6 and a half hours after the schedules first pitch. 

Both CC Sabathia and Jason Hammel started well for their respective teams, but eventually Hammel would have to give way to the bullpen, while Sabathia made it 1 out away from a complete game. 

Hammel pitched strong through 5.2 innings, but the pitch count would bring his night to an early end. Patton came on in relief and got the O's out of jam to end the 6th. After Patton struggled early in the 7th, O'Day came on to keep the game at a 2-2 draw. Matusz came on in the 8th and pitched spectacularly. Both O'Day and Matusz were able to get out of their innings hitless, setting up Johnson to pitch in the 9th. 

The O's were able to capitalize early on the rare Yankee's mistakes to take a 2-1 lead. Eventually it would be a 2-2 tie entering the 9th. Johnson came on trying to preserve the tie for the O's offense in the bottom of the 9th. Unfortunately that is not at all how it went for Johnson. This season he has struggled in non-save situations, and that is the position he was in last night. Johnson gave up 5 hits and 5 runs, leading the an Orioles 7-2 loss. 

Fans in Baltimore were quick to blame Buck Showalter and Johnson today, but I am not here to do that. I think it was a well managed game, against a truly special pitcher. Sabathia threw a gem of a game against the Orioles, and maybe we just have to tip our caps in respect, and look for a win tonight. Many fans in Baltimore will panic after going down 0-1 in the series, but I promise you no one within the organization will. As Buck always says, our number one pitcher is the guy pitching that night. Well tonight that is Chen, who lead the team in wins and ERA this season. The Yankees clear number one pitcher is Sabathia, and it is all down hill from there for the Yankees. The O's were able to get 7 hits off Sabathia, they just weren't able to get him to break with runners in scoring position. With a little better discipline at the plate tonight, they will be able to do just fine against Pettitte. The O's were 3-3 agains the Yanks in Baltimore this season, and they will look to go 1-1 in the post season. Should the O's win tonight they will go to New York tied 1-1. The O's were 6-3 in New York this year, so I will take our chances if we go to New York tied. 

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BOHlieve

15 years since the Orioles last playoff birth.

Saunders being congratulated for his
performance Friday night. 

Texas has played in the last two World Series. 

 Joe Saunders went 9-13 this season.

Yu Darvish went 16-9 in his rookie season. 

Joe Saunders was 0-6 lifetime when playing at Texas. 

Yu Darvish was 10-0 when facing a team for the first time. 

All stats logically lead to a Rangers victory, but as Chris Berman always reminds us, "thats why we play that game."

The Orioles did not waste time, getting lead of hitter Nate McLouth on with an error. After stealing 2nd, Hardy brought home McLouth on a single to center field. The Orioles had a 1-0 lead early. 

Sauders struggled at the start, walking Ian Kinsler, and then giving up a single to Elvis Andrus. Hamilton then grounded into a double play, but not before the Rangers scored Kinsler making it a 1-1 ball game. 

The game was a pitchers duel from here on out. Saunders matched Darvish out for out into the 6th inning. He did what many people were considering the impossible, he gave the O's a chance to win. In the 6th, Adam Jones hit a sacrifice fly to deep right, scoring JJ Hardy, giving the Orioles a 2-1 lead. O'Day came on with two outs in the 6th and pitched great. O'Day pitched 2 full innings, giving up just one hit and no runs. With Hamilton coming up to bat, the O's brought in lefty specialist Matusz, who struck out Hamilton on three straight pitches. 

Through the innings, the O's were able to add some insurance runs to make the game 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th. Closer Jim Johnson came on, fresh off his 51 save season, trying to close out his first post-season save. Of course this could not be done simply, thats not the Orioles way. Johnson loaded the bases off a single, walk, single. With two outs and the bases loaded, David Murphy came up to pinch-hit. Murphy was one of two players to hit a home run off of Johnson this year. Fortunately for the O's, Johnson got him to fly out to left field, securing a victory for the O's. 

Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton
console each other after
a heart break 5-1 lose.

Texas will be left with many questions tonight and in the coming days. Center Fielder, and power hitting Josh Hamilton is now a free agent. A team that was coming off of two straight World Series appearances, and was 5 games up in the division with 6 games left, will now be watching the rest of the playoffs from their couches.   

The Orioles will now come home for the American League Division Series against the Yankees. This will be a best of 5 series, playing the first 2 in Baltimore before heading up to New York for the remaining 3 possible games. The Orioles and Yankees split the season series at 9 a piece, setting up a great story line for a rival match-up.

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The Orioles celebrate their 5-1 victory in Texas.

The Post Season

For a few teams, these next few days and weeks will be the fulfillment of a life long dream. For a few teams, they have reasserted their annual dominance in baseball, for others, it has been a long time since the last time they have taken part in the joyous post season.

First lets look at the National League

Friday St. Louis will take on the Atlanta Braves, both had interesting stories last year. St. Louis won the World Series against all odds, twice getting down to the last out before storming back to win. On the other hand, there is Atlanta. The Braves just barely missed out on a wild card birth last year. At the beginning of this season, respected veteran Chipper Jones announced that this would be his last year. The Braves gave him everything he could have asked for this year, giving him the chance to go out on top, on the biggest stage.

The rest of the NL playoff picture is filled out with San Francisco, Cincinnati and Washington. The SF Giants endured a season of ups and downs to quietly make it to the playoffs, as did the Reds. Most of the NL drama unfolded through the Washington Nationals. This team endured tough decisions about ace pitcher Strasburg, deciding to shut him down during the season. The Nationals were still able to make the playoffs for the first time since moving to Washington.

Now we take a look at the American League.

In what proved to be a wild Wednesday night, The A's came out the big winners. The A's completed a sweep over their division rivals, the Texas Rangers. By sweeping the Rangers, The A's were able to take 1st place in the division, and knock Texas down to a wild card team.

Next the Red Sox played the Yankees. The Yankees were in control of their own destiny, win and they would win the AL East, and that is exactly what they did. The Yanks left nothing up to fate, they took an early lead in the game and never looked back, eventually winning 12-2.

With the Yankees win, the Orioles could only be a Wild Card team, win or lose. But they still had motivation to win. If the Orioles won, they would have had home field advantage for the wild card game. Instead they lost to Tampa Bay 4-0, and have to travel to Texas for a one game showdown in Arlington on Friday night.

The post season, like so many before it, promises to be exciting.

On the not so good side are the teams that missed out. Tampa Bay was one of three teams to have their third straight 90 win season, along with Texas and the Yankees. Unfortunately for Tampa, this did not result in a post season birth. In Boston, a disappointing season led to the firing of first year manager Bobby Valentine. Valentine struggled right from the beginning, being micro managed by the front office, and was never able to gain the respect of the players. All of that culminated in his being fired just a few hours after the last game of the season.

What to Expect

Heading into the last games of the regular season many things are left undetermined, especially for the AL East.

After last nights stellar pitching performance in Tampa, the Orioles remain one game back of the Yankees.

Tampa Bay's James Shields not only had a career night, he also pitched for a franchise record. James Shields gave the Rays one of the best pitching performances they have had this year, and in their franchise's history. Shields struck out 15 batters last night, and didn't walk a single batter in a complete game. Unfortunately for Shields, not everything went this well for the Rays.

Two of the Oriole's greatest success stories paired up last night, to provide the Orioles with a much needed victory.

Miguel Gonzalez started the year in the Red Sox organization. After being cut before the regular season started, Gonzalez was left contemplating what to do with his career. Gonzalez was set to move back to Mexico and pitch for a Mexican league, until the Orioles gave him a call. Gonzalez then was given an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues due to the Orioles' starting pitching struggles. Gonzalez took that opportunity and ran with it. He has had a spectacular season, getting 9 wins and only 4 loses in 15 starts. Last night Gonzalez pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just 2 hits and no runs. Setting up Matusz, O'Day, and Johnson to pitch a scoreless rest of the game. Johnson also recorded his league leading 51st save last night.

Gonzalez would need a little help from the offense of course, which would not come easily. As I said above, Shields pitched a spectacular complete game, making only one mistake. Unfortunately for him, that mistake came against red-hot Chris Davis. Shortly after finding out that he had been named Co-AL player of the week, Davis hit his 7th home run in 6 games. That was Davis' 33rd home run of the season, passing Jones for the team lead.

The team improved to 74-0 when leading after the 7th inning, and to 29-8 in one run ball games.

Looking ahead to tonight and to the playoffs leave several questions to be answered.

Currently the Orioles would have the top Wild-Card spot, which (due to season series records) would leave Baltimore traveling to either Oakland or Texas (depending on which teams wins the head to head match up tonight) for a one game Wild Card match up.

If the Orioles win and the Yankees lose, there would have to be a one game playoff to determine who wins the AL East. This playoff game would be held Thursday in Baltimore. The winner of that game would win the division, while the loser would have to travel to Texas or Oakland on Friday.

ESPN and MLB analysts both agree that the Orioles are in a better spot than the Yankees should they have to go through this series of one game playoffs. The Oriole's do not have to rely on one great starting pitcher, rather a relatively solid starting rotation to carry them through these games. Should the Yankees have to pitch their ace in a playoff on thursday, they would be left helpless in a wild card game (Should they lose).

No matter what, the Orioles have one thing on their mind. Chris Tillman vs. Jeremy Hellickson. The Orioles want to win tonight, and let what ever happens happen. Manager Buck Showalter continues to preach his one game at a time mentality, while admitting that their ultimate goal is to win the AL East.