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.
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| 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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