In a twisting, turning game that was long on offense, short on pitching and entertaining to the end, the Orioles outlasted the Rangers’ late attack to win 10-9 over the Texas Rangers in Arlington to go to 5-2 on the season. The Birds jumped ahead 2-0 in the first inning and had fallen behind 4-2 by the fourth inning. Led by four hits from Aubrey Huff and three from Brian Roberts, the Orioles scored eight runs in the 4th and 5th innings and held a 10-4 advantage and Koji Uehara was rolling into the 6th inning when he fell apart giving way to Danys Baez and the bullpen of arsonists.
The Rangers scored five unanswered runs late in the game and had pulled within 10-9 by the 9th inning.
The Rangers got two baserunners on in the 9th inning and even pulled off a double steal before George Sherrill gave everyone a Don Stanhouse-like scare (thrill?) before fanning Marlon Byrd to end a 3:16 epic.
The game featured 27 hits — 16 by the Orioles, including four by Huff who is doing a nice interview with his co-worker Amber Theoharis.
Great defense by Nick Markakis. Great defense by Brian Roberts. Great offense from the top of the Orioles’ order.
The Orioles are 5-2.
Oh, yeah. And the Orioles wore BALTIMORE on their chests and the game was in HD with Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer tonight from Arlington.
My running blog is below and features more than just the game.
11:14 p.m. — Wow, Nick Markakis might’ve just single-handededly won the game with a diving, flailing catch at the wall of a ball that Michael Young just clobbered. It would’ve been a double and might’ve even been an inside the parker with a bad hop. Kinsler almost got doubled off after hitting a foul line double down the right field line to start the inning. No doubt this one should be tied. Cakes made the best defensive play of his career in a big, big spot. Good work!
11:10 p.m. — Frank Francisco came in and just flat pumped gas. Three up, three down and Roberts, Jones and Markakis didn’t look to be a factor with the big guy. He was impressive. Now, here comes George Sherrill. Gary Thorne just said: “Put your seat belts on…” No doubt. They’re three outs from a 5-2 start. This is a big inning. They can’t blow this massive lead all the way, can they? Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Josh Hamilton. That’s a helluva test…
11:01 p.m. — Dave Trembley is “managing” this one by the book. He’s going to go matchup-by-matchup and play the numbers. Jim Johnson is next to get some work to face Taylor Teagarden, one of the more colorful names in the big leagues. Johnson goaded T2 into a flyout to Adam Jones. And Brian Roberts just robbed Elvis Andrus of a single by diving into the hole on one of the best plays of this — or any other — season. Major leather from BRob! Onto the ninth. George Sherrill will get a save opportunity.
10:52 p.m. — A leadoff double by Luke Scott is wasted. The Orioles have 16 hits. They had a six-run lead in Texas, where no lead is safe. They even got a decent start from Uehara. But it hasn’t been enough to put away the explosive Rangers. Bottom of the order is coming up for the Rangers and it’s as soft as the Orioles bottom three are on a nightly basis. I expect pinch-hitting. Jamie Walker is next up for the O’s…
10:41 p.m. — Andruw Jones just hit a monster homer off of Danys Baez, who stinks. It was a two-run job and the score is now 10-9. It was 10-4 when I turned it on a half hour ago. It’s only the 7th inning. I have a feeling the fireworks are far from over — on both sides!
10:39 p.m. –What a strange day? I got to work at 1:15 and by 1:45 Harry Kalas was being rushed to the hospital and was reported dead at 1:54. At Padonia Station at 6:40 p.m. Ray Bachman told me that Mark Fidrych had died. And on the way back from the show with Billick and DeCosta tonight, my wife told me that she saw on the web that Marilyn Chambers died. A very weird day when three celebs who I interacted with all die in the same news cycle…
Harry Kalas came on my show anytime we ever asked him. He was just a super nice man. My heart breaks for all of his many, many friends and admirers. He was the voice of Philadelphia. He was the voice of the NFL. As a guy who has made a living in radio, he was a very inspirational, powerful voice. A tragic loss for many…
Mark “The Bird” Fidrych will always hold a special place in my heart. He was just fantastic for a 7-year old boy to watch during the summer of 1976. I was a baseball freak and he was a loveable superstar. Just a magic summer he had, only to be replicated once that I can think of, and that was Fernando Valenzuela (who was also a super good guy!) I interviewed Fidrych at a few All-Star Games back in the 1990’s and he even did a radio liner for me. He had a thick New England accent and the same floppy hair.
Ah, Marliyn Chambers. Well, I didn’t interview her as much as I called in as a listener to ask her a question when she was on the Tom Snyder overnight radio show. I did it as “a dare” with the guys on the sports desk at The Evening Sun in the late 1980’s. The culprits shall remain nameless, but I remember sitting in Jack Gibbons’ office at 2:15 a.m. with the lights off talking with Marilyn Chambers and Snyder saying “You’re on the air!” I don’t even remember what question I asked her, but I’m sure it was something stupid.
Like I said, just a weird night and now the O’s are trying to blow this one…
10:28 p.m. — I just got back from Padonia Station where we had an awesome evening with Brian Billick and Eric DeCosta. It was a rambling 90-minute discussion about all things purple and NFL draft. Good stuff…can’t wait for you to hear it and see it! I’ll splice the videos in with the “Coors Light King of Baltimore Sportstalk” auditions.
I flipped the Birds game on and the score after their early fireworks was 10-4. Lots of hits, lots of runs and Koji Uehara looked like a legit No. 2 starter for the second time, doing a decent job of keeping the Rangers at bay until he fell apart in the sixth and couldn’t get anyone out.
Enter Danys Baez…
He’s didn’t quell the storm, but it’s now 10-7 and the O’s are into the bullpen and have nine outs left and three runs to give to baseball most potent offensive attack.
It’s still a game…
