Going Up Against the Best
At 48-28, the Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball. At 38-36, the Orioles are arguably the most surprising. So while this isn’t exactly a clash of the titans it is, at least, an interesting matchup. Tonight it takes the form of Jeremy “Quality Start” Guthrie opposite lefty Sean Marshall. Game on.
Guthrie has only ever faced 4 Cubs: Blanco (2 for 2), Cedeno (1 for 1), DeRosa (1 for 1), and Ramirez (0 for 2). Only one Oriole has ever faced Marshall, and that (weirdly enough) is Lance Cormier, who’s 0 for 1 with a BB. On the whole I think that gives the O’s a slight advantage in this one.
The Orioles, as we all know, were terrible in interleague play (79-114) before this year. So far, though, they’ve put up a relatively impressive 8-4 mark. I’m thinking that anything other than getting swept will be A-OK for this series.
Note: don’t forget that tonight is radio night for me, as I join the Fighting Ungers from 6:30 (or maybe a little earlier) until 8. Tune in to 1570 AM or go to wnst.net and click on “listen live” (it’s buried at the top near the logo).
Tonight’s a special appearance, too, because I’m bringing my own bumper music. Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses, the National, the Strokes, Secret Machines…should be fun.
If we’re going to win, tonight’s out night…
I’d have liked it if we had beat Milwaukee one more time, but 1 win is all I want (and really, more than i expect) against the Cubs.
I realize that this is kind of getting ahead…but i was looking for tickets to saturdays O’s/Nat’s game, and stumbled about their promotion for this sunday:
NATS CONVERSION DAY
“The first 10,000 fans that bring in any old MLB merchandise – hats, t-shirts, anything – can trade it in for a brand-new Nats Curly W cap courtesy of ExxonMobil. ”
Interesting…I wonder what fanbase they’re going after there?! Consider this WAR.
I don’t know, Ryan…that doesn’t seem like much to get riled about. It actually sounds like a pretty cool promotion.
The thing for me is, I don’t have any problem with the Nats. As long as they’re not playing the O’s I hope they do well.
AWESOME catch by Markakis.
Palmer also made a comment about how Pineilla likes Markakis’ play, but called him “Nickomaklis”. lol I love Sweet Lou.
Alright! Here comes Luuuke hitting for the cycle! The triple is always the hardest one to get.
Os 2-0
Tejada so far: .294, 10 hr, 43 rbi, .332 obp, .468 slg
Scott so far: .266, 12 hr, 28 rbi, .351 obp, .500 slg
Tejada’s having a better year than I realized, but we came out just fine in that deal. Plus now we can yell “Luuuuuuuuke!” at the yard, and ‘ol Miggy never gave us anything like that.
Homer + walk = take a deep breath, Jeremy. Gotta calm this inning down.
Tonight is Cintron Bobble-Ball night.
*le sigh*
Neal, I was parading the idea that the offense would be more or less identical to last years, based mostly on Scott replicating 2007 era Tejada’s production months ago. You gotta love that slugging percentage, though. Scott’s really blown me (away).
I knew it had been mentioned before but that triple made me want to actually look at the stats. I think you’re right that at the end of the year Scott will be probably where he’s at now, which is just a hair under Tejada’s production.
Good Lord!
B Rob was running like people were chasing him!
Oh, also, I’ve got some big/awesome news: as of right now, the plan is for me to guest on the Ungers’ show every Tuesday instead of just every other Tuesday. There’ll be more to say about it I’m sure, but for now suffice to say that I’m stoked. I don’t know how many of you get a chance to listen but we put on a pretty damn good show (in my humble opinion).
Hell yeah clutch hitting, and…the starter is chased!
I couldnt get the internet audio working tonight…sorry Neal, I usually enjoy you with the Ungers.
Also, ROberts needs 1 hit to get to 1000, so that’s pretty exciting!
thats awesome, neal! I’d listen, but I live out in God’s Country where even 1340 AM is barely heard.
WOW, practically the entire Cubs infield almost ran into each other at the pitcher’s mound to catch that last out. I know injuries aren’t *supposed* to be funny….BUT…that would have been.
Yeah the audio stream was busted tonight for some reason. But thanks for listening when you can — same for everybody else. It’s a lot of fun and, more importantly, it’s also good for the LC community. Somebody called the studio today to double check the name/URL of the site, so we’re making inroads slowly but surely.
Of course we are. We rock.
3 double plays tonight on the correct side of the diamond, after 5 on the wrong side sunday….is the hunter jinx over?
Look at Scott hustling…that’s a single for 8 out of 10 players in the bigs. Love it.
And it pays off as Alex Cintron gets the job done. 5-1…
I love those odd angles in the old park’s outfield corners, they create so many extra base hits.
Congratulations to Brian Roberts – 1000 hits, where does the time go?
And Roberts knocks a triple for his 1,000th hit…so sweet.
Makes me feel like singing…
You guys did know that song was up there, right? I don’t even know where I got it so feel free to take it and do with it what you will. I saw Wayward O posted it recently, too — hopefully it’ll experience a renaissance.
Also I wanted to let everyone know that I added a new link to the sidebar: Pitching Ideas. Mike got in touch specifically to tell me he’s a fan of the LC, and that makes him solid in my book.
I also deleted — finally — the “Behind Enemy Lines Alliance” links. That was a fine idea that went, well, nowhere.
Now if you can get an auto updating thread going…
That might be cool but I don’t know that it’s feasible within the WordPress system. I think we might just have to live with clicking the refresh button.
Dang, this is like the inverse of that Brew Crew game. Lots of GIDPs.
JJ Boat isn’t looking too good…17 walks?!
This is kind of ugly. The Cubs really are that good, apparently.
Flat. Brim.
Whew! The Cubs aren’t just good, they are insane. But I don’t think even they can overcome Marshall’s poor start against Sherrill et al. That said, we will now lose by a lot (or 4 I guess).
We really lucked out with Big Z’s injury giving us Marshall tonight. We dodged all of Chicago’s really good pitchers, so hopefully we can sneak in and steal a couple and sneak out. But 1 is more than I expect, and I like I see so far tonight. We stay in a lot of the games we’re losing, putting the winning run on base in the 9th often, which is what you have to like, right?
Definitely , Andrew. It’s been awhile since I’ve not only not had to shut off the game in disgust, but also just HAD to listen to the end because, well, you never know… I’m loving this season.
Good God!
How ’bout them Bucs dropping the Yankees 12-5?!
Ergh…I can’t take this kind of Stanhousian closing everyday, George. Just so you know. You’re killling me. If Earl still had a tv, he’d be dead by now because of you.
Oh, boy…
Well, fellas, the O’s are probably going to lose this game. Time to just put it out there and move on. Hell of an effort and all that, but the Cubs are insane.
Right now my biggest concern is Sherril. If he needs a stint on the 15-day DL, so be it. He’s not on his game right now and we can’t afford to have him spiral into the ether.
This hurts and sucks so much.
If we still win this…Sherrill is the fucking Devil.
Indeed. BUT – you know, their the Cubs. Tip your hat and move on, that’s the creed, isn’t it?
…double play, I’m calling it.
They’re the Cubs. I’m an idiot. Sherrill looks like he needs a break.
yesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Holy crap! What the hell is this?
How did we win this game???
It’s never easy when it’s flat and breezy.
That’s it. Sherrill is the spawn of Satan and he will defeat all who face him.
Orioles Black Magic!
YOU NEVER KNOW.
He was just fucking with me. “I think I’ll load the bases just to show that jackass who runs The Loss Column how good I really am. Put this on the DL, punk!”
Wyatt, which Jacksonville are you in? MD? FL? NC? Just curious.
I think George just read about Stanhouse recently is all and wanted that aspect of the old Orioles back, too.
And to think that Millar predicted that this would be the World Series matchup…
That performance right there ought to pretty much stamp FlatBrim’s passport to the All Star game. If we only get one — and, unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that’s how it’ll go — then I’m happy and proud that it’s him. I can’t wait to see him rock the hell out of a flatbrimmed AL cap.
I’m in Florida.