And THIS is what can happen when the starting pitching isn’t perfect but gives you a chance, the offense does JUST enough and the bullpen is SHUTDOWN = win! win! win!
ON THE MOUND
Houdini Joe showed up vs. his old team at Camden Yards . . .
allowing the lead-off batter to reach in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th innings
~AND~
working with a runner in scoring position in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th innings
But, able to escape damage until the 6th, when that lead-off runner finally came around to score on Valencia’s home run and the O’s took the lead 2-1. But, in the end, Joe’s ability to work out of trouble kept the M’s in it (with a little help from his BP)
SIX innings ~ EIGHT hits ~ TWO earned runs ~ TWO walks ~ TWO strikeouts
} Yoervis ‘s 7th was impressive, to say the least, as he retired the heart of the O’s order IN order: Machado (K), Jones (K) and Davis (1-pitch groundout) and then he followed up with a 1-2-3 8th (and economical as well – only 21 pitches)
} Danny (aka: Lord Farquhar) earned his second major league save, in as many chances, and preserved the game victory for Joe and the series victory for the M’s
Quite the development of Danny going on before our very eyes . . .
the volume of K’s has been eye-popping from the beginning but, he started out giving up a LOT of runs as well. In the pre-game, both Mike Blowers and Danny himself mentioned that he had “re-introduced” his curve ball to keep the hitters off balance (had previously relied a little to heavily on the cutter) and, pitching inside ~ the results are astounding . . .
- first 10.2 innings of his season = 18 K’s, 10ER
- next 9 innings = 10K’s, 3 ER
- last 16 innings = 24 K’s, 7 ER
AT THE PLATE
~ the Ancient Mariners with ALL the M’s RBI today: Raul’s RBI double and Hank’s TWO-run homer
~ AB of the game (though it didn’t result in a run) was Justin’s 16-pitch base hit in the 4th
~ hit of the game was no doubt Hank’s 2-run homer in the 7th (apparently he can hit homers other than grand slams and in non-Felix games 😉 ) that was the first Chen had given up at Camden Yards all year – it recaptured the lead for the M’s that they would not relinquish
IN THE FIELD
* one DP turned (Brendan-Brad-Justin)
* no DP’s turned against the M’s but, wow can Chen can field his position! (see top 5th)
* defensive play of the game ~ Brad’s WebGem for the first out in the 9th, smash liner that he had to dive for
tweets of the game . . .
https://twitter.com/HeyImSwash/status/364096705307754497
Compass Rosy 