The Maryland Sports Blog

Baltimore Orioles first basemen, Ty Wigginton, exploded after an obvious blown call by first base umpire, Gary Darling. The play involved Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy and his fingers and arms being tagged out before reaching first base.

Wigginton’s reaction signaled a failed call by the umpire. Sunflower seeds sprouted out of Wigginton’s mouth and a ball was nonchalantly tossed into the crowd after Ty was corralled by his manager. It appeared Wigginton had experience at being thrown out be the was it was so perfectly executed. In a game a few years back, in which I had seats behind third base, I remember Ty being thrown out right in front of me, while his Tampa Bay hat was tossed into the stands.

Later in the game, pitching coach, Rick Kranitz and manager, Juan Samuel followed their All-Star into the clubhouse after being ejected one by one. Samuel tried to match Wigginton’s intensity, and without a doubt he did.

It was very entertaining game to watch. The Orioles may have been shut out but we were treated to fireworks of another kind.

Thanks to Harry Hammel for editing this post.

Just kidding…we all still know who Cliff Lee is. But Chris Tillman and the O’s offense stole his thunder on Saturday night, as the Birds beat Texas for the third straight game, 6-1.

In Lee’s debut as a Texas Ranger, Tillman out-pitched his mound counterpart. Tillman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and took the win, allowing one unearned run through 7 1/3 solid frames, walking one and fanning three.

The Birds welcomed Lee to Texas with home runs in three consecutive innings…Nick Markakis went deep in the fourth, Cesar Izturis blasted a solo shot (his first round-tripper of the season) in the fifth and Adam Jones hit a two-run bomb in the sixth inning to give the O’s a 5-0 lead. Jones’ 14th homer ties him with Ty Wigginton for most on the club this season…

Believe it or not, this marks the first time the Birds have won a road series all season! The two teams go at it again Sunday afternoon…Jake Arrieta takes the mound for the Orioles, who have a chance to sweep Texas before heading into the All-Star Break.

The O’s tied a season-high with five homers on Wednesday night, beating the Oakland A’s 9-6 at Camden Yards.

(It’s hard to believe, but the Birds hit five homers against the Red Sox on May 1st…)

Just like the previous wins over the past week, it wasn’t easy…the Orioles had to come from behind yet again…

The O’s went up 3-0 thanks to Adam Jones. Jones blasted a two-run shot in the second inning and followed that with an RBI double in the third.

The Birds played sloppy defense in the fourth…two errors in the inning helped the A’s put up six runs and take a commanding 6-3 lead.

The bullpen was spectacular yet again, shutting down Oakland for the rest of the game (five relievers through four innings surrendered just two hits, one walk and no runs), and the offense sprung to life to give the O’s yet another come-from-behind victory.

Jones, Ty Wigginton and Miguel Tejada all smacked two-run blasts, while Corey Patterson and Luke Scott each had solo shots. After Wigginton tied the game, Scott went deep to give the Birds a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning that they would never relinquish…

The bad news: Scott injured his hamstring rounding first base (not thinking the ball was gone, Scott hustled around first), and will probably be out until after the All-Star Break…

The O’s finish the homestand Thursday night…Jake Arrieta takes the mound…let’s see if the Birds can take two straight series! Go O’s!

The Baltimore Orioles are going for the sweep of the Washington Nationals Sunday, the word sweep has not been used often this year for the Orioles except when they are trying to avoid being swept.

The Orioles had another come from behind win against the Nationals Saturday. The Orioles were down by 5 runs in the top of the fourth inning but came back thanks to a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth by Adam Jones and a 4 run inning in the sixth.

Corey Patterson, Matt Wieters, and Miguel Tejada all had great days at the plate. Wieters had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s, he finally looks comfortable in the batters box.

Brad Bergesen struggled in his first game since being called up from triple A. For the long run I am not worried about him he missed a lot of time due to weird injuries and still has not found the mechanics that he had perfected for so long. He allowed five earned runs in four innings.

On the Nationals side they lost back to back games in which they had a big lead early in the ball game.

What a shame this season has been…just one disappointment after another.

The O’s returned home to Camden Yards and promptly lost yet another game in stellar fashion, falling 10-4 to the Florida Marlins.

Jeremy Guthrie gave up four runs in the second inning but settled down and managed to pitch into the seventh. The early runs were too much for the O’s to overcome, even though Matt Wieters brought the Birds to within a run in the bottom of the second inning with a three-run blast…

Other than that offensive glimmer, the Birds were kept in check (as usual) throughout the game. Luke Scott’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning was the only other run the team managed all game. The O’s had 10 hits but went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, while stranding six men on base…pretty much business as usual for the Orioles.

The O’s lead the Majors with 51 losses, and still need one more victory to hit 20 wins on the season…the Birds send Brian Matusz to the mound on Wednesday night. Let’s Go, O’s…