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Frustrating losses aside, Birds still primed to make their move

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Okay everyone. Take a step back from the ledge. Everything is going to be all right. I promise. How quickly our perception can change. The Birds were flying high two days ago, playing their best baseball as the bats were heating up, the starting pitching was finally finding consistency, and the defense was still solid. The O’s had won five in a row and eight-of-nine. And then they lost. And then they lost again.

Perhaps if the Orioles had been bludgeoned the last two nights, or if they had just been out-hit and out-pitched, this mini two-game losing streak wouldn’t be such a tough pill to swallow. It’s really how they lost that stings the most, isn’t it?

On Tuesday, Bruce Chen out-pitched Jason Hammel. And that’s okay; most pitchers do these days. But Hammel still posted the Orioles’ sixth straight quality start by going six innings and giving up three runs. The loss really boils down to the ninth inning, when Nick Markakis led off with a single and scored on Adam Jones’ triple.

The tying run was on third base with nobody out and Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy and Henry Urrutia to follow. Davis proceeded to put on a clinic on what not to do, eventually striking out on a 58-foot breaking ball, Hardy grounded out to third to freeze Jones on the bag, and Urrutia grounded out to end the inning and the game.

This marked one of 11 different occurrences since the All-Star break in which the Orioles got a runner into scoring position with less than two outs and were unable to score.

Last night’s ballgame was one that saw the Birds snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Wei-Yin Chen was absolutely masterful, taking a 3-1 lead into the last of the eighth. Unfortunately, Chen made just his second mistake of the night, serving up a game-tying two-run homer to Eric Hosmer before exiting with a final line of 7.1 IP, 7H, 3R, 0BB, 3K.

The story of that game was the fact that the leadoff man reached base in each of the first three innings for the Orioles and failed to score. Furthermore, the team had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the first AND second innings and failed to score. See the theme here?

Now let’s not get into Orioles-bashing mode because there are still positives to take from these two losses. Chen last night delivered the O’s seventh straight quality start and tenth in the last 11 games. Even with the lack of offense the last two nights, the Birds still put themselves in excellent position to win both of those games but came up just a little bit short.

Ervin Santana of the Royals is a quality, above-average major league pitcher and Bruce Chen has quietly won 11 or more games four times in his career. Both guys know how to pitch, so let’s give credit where credit is due.

With a win tonight, all will be forgotten and we’ll all be chanting for the Red Sox to “bring it on” in a high-intensity, high-pressure three-game series this weekend. I stand by my prediction that I’ve had all season: the Orioles will win the East this year.

It all starts tomorrow night.

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