O's v White Sox 8/21

Guthrie pitched a very solid ballgame despite getting squeezed all night. The pitch that Reimold looked at to end the 4th inning was a pitch Guthrie didn’t get all night. It looked to me like Guthrie was more relexed, and I wonder if the addition of top prospects Matusz and Tillman has allowed Guthrie to relax a little more. He battled all night, and was really able to bear down after Roberts booted the grounder in the 2nd, working with Wieters and Roberts to pick off Podsednik at 2nd base with 2 on and nobody out. It was a huge play. The other huge play was the double-play that Guthrie started on Gordon Beckham’s comebacker in the 5th. Guthrie tossed high to Izturis who made a great play to jump, catch the throw and complete the DP with a strong throw to first. Tonight the O’s made plays when they had to, and really played a solid ballgame.

Izturis caught a pop-up to end the 7th and his reaction after the catch indicated that, he called Mora off but perhaps Mora felt like it was his ball. Either way, they sort of bumped into one another, and Izturis didn’t even turn around after he made the catch to acknowledge Melvin. Perhaps there are more chemistry issues than we are aware of. Regardless, it seems like a little different team since Huff was traded. This team just feels a little different now, but in a good way, and I’m not sure I can explain it any more than that. Perhaps it’s simply Brian Roberts surge, and we all know that as he goes, the O’s go. In particular, the O’s offense goes.
Markakis got a nice bounce on his groundball triple in the 8th, and with so little room for error with this team we need breaks like that. Breaks like that though also give a team confidence and with that, hopefully come more wins. The one call that baffled me was on Reimold’s line-drive down the left field line in the 7th that kicked up chalk, paint, or whatever it was, and the third base ump in perfect position, calling the ball foul. Trembley came out to argue and perhaps he wasn’t sure if it was fair himself, but I wish he had blown a gasket and gotten thrown out of the game. It was clearly fair, but it didn’t seem to phase Reimold as he singled right afterwards. I really like this kid, and apparently, first I heard of this, he’s playing with a “30%” tear in his Achilles. What’s that all about and why haven’t we heard this before?

After seeing Scott not handle Mora’s throw over to 1B in the bottom of the 7th (the throw was in the dirt but Scott needed to extend the glove so it was easier to handle, a shorter short-hop, so to speak), it was great to see Aubrey come in as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the 8th. Overall, a real nice win for this team. Let’s hope Hernandez throws a good one tonight and we can score a few against Danks tonight, no small task. Go O’s!