ChrisBunting.com

This game was a heartbreaker. We ended up with the win (even though it was a lot closer than it should have been), but we lost two key players. Javy Lopez left the game in the third inning after a ball tipped off the bat of Bret Boone and into his right hand, which was exposed instead of tucked away behind his body. Javy was diagnosed with a broken bone in his right hand, and is expected to be out for at least 6 weeks. Then, in the seventh inning, Brian Roberts was hit with a pitch in his left knee. He fell to the ground and was in obvious pain. Roberts tried to stay in the game (which wasn’t very smart), but was removed after he slid into second on the hurt knee the following play and showed obvious signs of discomfort. It’s still not known how many games, if any, Brian Roberts will miss.

The final score was 3-2, but the O’s left 13 runners on base. In two innings, we had runners on 2nd and 3rd, with 2 outs, and were unable to get that key hit to bring the runners in. In the 7th, the O’s had bases loaded and no outs…no outs…and were only able to push across one run, thanks to Sammy Sosa’s sacrifice fly to center. Bruce Chen pitched an outstanding game, even though he was working himself out of trouble pretty much every inning, but was unable to get enough run support to get the win.

That leads me to the blown call of the game. In the bottom of the 2nd, the O’s had bases loaded and 2 outs. Joel Pineiro was pitching for the Mariners. With Jeff Fiorentino at bat, Pineiro was in the full windup to pitch. Pineiro started to take a step back, stopped, and then proceeded to act like he was just stretching his neck by moving his head from side to side. It was an obvious balk, but his coverup fooled all four umpires, and nothing was called. The O’s ended up going on to win the game, but that run would have given Bruce Chen the lead later in the game (possibly) and would have given him a much deserved win.

The O’s record is now 28-16.