| 16 July 2011
The Orioles on Friday night lost their ninth game in a row as they lost to the Cleveland Indians, 6-5.
Baltimore had three homers from Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters; however, shaky pitching from Jake Arrieta and reliever Jim Johnson serving up the winning run in the sixth inning sent the Orioles to 36-54. They are now 18 games under .500, and are now 18 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East.
Arrieta gave up five runs in five innings. The Oriole offense did their job despite being put in a hole as they tied up the game at 5 before the sixth inning.
In all honesty, unless the Orioles get some more depth in their lineup and the pitching is more consistent, they won't win much. Who knows where help will come from, but with Vladmir Guerrero hurting, Luke Scott and Brian Roberts on the shelf, plus with the starting rotation seemingly in shambles, will things get better?
Also, Nick Markakis got his 1000th career hit last night. Good for him. I heard on the radio that he reached at that plateau faster in team history than Cal Ripken and Brooks Robinson. I was at the game last night, and while there was a montague of Markakis' accomplishments on the big screen in center field, plus the fans wanting him to tip his cap, wave, etc. -- he didn't acknowledge the crowd.
Markakis stood at first base, said something to frist base coach Wayne Kirby and continued along. Some fans were miffed -- at least from what I saw concerning Nick's lack of response -- but perhaps he was focused on the game and didn't want to deviate from it.
Finally, according to the Orioles MLB site and the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles and J.J. Hardy have agreed to terms on a deal that on a three-year extension. It looks like he will be with the team until the 2014 season.
Like I said the other day in a rather lengthy post, the organization needed to sign Hardy despite the risk. It's a move that was worth making.
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