Monday, April 6, 2009

O's win 10-5 on Opening Day

Jeremy Guthrie looked a lot better than he had all spring, and the O's still almost blew his 5 run lead. He finally got a lucky win, as the O's played very well and drilled CC Sabathia, who happens to be on my fantasy team. Oh well, I'll take one for the team.

Cesar Izturis really impressed me. He not only hit a rare home run to pull the O's way ahead, he made a very aware play on defense. With Xavier Nady on second base, Derek Jeter hit a grounder back up the middle. Izturis made a diving play to stop the ball as it crept into the outfield, then noticed that Nady had rounded third base, assuming that the ball would get through. He threw the ball to Melvin Mora and Nady was tagged out. He will be a big upgrade over last year.

I also liked how Adam Jones tried to bunt a couple of times. It shows more confidence in his speed, and it forced the defense to play in, which allowed him to get an extra hit. He finished 3 for 3 with 2 walks, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs.

One thing I didn't understand: Dave Trembley brought in Chris Ray in the 7th inning to face Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, and Hideki Matsui. Damon and Matsui are left-handed and Teixeira is a switch hitter. I don't know why he didn't bring Jamie Walker in and save Ray for the 8th inning. Sure enough, Ray allowed a walk and a 2 run home run before leaving. Bad coaching right there.

Also, Melvin Mora almost gave the Yankees the tying run by not covering third base on a bad bunt by Brett Gardner in the 8th inning. Overall though, the Orioles did well. Mark Teixeira was booed every time his name was announced or he did anything. Koji Uehara makes his debut tommorrow and the O's still have Matt Albers, Danys Baez, and Brian Bass in the bullpen, who can all pitch multiple innings.

2 comments:

ali said...

I actually enjoyed watching the O's for once... because they weren't (at least not yet) making stupid mistakes...

I'm excited to see Koji pitch...

Matthew Hoyt said...

It was a decent start, though I don't think it proves much for the Orioles. It does raise some questions for the Yankees, though...