Game 2--Sox 7 Yankees 4

Photo: Clay Buchholz, from his Wikipedia page.  (This isn't him pitching.  It looks sort of like he's keeping the ball in the air telepathically, after completing an ice-skating move.  But probably he's just tossing the ball underhanded to the first baseman, or something.)

My in-game notes during this one:

--Kuroda was (very quietly) the Yankees best pitcher last year, going 16-11 with a 3.32 ERA, in about 220 innings.  Sounds like a lot of tough-luck losses amongst those eleven.

--Orsillo said the reason Nava is playing and Jonny Gomes isn't is because Gomes is 0-8 against Kuroda, and Nava is 2-8 against him.  That's it?  Eight at-bats?  Is that a big enough sample?

--The pitch location and speed graphic in the middle of the right side of the screen is already seriously annoying me, two batters into the game.  It wasn't there in the first game.

--Okay, so Nava gets a well-placed single into left field, and now is hitting .333 against Kuroda (3-9).

--Pedroia gets a lot of ugly-looking hits.

--Saltalamacchia looks better at the plate.  Less of a free-swinger.  This 2-out RBI and yesterday's three walks--also rare for him--will hopefully be a sign of things to come.

--Jerry Remy's act never gets old for me.

--Jackie Bradley Jr. is already so big that The Donald agreed to meet him yesterday.

--Iglesias looked ugly trying to lay down that bunt.  He must do those little things well to stay in the bigs.

--Heidi Watney has a gig on the MLB Network, for those of you following such things.

--Jackie Bradley's first Major League hit was an RBI single, driving in a small-ball manufactured run, since Victorino had a two-out RBI single and then stole second base.  The Sox win big when they manufacture runs.  They have the personnel to do a lot of that this year, so they'd better.  They're not the Manny and Ortiz bashers anymore.

--When Ellsbury drove in two runs in the top of the third, that made 5 out of the 6 runs two-out RBIs.

--Easiest way to tell the Sox and Yanks are in trouble?  Attendance.  Despite the 40,000 + sold tickets, maybe half of that showed up, and only five thousand or so stayed until the end, when they lost by just three runs.  The Sox are also offering free-ticket promotions for Opening Day at Fenway, which is unheard of, and they're half-pricing food and beer to sell more tickets in April.

--Last year, there were never any lines at Unos at Fenway, even half an hour before the game.  That was their horrible season, right there.

--Aceves was used correctly tonight--with a big lead.  He's the bullpen's innings-eater and the team's spot-starter this year.  And he'd better watch his antics this year, as he's still on the Sox's S-list from last year.

--Buchholz gave up one run in seven innings (a bad pitch that became a solo homer) and made it look easy tonight.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

--The Sox are 2-0, yes, but let's remember that the Yanks are a Triple-A team right now, without Jeter, A-Rod, Text Message, and Granderson.  And now maybe Kuroda for awhile.  Toronto and Baltimore will be more reliable tests for this team.

--Nava went 2-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk.  Like I said, he needed to start today instead of Jonny Gomes, who was 0-8 against Kuroda, which is obviously a big enough sample to make that decision.

Two Days in Baltimore

Photo 1: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, on 7.20.2011, at 1:36 pm.  100 degrees.  With the famous warehouse in the background.

Photo 2: Same.  Look at the seats.  Does this look like 35,000 fans to you?  (Click on the pic, if necessary, to see it better.)  Read below.
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Well, actually, it was more like 24 hours, and, despite the two Sox/Orioles games I saw there this week, those 24 hours can best be described in one word:

HOT.  And I do mean HOT.  VERY HOT.  I'm talkin' 100 degrees.  My friend and I were extremely thankful that we sat beneath an overhang, and we felt honestly terrible for those who had to sit in the sun all day.

Camden Yards was beautiful, as always.  I like the area; easy to move around in.  Looks like the greenage wants to take over, or maybe it just seems that way because everything's so laid out.  I'm from RI, so that's new for me.

The people were very friendly, as usual, and laid-back.  Maybe too much so--they think nothing of standing up and talking during the game, even important at-bats.  At Fenway they would've been insulted and showered with beer.  Fenway's known for lots of movement, but these two days in Baltimore--with half the crowd--was the worst movement and people blocking the action that I have ever seen.  Maybe it was the heat.  Speaking of the attendance, it was lower than I'm used to, even in terms of the number of Sox fans going to Fenway South.  Maybe because it was in the middle of the week.  Orioles fans seemed more numerous than before, but maybe that was because of the lack of Sox fans, and the usual empty seats.  The Orioles scoreboard showed about 35,000 for each game; I assure you it was closer to 22,000 for each.  I've not before seen such blatant lying like that in terms of attendance figures.

As for the games:

Game 1 was just blah for the Sox.  They fielded and batted like they were exhausted, which they probably were.  I've only played ball for a short time, and at the end I was playing two doubleheaders--four games--on the weekends.  (This is when I played Vintage League ball--no gloves!)  Those last two games, and especially that very last game, I played like I was sleepwalking.  You try not to, but that's a lot of baseball in wool uniforms in 95 degree weather.  The Sox in game one played like that.  They'd won the night before, and they'd win the next day, but in the middle they were coasting.  You hate to say that as a fan--and as a paying fan who'd driven 7 hours from RI--but as a former player, you understand.  I explained above about four games in two days; that in no way compares to a 162-game season with a lot of traveling.  Probably the Sox would've been better off playing their bench, but that would've looked very bad indeed.

Game Two was much better, as the Orioles this time played like sleepwalkers.  They had one potential inning, when they had the bases loaded with one out, but Tatum, their catcher, hit into a double-play, and that was it.  Miller looked much better than Weiland, who's probably not ready for the bigs.  Granted Miller is an established pro with a few teams, but he still just looked overall better, though you could argue that Weiland might have better stuff.  But Miller knows how to use what he has.  You'd swear as an athlete-wannabe that you could get off the couch and get a hit off him, but that's the point: He's pro enough to slip out of problems.  Weiland still walks too many; Miller does, too--he walked the bases loaded in the inning explained above--but he can wiggle his way out.  He's essentially a .500 pitcher with junkball stuff who'll give up more hits than innings pitched, but that's essentially what a good 5th pitcher is.

Adrian Gonzalez came alive at the plate in these two games, DHing once.  He'd gone 2 for 24 after I bought the picture mentioned in a recent blog. (I bought the one with Ps. 24:7 on it.)  Reddick continued to rake at the plate before he cooled off recently when Francona told him he was the guy in right.  He's come back to life in the last two days against the Mariners at Fenway.  Pedroia was awesome, as usual.  Ortiz served out his suspension all three games in Baltimore, as I'd predicted he would.  It's obvious that he's more needed against the Rays than he is against the Orioles.

Overall, good games, good city, good times and easy driving, and we even got to listen to John Sterling make a fool of himself in the Yanks' win over the Rays (who played dead and are now slipping in the standings), as usual.  Granderson, apparently, is "sorta grandy," and worthy of singing "the Grandy-man can, the Grandy-man can."  How this man makes millions is beyond me.  Sure, he's got the radio numbers, but wouldn't anyone who calls Yankees games have millions of listeners?  And don't even get me started on Susan--"Well, you know, Susan, my dear..."

Please.