| Tom Morris. 6th July, 2006 - 8:33 pm
 After Tuesday’s thorough drubbing of the Chicago White Sox, the Batimore Orioles had every reason to be in good spirits. They came into town, rode the coattails of another stingy outing by streaking Erik Bedard, and coasted to an 8 – 1 victory. Players were upbeat and confident. Skipper Sam Perlozzo made affirming postgame comments about the virtues of playing one’s best ball against a team of Chicago’s caliber. By the third inning of today’s twilight game, however, those flames of joy had been just as thoroughly extinguished. A brief one-game winning streak became a long afternoon of embarrassment for Baltimore as the defending World Series champs blanked the birds, 13 – 0, before a crowd of 37,300 at US Cellular Field.
An offensive explosion worthy of a page of trite July 4th fireworks metaphors made it an easy victory for still undefeated Jose Contreras, who scattered six hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, improving to 9 – 0 while lowering his ERA to 3.31. Contreras, whose last defeat came against the Twins Aug. 15th, is now 17 – 0 over his last 23 starts, with an aggregate ERA of 2.83.
"You are going to lose one day, that's just part of (baseball)”, Contreras said through an interpreter. “But when I go out to the mound I always think in my head and my heart that I'm going to win. Wouldn't it be great if I never lost? That would make for some story. The loss is going to come, hopefully later than sooner.
Despite the streak --which tied Johan Santana for longest undefeated stretch by an AL pitcher-- the young right-hander’s presence on the mound quickly became rather meaningless. The White Sox , before the third frame was over, had 11 runs; before game’s end every batter had at least one hit and had either scored or drove in a run –or both. Paul Konerko and Juan Uribe each homered and doubled for the southsiders. Uribe collected three hits and 5 RBI while falling a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Chicago’s shortstop is 11-for-28 in his last eight games, with three home runs and 17 RBI in that span.
Said Konerko, "When he gets hot he gets real hot. If you get production from the bottom of the lineup like we're getting it could be tough on other teams."
Nine of today’s runs, and ten of the hits, were credited to struggling Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez, who came in 4 – 2 over his last seven starts, but in lasting only 2 2/3 innings fell to 5 – 10 on the season, his ERA
--ahem-- skyrocketing to 6.92. He made it through the first frame relatively unscathed, allowing a run on a Jim Thome groundout to second. The White Sox racked up three more in the second, with Uribe’s three-run blast the highlight as the first five Chicago batters reached base.
Then in the third –okay, I can’t help it—the pyrotechnics really began. With two on and one out, Uribe drove in his fourth run with a double, followed by a 2-RBI two-bagger by Brian M. Anderson. One out later, Alex Cintron singled Anderson home. And after Jim Thome singled, Konerko joined the fun with a three-run jack to left-center, stretching the lead to 11 – 0, and firmly establishing this contest as a laugher.
In the meantime the Orioles, who fell to 39 – 46 on the season, had done next to nothing against Contreras. A leadoff double by Javy Lopez in the top of the third was the highlight for a team that managed only three basehits through five.
Lamented Sam Perlozzo, "There's not a lot to talk about. We didn't pitch very well and they hit. The game was pretty much over after a couple of innings."
Much hay has been made of late over the effect C-DH Javy Lopez has had on his pitching namesake since sitting in for regular catcher Ramon Hernandez on days Rodrigo pitches. Until today the numbers were hard to deny. Rodrigo Lopez started the season 1 – 7 in ten starts, his ERA blossoming over 7.00.
Since the dawn of the Lopez-Lopez battery, however, his fortunes had begun to improve.
And while there surely is something to be said for Javy’s impact –Rodrigo Lopez, for eaxmple, speaks of their ability to communicate more easily—even the most desperate ballplayers living by the code of superstition know their shelflife lasts only so long. Hence, today’s shellacking.
"It's kind of strange," Rodrigo Lopez said. "In my mind, I was thinking to finish the first half strong. I really felt good during my bullpen [session] and between my starts. Then, this kind of thing happens.
Strange or not, Rodrigo Lopez has amassed a small collection of some of the least admirable pitching stats for the year. He has given up 82 earned runs, 17 more than any other AL pitcher and 12 more than any pitcher from the NL. His 136 hits allowed also are the most by any AL pitcher.
With the Orioles again reeling from a reliably faulty starting pitching outing, the White Sox improved to 54 – 29, and 30 – 12 at home, while moving to within 1 1/2 games of the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers. Detroit fell to Oakland, 2 – 1, in 12 innings. White Sox fans have every reason to be encouraged by today’s performance by Jose Contreras, who despite going 17 – 0, had managed only three decisions over his past eight starts, his ERA above 5.50 during that time.
But extended time with the White Sox pitching coach helped Contreras make key adjustments with both his mechanics and his delivery. So, if he can somehow manage to keep winning even while pitching poorly –a luxury not afforded most lousy pitchers around the leagues—then why would his good fortune end now that he seems to have righted his ship?
The Baltimore Orioles, a season’s worth of patience wearing thing, and with less than 24 hours to nurse today’s bruising wounds, can only be thankful they won’t have to face that walking W anytime soon. |
