School Day at the K. Wading through throngs of moppets brought back memories of sitting in the cheap seats as a child. I was never actually a crossing guard, but Mom often got tickets to Crossing Guard Day from her school because of course the price was right. The experience tended to be less baseball and more ice fights and the like.
Fortunately the school groups were at a distance from our seats today, so we didn’t have much trouble with obnoxious, quasi-supervised brats. Indeed, if not for the usual School Day parking mess and my pre-game trip to the upper deck to shoot pictures, I might not have noticed the kids at all.
Which was a good thing, as the game itself was bad enough. Baltimore is currently enjoying an odd perch atop the AL East. Normally I pay no attention whatsoever to the standings at this point in the season (don’t even mention it until after the All-Star Game at the absolute earliest, and don’t genuinely care about it until September). But the expensive Yankees and only-slightly-less-so Red Sox are currently in fourth and fifth place, which is a little too good not to savor while it lasts (which I’m sure won’t be long). How a team that DHes Wilson Betemit can be leading anything is beyond me, but it seems to be working for them.
Further, the previous night’s contest ran to 15 innings (after Jonathan Broxton gave up a two-run lead in the top of the ninth). So everyone involved could be forgiven for not exactly bringing their A games. Even the umpires weren’t 100% (literally, as they called the game with only three on the field).
The first two innings were fairly quiet, but the Royals put together a big one in the third. Humberto Quintero hit a solid double to dead center, scoring two and advancing to third on the play. Then a single by Johnny Giavotella brought him in. Sadly, that would pretty much do it for our offense for the rest of the game.
The Orioles came partially back in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer by Adam Jones. But then Robert Andino grounded into a double play to end the inning. Alcides Escobar’s throw was off, forcing Billy Butler to complete the play with a tag. Symptomatic of the lack of energy from two exhausted ball clubs.
And of course we seem to feel the perpetual need to explore the precarious nature of the one-run lead. Luke Hochevar had a reasonably good game going into the top of the seventh, but then the first two batters reached (Betemit as the tying run on a double by Chris Davis), and Ned Yost brought in Aaron Crow. He got his first two batters, but then he walked Baltimore’s number nine and one hitters. J.J. Hardy hit a broken-bat single that scored two and cemented the loss for Hochevar.
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| The last time I saw one of these, Joey Gathright was wearing it. |
The box score:
ORIOLES (5) AT ROYALS (3)
ORIOLES AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI
Xavier Avery 3 0 0 0 Jarrod Dyson 5 0 0 0
J.J. Hardy 4 0 1 2 Johnny Giavotella 4 0 1 1
Nick Markakis 4 1 2 0 Billy Butler 4 0 2 0
Adam Jones 3 1 1 2 Alex Gordon 4 0 0 0
Wilson Betemit 4 1 1 0 Jeff Francoeur 4 0 0 0
Chris Davis 4 1 3 1 Mike Moustakas 4 0 0 0
Robert Andino 4 0 0 0 Alcides Escobar 3 1 2 0
Ryan Flaherty 4 0 0 0 Irving Falu 3 1 2 0
Luis Exposito 3 1 0 0 Humberto Quintero 3 1 2 2
Brayan Pena 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 33 5 8 5 TOTALS 35 3 9 3
ORIOLES 000 200 300 -- 5
ROYALS 003 000 000 -- 3
LOB--ORIOLES 4, ROYALS 7. ERR--Robert Andino. 2B--Chris
Davis, Billy Butler. 3B--Humberto Quintero. HR--Adam Jones.
SACB--Irving Falu.
ORIOLES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Brian Matusz 6 7 3 3 1 2 0
Luis Ayala 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Pedro Strop 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jim Johnson 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
ROYALS
Luke Hochevar 6 7 4 4 1 6 1
Aaron Crow 0 2-3 1 1 1 2 0 0
Jose Mijares 2 1-3 0 0 0 0 1 0
WP--Luis Ayala. SO--Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Wilson
Betemit, Luis Exposito (2), Ryan Flaherty (2), Alex Gordon,
Jarrod Dyson (2). BB--Adam Jones, Luis Exposito, Xavier
Avery, Alcides Escobar.
Technical note: the Royals brought in Louis Coleman in the bottom of the ninth,
but for whatever reason I couldn’t record the substitution in iScore because he didn’t show up on the roster. Buck Seat: W-- (Charity golf tournament? Christian preschool “teacher”?) Guard: USAF Anthem: Semi-celebrity whom the kids might have known Umpires: H: Carlson 1: Hickox 2,3: ??? Time: 1:10 Temp: 81
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