O's-White Sox, To Be Continued...

I missed almost all of the game. It seems that Daniel Cabrera didn't have his best control today (6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 7 BB, 2 K) but was able to work out a few jams. Javier Vazquez shut the O's down pretty well (8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K) with his only blemish being an Aubrey Huff home run.

I listened to the seventh inning on the radio, and Ozzie Guillen made some poor managerial decisions. After Daniel walked Nick Swisher to lead off the inning, Ozzie had Orlando Cabrera put down a sacrifice bunt. Why, when the pitcher has been wild all game, do you give away an out? With first base open, Daniel then walked Thome, and Dave Trembley wisely took him out of the game in favor of Chad Bradford. Konerko singled in a run, but that's all Chicago would get. As they say, when you play for one run then that's likely all you will get. Instead of a potential big inning, the White Sox scored only one run and the O's were able to tie things up in the ninth.

Down 2-1 in the ninth with Bobby Jenks in to close it out for the White Sox against the top of the O's order. Brian Roberts with a double to left, and the Orioles have something brewing. Please don't bunt Melvin. And he doesn't need to, as Roberts steals third on his own. Wow, high risk play, but great job by B-Rob to get in there. Mora with a single up the middle and the Birds have done it again, tying it up against Jenks. Aww, Melvin. You can't get picked off in that situation (well, I guess you can since you did). Good job by Nick to work the count after falling behind 0-2, but (as expected) he ends up striking out swinging at a high fastball. They don't score, at it'll be Jim Johnson coming in for the bottom of the ninth.

A Thome strike-out begins a 1-2-3 inning for Johnson, and it'll be extra innings today.

Nice job by Huff to ground out to second and then get ejected by the first base umpire. With only Eider Torres left on the bench, I don't know if he comes in at DH or if the pitcher must now bat. Either way, Huff deserves to get yelled at for that. Luuuke flies out, but an Adam Jones double puts the go-ahead run in scoring position for Brandon Fahey. This is exactly the situation I was dreading. Jay Payton pinch hit for Quiroz, and then Ramon Hernandez pinch hit for Luis. That meant that Fahey (who came in for Payton) would be batting ahead of Ramon. If Trembley had done it the other way around, then Ramon would have been up in that situation. Instead, Fahey grounds to short, with Jones getting thrown out at third.

Quentin continues swinging a hot bat, as he leads off with a double. Crede flies out to right, and Carlos tags up and makes it to third with one out. Johnson could really use a K now. I didn't see what happened, but it seems Brian Anderson tried to bunt and missed, and Quentin was caught away from third. With none on and two outs, Anderson strikes out. Good job by Jim (with some help from Chicago) to get out of the inning.

Ramon Hernandez sends it high... he sends it deep... and that ball is gone. And the O's take the 3-2 lead on Ramon's third home run of the year. This Orioles team just keeps coming back. They don't get any more, but it'll be George Sherrill time in the bottom of the 11th.

Man, Sherrill blows his first save as the O's closer, giving up a solo home run to Juan Uribe. Swisher flies out, but Orlando Cabrera reaches on an error by Fahey at short. The team has three shortstops, and not a single one hit (at all) or field (particularly well). Sherrill gets out of it, and the game continues.

Well, not today it doesn't. The rain is coming in, and the conclusion of this one will be made up at a later date. That should be interesting, as it's a "sudden death" type situation. Good job by the O's to take Cabrera off the hook - hopefully this game was just a blip and not a regression. Too bad they gave it up.