Ugly and Vomitous

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Geez.

The kids played a great game, Sparky, Matos...... Mighty Mel continued his hitting streak...... but :sigh: geez..... :( they can't do it all.

JJ was doing OK, but then fell apart, then the bullpen just sucks lately. What the heck is wrong with Buddy Groom?!?!? He used to be so steady. :( Then there was that grand slam. And of course a big ol' error by Tony B. to help load the bases.

:sigh:

I'm going to bed.

I hate baseball.

:(

:banghead

[rockin500]

baseball does suck today. :(

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I hear ya, Ray.

But I really don't hate baseball. :D I just hate losses like that...... when it's all given up in one inning by bad pitching. Close losses I can take. Well...... sometimes. :hmm:

:D


Anyhoo. All I've got to say is JJ, STOP YOUR DAMN WHINING! :angry:

Astros park Johnson, O's with 4 HRs, 11-6
'Cracker Jacks box' dimensions in Houston irk starter; 5-1 lead blown
By Joe Christensen
Sun Staff
Originally published June 4, 2003



HOUSTON - Minute Maid Park brought out the worst in Orioles pitcher Jason Johnson last night.

Then it brought out his venom.

Johnson had given up two home runs all season, but he gave up three in a span of five batters in the Orioles' first interleague game of the season.

The Houston Astros erased a four-run, fifth-inning lead against Johnson and came back with six more runs in the eighth against the Orioles' bullpen in an 11-6 victory at the ballpark formerly known as Enron Field.

"It's like a Cracker Jacks box," Johnson said. "The left-field wall's 315 feet away. The field's a joke. I just think it's kind of a ridiculous place to pitch. You've got to get ground balls with every pitch you throw. If you don't, you've seen what can happen."

The Orioles had won nine of their past 11 games, but they blew leads of 5-1 and 6-5 against an Astros team that has won 20 of its past 31.

Houston tied the game in the eighth on Orlando Merced's run-scoring double off Orioles reliever Buddy Groom (1-3). The Astros took the lead on an error by third baseman Tony Batista and pulled away on Morgan Ensberg's grand slam off Kerry Ligtenberg.

The Orioles had 14 hits. Melvin Mora went 2-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 15 games and raising his average to .352.

Luis Matos also went 2-for-5, extended his hitting streak to 10 games, and his two-out, run-scoring double gave the Orioles an eighth-inning lead.

"We scored enough runs and played well enough defensively to win the game," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "We just didn't pitch well enough."

Johnson blew a four-run lead in the fifth inning, as the Astros used home runs by Craig Biggio, Jeff Kent and Lance Berkman to tie the score at 5-5.

Pitchers have seen leads evaporate this quickly here before, but Johnson hardly seemed like a potential victim.

He came in leading the majors in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings at 0.31. He had allowed just two homers all season, and none since April 18, a span of 46 2/3 innings.

But Biggio started the flurry with one out in the fifth, smacking a high fastball over the right-field wall - an opposite-field blast. One out later, Bagwell lined a double off the left-center-field wall on a ball that would have been a homer before they reconfigured the dimensions here two years ago.

Kent followed with a titanic two-run homer to left.

Berkman made it back-to-back homers, drilling a 1-2 curveball over the right-field wall to tie the score.

That was it for Johnson, who missed a chance to earn his sixth victory.

"In the American League there are small ballparks, too," Hargrove said.

"You've got to keep the ball down when you pitch. I don't care if you're playing in the Grand Canyon or you're playing somewhere else, and we didn't tonight."

Johnson was making his third consecutive start with five days' rest, one more than pitchers normally have in a five-man rotation. But the Orioles have had a day off each of the past four weeks, and Johnson said the unusual schedule is affecting him.

"I know I shouldn't say it," he said, "but we've had six or seven days' rest before every start, and it's ridiculous. It's hard to get into any kind of a feel when every off day, you have another six days. I haven't said anything all year, but now it's kicking my [rear]."

The Orioles haven't skipped one of their pitchers in the rotation this season.

"It really hasn't affected any of the other guys," said Orioles pitching coach Mark Wiley. "He has to get his tempo going. That has nothing to do with four or five days' rest."

Johnson said he doesn't know why he started leaving the ball up in the strike zone in the pivotal fifth inning, but that was clearly the problem. He entered the inning with 83 pitches.

"All of a sudden, everything was up," Hargrove said. "We saw it. [Wiley] went out to the mound, and before we could get somebody ready, [it] was tied.

"It was one of those things where Jason got some pitches up to the wrong people in the wrong park."
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun

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Whew! I saw the ugly/vomitous remark and thought maybe Anna Nicole Smith was naked and running amok in the Baltimore Forum :freak:


C'mon, guys and gals! You don't really hate baseball and baseball doesn't really suck ... Believe me, I know exactly how both of you feel ... Raybo, so what? Sammy got caught cheating, or maybe it was an honest mistake ... Big whoop! ... You've got your man Roger coming to Chicago this weekend for an incredible matchup ... Don't let Sammy and the media circus or anything barge in on your fun ahead.

And Nanner, I tell you without any shame or fear that I am completely head-over-heels in love with Sparky and Matos ... So what? Some old former Braves pitcher named Ligtenberg grooved one for a 4-run bomb! ... La-dee-frickin'-dah! Maybe if you think of it as a Braves pitcher who made the mistake, it won't seem bad at all ... You've still got your kids to watch and that's all you really need.

By the way, Matos reminds me a little of David Justice in the face ... Do you have a nickname yet for Matos?

Ray, my advice to you is to not watch or listen to any of the talk shows for a couple of weeks ... Do not allow the opinions of myself or other yahoos tarnish your own thoughts of Sammy, and by all means don't let the goofs in the media sway you ... Whenever you hear someone mention Sosa the next few days, just close your eyes and try to conjure up a vision of what it's going to look like to be in your Wrigleyville seat watching your man Roger chunk the spheroid ... The Cubs won with Sammy on the DL, they will win with him on the suspended list.

And Nanner, have I got a fantasy for you to take your mind off of last night's loss in Houston ... Pick up a GQ or some other pansy fashion pub for men and start thumbing through it ... Now, think of how that suit would look on Sparky or Gibby, maybe imagine Matos in that Hanes underwear advert ... There now, doesn't that feel better!

Just don't want two of my fave Addicts feeling all down in the dumps because of silly things ... Would rather know y'all are smiling because of silly things.:luvkiss:

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:laughing:

Willie. :luvkiss:

You're the best.

I think you and I were posting at the same time. :D As you can see from the above post I'm feeling way better today.......... nothing like a little whining from a pitcher to get me all riled up! :D I just hate losses like that. :hmm:

But it's baseball. Things could go differently tonight! :jump: :D :clap2:

Okay, 'scuse me.... I gotta go out and get a copy of GQ now.


:D

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We've got Luis-Luis continuing his hitting streak. :thumbsup: He's hit in every game since being recalled from Ottawa on May 23. BA is .488. The guy's a machine! :D

The Chief continues to hit and his avg. is at a healthy .267 now. :thumbsup:

Sparky..... what can I say about Sparky? Not only is he hot, but he's HOT! 2 for 4, 2 RBI, scored twice, walked once. :luvkiss:

Gibby...... Gibby, Gibby, Gibby..... jacked one last night.... went 2 for 4......avg. is at .274.

Mighty Mel... :eek: 2 for 5..... .352 avg. 15 game hitting streak.

Deivi Cruz went 2 for 3. :eek:

The old guys came off the bench and produced.

Bubble-Boy singled in his only at-bat.

BJ went 1 for 2 after he came in the game.

All in all, if the pitching hadn't fallen apart, it would have been a good game.

:D