Game 90: Orioles 2, Blue Jays 3

The Good: * Jeremy Guthrie brought his A-game today, by way of some serious heat. He averaged about 94 mph with his fastball - touching 97 - compared to just over 92 mph coming into this one. He also got a few more swings and misses on it than usual. Final line; 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR. Very impressive outing. * Cesar Izturis singled twice, include one gapper with the bases loaded that plated two runs. * Craig Tatum singled and walked - the latter pushing him ahead of Nick Markakis for the team lead in walk rate, 13% to 12.7%. That's kind of awesome, and kind of sad. * Adam Jones and Felix Pie each went 1-3, and did nice jobs worked free passes in the ninth inning. The Birds ended up loading the bases - Lugo also walked - but couldn't break through for a run. I liked the patience though. The Bad: * Jason Berken gave up a hard hit home run to Jose Bautisata - who leads the majors with 25 longballs. Yes, the former O's Rule V pick. The homer's just going to move Berken's FIP (was 3.26) a little closer to his xFIP (4.00), and he did K a couple in his two innings pitched. * Tough day for O's batters, as the struck out 10 times (3 by Wiggy, and 2 each by Tejada, Lugo, and Markakis*) and managed only 7 hits and 5 walks. * He also grounded into an inning ending double play in the 8th with runners on the corners and the team down one. One of the K's was taking a borderline 3-2 pitch, which is actually not a bad move. Batters swing too often at those pitches, and would pick up a few more walks if they were wiling to take a called strike three. The Final: With the 3-2 loss, the O's are now 0-8 against the Jays this season. Win number 30 eludes them. The Yankees won their 30th game in May.