Last night, I had an opportunity to assist Sun baseball writer Dan Connolly with Orioles coverage  and if the results are any indication of my role, maybe I should switch jobs.

The Orioles came out of their homsestand funk to thrash the White Sox, 11-3, and had all three phases of their game working for them.  Starter Radhames Liz managed to get through 5.1 innings giving up just two runs on three hits (five walks, one intentional), the offense pounded out 16 hits including three homers (Melvin Mora, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar) and the defense -- well, the defense may have saved the game, believe it or not.

When the Orioles led by a nnt-so-secure, 3-1, in the top of the third, Mora made an incredible play when he robbed Jermaine Dye of a sure extra-base hit when the third baseman dove to his right and snared a hotshot down the line and threw Dye out at first.  With that play, More took away a run and put up an out.  Then in the same inning, when Jim Thome drove in a run with a drive off the right field scoreboard, he unwisely challenged Nick Markakis' arm and was thrown out at second to end the inning.

"When you play defense, you make your pitcher throw less pitches .. and good things happen." he said.

"Especially with Chicago," Mora added, "they have a great hitting lineup so you want to give them as little opportunity (as possible) … for me the most important thing is playing defense because I know we’re going to hit, we’re going to score some runs."