Using the replay, don't think Kevin had a prayer of beating Damon. I know he was looking to first, but it did look like he could have had an easier time with a force at second. I also realize that is not a first thought. Wondered if he had a play at home?

Let's not let Roberts off the hook for getting picked off most stupidly at a most inopportune moment. Why did he need to be on third? Did a little excess ego creep into that decision?

how about walker not giving up a 2 strike double to matsui on the flattest curveball we've seen since anyone from last yrs pen who isn't on the team anymore...speaking of that, are bradford and walker the last 2 from last years debacle to go? maybe when loewen gets back, they replace the dynamic duo with loewen and mcrory. I think Detroit and Milwaukee maybe need an arm or two. Perhaps they can both go somewhere together as it makes perfect sense to not break them up at this point in their careers.

Millar couldn't have beaten me to first on that play..well maybe me, but certainly not my faster younger brother(a star on the neighborhood track team, but that's another story)...that's just a case where damon hits the ball into the perfect storm...Millar out there in no man's land, and Walker trying not to trip over his shoelaces as he 'races' damon to the bag...

Anyway, at some point in games like this, you have to get a big hit. No big hits tonight. One play rarely makes the game, though all too often it might seem like it.

If this yr is all about figuring out the pitching, then so far so good. We've actually witnessed some pretty consistent major league caliber efforts this year.

who to blame for the loss?

Roberts base running error. Everyone in the world knows that Pettite has arguably the best pickoff move in the game. with the heavy hitters in the lineup coming up and only 1 down, that was way too aggressive. He's been picked off too many times this year and has gotten very lucky a few other times.

Payton didn't seem to have a chance to throw Cabrera out at home, but he made a terrible play getting in position for that. He almost got in position, but ended up catching that and having to completely load up--which took him forever--to made a below avg throw home. he gets nothing on his throws. has to be a better option out there. His throws are nearly as bad as Damon's.

The play at first...
Fast guy at the plate, lefty batter who is already heading down to first when the ball goes into play and a lefty on the mound who falls off incredibly far to his right...it's a doomed situation. I'm shocked Trembley left him in to face Damon. Damon tore up the lefties last night and Walker was in trouble from the start of the inning. he should've brought in another reliever.

this should've been a win. Can't win them all, but this one was well within reach and several plays just went against the O's tonight. Oh well.

If Kevin had gone right away, he gets Damon by a half step. Would have been a good race.

Didn't Jamie look shaky getting over on the grounder earlier in the inning? Would have hoped Kevin would have picked up on that and known 32 is not moving too well.

Jamie, it looks like, may have a leg problem as well as a dead arm. It's all moving around the body. To repeat the obvious, there is no bite on his breaking stuff.

Walker's battle with Melky Cabrera showed how game the veteran lefty is. Change up after change up, one fast ball mixed in, and then a change away for the strike out swinging. After all that, it was too bad that the grounder did not get him out of the inning.

Brian getting picked off in the 5th inning turned out to be a killer. He had a fine 3-hit night, but in a close game that's a mistake you cannot make.

We had a great opportunity against Pettite in the first--2 on and nobody out--and didn't cash in.

Guthrie, again lost a close one. We might want to revamp our book on Giambi. Everyone else in the league is getting him out. It will good to give Guthrie some blowout support for once.

Final thoughts: two out of three from the Yankees, who remain behind the Birds and in last place. With all my friends on the blog, we'll take that.

Let's show the Bosox how we play ball.

I will place the blame on Walker since he can't do anything right these days.

Its the pitcher's responsibility to get there regardless of how far he falls off the bag.

Walker can't get guys out. He can't cover the base when he actually gets a ground ball. I have heard him berate the press on occasion, but thats about it.

F him and his whole trailer park.

Flat Breezy has spoken.

The Damon grounder doesn't really matter; it was a meaningless run, ultimately.

I think it comes back to that ridiculous "double" by Matsui in the second. Never should have happened. Payton needs to get to that fly ball and make that play. It was a cheap hit, and then Matsui came around to get New York on the board. That was far too easy a run for as well as Guthrie was throwing tonight.

Also, the Orioles failing to score in the first when it looked like had Pettitte on the ropes. That was big, considering how much he kills them.

It also kills me how much the Orioles helped Chamberlain out tonight, when he clearly didn't have great control.

Argh. That's all.

How about a throw to second for the force out? Isn't that an easier play with the bases loaded?

Hef: I agree. I thought there might have been an easier play at either second or home. None of the replays showed clearly what was going on, but they just didn't have a play at first, no matter who tried to put it out.

True, Millar was again playing so far over, Roberts might have caught the ball. But regarding Walker - we have lefthanders whose follow thru takes them toward third. It just seems like this mistake has happened to Walker twice.

Whatever happened to the correct technique of following thru straight ahead and landing square to the plate, so you become a fifth infielder? If his follow thru had left him balanced, he would have been better off in an attempt to get over to first.

I agree that Roberts had no need to be on third. You trust the hitter to drive you in with a single. Why steal third?

Glad to see another strong offensive showing supported Guthrie today. 8 runs scored in his 6 losses? Worse than pathetic. Even better to see that he's scheduled to face Matsuzaka on Monday (if he pitches). Why even watch that game when you know what'll happen?

Boog Powell and Eddie Murray were no faster than Millar, in fact Boog was slower. But you just can't be positioned that far over.

Again on Walker: He just happens to always be pitching to a lefty, since he's there for that very purpose. Lefthanded hitters have a shorter trip to first. All the more paramount that Jamie realizes his follow thru hurts him.

Mental errors cost games, Damon just made a play while Roberts lost the game...no excuse for him. It would have been 2nd and 3rd, tie game with only one out. Those are the mistakes that costs games, not the 9th inning single.

Stinkin' Yankee fans-they ripped the 2 big O's logo magnets off both sides of my car while it was parked in the lot across from the stadium tonight.
What is wrong with these people?

Pigeons and Schmuck?
Funny in and of itself.

Sloppy fielding on the part of Millar and Walker.

I second the play at home. Wasn't that the whole point of loading the bases?

Roberts could have scored on Nick's double, but he has to draw attention to himself from 20 feet off the bag that a defender is standing on while one of the best pickoff pitcher on the mound.

I wanna know why Walker was put in that game anyway. Lefties are hitting .390 and slugging .707 against him. More splits: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/psplit.cgi?n1=walkeja01&year=2008#plato-plato

Trembley keeps pulling a perfectly good JJ for lesser pitchers. JJ used to be a starter, so he should be able to work a few innings.

Keep Walker as a mop up guy, his numbers get worse the higher the leverage. Let him be the veteran presence and dump Trachsel.

speelcheck

I don't blame Roberts for the pickoff. The O's have been overly aggressive on the bases -- that's Trembley's doing.I guess there's no way of knowing the net effect of all this small ball aggressiveness, but I'd sure like to have back just half the pickoffs, missed hit-and-runs, and caught stealings that the O's have had so far this year.

If Walker falls off to the 3B side, then having him cover first against a fast hitter isn't an option, which means that Millar should be playing closer to the bag.

Does anybody have more quality starts with less to show for them then Jeremy Guthrie?And not just this year,over the last half of last year too,the guy pitches his heart out and we can't score for him.And once again it's the veterans making the boneheaded mistakes,where the heck was Roberts going and why can't we get the big hits when we need them,especially when Guthrie pitches.And Trembley leaving Walker in to face a righty backfires again,but I'm sure he'll have another good excuse.He always does.That's why we'll be lucky to be a .500 team,we're just not talented enough to overcome managerial miscues and baserunning blunders.Walker and Bradford both could go and I wouldn't shed nary a tear.Rather lose with youthful mistakes then what we've seen from both Walker and Bradford this year.How is that rebuilding?Why switch pitchers at all,they weren't even touching Johnson?This lefty matchup thing with Walker hasn't worked much all year.I'm confused.

Well,I've posted the last 4 nights,none of them have shown up ,guess it doesn't pay to call a spade a spade in this day and age.Just one more reason why I don't get the Sun.Too bad because this blog was one of the first things I looked forward too.

This was not Millar's play! He was playing deep and he looked up expecting Walker to be there and he wasn't. Pitchers are drilled repeatedly to go towards first on anything it to that side and Walker took a half second thinking about it. Your gonna lose everytime against someone with the speed of Damon.
If you asked Walker, he'd tell you it was his fault

Lets face it WALKER has to go and the sooner the better. Another good pitching performance wasted ,because nobody could get a timely hit. That was another game where the orioles had a chance to win and let the other team off the hook. I know 26 and 26 at this time of year is more then acceptable but roberts getting picked off is unexcusable

I don't really understand all the Bradford hate. The man came into the game last night and ended the ninth with one pitch. He's done his job pretty well this year. The fact that he was a member of the 2007 Orioles doesn't mean he's useless to the team this year.

Walker, on the other hand, looks cooked...

I definitely blame B-Rob. It's not like he just got caught napping; he was locked in a battle with Pettite for several minutes, and was almost taken out on the previous throw over! Earth to Brian, you're fast enough to score from 2nd on a hit without jumping around like a kangaroo and trying to take the world's biggest lead - how about staying a little closer to the bag and letting someone drive you in when it's a 1-run game???

I doubt Millar could have beaten Damon to the bag, but it pained me to see him assume he could just make the toss to a covering Walker. With a fast baserunner (batting lefty even) it also would have been nice if he had been ready to throw to second on a ball well off the first base bag. Since it didn't matter in the end (heck, it kept our record in one-run games from taking a loss) let's hope it was a painful learning experience.

Two out of three from the Yankees is nice effort. Next year we'll get the sweeps!

I think if Millar fields that ball and bolts directly to first base he is able to just beat Damon if he dives and slaps first base with his glove. Close play, but I think he gets him. But these things happen in the course of a long season.

Even if Millar tied Damon to the bag, the call would go to Damon. Fast guy gets the call over slow guy every time, or so it seems.

Why didn't Millar throw to second? If I remember correctly, there were two outs. Surely Cintron is standing over there just in case, right? An infield coach has to have some predetermined best-way to execute an out when the grounder is too far from first. If Millar throws to second and gets the force, the O's are out of the inning.

Millar "lpicked" up the pace? He was looking at his I-Pod? No wonder he didn't react quickly... ;-)

Sorry Roch, but last night game was lost when Roberts got picked off second. Turned what could have been a big, game changing inning with the Yankees possibly making a pitching change earlier that they wanted to into an inning that amounted to nothing.

When is Lowen expected back from his rehab?
Igor

To me that play is definitely on Millar. I've loved his play at 1st this year, but he's got to understand the situation, including how fast the batter/runner is, how slow Millar is, and the fact that Walker falls off to 3rd.

He needs to play close enough to be able to beat the man to the bag, or charge the ball -- if that means the ball gets through, so be it, but you've got to be in position to make the play. Even if it gets past him, Roberts has a chance to field it.

jim66- I agree.

We have starting pitching and we have a credible bullpen. (Walker and Bradford still have potential).

I was all for Trachsel coming back. Boy was I stupid.

Al of the nuances of these plays such as not covering first and serious base running blunders are magnified by the fact during most games the O's offense is non-productive. Two runs a game in the AL east will get into last place. I cannot believe the Oriole minor leagues after all these futile years has no hitting prospects to replace the aging heart of our order whose hitting skills are diminishing by the year.

I had a bunch of jerkoff yankee fans sitting behind me. Guys looked to be in their 40's but acted like high school kids who had drank a couple 40 oz's.

Has anyone else notice how Johny Damon has been killing the O's lately?

TMNA blames Payton as one of the reasons we lost...shocking, and predictable. yeah, it was a bad throw, but most left-fielders aren't out there for their arms. he also made a great sliding catch earlier in the game, but no mention of that...about Roberts, i agree with most that he shouldn't have gotten picked off, but Pettite's move to 2nd is not the same as his move to 1st, so Roberts was way more likely to get to 3rd on a steal than he would 2nd on a steal. also, i'm pretty sure it was less than 2 outs, so if he gets to 3rd, he scores on a flyball, wild pitch, slow roller, etc, as opposed to hoping for a base-hit to get him home from second. as for Millar...wow. i have been criticizing his lack of speed forever. aren't there any speed drills or something he can do? he had a great game on tuesday, but the exact opposite last night. oh well, that's baseball. just another viewpoint fellas/ladies. hey, i love the fact that we're even debating that we shoulda won the game and swept the yanks!...i'll take 2 of 3, but greed is good!

winston--You are right on target. Good stuff.