I'm not really worried about the White Sox. They've been struggling just as much as we have.

At least two out of three against Boston. That'll take some wind out of their sails and put some wind into ours. And I'd love to see "Red Sox Nation" go home with their tails between their legs for once.

Great job by Britton getting out of the top of the fifth.

Terrible job by Buchholz on that almost double play.

(I think I'm a few minutes behind on the game.)

Let's Go Caps!!

After reading Herschel's comment, I decided to check in on the Caps - something which I haven't done in years.

This blew my mind: HALF of the teams in the NHL make the playoffs. HALF.

Then I thought I would check the NBA. Same thing. Half of the teams make it.

No wonder I don't watch those sports. Each team literally has a one in two chance of making it to the post season.

Wow...

not brooks,

And in addition to half of the teams making it in Basketball and Hockey...they play 7 games in the opening rounds!

Baseball seems intent on adding a play-off spot, but not making the DS's 7 games? What a crime.

The added wild card in MLB is going to be stupid.

There's no fair way to do a three-game series and a five-game series would lead to too long of a layoff for the division winners.

Really, the only way to do it is with a one-game playoff, and how does that make any sense?

It's going to be a one-game playoff, which is fun any everything, but pretty stupid when it comes down to it.

It's really too bad that everything in professional sports is always all about money.

Hope this is the beginning of a Vladdy hot streak.

What is it, sac fly night?

Oh yeah...

Let's go Flyers!

154 days remaining

Ahhh, there's some good pitching to shut down some good hitting.

And the Os take advantage of a rare offensive outburst...

Be nice to get back on track here.

One down.

Let's go, Guthrie!

My man Britton!

Before tonight's game Zach Britton was the first O's rookie to have 3 wins by April 21st. Now he has one more. Outstanding!

JJ just filthy! What can I say? I love this guy!

Vlad was lumber-jacking tonight. Awesome!

Jonesy, solid, thank you very much!

Reynolds just totally crashed that ball.

Greg, had some nasty movement on this fastball.

Hey even Derek Lee did OK. Bucholtz should have gotten bombed though.

Matt Weiters ... my man!!!! Still perfect with men on: 7-7. He also leads AL catchers throwing out 44% of potential base stealers.

Guthrie will definitely be on his game tomorrow.

Prediction: Guthrie 8 innings pitched 2 earned runs, O's win 6-2.

PS: I read A-Rod is trying to mentor Machado. Get that juice face away from him. Sent the kid to Aberdeen to meet with Cal.

Great Game by the score, but these guys are still missing out on a few of those "break the game open" opportunities. Several innings with guys in scoring position and we settle for a sac fly and find a way to end the inning without more runs ( 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th tonight).
Great game by Britton and JJ looked strong tonight. Nice work by Gregg closing it out. The problem is that when we have a pitcher on the ropes in an inning, we need to capitalize.
Hey... a win is a win... and I am not complaining.

Waiting for Matusz to come back and solidify this rotation... 1-4 of Matusz, Guts, Britton, and Arrieta can really win some games for us if the bats do their job.

do you think, the iron man didn't juice?

@mike bohle,

If you have facts that Cal did steroids, please by all means be my guest. A-Roid tested positive for steroids. That's a fact. So I would reconsider if I were you, before you go on and end up getting schooled.

Actually, NB, more than half of NHL teams make the post-season, 16 of 30. Eight in each conference. They have three divisions, but the playoffs are seeded by records in the conference. Therefore, the Caps are the East's number one seed, they played and beat the number eight New York Rangers.

They have to wait to see who they play in round two, with Buffalo losing tonight, it'll either be the number four Penguins or the number five Tampa Lightning. Those two play tomorrow night in PA.

I don't know why the winter sports insist on having so many teams in the playoffs. Back in the NHL's six team days, the top four teams made the postseason. I guess they just carried it over with everything prorated.

No post season is as compelling as the NHL. No team is head and shoulders above the rest. For example, the number one team in the league, the Vancouver Canucks, had a 3-0 on the defending Cup champions and number eight seed Chicago BlackHawks. The Hawks have tied it at three apiece and they are playing game seven tonight in Canada.

The one and two seeds in the East last year, the Caps and Flyers, were both upset in the first round, and the seventh seeded Sabres forced the Flyers to beat them in seven this year. Hockey is a very balanced sport, Pete Rozelle would love it. There is parity throughout the sport and no clear favorites for the Cup.

But I agree, it is very hard to get excited about a team fighting for that coveted number eight seed. As much as I am not a fan of the NFL, their playoff system is the best. The 32 NFL teams are broken down into eight divisions, four in each conference, with the division winners and the next two best records in each conference. Twelve in all.

With the eight four team divisions, there is a pennant race in each, and many times a team has to finish first just to get in. Second place won't do.

Baseball could do something similar and I have often suggested the NHL also break down into smaller divisions. That way, teams would be fighting for first, not eighth. Yeah, it would be manipulating the system, but at least there would be legitimate races. The NHL has 30 teams, they could add two, there's enough talent so the league wouldn't be diluted too much and you could still have your eight teams from each conference.

In baseball, with its 30 teams, they could do something radical, say put the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets in a three division shootout, and maybe the Cubs, ChiSox, and another high revenue club, maybe the Rockies, in another three team shootout, and divide the remaining 24 clubs into six four team divisions.. That gives you eight divisions, and you could use the NFL format with the division winners and the two next best records. You'd have 12 teams out of 30, not a ridiculous total and you would have pennant races in so many divisions. They could even go to 32 teams, which I hope they never do, or retract two clubs, and make a league with seven four team divisions. That is highly unlikely.

Anyway, anything is better than adding another level of playoffs in the current system.

Can't wait for everyone to tell me why I'm wrong

Shocking.....

No, not the win (I'll get to that in a second).

But just over 18,000 at the Yard, with Boston in town? Here's the deal, the reality.... with all the Sox fans in the park, there were actually fewer O's fans than normal (if that's possible).

The warehouse banks on these games... banks on Sox fans filling the stadium. Wow, they must be depressed....

As for the game...

Since Brit and Weiters are on my fantasy team - golden. Even more important, Brit keeps making it impossible for AM to send him down for business reasons (something he still desperately wants to do - did I say it was for business reasons?).

Boston fans,

You come in to the Yard and you try soooo hard to be as cool as Yankee fans (not that Yank fans are cool - but Boston fans want so much to be like them). Here's your problem though bro bro's....... The Yanks have lots and lots and lots and lots of rings. Meanwhile, even the ring you got from 1918 is now in question.

I like your city though. In the summer and fall, there may not be a better large city in the country to spend time in. You as fans though, you are so incredibly lame and uncool, and you seriously do define 'losing'. Sure, the O's are and have been terrible...

But the O's history is 'real'.

With Manny, Ortiz.......and now 1918..... too bad you can't say the same.

You tell em wayne. That was classic.

um ehrlich zu sein, versteh ich gar nichts und hab keine ahnung, wie ich das hinbekommen soll. habt ihr nicht eine schritt für schritt erklärung für dummies wie mich?

Sehr schöne und unaufgeregte Zusammenfassung, die ich genau so unterschreiben kann.

What's with all the German posts? Are they part of the plot to change this over to an edited blog?