Baltimore Orioles Soundoff

Hallelujah! Praise Sammy Sosa! Praise Rodrigo Lopez! But, most of all, praise Sam Perlozzo for leading the O's to their first victory in their last nine games.

Yeah, Eric Byrnes hit a triple off of Orlando Cabrera's leg and Sosa crushed a ball out to left for the four runs the O's scored, but if this were a Lee Mazzilli managed team, four runs would not have been enough.

Perlozzo masterfully worked the bullpen and was able to put the right pitchers in, and keep them in, at the right times.

Too many times Mazzilli would take a lead into the 5th, 6th or 7th innings, and too many times the O's would end up losing that lead because of their bullpen. But is that really the bullpen's fault? Or is it Mazzilli's?

Rodrigo Lopez pitched an excellent game for 4 innings. In the 5th, things got a little hairy. But Lopez finished strong and got out of the inning. Having thrown a lot of pitches the inning before, Perlozzo felt Lopez needed to be taken out. I might have left him in one more inning, but whatever.

Enter Todd Williams. Williams did an excellent job for an 1 2/3 innings. Perlozzo didn't have to make any decisions there, so nothing special. Now is when Perlozzo's actions show why he is the better man for the job.

Tim Byrdak, one of the O's best relievers in the past few weeks, came into the game next. He got the man he was supposed to get, the left-handed specialist did his job. But then, something crazy happened, a right-handed hitter came to bat and Perlozzo didn't put Chris Ray in the game. He didn't change pitchers at all. And it worked! Byrdak got the man out. Imagine that.

Then, with switch-hitting Chone Figgins coming to bat, Perlozzo wanted to make him face a hard thrower from his weaker side. He took Byrdak out, and brought in Jorge Julio. With two runners on base already, this seemed to me an excellent idea.

But Julio failed.

He walked the man he came in to face and loaded the bases. Here it comes, game after game, the same thing. It's bases loaded, O's up 4-1, bottom of the 8th, time to blow it.

And Mazzilli left Julio in and he gave up the game-winning homerun, again. But wait! Mazzilli was fired! Perlozzo is the manager of this team.

Perlozzo yanked Julio like his was a particularly bad performance on the Gong Show. If you are a reliever and you walk a batter, you come out. No more chances. Way to go Sam.

B.J. Ryan was placed in the game and he struck out his man to end the inning. Threat over. Orioles still leading 4-1. Orioles win.

To me, the difference is as clear as night and day. Mazzilli would have left Julio in. Perlozzo took him out. That is the whole game right there.

Congratulations Sam Perlozzo, I look forward to a lot more of this to close out this year. If you keep this up, you might just be sticking around to manage for years to come.

Game Recap: Orioles 4, Angels 1
Box Score

The O's have finally won a game! The impossible has happened, and I love Sam Perlozzo. Eric Byrnes tripled in two runs and Sammy Sosa slammed his 14th HR of the year for the other two. Rodrigo Lopez pitched excellent for 5 innings and Todd Williams, Tim Byrdak and BJ Ryan held down the fort superbly as the O's moved their record closer to .500 at 52-56.

Now all we need is the Red Sox to go on the same collapse that the O's went on, plus we need about a 12-game winning streak and we are back in first. Maybe.

Next Game: Friday, August 5th, 8:05 p.m.
Baltimore @ Texas

Bruce Chen vs. C.J. Wilson

# posted by Jeff Lippman @ 10:47 AM