MLB (Selig & co.) fired Shyam Das as arbitrator for MLB. Why? I guess because he was upholding the collection procedures in the Ryan Braun case.

Should be a good game -- Hammel has been really tough.

Rain?
Fuck.

Alright, lets get the game in.

The man's name is Xavier Avery?

Congrats on your first ML hit kid, now let that be the only one Nova gives up tonight.

Also, I'm tired of this "Jason Hammel pitching well" thing. It annoys me. He has a long and established history of sucking, and he should stick to it.

[7] Maybe Ivan can pick up the Sucking slack for him.

Uh oh.

Jesus, how does he run like that with bronchitis?

Atta boy, Nick!

Finally. WordPress kept not accepting my login. And Nick with a hit with RISP.

Nova is so much like Andy.

Nick Johnson's career makes me so sad.

Remember when he was picked off of third that time?

Curtis!

Dang, missed Curtis.

[7] I recall similar comments about Cliff Lee a few years back though..maybe Hammels has "flipped the switch"?

What I miss What i miss?

That sucks.

Cano is ridiculous over there.

Jesus, did you see that?

[18] Anything is possible, but I'll always lean turns "fluke" first.

And "he's doing something illegal" second.

I exited at 3-2 and cam back to 5-3. WTF! And now the bases are juiced. I can't stand Showalter and his obnoxious puss.

[22] You do understand the juice is ours, right?
:-)

Wow.

For a split second, out of the corner of my eye, I thought Jorgie was up looking at Ibanez.

[23] Of course. Just sayin' how much a person can miss in 15 minutes. : )

[22] Buck Showalter the manager annoys the hell out of me, but he was very kind to me when i was a little kid, so I can never truly hate him.

I have the Orioles' feed. It's very calm, professional. I think this is the first time I've heard these guys.

It's through, it's through!

Did it seem like the Orioles took their sweet ass time getting to that ball after it got by Davis?

Dino! I'll take that.

That's a bea......er, uh, E3. Huzzah!

RaOOOOOOOOOL!!!

In the air Eric.

Wow, this is getting a little weird. Weeping is hallucinating Posada, Mattpat is getting all nostalgic for his childhood with Buck Showalter.

Further than that, Eric.

[34] Hehehe. Indeed.

Soon to be illegal

Jesus, now each time we see the "Old Jeff Nelson," we'll have to hear that it's to be outlawed next year.

[34] :) :) :)

When I was eight, we went to see a game in Baltimore. It just so happened to be the Yankees hotel, and I went nuts chasing people all over the hotel. The concierge was chasing me around trying to get me to leave them alone. When I caught up with Buck, the concierge caught up with me and tried to drag me away. Buck told him to go away and signed an autograph and chatted with me.

[34] That struck me too. :]
Showalter always struck me as a bit of a Neidermeyer-type...

Let's hear if for bad D!

[39] That is so cool! I take back the Neidermeyer comment.

[39] Awwwwwwww.

That looked high.

[41] I also got Steve Howe (believe it or not, also very very nice) and my hero Don Mattingly.

Reggie ran away from me

I am certainly not going to miss Michael Kay talking about the fucking "Jeff Nelson Play" ever gd time the pitcher fakes to third and throws to first. He usually also says it hasn't worked in 15 years which is bullshit. Had to get that one off my chest.

[42] Awwwww, so dear.

[45] Granderson fell for it last year. I think it ended a game

The whole balk rule is stupid. There should be no such thing as a balk. If you can throw between your legs to first while you're in a full windup, more power to you. Baseball should be fun!

[45] Jesus, what's wrong with you? It's "The Old Jeff Nelson," not the "Jeff Nelson Play."

People's Front of Judea, indeed!

wtf is going on here? Luis Ayala is untouchable all of a sudden??

That's not really an acceptable outcome.

[49] What's wrong with you? It's "The Ol' Jeff Nelson." ; )
Well that was a waste of risp.

Why do they ALWAYS seem to suck in this situation?

Oy. They couldn't have had that lazy fly for the first or the second out???

Rats, I wanted more.

[49][52] What did they ever do for us anyways? Besides water aqueducts, roads and infrastructure? Oops, wrong dialogue..

Tie game now. Hope the pen can hold the Oriole O!

[52] [56] laughing

Damn, that doesn't look good at all.

[56] Education.

Been a long time since I watched that movie, may have to throw it in the DVD player.

Why does Girardi use Rapada more than a compulsive masturbator uses his hand?

[59] Public order. Let's face it, they do know how to keep order. Only ones who could in a place like this.

Why are Baltimore games always so excruciating?

Who just left the Yankee bench? The O's announcers saw someone but didn't recognize him.

[63] Karim Garcia?

Clay Rapada, apparently.

A homerun!!!

I was about to say "Isn't it pitiful when Tex has only a "key" walk because it scores a run?" but now I take it all back

Man, that thing was teed up for him.

Still, I'll take it.

Eat it, Baltimore.

Now I'm hallucinating!

WTF is a "boog" anyway?

The Orioles announcers are now talking endlessly about "keeping guys fresh" (bullpen guys). Fresh and strong. Buck is doing his best to keep them fresh.

It's like a freaking feminine hygiene commercial.

Curtis catches everything.

And

He catches everything in such a way that I never doubt he'll catch it.

Never.

He catches everything possible to be caught.

Easy as pie, no problem for Curtis.

Remember when Curtis was pegged a poor defensive CF when he came here? He struggled some in his last year or two in Detroit if memory serves.

Was going to be a hit any way.

[75] I believe he still looks pretty bad by defensive sabermetrics. I can't figure out why.

[77] RIYank, I think you are more up to date on some of the new metrics than I am..can you help out with this? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/05/14/power.rankings.week.5/index.html?sct=mlb_t11_a0

How is possible to have the Sawx above the Rays? I really can't undersatnd the methodology here..

Oh, excellent. The game was moving much too fast. Now I can catch my breath.

[78] Wow, that's interesting.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooone!

[80] Honestly, I don't see the point of suck "rankings". No matter what the stats say, how can anyone logically believe the Red Sox are a better team than Tampa right now? Am i just a complete dinosaur or are they off?

Mr OK, they're looking at the underlying stats -- for instance, Boston pitchers have a high BABIP against, and their strikeouts and walks are not too bad. Meanwhile the Boston line-up is raking at the plate. So the secondary stats predict they'll do better. (I can't tell if they take into account the expect return of Ellsbury, Bailey, Dice-K. Can you?)

I mean, if you watch them, they look like they choke, spit the bit, gag with RISP, every way you can play worse than you are. So it's not that surprising, although I can tell you that Red Sox fans would laugh hard if told that their guys are better than the Rays.

Hej Hej,
This has been a funny game as in peculiar. Gloomy Balto night. Back in forth between the Devils/Rangers game. Did see that Granderson master catch.

Off topic, but anyone notice what Melky is doing for the Giants so far this year?

The homeplate ump never signaled it hit him. Martin just kept waling to first. Strange.

O's announcers are not super happy about this HBP. (Understandably.)

For the love of fucking Pete!

[83] Hmm..ok, I can understand that. But to have them ranked 7th? I've watched some Sox games this year..their pitching is TERRIBLE. Are the advanced stats like xFIP, etc then saying that there is some bad luck involved? Really seems out of whack..look where the Blue Jays rank, 28th??!

Jeez, I think he was safe. Orioles' crew not saying anything about it.

[88] Yes, lots of bad luck. Because in general pitchers have very little control over BABIP.

[90] But..Bucholz and Beckett have been awful, line drive after line drive. Do the stats not take into account when pitchers give up lasers as opposed to dinky dunk bloop hits?

In any case, I fail to see the point of these ranking when they differ SO much from the standings..but will be interesting to go back after another month and see how predictive they are, yes?

[90] Not if the pitcher's got good control.

[91] Some stats do, for sure, but of course just looking at K, BB, HR, and BABIP, no, you won't notice that there are lots of line drives. Is that true about Beckett, though? I must be true of Buchholz (except for his most recent start).

I think the point of them is that they should in theory be better predictions than the standings are. That's probably right, too, don't you think? Are you expecting the Red Sox to be in last place in September?

[93 And corollary to that, do you expect the O's to be in first place in September?

[93] I see..better predictors than early season standings.
I don't epect the Sox to be in last place, no. But I don't think they will pass TB or Toronto..they are a .500 team for more than half a season now. Anyways, I'll keep checking that weekly list. Interesting for sure..

Damn, Boone looks good. Really good.

And Corey.

Does any team in any sport have a song (?) as good as the Ranger fans' chant when a goal is scored?

The Tex engine is now revved up.

Ouch!