Dear Pink-Hat Nation :

Fahey was a hero in the eighth, and did a passable impression of a major-leaguer by going 2 for 4 in this game with a run and 2 ribbies. 

Fahey was a goat in the ninth, and did a passable impression of Bynum doing his own impression of Bill Buckner.

Roberts hit 3/4 of the cycle, but missed the tater. 

Some stupid kid screamed "Let's Go Red Sox!" for three innings straight at the end of the game, while woo girls around him sipped their lattés and the players on the field refused to Go. 

And the Sheriff is back in the saddle. 

Since I was on the Orioles.com video page, getting an, ahem, MILF screenshot for the Texas recap thread, I decided to watch the 2008 "Orioles Magic" video again. And it totally hit me hard this time. I mean, I got completely choked up.

Like, right around the time they showed Hagy and sang "there's a thundering roar from 34", I literally started blinking away tears. And then they cut to some footage of Eddie and some of the other 80s Orioles goofing around in the same way as these guys do.

I know we'll be out of contention in September. I know that half the team will be gone by then, and that there's more work to do.

But damn if I haven't loved this first half of baseball. This is the best July 4 weekend in many a year. I LOVE this team. I'm wearing my Oriole jacket with PRIDE in NYC again (well, not when it's this hot). 

As usual, MLB shoots themselves in the foot by not giving an obvious direct link. But I think this link should work for you. If it doesn't, here's a link to the page the video is on.

Watch it again and try not to get a little verklempt. 

In discussion of our bet earlier, at one point you said:

15.5 behind the Sox and 15.5 behind first place is the same thing.

Now, I'm a logic guy, and from this I infer that you're saying the Red Sox will be in first place at the end of the season.

But, being a logic guy, I can't help noticing that the Rays are actually in first place right now, 3.5 games ahead of Boston.

So here's the part I don't understand. If you're saying Boston will be in first place at the end of the season, doesn't that mean the Sox will have to figure out how to beat the Rays on the road at some point instead of being swept?

I'm confused. 

Back in the beginning of April 6, there was a brief discussion started by Jonnypops about switch pitcher Pat Venditte, drafted by the Yankees this year. In the thread, punkrawka expressed a desire to see a switch-pitcher/switch-hitter matchup before his demise.

Punk, your wish is granted. Venditte made his professional debut for the Staten Island Yankees against the Brooklyn Cyclones on June 19. With the Cyclones trailing 7-2, Venditte came on to close the door in the ninth. He retired two batters, then gave up a hit. With two outs, and a possible comeback in the making, Ralph Enriquez, a switch-hitter, strode to the plate....

The video is hilarious. It starts with the previous batter, and then Enriquez steps in (off camera) at the :45 mark. Be forewarned the video is over 8 minutes long! Of special note is the 4:36 mark, where you can watch the whole sequence from the centerfield camera, which gives you a better idea of the cat-and-mouse game than the initial angles they show. 

And here's the NY Times write-up on the incident from two days later.

Garrett Olson isn't going to win a Cy Young any time soon. But you know what? He's made a lot of improvement this year over last year. His ERA is down 3 whole runs, his WHIP is down 0.75 or so, and his BAA is 50 points lower. Now, that's 10 starts this year compared to 7 starts last year.

But isn't this exactly the kind of growth we were hoping for this year? Garrett Olson has done pretty much what we as Orioles fans (and one would guess what Andy MacPhail, Rick Kranitz and Dave Trembley) hoped for - get better at his craft while learning at the MLB level.

Think about how many the Orioles have tried this with before. We can revisit the list, but I'm guessing many of you just ate lunch, so I'll spare you the details. But Garrett Olson, and to a lesser degree, Brian Burres and Rad Liz, are showing signs they just may be MLB pitchers. And considering the state of the pitching staffs of many of our rivals - Dice-K is imploding for the PHN, the MFY can't keep a starter healthy - this isn't a bad place to be.

Garrett may win today, he may not. Breaking the 0-10 on Sundays since the first week of the season would be nice. But we will hopefully get to enjoy a 24-year-old left hander show he's learning something about being a MLB starter.  And a bunch of other teams in the AL East wish they had one, let alone as their 3rd starter.

MILWAUKEE NOTES: Rickie Weeks has indeed been activated and is in the lineup. Perpetual grouch Bill Hall has apparently whined his way into a start at 3B. And I'm still disappointed Corey Hart never wore sunglasses during the last two games.

-duck (Yeah, it auto-posted at the right time!)

I'd never heard of McClung until I looked him up, and folks, we maybe running into a show stopper here. From Yahoo! Sports:

A former American Leaguer, Seth McClung (4-3, 3.94) starts against the Orioles for the sixth time in his career. In his first five starts - all with Tampa Bay - McClung went 3-2 with a 6.39 ERA, walking 24 in 25 1-3 innings.

The right-hander has pitched much better since moving from a long relief role into the rotation for Milwaukee, going 3-2 with a 4.23 ERA in five starts. He limited Minnesota to two runs and four hits over six innings Sunday in a 4-2 victory.

McClung has pitched six innings in each of his last three starts, giving up a total of five earned runs with 13 strikeouts against one walk.

If the Orioles can beat this kid, they've done something. This ain't no "Latest Rookie We Turn Into Cy Young" game here - this is a good pitcher who's put up Quality Starts in his last 3 outings.

One last note: With a crowd of about 30,000 today, 1 million fans will have seen the Orioles play this year. And most still think Terry Crowley needs to be replaced.

Let's Go O's!

-duck