Rodrigo Lopez tosses 7 innings giving up one run to improve his record to 5-8. Chris Ray rebounds from last nights disaster to record his 19th save.

The starting pitching has been pitching outstanding lately. I’m not sure if thats because of the competition we’re facing, the Mazzone effect starting to show, pure luck, or what. Its probably a combination of many things… Whatever it is, I’m liking it. If Rodrigo can keep pitching well, we may be able to get something for him before the trade deadline. And I would try to move him along with Javy Lopez, Luis Matos, Bruce Chen, Kevin Millar, Jeff Conine, LaTroy Hawkins, and Todd Williams (if we don’t just get rid of him).

There wasn’t anything too special to report about from the hitting. Tejada continues to ground into double plays at an astounding pace. His OPS has now slid to under .900. Corey Patterson had a big RBI single, Melvin Mora a single and a sacrifice fly, and Nick Markakis had the only multi-hit game going 2-3.

This was a nice win and a good rebound from the night before. Tonight we go into game 2 looking to win the series. With Adam Loewen facing off against Ramon Ortiz, look for more runs to cross the board than the first game of the series. I think we should put up some numbers against Ortiz, just hope Loewen can last longer than his previous efforts. The kid is gonna be good, hes just gotta get adjusted to the Major League level hitters. If he can improve his control, he could be a stud.

There are rumors flying around that the Orioles are the front-runners (only-runners?) in the Russ Ortiz sweepstakes. I don’t think this would be a good move to sign him, even if it was for the league-minimum. I say just keep Loewen in the rotation and let him get some experience for next year. And when we trade Rodrigo (keeping fingers crossed) we should put Hayden Penn in his rotation spot. So say no to Russ Ortiz Orioles, and good luck in today’s ballgame.