W – AJ Burnett (3-0)     L – Brian Matusz (2-1)

AJ Burnett just shut us down tonight. In the early innings we were hitting the ball hard but the Yankees defense was making every play possible. But after a while we just couldn’t get anything going, hitting alot of weak fly balls and pop ups. We only had three hits in the game. Adam Jones, Ty Wiggington, and Cesar Izturis each had singles. Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters each worked a walk. Whenever we did have any scoring opportunities we couldn’t do anything with them, going 0-3 with runners in scoring position. Trembley needs to do something with the lineup and drop Jones out of the leadoff spot. I propose a Nick Markakis – Ty Wiggington – Matt Wieters – Miguel Tejada – Luke Scott – Adam Jones – Nolan Reimold – Rhyne Hughes – Cesar Izturis order for the time being.

Brian Matusz gave us another quality start but thats not good enough when the offense gets shut out. He battled out there like he always does and did a great job of limiting the damage anytime the Yankees got something going. New York had a few bloop hits that fell in to make matters worse. Matusz only made a few mistake pitches but it seemed like every time he did they took advantage of it. He hung a curve ball to Robinson Cano that was blasted into the bleacher seats in right center. Cano would hit another solo homerun in the 8th off of Alberto Castillo and he also had a double in the game. Not only that but he robbed Nolan Reimold of a base hit earlier in the game. Matusz went 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 9 hits. Matt Albers pitched a perfect 1.1 innings. He seems to pitch much better in low leverage situations. Hopefully Dave Trembley notices that but I doubt it. Alberto Castillo gave up that Cano homerun over an innings work. He also walked a batter and gave up a double. Jason Berken got the last two outs in the 9th without any problem. He needs to get some looks in higher leverage situations to see how he handles them.

Player of the game: Brian Matusz (6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 K, L (2-1) (4.40 ERA))

No rest for the weary as John Lackey (2-1, 5.09) and the Red Sox come into town for a three game series. David Hernandez (0-3, 4.84) gives it another try for the Orioles.

W – CC Sabathia (3-1)     L – Jeremy Guthrie (0-3)

I knew we lost this game after the second inning. Down 5-0 with CC Sabathia on the mound is not an obstacle most teams can get over. We never gave up so I’ll give them that. Guthrie got some bad breaks right out of the gate. Derek Jeter tapped a grounder down the first base line that I thought would be an easy out, but apparently Garrett Atkins has as much range as a statue. The next batter lined a single into left field that Jeter would’ve stopped at third on, but Lou Montanez couldn’t catch the ball and it rolled away allowing the run to score. Guthrie’s pitches looked good. He was getting alot of movement on his fastball but he just couldn’t locate. His final line was 4.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R (6 ER), BB, 4 K. Mark Hendrickson came in with two outs in the 5th and a runner on first base. He gave up back to back singles to allow the inherited runner to score before getting out of the inning. He got two outs in the 6th but not before giving up three singles to load the bases. Cla Meredith got out of the inning but allowed one of the inherited runners to score then went on to pitch a scoreless 7th. Matt Albers pitched a scoreless 8th and Will Ohman pitched a scoreless 9th.

The Orioles scored their first run in the 3rd inning on an RBI groundout by Miguel Tejada. Nick Markakis scored after hitting a single and moving to third on Ty Wiggington’s double. Tejada got us going again in the 6th when he led off with a double. He advanced to third on a Garrett Atkins single and scored on Nolan Reimold’s sacrifice fly. Atkins had two singles in the game, so I’ve got to give Dave Trembley props for starting him over Rhyne Hughes against the lefty. Markakis finally hit his first homerun of the season in the 7th, a solo shot to center field. He also hit his 9th double in the game. Cesar Izturis had two singles, his third straight multi-hit game. Maybe he should bat leadoff because Adam Jones certainly isn’t getting the job done. He went 0-4 again last night, although he did record his second walk of the season. I don’t know why Trembley has decided to put a guy that has no plate discipline and tries to hit a homerun on every swing at the lead off spot. Jones still has a ton of potential and I think hes just in a major slump right now, but I think he should be batting around 6th or 7th in the lineup right now to take some pressure off of him. Move him back up once he breaks out of the funk hes in. The guy had a great spring training but seems to be pressing after the ice cold start the team got off to.

Player of the game: Nick Markakis (3-5, 2 R, RBI, double (9), HR (1) (.284 AVG))

The O’s will try to win their first series of the season tonight against AJ Burnett (2-0, 3.20). The rookie sensation is on the mound for the birds, Brian Matusz (2-0, 4.38).