Angels shortstop Maicer Izturis throws to first to complete a double play after forcing out Adam Jones. The Orioles led the game 4-0 before allowing 11 unanswered runs. (Getty Images / July 4, 2009)
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — - The Orioles officially hit the midpoint of the 2009 season Saturday night with a defeat that could serve as a microcosm of a first half filled with frustrating losses.
In an 11-4 victory by the Los Angeles Angels before an announced 41,764 at Angel Stadium, the Orioles blew a four-run lead and watched the home team pound out 17 hits and score 11 unanswered runs. Rookie starter Jason Berken came unglued in the fifth inning and the Orioles (36-47) made a handful of defensive miscues that simply cannot happen to a team expecting to win anywhere, nevermind in the home ballpark of one of baseball's better teams.
"This was probably a game that we had the opportunity to win, no question about it," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "They got a lot of hits, which you give them credit for. But we gave them far too many opportunities to do that. I mean, come on. There were too many things that happened that weren't good."
Just hours after Trembley lamented the number of winnable games his team has given away, and a day after he had an extensive talk with veteran second baseman Brian Roberts, whose focus and hustle has recently come under scrutiny, the Orioles bumbled together a couple of their worst innings all season with Roberts right in the thick of it.
He contributed to the Angels' three-run fifth inning off Berken with a key error as his flip to second base to get an out on Chone Figgins' grounder pulled shortstop Robert Andino off the bag. Roberts and right fielder Nick Markakis then inexcusably allowed Juan Rivera's high pop-up off Danys Baez to drop in between them in right field, allowing the go-ahead run to score in the Angels' two-run seventh inning.
"That opened the floodgates," Trembley said.
Neither Roberts nor Markakis went after the ball aggressively, but both Trembley and Markakis said it was the outfielder's ball.
"I was going after it. I thought I heard him and didn't, and unfortunately it falls," Roberts said. "I think we've both caught it many times. It was just one of those times, unfortunately, when neither one of us caught it."
Said Markakis: "I take the blame for it. In that situation, it's easier for me to come in on the ball. It was just a miscommunication. He was coming back and I was watching him instead of the ball. ... It was just bad all around."
Leading 5-4, the Angels busted the game open, scoring six times in the eighth off Brian Bass. Vladimir Guerrero had the big swing in the inning with a tape-measure three-run homer over the visiting bullpen in left field. But that he even got up was testament to more poor Orioles defense. Bass fired an errant pickoff attempt at first base and Andino and Melvin Mora failed to get the lead runner at third on a ground ball by Mike Napoli.
"We're ahead 4-0 and we get outscored by 11 runs," Trembley said. "If you get outscored by 11 runs, obviously there [are] breakdowns in a lot of different areas that have to occur for that to happen. If you saw the game tonight, the things that happened are not only evident, but pretty self-explanatory.
By game's end, it was easy to forget that the Orioles once led 4-0, thanks to two RBIs from Adam Jones, and one each from Markakis and Roberts. But as Trembley noted, the momentum shifted in the fifth. Berken hadn't had much experience protecting 4-0 leads. In his six previous starts, the Orioles had scored only four runs while he was in the game.
He allowed back-to-back singles to start the fifth and Roberts' error loaded the bases with no outs. When Bobby Abreu singled to cut the Orioles' lead to 4-1, Trembley yanked Berken, who had thrown 85 pitches and given up seven hits and a walk. Two more runs scored in the inning with Matt Albers on the mound before he got an inning-ending double play.
That appeared to be big at the time, but it would later become a moot point as the Orioles' defensive miscues mounted. Asked specifically whether Roberts has looked lackadaisical lately, Trembley said: "I understand what you're saying. You saw me yesterday. I had a 30-minute conversation with B-Rob. I really don't have an explanation for it."
Roberts spoke more in generalities about the latest loss that could have been avoided.
"It's a building process," Roberts said. "It still is. Some days we're playing better than others. That's the way the game goes, but we certainly want to continue to improve. We feel like we can play with anybody. We've shown it. We just haven't come up with the big hits, the big plays, the big pitches in some of those games."
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Last night was a miserable, embarrassing performance, inexplicable and inexcusable. I've seen better focus and more intensity in discussions of punctuation. And now we have Sunday, this team's customary day of rest, which began in the seventh inning last night.
kjerry(07/05/2009)