When Brett Gardner's soft ground ball hopped over the glove of Cesar Izturis in the ninth inning, you were thinking the same thing that I was: How many weird, screwed-up ways are the Orioles going to find to blow leads in the late innings.
Except that it didn't happen. Alfredo Simon was forced to pitch to Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez because of that fluky hop, but he wriggled out of the jam to record a tough first save as the Orioles closer-apparent.
"With all the stuff we've been through in the first 19 games,'' said manager Dave Trembley, "that ninth inning was a piece of cake."
That's two wins in a row and a 2-2 record in the first four games of this tough 12-game stretch against the Red Sox and Yankees. So far, so good.