The Bubble Has Bursted

Are you ready for the weekend? The Birds walked into game 2 against Hotlanta tonight just 8-20 on weekend games.

Baltimore looked to turn things around tonight against the Braves with Rich Hill on the mound.

Thankfully, Hill has had some good numbers against Atlanta. Going into the game Hill was 3-0 with a 0.94 ERA against the Braves in 4 starts. Chipper Jones, Jeff Francouer, Natt McLouth, and Brian McCann were just a combined 2 for 26 going into tonight’s matchup.

But Hill was coming off his worst outing of ’09. You remember: 0.2 innings, 3 earned runs, and 4 walks. So how did he matchup against Kenshin Kawakami this evening in Charm City?

Not bad through 3 innings, but the 4th was a different story. Hill walked 2 and both scored. Francoeur hit a ground rule double that put the Braves ahead 3-2.

Adam Jones hit his first homerun since May 26. Jones was actually the last Oriole besides Luke Scott or Nolan Reimold to homer. It was a 2 run shot in the first that gave the Birds an early lead.

After Jones’ shot, the O’s looked to take advantage of a struggling Kawakami. Baltimore put 3 on but with a full count Matt Wieters struck out swinging. He would later leave Nolan Reimold in scoring position in the 3rd with his 2 K of the day.

I was listening to the radio in the 7th inning and I have to say that Fred Manfra summarized the inning when he said “the bubble has bursted.” The O’s batted through the order 6 on the board. Melvin Mora, Luke Scott, Brian Roberts, and Adam Jones all had RBIs.

Brian Roberts had a 4 hit night. Nolan Reimold had his 1st 3 hit night.

The bubble has bursted.