Orioles 4 Mets 2

For the second time in three starts Pedro Martinez didn't have his best stuff. His ERA has gone up more than half a run over those three starts and it now stands at 3.01. The Orioles used one hit, a passed ball and two groundouts to get a run in the first.



The Mets came right back, scoring two runs in the first as they are wont to do. But that was it. Reyes led off the game with a double. Kris Benson made a horrible throwing error which allowed Lo Duca to get on while he was really trying to sacrifice. Delgado singled him home. And the Mets didn't score again.


Benson homered off Pedro to tie the game. Pedro got behind him 3-0, then laid two pitches right in there. Benson took the first one and homered off the second one.
"He's a pitcher," Martinez said. "Whenever I fall behind them (a pitcher) I'm not going to fool around. Make him hit it. The next time up he popped up to center field. Same pitch. Same location. Fastball. Eighty-five, 86 miles per hour."

The Orioles broke the game open in the 5th on hits by luminaries Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts and Brandon Fahey.


After that Benson was untouchable. The Mets had chances early but Reyes popped out with 2nd and 3rd and one out in the second. Delgado led off the third with a double, but was stranded. Milledge led off the fourth with a single, was sacrificed to second and stranded there. After Milledge's hit the next 17 Mets were retired (15 of those by Benson) until Milledge singled again in the bottom of the 9th.

You could tell that Benson was pissed about being traded. "It's great to come back and pitch well against the last team you played for, especially with all the stuff going on," Benson said.



Here we go again with catchers. Lo Duca has allowed 41 stolen bases already this year while throwing out less than 25% of the runners. The Orioles have already stolen 5 bases against him in two games.

Last year Brian Roberts hit 18 home runs. In almost 200 at bats he hasn't hit one yet this season. Draw your own conclusions.

The Mets will try to salvage this series by sending Tom Glavine against Adam Loewen. Loewen will make his fourth major league start, and he'll set a record because all of them have been against former Cy Young Award winners (Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay twice).