MLB: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 8, Orioles 4 (August 3)

WP: John Lackey (9-4)
LP: Erik Bedard (5-4)

BAL: 51-56 (4th in AL East, 10.5 behind Boston)

The Orioles best starting pitcher, Erik Bedard, was pitching well -- he even had a lead -- until the fifth inning.

In the fifth, the Angels sent 11 batters to the plate, got five hits, three walks, and went through three Orioles pitchers to score six runs and take a 7-2 lead.

Orlando Cabrera, Darin Erstad, Garret Anderson and Jose Molina all had RBI singles in the inning, with Anderson's and Molina's each scoring two runs.

Vladimir Guerrero kept dominating the Orioles, hitting an RBI double in the first inning and another in the sixth.

The Orioles briefly grabbed the lead in the top of the fifth after Luis Matos doubled, Brian Roberts singled him home, Eric Byrnes singled to move Roberts to second, then Javy Lopez singled Roberts home.

It wouldn't last, though, and the Orioles dropped their eighth straight game.

This afternoon, the Orioles and Angels wrap up this three-game set, as the O's send Rodrigo Lopez (9-6, 4.85 ERA, throws right) to the mound to try to avoid the sweep. He will face Ervin Santana (6-4, 5.19 ERA, throws right).

THOUGHTS:
Another day, another loss. Big surprise.

Jay Gibbons was on Comcast SportsNet's SportsNite last night to talk a little about the Rafael Palmeiro scandal, and he actually said that the mood in the clubhouse was pretty bad. Normally, players will give some crap answer like, "well, you know, we're just trying to work through this and not get too down on ourselves." I guess it's too bad to lie about (apparently unlike Palmeiro's positive steroid test... zing!).

The Orioles are now over 10 games behind Boston, and it appears that the season is lost unless they go on a monster run, which they haven't shown any signs of doing (you need to win one game before you can go on a run).

The O's need to avoid this sweep to take something from this series. They need a win... They don't just need a win -- they've needed a win for three weeks. They NEEEEEED a win.

Hopefully they can get right against this 22-year-old Ervin Santana kid, who has had a rocky go of it so far this year. But he's smoothed it out in his last three starts and has pitched well -- just in time for the Orioles, of course...