The Orioles had a long time without picking up a victory from the Red Sox. Finally they did it last week at Baltimore. Erik Bedard pitched seven effective innings for the Orioles, who had lost 13 straight to Boston -- including eight this season -- since Sept. 2, 2005. The victory also enabled Baltimore to end an eight-game home skid against the Red Sox. Bedard (5-2) gave up one run, a pair of doubles and three walks. The left-hander who came in with a 7.57 ERA in six career starts against the Red Sox struck out three. It was his first victory in five starts since April 20. "It's a win that we needed to have, but it's also special because I competed with these guys the last three years," said Millar, whose two-run homer gave Baltimore a lead it never lost Wednesday night in a 4-3 victory. "It was a lot of fun." This victory will give a confidence boost to the Orioles players. They really need this win because of what it represent, the ending of the losing streak against Boston and also the opportunity to try and reach Toronto for the third place of their division. Lineup - Eddie Rogers, 2nd B. 2. Melvin Mora, 3rd B. 3. Miguel Tejada, SS. 4.Jay Gibbons, RF. 5.Ramon Hernandez, C. 6.Javy Lopez. 7. Kevin Millar, 1st B. 8. Corey Patterson, CF. 9.Luis Matos, LF.
The Mariners suffered a three game sweep in Oakland last week. The last game was played on Thursday and they fell 6-3 in a game they started winning in the first inning one run up. But the A's contested with three in the bottom of the first and from that point they held the lead through the whole game. The Mariners, who are 13th in the American League in hitting against lefties got eight hits but no runs off the left-handed Zito and fell to 4-10 against left-handed starters. Meanwhile Jamie Moyer turned in his poorest start of the season giving up seven runs (five earned) in six innings. In his career he is 10-7 against Oakland but the Mariners have lost the last five times he's started against the A's. Seattle at the bottom of the AL West could've used the victory to try and climb to reach the teams on top of the standings. Unfortunately for them it just didn't happened; they'll have a chance to improve their record this week against the Orioles. They just need to focus and try no to commit so many mistakes in the games that could cost them a lot. The team that make fewest mistakes and play focused will win this series. Since both teams are so compared it will be an interesting series to bet on because the lines will be very low. If you like sports betting take some time and study your picks to try and beat the house as these two teams face each other. Lineup - Ichiro Suzuki, RF. 2.Jose Lopez, 2nd B. 3. Raul Ibanez, LF. 4. Richie Sexson, 1st B. 5. Carl Everett, DH. 6. Adrian Beltre, 3rd B. 7. Kenji Johjima, C. 8.Willie Bloomquist, CF. 9.Yuniesky Betancourt, SS.
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