This Is A Little Hard To Believe, Even For The Orioles

Notes on a day in baseball:

• Oh, Baltimore, Man It's Hard, Just To Live. Today in "starters we should not have pulled," it's the Baltimore Orioles and Jeremy Guthrie, who had given up only three hits through 8 1/3 innings against the Red Sox. With one out in the ninth and a 5-0 lead, Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez dropped a popup by Coco Crisp for an error. Guthrie was then pulled for reliever Danys Baez, who gave up a run-scoring double to David Ortiz and a single to Wily Mo Pena. Anyhow, a few batters later, Orioles closer Chris Ray dropped a throw while covering first base on Julio Lugo's grounder, with Jason Varitek and Eric Hinske scoring the tying and winning runs for a 6-5 Red Sox victory. Even the Orioles bird logo fell over dead when watching this one.

• But Wait, We Have Another Candidate. Toronto's Shaun Marcum had a no-hitter through six innings against Tampa Bay before — you guessed it — he was pulled by manager John Gibbons. Carlos Pena homered in the seventh — the Devil Rays' first hit — as Tampa Bay went on for a 2-1 win. Of course Gibbons noted that Marcum is a reliever who was filling in as a starter, but that doesn't make him look any smarter.

• Pretty In Pink. Of all the players using pink bats on Sunday, Minnesota's Torii Hunter looked the prettiest, homering twice and driving in seven as the Twins beat the Tigers 16-4.

• Well, It's All Downhill After This. Fred Lewis, a rookie just up from Triple-A Fresno, became the 22nd Giant to hit for the cycle in San Francisco's 15-2 win over Colorado. He went 5-for-6 with four RBI, with a three-run homer.