Let's try to forget that the Orioles failed to score a run for 22 consecutive innings heading into the All-Star Break. Most of the team will now have four days off, and when they resume play in Baltimore on Friday they will do so with a 45-40 record. The O's have cleared the first half as the second-place team in the monstrous American League East, and they're still fending off the Rays, Indians, Tigers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Athletics for the second wild card spot. All of this was achieved with only 17 games played by Brian Roberts and 16 by Nolan Reimold, to say nothing of the broken hamate bone that has cost Nick Markakis the last 35 games.
As long as we're here, we'll take note of the bilingual cover boy, Scott McGregor. The southpaw was named to his only All-Star team in 1981 by virtue of a 6-2 record with a 3.15 ERA in the strike-shortened first half. The abbreviated schedule cost Scotty a shot at his second straight 20-win season; he won 7 of his 10 decisions after play resumed in August to finish 13-5 with a 3.26 ERA overall. In a normal 162-game season, he would have likely made a dozen additional starts.
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