Behind 8 Early Runs, O's Rise to 3rd Place

Orioles 10, Rangers 4

BALTIMORE, July 4 -- So many times this season, the Baltimore Orioles have forced Manager Dave Trembley, and the rest of the observers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for that matter, to the edge of their seats. But Friday, the Orioles provided Trembley with what has become a rare treat: a game he could have managed from a leather recliner.

The Orioles opened up a seven-run cushion early against the Texas Rangers. But unlike the night before -- when Baltimore blew a four-run lead in a loss to the Kansas City Royals -- the Orioles protected their advantage on the way to a 10-4 victory before 21,363 on an overcast Fourth of July. The win moved them into third place in the AL East, mere percentage points ahead of the New York Yankees.

"We hit with men on base," Trembley said. "You've got to do it, especially early in the game. When you get scoring opportunities with less than two outs, you've got to cash them in, and we stayed away from striking out with guys on base."

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie pitched 6 1/3 innings, the 15th time in 19 starts that he has pitched six or more innings, though he ran into trouble in seventh. With two men aboard after allowing a run to score, Guthrie yielded to Ryan Bukvich out of the bullpen. After retiring Michael Young, Bukvich promptly threw a wild pitch, walked a batter to load the bases and allowed a two-run single to Milton Bradley.

But Bukvich got out of the inning with no further damage. And while his appearance had to be the closest that anybody in an Orioles uniform came to breaking a sweat, the Rangers' threat went nowhere, especially after the Orioles tacked on two more runs in the eighth.

"The team is hitting the ball very well," said Guthrie, who benefited from some rare run support. "They did a nice job today, of course. They've done a nice job, really, the past couple of weeks. It seems like they're always putting some runs on the board and giving us a chance to win."

The biggest production of the night came from perhaps the two most Mendoza-esque bats in the lineup. Freddie Bynum, a .192 hitter, started only because Brian Roberts fell ill with flu symptoms about an hour before the first pitch. Brandon Fahey, who started the day a .211 hitter, is on the big league roster only because of the misfortune that has befallen the Orioles in their search for a shortstop.

Yet Bynum, the emergency leadoff man, tied a career high with three RBI, while the No. 9 hitter Fahey doubled twice to finish with a pair of RBI. No. 8 hitter Adam Jones also had two RBI.

"I think that's been my big problem since I've been out here," said Bynum, in his second stint with the team after being demoted to the minors. "I've been thinking too much. I just cleared my mind, took a deep breath and went out there, relaxed and played ball."

With the game's start time bumped back three hours to accommodate a dusk fireworks show on the Inner Harbor, the Orioles provided some pyrotechnics of their own earlier in the day, blasting Rangers starter Vicente Padilla for eight runs in the first three innings.

Padilla entered the game with an 8-2 record in his past 12 starts, a span in which his ERA was a strong 3.81 while opponents hit just .236. His 10 wins before the all-star break made him just one of two American League right-handers, along with the Yankees' Mike Mussina, with double-digit victories.

But Padilla's impressive stretch came crashing to an end. By the time he left the game in the third with a bruised right thumb, he was already well on the way to being pulled for ineffectiveness.

Baltimore tagged him for one run in the first, three in the second and four in the third.

"We got production from the bottom of the lineup," Trembley said. "Fahey's given the club a big lift, Jones continues to swing the bat well. Not only did those guys give us a lift, they rolled the lineup over and let those guys in the middle get extra at-bats. We didn't miss very many pitches today. We didn't swing at too many bad ones."