For O's, April Showers Bring Split in August

Suspended Game Won; Nightcap Lost : Orioles 4-3, White Sox 3-4

BALTIMORE, Aug. 25 -- The Baltimore Orioles played two games Monday, but the box score would indicate otherwise. Yes, stats do lie.

The Orioles lost to the Chicago White Sox, 4-3, before 20,707 at Camden Yards. Before that, though, they earned a 4-3 victory against the White Sox in the final three innings of a rain-suspended game that took 118 days, 604 miles and 14 innings to finally complete.

The early result will count for their initial meeting on April 28. A hit Monday night occurred at Chicago's U.S Cellular Field, not at Camden Yards. A strikeout really took place four months ago. So let the record stand: Baltimore's Lou Montañez won the game with an RBI single, and reliever Ross Cherry earned the save. Montañez smacked a hit that snaked past outstretched Chicago second baseman Juan Uribe in the 14th inning.

History from Aug. 25, however, will only indicate how the White Sox ground down the Orioles by building a lead with four one-run innings. The Orioles (62-69) received an impressive performance from young starter Chris Waters but could not surmount Chicago's four runs.

"Waters got us seven innings, which was needed; kept us in the game," Manager Dave Trembley said. "Our situational pitching was good. We came up short."

Though the suspended-game win gave a boost to a slouching Baltimore team, losing Monday's official game against the White Sox (75-56) soured the mood and provided another frustrating loss against a too-talented opponent.

Chicago used a sequence of one-run innings to nudge ahead. The White Sox slowly worked runs out of Waters, who allowed three earned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in seven innings. His fifth career start marked his best outing since his one-hit first appearance, even though he took his first loss, because he commanded his stuff throughout. Waters (2-1) kept in check a threatening Chicago lineup.

"It's always not a good feeling when you lose," Waters said, "especially when you command the fastball."

The White Sox scored at a mechanical pace. In the first inning, Alexei Ramírez (4 for 5) scored from third on Juan Castro's fielding error. In the fourth, Carlos Quentin scored on Ken Griffey Jr.'s double. In the fifth, Ramírez scored on a balk by Waters on an awkward play. Quentin, the batter, and Waters, the pitcher, did a start-stop tango before the umpire made the call and Ramírez trotted home.

And then Jim Thome hit a 435-foot home run in the sixth. Thome deposited a hanging 74-mph curveball over the wall in center field to give the White Sox the advantage and himself the 15th spot on the all-time home run chart.

Baltimore cobbled together a three-run inning in the fourth off lefty Clayton Richard (2-2), but the Orioles' bats quieted after that flurry.

The Orioles and White Sox had last faced each other on April 28 at U.S. Cellular Field in a game that was halted after a downpour turned the infield into rainwater soup. Not even the 2 1/2 tons of drying agent applied to the infield could help, and the game was called in the 11th inning.

The game was scheduled to resume, starting in the 12th inning, Monday at Camden Yards. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since 1986 that a suspended contest has started in one park and ended in another.

"It was a strange game," Kevin Millar said. "There's 17 people in the stands at 6:05, and we were the visiting club and I was leading off. It's a big factor, just a little weird."

Though their initial meeting finished at a different park and at a different date on the calendar, history will reflect one seamless contest in Chicago. And Monday's result will stand as the only game -- another disappointing Orioles loss, despite the promising young pitching -- played by Baltimore on Aug. 25, 2008.

That is untrue, of course, no matter what the box score says.

Note: Right-handed reliever Kam Mickolio has been optioned to Class AAA Norfolk but will be among the September call-ups.