masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThis is why I can’t give a firm answer on whether Jeremy Guthrie will lose 20 games this season.

Guthrie has shut out the Blue Jays through four innings tonight. That screams quality start and victory. Except Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil has shut out the Orioles through five innings.

And so it goes …

Guthrie can bring his ‘A’ game and still lose.

The last time we saw Guthrie, he was body-slamming a water cooler in the visiting dugout at Tropicana Field. He didn’t yell or wear a…This is why I can’t give a firm answer on whether Jeremy Guthrie will lose 20 games this season.

Guthrie has shut out the Blue Jays through four innings tonight. That screams quality start and victory. Except Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil has shut out the Orioles through five innings.

And so it goes …

Guthrie can bring his ‘A’ game and still lose.

The last time we saw Guthrie, he was body-slamming a water cooler in the visiting dugout at Tropicana Field. He didn’t yell or wear a scowl on his face. It was the calmest tantrum I’ve ever seen.

If the Orioles don’t get him a run tonight, he should go all Hulk Hogan on the cooler. Big-time leg drop. Pin it and wait for a three count.

Just don’t use a foreign object. The umpires check for that.

Update: The Orioles tacked on a huge insurance run in the eighth inning to increase their lead to 2-0.

Ryan Adams singled, took second on Robert Andino’s sacrifice bunt, moved to third on J.J. Hardy’s bloop single to right and scored when Nick Markakis beat out an apparent double-play ball.

Markakis barely beat the relay throw as Adams scored.

Cecil came out of the game and slammed his glove on the bench. I guess he wanted no part of the water cooler.

Credit Andino for laying down the bunt. He’s had some difficulty with that assignment in the past.

Vladimir Guerrero singled in the sixth to score Hardy and break the scoreless tie.

Guthrie is done after seven scoreless innings. Manager Buck Showalter is showing his confidence in Pedro Strop by using him in a two-run game in the eighth.

Update II: Strop got a huge double play to end the eighth, and Jim Johnson got the call in the ninth. He picked up the save in a 2-0 victory.

The game moved much too quickly. I feel cheated. But I’ll take the win.

Guthrie was outstanding and he actually got rewarded for the effort. That should put a smile on his face.