masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgNick Markakis was in the middle of two crucial moments in tonight’s game.

If you’ve been following along, you know that he broke back toward second base on Vladimir Guerrero’s one-out single into center field in the fourth inning. He also was incorrectly called out attempting to steal third base in the fifth inning.

He’ll first address his reaction to Guerrero’s single:

“That’s a line drive right at you and your first natural reaction is to freeze, but I’ve got to do a better job of…Nick Markakis was in the middle of two crucial moments in tonight’s game.

If you’ve been following along, you know that he broke back toward second base on Vladimir Guerrero’s one-out single into center field in the fourth inning. He also was incorrectly called out attempting to steal third base in the fifth inning.

He’ll first address his reaction to Guerrero’s single:

“That’s a line drive right at you and your first natural reaction is to freeze, but I’ve got to do a better job of knowing where my shortstop is and knowing where those guys are. It was a bad play on my part. Like I said, we had other opportunities. A lot of what-ifs, but the ballgame ended and we ended up losing, so there’s nothing you can really say now.”

Nick Markakis talks about the questionable call at third base that killed the fifth inning

Asked for third base umpire Phil Cuzzi’s explanation on a call that led to manager Buck Showalter’s ejection, Markakis said, “He didn’t say nothing to me. But everything is going fast and you make a decision and whether it’s the right one or wrong one, you live with it and you move on.”

How important was the blown call?

“It’s big,” he said. “It’s definitely big. Late in the game in the situation we’re in, you have to make sure you’re making the right call. It didn’t go our way and here we are talking about it.”

The Orioles feel like they’ve beaten themselves the last two nights.

Why should everyone else have all the fun?

“Yeah, those kinds of plays are magnified times 10 with the situation that we’re in,” Markakis said. “A lot of guys are either trying to do too much or they’re putting themselves in tough situations. When it all comes down to it, you just have to relax and play the game. It’s obvious. There’s no secret we’re losing. It looks a lot worse when we’re in the situation that we’re in. We just need to relax and finish up strong.”

Reliever Chris Jakubauskas was one of the bright spots for the Orioles tonight with his four scoreless innings.

“It’s been a while since I’ve gone four-plus, but coming into a game, you’ve got to go with the mentality that we’re going to get it back and get it close,” he said. “Give our guys at the least a chance to get it back, get a chance to hit. Unfortunately we didn’t get it done, but down in the bullpen that’s your job. Keep it close, give us a chance to win.

Jakubauskas lowered his ERA to 5.46

“It’s one of the better outings,” he said. “It’s just getting in pitcher’s counts. Strike one (makes it) a lot easier to pitch.”

Jo-Jo Reyes said he felt good tonight – and he said it more than once. Unfortunately, he still gave up four runs in four innings and took the loss.

“The only thing that makes me mad is that last home run I gave up to (Brent) Morel,” he said. “I fell behind, gave him too good of a pitch to hit.

“I felt good. I didn’t get winded, didn’t get heavy-legged. I felt good. A couple things I need to work on, but overall, I felt pretty good.”

Asked what he needs to work on, Reyes said, “Just keeping the ball down, consistently down. Other than that last home run I gave up to Morel, I felt pretty good.”