The Bullpen is tired, but so far they aren't losing games

BALTIMORE, MAY 5, 2012-There is indication that the Orioles bullpen is tired.  If you didn't notice, it's because, with one exception, the fatigue hasn't translated into losses.  In fact, as the Orioles fly home from Los Angeles, they are tied with the Yankees for second place, just two games behind Boston. The one exception to the tightrope success story the bullpen is managing was the loss in Oakland in the fourth game of the road trip.  The Birds had won the first three and looked like they would sweep the powerful Athletics.  They took a lead, but the A's would score, too.  Then the Orioles would score more and so would Oakland.  In the ninth the Orioles pushed across another run and went to the bottom of the inning up by two.  Normally that would be lights out for the other team because the Orioles have the premier closer in the game these days.  Jim Johnson had an Oriole-record 51 saves last season and is smoking again this year, with eleven to start May.  But on this Sunday the Orioles did not have Johnson available; he had pitched in four straight games and the skipper, Mr. Buck, said that no matter what, the consecutive games streak would not hit five.  Oakland scored two to tie the game and won it in the tenth.  Going into the eighth inning Sunday in LA, the Orioles had built up an 8-4 lead and had the whole bullpen available inasmuch as Monday was an off-day.  Troy Patton has been one of the members of that pen who have been ultra-dependable, but not Sunday.  He walked two and was hit hard and by the time he was pulled the Angels had enough runners to virtually do-in that lead.  Out came Mr. Buck and another of the ultra-dependables responded.  Darren O'Day is a side-winder and has brutal stuff.  But he, to, has been nicked up on this trip.  Today, after giving up another walk, he induced a weak grounder to Chris Davis, then sprinted to first base to take Davis' throw, barely beating the runner.  Jim Johnson came in to pitch in the ninth, but it wasn't a save situation since the Birds were still ahead by four runs.  Jim Palmer, the great righthander and hall-of-famer turned TV analyst talks of the pen's overworked pitchers leaving their deliveries up in the strike zone, where major league hitters have a tendency to hit them a long way.  Showalter has talked of having the starters pitch deeper into games and it is a nice thought, fraught with drawbacks.  On the first game of the trip, Wei-Yin Chen threw eight shut-out innings, becoming the first Oriole starter to last that far.  But in his next start Chen was gone after five and suffered one of the two losses in Seattle.  It was a 7-4 trip, and the team could not hope for more on such a brutal spin through the American League's three West Coast cities.  And the one reliever not affected by the dust ups is closer Jim Johnson.  With a lot of home games up next, tucked around a three-game trip to Minnesota, the chance to get all the pitchers on the same page is there to be had.  The question is whether the ultra-dependables can be depended on to seize the opportunity.  It's up to them.