The Orioles have lost six straight games, and they are in their worst funk of the year. The O's started the bad streak when they were up in Toronto and lost 3 out of 4 games. They dropped the last two games against the Blue Jays and headed to Atlanta for a losing sweep. The Braves out played the O's in all the games and ended one with a walk off homer from Andruw Jones. The O's haven't started their current series with the Yankees on a good note either. The Orioles gave up a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning and lost the game in the next inning when Steve Kline got kicked off the field. And that is the real problem right now, the relief pitching is blowing to many games.
I have heard all the arguments saying that the starting pitching is wearing out the relief pitching. That the real problem is the starting pitching not lasting long enough. But I am going to throw up the B.S. flag on this one fellas. Daniel Cabrera is our worst pitcher according to stats at 5.6 innings per game and a 5.48 ERA over 85.1 innings in 15 games. The rest of the starters are lasting, on average, over 6 innings. Ponson has the next worse ERA of 5.42, and Rodrigo Lopez has a 4.47 ERA. Bruce Chen is the Orioles best active pitcher at 3.54 ERA. I am not counting Hayden Penn because he hasn't really started enough, and I am not counting Erik Bedard because he his on the DL.
On the other hand, the Orioles relief pitchers are failing the Orioles on a daily bases. None of the pitchers are overworked considering stats from last year. The only pitcher that has a legit argument is Todd Williams. Williams only pitched in 29 games last year, and he has pitched in 33 thus far this year. The biggest argument I have heard on T.V. and radio (ESPN, Comcast, and 105.7am on the radio) is that Steve Kline is pitching too much. Well lets look at the numbers, Kline has pitched in 37 games already and 28 innings. Last year, Steve Kline pitched in 67 games and 50 innings last year with St. Louis. That isn't really that dramatic of a change with only a couple games of rise. What is more amazing is that the Steve Brothers are the worst pitchers in the bullpen, and they were suppose to help the club. Kline has a 5.08 ERA and Steve Reed has an 7.39 ERA. Let me repeat that one for you, "A relief pitcher has an 7.39 ERA". Why isn't this guy in triple A? Bring back John Parrish.
Stop blaming the batters. Other than Not-Slammin Sosa, most of the batters are hitting well. The only difference right now is the lack of clutch hits. Even with their best hitters, Tejada and Roberts, they can't anyone across the plate. The Orioles could have taken over the game last night by hitting more, but they game up. You could see it on their faces. Tejada has to get these guys back on the right track. He is stuggling at the plate, but he needs to have a positive attitude anyway. Miggy is the leader of the Orioles.
With the lost last night to the Atlanta Braves, the Orioles were knocked out of first place. They are now 1/2 games out of first behind the RED HOT Red Sox. God that sucks to say. The Orioles had been in first place since April 22nd and couldn't hang anymore with all the injuries they has sustained. It isn't excuse, it is a fact. They have two great hitters out, Javy Lopez and Melvin Mora, and their best pitcher, Erik Bedard. The Orioles have been putting band-aids on their wounds since May, but the injuries have finally caught up to them. The goal now for the Orioles should be to stay as close as possible to the Red Sox so they can make a second half run.
On the bright side, the Yankees lost last night to the Mets. The Yankees are 5 games behind the O's and 5 1/2 behind the Red Sox. As of today, the Orioles are leading the Wild Card race (it is never to early to talk about this stuff). As long as the Yankees keep on struggling, the Orioles have a great chance of making the post season. The O's have a chance next week to help themselves out in this matter when the Yankees come to town for three games starting Monday.
I haven't lost hope in taking back 1st place, but it is always a good idea to have a "plan B".
I haven't written anything in a couple of weeks because of lack of free time. But I am finally back to my normal routine. (Damn family) Even with my hectic schedule I still have been able to follow the O's, and I am glad to announce that they are coming back together again.
Let's take a look over the last month. Sammy Sosa was the first to go out with an injury. Sosa was put on the DL with a abscess and staph infection of left foot on May 5th. This injury forced Jay Gibbons to play more right field. In case you didn't notice, Gibby has gone back to first with the O's size and isn't that fast. In total, Sosa missed 20 games and returned to the lineup on the 24th of May. Larry Bigbie was next to go down with an injury when he left a game on May 12th with a strained hammy injury. He finally came back on June 13th. He has only had 13 at bats since returning from the injury. Larry Bigbie has raised his average to .280 and has 11 RBIs. Luis Matos on a freak hit by pitch, broke his right index finger. Matos was out from May 11th till yesterday. The O's have rotated so many players into center field that I don't remember all of the names. I know that Newhan was out there a few times, and a bunch of minor leaguers have made a rotation out there(None are active now).
Two major players for the Orioles are still MIA (Missing in Action for all those who don't watch the news), Erik Bedard and Javy Lopez. Erik Bedard has been MIA since May 22nd and was suppose to be back at the end of this month. Now, Bedard is suppose to be back with the O's after the All-Star break. Before Erik Bedard went down, he was the best and most dominate pitcher for the O's with a 5-1 record and 2.08 ERA. Hayden Penn was called up from the minors to replace Bedard and has gone 2-0 with a 4.23 ERA. Penn has pitched very well thus far in the replacement of Bedard, but he really hasn't pitched against a good team other than the Boston Red Sox. We will really see what he can do when the Orioles go against the Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, and the Braves. Javy Lopez is the other MIA player who really has been irreplacable (if that is really a word or if I spelt that right) since going down May 25th with a broken right hand. Geronimo Gil and Sal Fasano have been splitting time behind the plate, but neither of them can replace Javy's bat. Between the both of them, Gil and Fasano have 9 HRs and 21 RBIs combined. Javy Lopez had 7 HRs and 22 RBIs before he got injured with a .278 batting average. He will also be coming back after the All-Star break.
Last nights game didn't help the injury list of the O's much when Melvin Mora came up lame trying to beat out a throw to first base. Buck Martinez, O's commentator, said it looked to a hammy injury. Not a good sign for the O's. Just when the O's looked like they were finally recovering from their injuries, it looks like the O's will be filling in that vacated spot on the DL that Matos gave up. Everyone cross your fingers.
I will not be able to post until this weekend at the earliest. I am sorry for the inconvience, but my schedule is too hectic to post.
The Orioles lose the final game of the 4 game series with the Red Sox up in Boston. The Red Sox took an early lead in the first inning by scoring one run. But the Orioles struck back in the next inning. It wasn't until the fourth inning that Boston would take the lead again. The Orioles would comeback again in the sixth to tie the game up at 3-3, and the scored stayed that way until the 9th inning.
With both starting pitchers, rookie Hayden Penn and Matt Clement, only allowing 3 runs a piece and not pitching past the 6th inning. It was up to both teams' relievers to win the game. For the Orioles, they threw out John Parrish, Steve Reed, Steve Kline, Todd Williams, and Jorge Julio in 3.2 innings. They all pitched scoreless baseball (Steve Kline didn't record an out, but didn't allow a run either). The Orioles finally took the lead in the top of the 9th inning when Raffy Palmeiro beat out a double play with the bases loaded to score David Newhan. The O's had a one run lead (4-3) going into the bottom of the 9th inning.
Enter B.J. Ryan. Mr Automatic (Ryan) made the big error in the 9th inning by throwing a fast ball down the middle of the plate to David Ortiz in a 3-2 count. Ortiz launched it to straight away center field. This homer happened with 2 outs and 2 runners on base. He should have just walked him by trying to make Ortiz chase a ball outside of the strike zone. But I can't get to mad, this blown save was only the 2nd given up by Ryan this year. Unlike Julio over the last couple of years, Ryan is pretty automatic once he enters the game. Everyone is going to make mistakes. This one just happened to be huge.
In the end, the Orioles are no worse in the standing than when the entered this series against Boston. Boston was within 3 games of the Orioles, and Sox still are now. The one benifit is that the Yankees have been losing to the Royals, the worse team in MLB, and can't get closer than 4 games behind the O's.
Next up for the O's are the Detroit Tigers. They play tomarrow at 7:05, and the O's are seeking revenge after three in a row at home against the Tigers.
Sir Sidney Ponson pitched the third game of a four game series last night, and he actually pitched well. He only allowed 3 runs in 6+ innings, but he had a 5 run lead by the third inning. Ponson has allowed a lot of runs so far this year despite his 6-3 record. Why you ask? Because he is getting over 6 runs a game an outing. This year, he doesn't have to be perfect to win, which allows him to pitch more freely. He has made some costly mistakes thus far this year, but his team has been able to recover from Ponson's mistakes. That is the difference between this year, and last year. The Orioles can comeback from being down, or they can get a big lead early in games. Last year, the O's had to have great pitching from a young staff, and clutch hits from injured young batters. The O's added depth with Chris Gomez in the infield and kept David Newhan to compensate for the Brian Roberts and Luis Matos injuries. When Sosa was out, the O's were able to move Jay Gibbons from 1B/DH to right field. This fact help them handle the injuries. Even the Javy Lopez injury isn't as bad as it could be. Gil and Fascona aren't going to be able to replace Javy's bat, but they both command the pitchers very well.
People, this is how good teams are made. Every team has injuries, but can they still with the injuries. So far, the answer for the Orioles is YES.
My rambling is now over. The O's got the game started offensively by a Geronimo Gil three run shot off of Tim Wakefield in the second inning. Miggy and Sosa went back-to-back in the 3rd inning with homers. That was all the O's need for the game, but they added some more runs in 5th (1), 6th (1), and 9th (2) to insure a win against a great comeback team.
A Funny Note: In center field, there was a chalk outline where Johnny Damon ran it to the wall. It looked like what a cartoon character looks like when they run through a wall.