Did anyone catch the Orioles/Rangers game last night? Final score 10-9 with the O's desperately clinging to a one run lead through the final two innings? Did anyone happen to catch how many of those 10 runs were scored off of Home Runs? One. The Orioles used 4 RBI singles and an RBI double to spring to a 4 run lead after trailing 3-2 going into the 4th inning. They added 2 more RBI singles in the 5th and were up by six runs before you could say "Markakis" 5 times fast (Is it just me or does he look like Ryan from The Office?). I don't think anyone can doubt the kind of hitting we are going to see from the top of this lineup throughout the season. Roberts, Jones, Markakis and Huff have a combined batting average of .372 with an amazing 23 RBI through the first 7 games. Add in a healthy Melvin Mora, Luke Scott and the promise of catching phenom Matt Wieters and you are looking at a line-up where 7 guys could bat in the middle of the order. Couple that with the defense they've been playing, committing zero errors over the past 4 games and we may get that magical .500 season that we've been waiting for since '98.
I've been pretty impressed with the team so far this season, and I know it's early, but I think we will definitely see a noticable improvement from the past 3 seasons. Guthrie has proved he's still an ace, and I like what Uehara brings to the table, he's not striking guys out but hes getting the to hit into situations that makes it easy for the rest of the defense. I still don't know what to make of Alfred Simon. He looked good in the preseason and was impressive through 3 innings in his first start v. the big bats of the Yankees, but how many times have we seen this with O's pitchers in the past? My boy Chris Waters was slated to be the next big thing after going 8 strong in a win in his first start v. the mighty Angels of Anaheim back in August, and now hes trying to claw his way out of the minors. Dennis Sarfate was supposed to be great, rushed into a starting role last season and flopped worse than Lebron driving to the hoop with the game on the line. Hendrickson is a 1-0 wildcard, and Eaton, although lacking the heat that he had in his earlier days shows he can place his pitches well and get strikeouts, recording an admirable 6 in his first start, yet still allowing 4 ER and probably not worth the 7+ million we are paying him. I'm also excited to see Rich Hill get back to full strength as he could add some much needed consistency to the starting rotation.
Despite the holes in our pitching, and believe me I know it has more holes than Nicholas Cage has shitty movies, but one area that is sound is our relief. You're looking at 3 guys who have all had closing experience on this roster. Starting with Danys Baez, currently a 1-inning guy whose already recorded 6 KOs this season, this is a guy who has been nearly unhittable in his albeit brief stints on the mound. Chris Ray is looking like the guy who was slated to be our #1 closer before going down with an injury before the end of the 2007 season. He, like Baez has been nearly unhittable in his 1-inning per game. Finally you have the cream of the crop, the guy who came out of nowhere to be the Os only allstar last season, George Sherrill. How good was that Bedard trade for the Os. I remember when it was happening I was like Angelos?! What the Hell?! Why are you trading away the only good thing we have going right now?? but I gotta admit, the addition of Adam (Pacman) Jones and Sherril to this roster have been invaluable thus far. And lets not forget dude, LETS NOT FORGET....Jamie Walker and Jim Johnson can also hang with the best of them, but we've been so impressive in relief that we haven't even used them really. (Why cant they play middle relief, btw?)
Here's my advice for the middle relief, which is clearly the WORST part of the team. Albers, Bass and Sarfate are skating on Thin Ice, in fact much to my utter joy, Albers was demoted to AAA Norfolk to make room for Adam Eaton on Sunday. Now what I think needs to happen next is we demote the horriffic Brian Bass (how does this guy get in every game, I'd rather have Nick Swisher on the mound...) and bring back up my boy Rahadmis Liz. I dont know why we didnt keep him on the roster in the first place. He was a decent #4 starter last season for the portion that he played and I think he could be effective for an inning or two a game this season. I know, I know, he has control issues but nothing could be worse than Brian Bass right now so give the guy a freakin chance. I'd give Sarfate a little time to develop still cause I think the kid's got potential but he has a loooong way to go and is still a project. To borrow a line from my blogging inspiration Giblert Arenas, "You have enough projects and you end up in the ghetto." I couldn't agree more Gil, couldn't agree more.
I think that this team, especially on the offensive end, have more talent that they can use. For example, remember a guy by the name of Lou Montanez? This guy really looked impressive at the end of last season and now hes not even on the roster. And how could he be when you already have Markakis, Jones and Scott starting with Felix Pie chompin at the bit for a starting role himself. If this guy can develop his hitting (he had a home run last night) then we may not even need Ty Wigginton anymore, move Scott to the DH, bring up Ol' Lou as a backup fielder, and take it from there. I am also really liking what I've seen of Greg Zaun so far, and his decisions behind the plate will be missed once Wieters takes his place in the lineup, but hopefully Wieters can learn from the Wiley Vet in the hockey mask.
...Speaking of Hockey, playoffs start tomorrow and I can't wait. This is definitely the Caps cup to win this season. They've proven they can play with anyone in the league, nearly sweeping Boston and recording road wins against Pittsburgh (2) and New Jersey and beating Detroit during the regular season. This is going to be a great playoffs for the NHL, im so glad that its back in full form after falling off the radar for a couple of years there...it probably didn't help that Tampa was the last team to take home the stanley cup before the strike. I can only hope that the O's can follow the Caps winning formula and develop all their young talent to the fullest, I definitely think they are on the right track.
*Some statistics courtesy of espn.com
...Anyway, thats it. Hope you got something at of my first post. Stay tuned next time for more O's banter, a Caps playoff preview and the Wiz, Gil's knee and their new coach.
A little banter, some facts and some stats about some of my favorite sports teams, the O's, Caps, Wizards, Jets, Nuggets, Avalanche, Rockies, Broncos and Florida Gators, while keeping current on the goings on throughout the sporting world. Some food for thought and definitely a few laughs, so sit back, and enjoy.
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