Orioles News - 8/30/07 - 9 straight losses

The Orioles lost again last night, 8-6 to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. That's 9 straight losses for the O's. Last night's game completed their worst homestand in team history as they went 1-9 through this homestand. The O's gave Jeremy Guthrie a 3-0 lead in the first inning after a double by Brian Roberts. Then on a sacrifice bunt, Corey Patterson moved Roberts to third and was safe while doing so. With a 2-0 count, Nick Markakis then crushed a homer to give Guthrie a 3 run cushion. (This is rare, when does Guthrie get run support?) Guthrie would eventually cough up that lead in the 3rd inning after a solo homer by Josh Wilson and a few batters later, a 3 run shot by B.J. Upton to make the score 4-3, D-Rays. The O's fought back later in the inning, as Miguel Tejada singled off the left field wall. 4 pitches later, Kevin Millar put the ball over the left field wall for a 2 run homer as the O's took the lead, 5-4. Tampa Bay tied the game up in the 4th inning and took the lead for good in the 6th inning. Radhames Liz will make his 2nd major league start tonight against the Boston Red Sox. In the game after that on Saturday, Garrett Olson, another rookie, will make a start. Here's your ugly Orioles fact of the day: During this most recent homestand, the Orioles were outscored 100-44. Ouch. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/29/07 - O's drop 8th straight

Another game slipped away from the Baltimore Orioles last night, 5-4 to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 12 innings. This was the Orioles 8th straight loss. The O's had a 3 run lead going into the 8th inning, but the bullpen blew another game. (Surprise, surprise.) The D-Rays scored twice in the 8th, with both runs coming off Chad Bradford. Then in the 9th inning, with a 1 run lead, 2 men out, 0-2 count, and 1 pitch away from ending the Orioles losing streak....and pitcher Dany Baez gives up a single to B.J. Upton. A walk to Delmon Young and now there's 2 men on with 2 men out. Brendan Harris then hit a single to left field to tie the game. Fast forward to the 12th inning, and Rob Bell wasn't able to keep Tampa from scoring, as they take the lead. Aubrey Huff had hit a home run against his old team, but it didn't matter anyway. Now for a look at starter Steve Trachsel, who was great in yesterday's game, allowing only 1 earned run. He should have gotten the win if not for a terrible bullpen. But, more on that later.Anyway, Trachsel might be on his way out. Teams must have their final roster set by Friday, and several teams have been interested in possibly trading for him. I can't blame other teams for being interested. Look at some of his stats. He hasn't allowed more then 3 runs in a start since July 26. And yesterday he threw his 2nd straight game in which he allowed only 1 earned run. But the bullpen always ends up blowing it anyway. Here's a look at how the bullpen was before the O's lost 8 straight and how it is now.

Reliever ERA Before ERA Now
Chad Bradford 3.47 3.76
Brian Burres 4.45 5.48
Dany Baez 5.74 6.20
Rob Bell 4.18 6.49
Paul Shuey 6.75 9.82
Jim Hoey 3.38 12.10

Pretty sad huh? I'll leave you with that. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/28/07 - O's give up 11 runs in 8th in loss

The Orioles lost last night to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 15-8. This is their 7th straight loss. Baltimore gave up 11 runs in the 8th inning! 11 runs! The O's hit 6 home runs in the game but that was still not enough to get a win. The Orioles had a 3 run lead in the 8th inning. Surely our shaky bullpen can hang on to this 3 run lead with only 2 innings to play right? Nope. The Rays sent 15 men to the plate, and 11 of them ended up scoring. Reliever Jim Hoey gave up 5 earned runs, reliever Brian Burres gave up 3 earned runs, and Chad Bradford gave up 3 earned runs all on a grand total of....2/3 of an inning. Miguel Tejada had 2 of the 6 home runs for Baltimore, but it was all for nothing. The O's also hit back-to-back home runs twice yesterday. Nick Markakis hit a 2 run shot in the first inning, which was followed by Miguel Tejada's solo shot. Then in the 8th inning, Tejada hit another home run, followed by Kevin Millar who also hit one out. Before last night, the Orioles hadn't had back-to-back homers all year. Thats 130 games without back-to-back homers. And the worst part of giving up 11 runs in the 8th inning, is that the D-Rays did so without hitting 1 home run. They scored the 11 runs on base hits. But, look at it this way. If the game ended after 6 innings, the Orioles would be one awesome team. So, 11 runs in one inning, 3 pitchers, 2/3 of an inning, and one more blown game. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/27/07 - Off

The Baltimore Orioles had off last night, which is a good thing considering the way they have been playing. The O's begin a 3 game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight. On the mound for the Devil Rays is Jason Hammel. On the mound for the O's tonight is Daniel Cabrera, the great yet inconsistent strong throwing righthander. He'll have to face Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays, who has been on fire this month hitting .396. Baltimore comes into this game with a 8-16 record in August so far and having dropped 6 straight games. But the O's are 10-2 against the D-Rays so far this year. Baltimore desperately needs this series to go their way because after this they face the Boston Red Sox, who almost always end up beating us. With the season slipping down the drain, the O's need to get a grip. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/26/07 - Twins sweep O's - Bedard gets strikeout record

6. Thats how many losses the Orioles have in a row. Let me throw another number at you. 21. Thats how many games back the Orioles are in the AL East. The O's lost again yesterday, 11-3 to the Minnesota Twins. Our ace, Erik Bedard got rocked for 6 runs. It's his first loss since June 10th. The O's have now dropped 8 of their last 10 games. In the first inning Bedard walked the first batter he faced. He then struck out the next batter he faced, giving him the single-season Orioles strikeout record. After that though, Torii Hunter singled sending the runner on first base to third base. Hunter then tried to steal 2nd base and a bad throw from catcher Paul Bako sent the runner on third base, Casilla, home and Hunter to third base. Justin Morneau hit a sacrifice fly to send Hunter home to score the game's second run. Then in the 2nd inning with 2 men on, Bartlett tripled to knock in both runners. The O's fought back in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the 3rd, Tike Redman singled to start things off. Redman then stole 2nd base. Brian Roberts singled after that and that sent Redman to third. On an error, Roberts addvanced to 2nd. Corey Patterson reached second base after an error by Alexi Casilla which scored both runners, Redman and Roberts. In the 4th inning, Aubrey Huff singled to start things off. Freddie Bynum also singled to advance Huff to third. Paul Bako then hit a sacrifice fly and Huff scored. The O's were done scoring after that. But the Twins weren't as they scored 7 more runs. In other Orioles news, Kevin Millar failed to reach base as his Orioles record of 52 straight games reaching base ended. He nearly had a homer that would have tied the game in the 5th inning but Torii Hunter robbed his home run. So, 6 straight losses...- John T.

Orioles News - 8/25/07 - Radhames Liz debuts - O's fall again

The Baltimore Orioles fell again last night, 8-1 to the Minnesota Twins. The game was full of missed oppurtunities for the O's. The O's stranded multiple runners against Matt Garza, the Twins starter, 3 times. And, the O's stranded runners on third base three times. The Orioles finally broke through in the third inning when Nick Markakis drove in a run. That was the only run of the day for the O's. However, the big story was Radhames Liz. He is an Orioles starting pitcher, and he made his Major League debut last night. He is just like his mentor, Daniel Cabrera. He has a dominant fastball but his command isn't great. Liz walked 3 batters in the game and all 3 wound up scoring. Three of the five runs he gave up came on 1 swing. Liz led off the third with 2 walks. A bunt from Nick Punto advanced the runners to third and second base. After a groundout, Jason Bartlett hit a two-out two-run single to left field. After that, Liz set down 6 straight batters in innings 4 and 5. Then Liz lost control again. He gave up a single to the first batter in the 6th inning, and then a walk. Torii Hunter then came up and ripped a 97-mph fastball for a home run. The Twins scored 3 more times off of the Orioles bullpen to score the final runs. The O's have been outscored 59-17 in the last 5 games. We are in desperate need of some run support, as we have the young pitching, but we just don't score the runs...Oh well. At least we can all watch now as the battle for fourth in the AL East heats up between the O's and Tampa Bay Devil Rays....-John T.

Orioles News - 8/24/07 - O's lose 4th straight

The Orioles lost again last night, 7-4 to the Minnesota Twins. It's their 4th straight loss. Corey Patterson singled in the 1st inning to begin. Then Miguel Tejada came up and crushed a homer to left field to make it a 2-0 game. Later in the inning, Nick Markakis was up and he got a 2-1 pitch that he liked as he sent it over the centerfield wall to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Then in the 6th inning, Corey Patterson lead off with a homer to right, to extend the lead to 4-0. Surely Jeremy Guthire, the O's starting pitcher who had been throwing a shutout, can hang on to this lead right? And the bullpen could hang on to this lead to right? Wrong. In 3 pitches, Jeremy Guthrie went from pitching a shutout with a 4-0 lead to a less comfortable 4-3 lead after Justin Morneau hit a solo homer and Jason Kubel hit a 2 run homer. After he finished that inning, the bullpen came in. I bet you can guess what happened next. If you can't here's what did happen. With a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning, the bullpen blew another game. In the 8th inning, Jamie Walker came in to pitch with runners on the corners. 2 sacrifice flys and a double later, the Twins had taken the lead 5-4. Then in the 9th with Dany Baez pitching for the Orioles, Torii Hunter took a pitch and ripped it for a 2 run homer to score the games final points. The O's have allowed 33 runs between innings 7-9 in the last 5 games. So much for revamping the bullpen this past offseason. In other Orioles news, Radhames Liz is making his Major League debut tonight. He was 11-4 at AA Bowie this year. Now if only he could get some run support...-John T.

Orioles News - 8/23/07 - O's lose again

The O's dropped their 3rd straight game, this time to the Twins, 5-2. With the O's leading by 1 run in the 8th inning, the Twins scored 4 times, and the go-ahead run on a fielding error by Miguel Tejada after he dropped a slow ground ball. This rally left starter Steve Trachsel with a loss he didn't deserve. He had given up 1 earned run in 7 and 1/3 innings and left the game with men on the corners. Then came a game tying groundout. After that Tejada made a two-out error that brought in the go-ahead run. Jason Kubel then hit a two run double for the Twins to provide a little insurance. So, another game lost by the Orioles in the 8th inning. What a surprise. The O's only runs came on a bases empty homer by Aubrey Huff in the 2nd inning and a solo shot by Tejada in the 9th. Huff has been doing well, hitting .368 with 10 RBI's in his last 10 games. We desperately need more run support, as that would have won us several more games. For instance, starter Steve Trachsel would have a much better record, had it not been for bad run support. The same with Jeremy Guthrie. Oh well...In other Orioles news, Kevin Millar drew a walk in the 5th inning to reach base for his 50th straight game, breaking the Orioles record that was formerly held by Ken Singleton. Also, Matt Wieters, the 5th overall pick in this years draft, has been assigned to play at the short-season Aberdeen Ironbirds. So, the Orioles drop another one, (No pun intended), this time to the Twins. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/22/07 - O's lose in doubleheader 30-3

Last night was a terrible night for the Orioles. They lost the first game of the doubleheader 30-3, which was the most runs scored in a game since 1897. They lost the 2nd game too, 9-7. But there will be more on that later. Heres how game 1 was.

Game 1.

This was the worst game in Orioles history. They were absolutely crushed, 30-3. It was ugly. Just to show you how ugly it was, here are some stats from it:

The Rangers set a record for most runs ever in a doubleheader-BEFORE GAME 2 EVEN STARTED!!!

This is the most runs the Orioles ever allowed in a game.

The 29 hits the Rangers had were the most the O's have ever given up in a game.

The 27 run margin was the largest that the Orioles ever lost by.

Erik Bedard, an O's pitcher, has given up 30 earned runs in his last 18 starts....The O's bullpen and Daniel Cabrera gave that up in 1 night.

The bullpen allowed 24 earned runs.

Brian Burres' ERA went from 4.45 to 5.24 in one game.

Rob Bell's ERA went from 4.18 to 6.14 in one game.

Paul Shuey's ERA went from 6.75 to 9.49 in one game.

The 8 and 9 hitters for the Rangers each had 7 RBI's.

So, all this leaves me with a question. What happened to that 40 million dollars that the Orioles management spent this offseason to "revamp" the bullpen?

Game 2.
This game was a little more respectable, but the O's still lost to the Rangers, 9-7. The O's had the lead but lost it in the 8th inning. Chalk another loss up the bullpen. The O's fought the Rangers early in the 2nd game, a homer by Jay Payton, and a 2 run shot by Nick Markakis, to tie the score at 3-3 in the 3rd inning. Down by 1, Miguel Tejada and Kevin Millar got on base for the O's. A few batters later, with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Jay Payton hit a 2 run single to give the O's the lead. Unfortanetly, the Rangers came back in the 8th to get the lead. They hung on to win the game though. Also, Kevin Millar tied the O's record for consecutive games reaching base with a single inthe 2nd game. So, all in all, a terrible day for the Orioles. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/21/07 - Trembley named manager through 2008 - Bedard ties strikeout record

Last night was a busy night for the Orioles. The O's announced that Dave Trembley would be their manager in 2008, Erik Bedard tied the Orioles single-season strikeout record, and the O's won. But first, lets focus on Trembley. I personally am thrilled by this decision as he has done great since taking over the club. The team is 29-25 since he took over. He has gotten the respect of the players, which is HUGE. What would bringing in a new manager at the end of the season do? Destroy the chemistry thats in the clubhouse, thats what it would do. So, great move on the O's part. Now for more on last night.

The O's beat the Texas Rangers 6-2 last night. The main headline from the game was pitcher Erik Bedard. Last night he struck out 11 batters to tie the Orioles single-season record for strikeouts. The record is now shared by Bedard and Mike Mussina, who each have 218 k's. Bedard went 7 srtong innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 earned runs while walking none on 104 pitches. He won his 9th straight decision. Bedard's last loss was on June 10th against the Colorado Rockies. Miguel Tejada hit a 2 run homer in the first inning to help give the O's a 3 run lead after Brian Roberts had scored earlier in the inning. Also, Kevin Millar extended his streak of reaching base to 47 consecutive games with a double in the 5th inning to score Tejada. All in all, a great day for the Orioles. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/20/07 - Tribute to Wild Bill

The Orioles game against the Texas Rangers last night was postponed because of rain. It was rescheduled for Wednesday as part of a doubleheader. Meanwhile, for O's fans, there is bigger news. William "Wild Bill" Hagy died yesterday. He was the Orioles biggest fan, attending all home games for the O's in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He lead chants from his section 34 in Memorial Stadium. He made up the famous O-R-I-O-L-E-S! chant where he would bend his body to form the letters and the O's fans would yell out the letters. He was so popular with fans that the O's even let him stand on top of the dugout to perform his cheers. Wild Bill was there in the glory days, when there was Orioles Magic. Sadly, Wild Bill would eventually boycott Memorial Stadium because of a rule that didn't allow him to bring his own beer into the stadium. He would eventually return, but this time to Camden Yards.

Just last month, Wild Bill led his last O-R-I-O-L-E-S! chant at Cooperstown, New York where he was watching as Cal Ripken Jr. got inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. This chant was shared with those who were sitting near him. Fortanately, I was one of the lucky few who was there to share this time with Wild Bill. This is my fondest memory of Wild Bill, and it will mean even more to me now that he is gone. Wild Bill was 68 years old. William "Wild Bill" Hagy, R.I.P. -John T.

Orioles News - 8/19/07

Whats been going on with the O's lately? Well...

They lost yesterday to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 in a heartbreaker in overtime. JR House made a key base running error in the top of the 10th inning that helped kill a possible rally. He had just hit a pinch-hit single to centerfield, and Brian Roberts headed to third, but the shortstop cut off the throw, and fired it over to first base to get House, who had gone too far from the base. Nick Markakis then grounded out to end the inning. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, the Blue Jays had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. The only hope to get out of the inning without being scored upon was a double play ball. Aaron Hill came up to bat for the Blue Jays and wasn't willing to cooperate. Hill hit a fly ball to left field. Vernon Wells tagged and scored from third base to win the game. Chad Bradford took the loss for the Orioles. This was a shame though because Jeremy Guthrie pitched a great game for the Orioles, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits as he struck out 6. He went 8 strong innings. Kinda shows how this season has gone so far. Missed opportunities. But I'll get to that and Guthrie later. Anyway, this loss has dropped the O's to 57-65 and gave them a 3-3 record during the road trip. They are now 16.0 games back of the leader, the Red Sox, in the A.L. East. Tonight they face the Texas Rangers in the first of a three game series, and the first game of a 10 game homestand.

Now for Guthrie. This is a great young pitcher who definitely has potenial to become the team's ace. But the big question is already on O's fans minds. Will he want to stay here in Baltimore? Or will he want to leave for somewhere else, somewhere with a better chance at winning? With the run support he's getting, can you blame him? What about Erik Bedard, our ace? When his contract is up, will he want to stay? With the size of the contracts other teams are giving lefty's, will we even be able to afford him? Or will he want to play for a winner? So many questions to be answered... - John T.