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.