Orioles News - 11/17/07 - A Look At The Lineup

The Baltimore Orioles haven't made many moves this year in free agency. The O's haven't had any significant players leave either, besides outfielder Corey Patterson. So, will they make any big moves this off season? Probably not. But, if you look, the base of the Orioles roster is still set. Here is a look at the Baltimore Orioles lineup for next year, as of right now.

The O's still have their lead off man, Brian Roberts. He isn't moving spots. The person who is hitting second is still a little iffy, since Corey Patterson is no longer on the team. It's also still iffy due to all of the trade rumors whirling. The man hitting third is pretty obvious - Nick Markakis. He led the team in batting average, home runs, and RBI's last year. Nick stays in the number three spot. Now for the fourth spot. If Miguel Tejada has a change of heart and decides to stay, and that's a big if, he will likely hit here. Miggi can still hit, it's just that his fielding is declining. A lot. In the number 5 spot, Aubrey Huff is a likely candidate. Huff hit .280 with 72 RBI's last year. Those numbers are OK, even if Huff does run his mouth. Now batting 6th, Melvin Mora. Mora, if he is still in Baltimore, should hit about here. Kevin Millar could hit in 7th, with Jay Payton hitting 8th. Rounding out the lineup, Ramon Hernandez should hit about 9th. - John T.

Orioles News - 10/21/07 - Was Millar Wrong?

Before you call out Kevin Millar of the Baltimore Orioles for last night first know the facts. Millar was at Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in Boston to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Was he fine in this move? Or was he in the wrong? To me, he was wrong. Boston is a hated division rival and though he played for them when they won the World Series in 2004, he is not a player on their team any more and therefore should not be doing things like this. To me, this move shows that he still wants play in Boston, even if it's only a little desire. If he didn't want to play for Boston anymore, he wouldn't be there to throw out the first pitch. So, the long and short of it all was that Millar went to a hated division rival and threw out the first pitch and cheered them on. You play for Baltimore so you should support Baltimore. You shouldn't be showing support for a team in which Oriole fans hate. Millar was way out of bounds with this move. - John T.

Orioles News - 10/7/07 - Looking forward to 2008

Now that the Baltimore Orioles season is over, some of the many questions on every one's mind are these: What will the O's everyday lineup look like in 2008? What will the Orioles' pitching rotation look like in 2008? What changes do the O's need to make to compete? Should Miguel Tejada leave or at least move to 3rd base? Should Daniel Cabrera leave or at least head to the bullpen? Today I will answer the first question, What will the O's lineup look like in 2008? The rest will be answered in the coming days.

What Will the Baltimore Orioles Lineup Look Like in 2008?

With Brian Roberts locked down in a contract, his place at second base is secure. Unfortunately, that's about the only spot that's secure in the Baltimore infield. Shortstop Miguel Tejada is unhappy and is likely on his way out of Baltimore. The O's want him to move to 3rd base, but Tejada is not going willingly as he has said that he would rather be traded to another team and continue playing shortstop. There's not much more certainty at 3rd base either as Melvin Mora's play has declined and Scott Moore is waiting in the wings to play. As for 1st base, Kevin Millar has played well but is obviously not the long-term answer. The catcher position is currently held by Ramon Hernandez, and it appears as if he will continue to hold that position. Now on to the outfield. Center fielder Corey Patterson is eligble for free agency this year, and it's not clear yet whether Baltimore will bring him back. The free agent pool is weak this year, so I think it would be wise to bring him back. In right field, Nick Markakis is holding down that spot and will continue to for years. Left field is a different story. Jay Payton wasn't spectacular and left field has been a weakness for years. That will probably continue this year unless the Orioles pull off a move to bring in someone new.

Coming tomorrow: What Will the Orioles Pitching Rotation Look Like in 2008? - John T.

Orioles News - 10/5/07 - Grading the Position Players in 2007

As a part of the 2007 season wrap-up for the Baltimore Orioles, I will grade the Orioles position players. Here are my grades. (Note: Players who finished the year on the disabled list or not with the team are not included.)

Grading the Baltimore Orioles Position Players in 2007:

Player: Grade: Key Stat:
Nick Markakis A .300 batting average.
Tike Redman B More triples then 11 players.
Miguel Tejada C 15 errors at Shortstop. Time to move?
Luis Hernandez C+ Drew only 1 walk.
Brian Roberts B 50 stolen bases.
Aubrey Huff C- Only 15 homers.
Melvin Mora C- 10 errors. Time to leave?
Corey Patterson C- 37 stolen bases, but otherwise a bad year.
Freddie Bynum C Didn't get a whole lot of chances.
Ramon Hernandez D+ Only 9 home runs.
Jay Payton D+ .256 batting average.
Scott Moore D .260 on base average.
Kevin Millar C+ 2nd highest on base average on the team.
Paul Bako D+ 1 homer in 156 at-bats.
Brandon Fahey F 9 hits in 54 at-bats.

Wow. That is bad hitting. I gave out one "A". You can't compete if you can't score...

Coming tomorrow: The Final Part of the 2007 Season Wrap-Up: Looking Back at 2007. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/30/07 - Season ends in loss

It was a long, bumpy ride but now it's over. It ended on a sour note, but then again, the Orioles' season wasn't exactly sweet. The Baltimore Orioles lost yesterday, 10-4 to the New York Yankees to end their season. It was a bad season, as the Orioles didn't even hit 70 wins. Baltimore extended their streak of 10 straight losing seasons. Not a good streak, but a streak that could be turned around... But I'll have more about that in the coming days...

This game was a typical example of how the O's season has gone. Bad pitching, combined with poor hitting, and it's another loss. Want to see how bad the pitching was yesterday? Starter Brian Burres went 3 1/3 innings, giving up 9 hits, and allowing 6 earned runs. And it's not like reliever Victor Zambrano provided much relief as he gave up 3 earned runs and walked 4 in 1 inning. Looks like the bullpen will be a top concern this offseason...Again. But, I'll have more about that in the coming days...

The Orioles hitting was poor too, as the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the 4th inning, yet came away with only 1 run. Kevin Millar, Scott Moore, and J.R. House also drove in runs, but it wasn't nearly enough.

In other news, Right fielder Nick Markakis was named Most Valuable Oriole. Congratulations to him, but we need many more players like him to ever compete.

Coming tomorrow: The Baltimore Orioles 2007 Season in Review. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/28/07 - O's win in extra innings

The Baltimore Orioles won last night, 10-9 over the New York Yankees. It took 10 innings and a great rally by Baltimore to pull it off...

Coming into this game, the Yankees were 85-1 when leading after the 8th inning this year. Throw in the fact that future Hall Of Fame closer Mariano Rivera is on the mound, and the game seems to be over for the Orioles. Now throw in a 2 out, bases loaded triple by Jay Payton, and the O's sent the game into extra innings. Then in the 10th inning, Tike Redman hit a 1 out double, eventually moving to 3rd base on a passed ball. Nick Markakis and Miguel Tejada were intentionally walked to load the bases. Kevin Millar then came up to bat with the game on the line and... he struck out. Ok, lets try this again. Melvin Mora came up to the plate with 2 outs, the bases loaded, and a chance to be the hero. And Mora.... laid down a bunt to bring in the game winning run! A walk off bunt! (How many times do you hear that?) It was a gutsy call by the O's, but a call that paid off.

Our starting pitching wasn't much last night, as Jon Leicester went 4 1/3 innings, allowing 7 earned runs and walking 3 batters. But, our bullpen did a nice job after that, as they allowed only 2 more runs all game in this rare Orioles win. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/11/07 - O's drop 17 of 20

Baltimore lost again last night, 10-5, but this time to the Los Angeles Angels. They have now lost 17 of their last 20 games. If they go .500 or 9-9 for the rest of the season (18 games), then Baltimore would finish with a whopping 70 wins. Also, the Orioles have now used 25 different pitchers this year, after using 2 more new pitchers last night. That is now a team record. One of those new pitchers was starter Victor Santos. He did bad, as the O's gave him a lead in the 2nd inning on Ramon Hernandez's RBI double play. The lead was soon lost for the game after a 5 run Angels 3rd inning, in which they knocked Santos out of the game. From there, the Angels never looked back, keeping the lead for the rest of the game. They got a run in the 4th inning, 3 more in the 7th inning, and another run in the 9th inning. Santos' line was terrible, allowing 5 earned runs and 7 hits in 2 2/3 innings. Kevin Millar went 3-4 for the O's, with a 2 RBI homer. But it wasn't enough, as the Orioles pitching couldn't hold the lead. Baltimore left a total of 8 men on base in that game. That's poor. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/8/07 - A rare win vs. Boston

The Orioles picked up a rare win last night, over Boston. (When does that happen?) The final score was 11-5. Ohmygod. The Orioles scored runs? This win snapped the O's 11 game losing streak at home. The Orioles had a 7 run 3rd inning, and Scott Moore, a player aquired in the Steve Trachsel trade, hit a grand slam in the inning. Dice-K, the Red Sox pitcher, was terrible, giving up 6 hits, 8 runs and 3 walks in 2 2/3 innings. The bases were loaded and Dice-K actually walked Nick Markakis and Kevin Millar. That's 2 free runs right there. Miguel Tejada hit a single that scored a run and then Scott Moore hit the grand slam, sending Dice-K out of this game. Nick Markakis hit a homer later in the game, as did Tike Redman. Jon Leicester gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, only walking 1 batter. He made this start because of injuries in the rotation and just plain bad pitching. Camden Yards was sold out, with most of the 48,043 fans in attendence rooting for the BoSox. They walked away unhappy, as the Orioles grabbed a victory. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/2/07 - O's drop series to Boston

Sorry I couldn't blog yesterday, but could this season get any worse? A 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, an 11 run 8th inning by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and now a no-hitter from Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz on Saturday night. He was making only his 2nd major league start and he threw a no-hitter. Plus a 9 game losing streak. Great. Just great. What a season. The O's now have dropped 11 of their last 12 after a 10-0 loss on Saturday and a 3-2 loss on Sunday to the Bosox. The loss yesterday was just a case of missed oppurtunities. 2 baserunning errors, bases loaded with no outs and the O's don't cash in as no one scores, then in the 8th inning with a runner on 3rd base and 1 out, yet again no one scored. One of the baserunning errors came on Miguel Tejada trying to score from third base on a shallow fly ball to rightfield in the 4th inning. Tejada was thrown out with ease. Then in the 6th inning, Melvin Mora had just hit an RBI single, and Kevin Millar rounded 2nd base too far and was thrown out. Millar slapped the ground in frustration as he knew that he had just cost the Orioles. Kind of how this season went so far. In the 7th inning, Ramon Hernandez homered to make it a 1 run game. But, that was too little, too late. This was a shame though because Daniel Cabrera pitched a good game, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings. With these losses, the Orioles dropped another series. What a surprise... - John T.

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 - 8/28/07 - 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 - 8/26/07 - 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 - 8/23/07 - 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.