With today’s 9-1 beating at the hands of the Tampa Rays, the Baltimore Orioles were swept for the 2nd-consecutive series at home against a division rival.

As the O’s head west to begin a 7 game road-trip in Oakland, and Seattle – lets review the limited good, the abundant bad, and plenty of ugly from these first 9 games.

The Good:

1) Aside from the bashing Bergesen absorbed today, the starting pitching has been solid enough.
The rotation has combined for 52 innings of work, where they have allowed 59 hits, 27 er, 16 bb’s, with 47 k’s. That is a 4.67 era. Not outstanding, but if maintained it would be good enough to keep the O’s in plenty of games.

2) In 2009, Matt Wieters had 28 walks, and 86 k’s during his first 96 games in the Majors. So far in 2010, Wieters has 4 walks, and 4 k’s. This is an indication that his strike-zone judgment has improved.

2a) Wieters has thrown out 5 of 6 runners attempting to steal.

3) Markakis has 10 walks, giving him a on-base% over .400 despite a batting-average at the Mendoza line.

4) Berken looks far better suited for the bullpen, as he has allowed 2 er in 8.2 innings of work.

5) Pie has 8 hits in 18 at-bats, including 3 XBH’s. It was extremely impressive that he was able to score from 1st on Izturis’ single in the home-opener.

6) Tejada’s error Sunday, probably cost the O’s a game. He also had an issue today. That said, he has been solid (and decisive) at 3rd overall. He still has a rifle of an arm.

The Bad:

1) Heading into today Jones, Markakis, and Reimold each had an OPS under .700.

2) Wieters’ 1 homer, is his only XBH.

3) The O’s entered today 20th in MLB in walks, 21st in OBP, and 23rd in SLG.

4) Albers had allowed 2 er in his first 4.1 innings of work, before imploding yesterday in the 10th. His 2 walks last-night gives him 5.

5) In 65.1 innings in 2009, Meredith allowed 4 homers. In 2.1 innings in 2010, Meredith has allowed 2.

6) In the home Opener, Jones’ shallow positioning cost the O’s.

7) Johnson looked dominating during his inning of work in the home-opener on the 9th. After pitching in the season-opener on the 6th, he was unable to pitch on the 7th due to shoulder-soreness. After pitching on the 9th, he was unable to pitch until last-night. It bears asking, how healthy is he?

8) You can not teach instincts, but you would think with more regular playing-time that Pie’s mental blunders would decrease.

The Ugly:

1) The O’s have lost 3 games (Opening Day, the home Opener, and last-night) that they should have won.

2) Mike Gonzalez came into 2010 with 280.2 career innings, and great Hit per IP, and K per IP numbers. His career numbers are indicative of a player that attacks opposing batters. When you saw him pitching 5 miles per hour slower during the home-opener, than he did on Opening day – it should have been apparent something was not right. Him going to the DL, gives further confirmation there was something wrong.

Gonzalez’s early results were ugly. Gonzalez’s mechanics were ugly. Baltimore fans booing Gonzalez at the home-opener was just as ugly.

3) Trembley using the press today to attack/question Pie for the 2nd-consecutive year is poor. I understand Trembley is feeling the pressure, but that was a conversation that should have been held face-to-face behind closed doors.

4) Jones earned his first walk of the season today. Perhaps we are going to see improvement with Jones’ strike-zone judgment, as he just K’d for the second-time in his last 20 at-bats. After the Opener, Jones went through a 4-5 game stretch where he was getting himself out by swinging at everything.

5) Roberts getting injured, and forced to the DL really hurts.

6) Atkins is 1 for his last 16.

7) Bergesen has allowed 15 hits, in just 7.2 innings of work.

8) Getting handled by Dana Eveland, with Markakis as the only left in the lineup was hard to understand.

9) 6 losses in 6 home-games, and 1-8 against the Division are numbers that can not occur when you are looking for substantial improvement as an organization.

10) The attendance these last few games is sad. You can understand attendance being off on Monday, when the next night there was a T-shirt giveaway, and bargain tickets. Still, the O’s knew there would be no crowd for these games. I continue to believe they would be best served by giving away 1000’s of tickets, and getting fans to the park. At a minimum they would be spending on concessions.

Up-Next:

The trip West is coming at a good time. The plane flight will provide some time for perspective, and remove the O’s from the growing pressure cooker here in Baltimore.

The Orioles are going to start Hernandez, Millwood, Guthrie, and Matusz during the 4 game series in Oakland. The Orange & Black will face Sheets, Braden, Duchscherer, and Brett Anderson.

The A’s are leading the American League West at 6-3, prior to the outcome of their game with Seattle tonight.

It is a very large outfield in Oakland, and ideally Pie would get the nod in LF. It will be interesting to see how he is used (if he is used) against A’s lefties Braden, and Anderson.

The A’s entered tonight 3rd in all of MLB in walks. The Baltimore pitchers are going to have to commit to throwing stirkes and challenging the Oakland lineup.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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