It was a nice, easy win for the Orioles tonight, and a very important one at that. Knowing that the next three pitchers for Toronto are all very tough (Marcum, Burnett and Halladay), it was crucial to pick up a victory tonight if we want to have a shot at getting 3 out of 4.
I don’t think it’s necessary to do a basic game recap every night, because everyone watched every inning, right? Ok, maybe not, but what I’ll do after every game is just give some thoughts about some things that happened.
- Radhames Liz is going to be a reliever. I just don’t think he can consistently get guys out to be a starter. I think his stuff is terrific, and that he could be dominant out of the bullpen. He just loses his release point pretty easily, and I think coming in for an inning or so and being able to just let it loose may help him out. We've seen how well the transition has worked for Jim Johnson, and I think Liz' stuff would be even better in a relief role. We have a lot of starting pitching prospects coming through the minors (I’ll have a post on that tomorrow), and I see Liz being bumped from the rotation, perhaps even by early August, depending on what happens at the deadline.
- Great to see Jones deliver a home run tonight. He put a really nice looking swing on the ball and hit it out to the opposite field. Like many of you, I’m sure, my heart dropped when he went down in center field. It was such a relief to see him bounce up and be alright. Especially after he had to sit out in yesterday’s game.
- Mora looked very good at third tonight. I think sometimes he gets a bad rap as a defensive player. Sure, he has not had a good year at the plate (understatement), but I feel he has been very good at third.
- Hopefully Hernandez can keep hitting, another home run tonight. Dealing him before the deadline would be huge. Florida, the Yankees? Both could use a catcher.
- I thought Randor Bierd looked very good tonight. He looked very rusty yesterday, but today I thought his stuff was very sharp. It would be huge for the bullpen if he could fill that “Matt Albers Role” that Dennis Sarfate has struggled so much in.
Rotoworld has also come out with their Top-150 mid-season prospects list. I’ll have a post breaking that down at some point tomorrow. Tomorrow night's game at 7:05, with Shaun Marcum returning from the DL to start for Toronto. Garret Olson goes for the Birds.
For tonight, the Orioles- in the WIN column!
Keywords: Baltimore Orioles
