Tough loss for the Birds last night, as they fell 10-8 to Toronto. Same story as usual, at least of late. Lots of offense, bad starting pitching, and a shaky bullpen, and another defeat grabbed from the jaws of victory. My thoughts:
- I did watch the game from a bar last night, as I mentioned, but I could have watched the game with a blindfold on and been able to tell you how bad Garrett Olson was. He couldn’t locate any of his pitches, and that has been a disturbing trend since the All-Star Break for Orioles starters. O’s pitchers have walked 24 batters, and struck out 24. That’s a terrible ratio. Especially considering they’ve done that in just under 33 innings. Olson only had 3 walks last night, but he couldn’t hit the glove, and this was especially disappointing because I was very encouraged after his last start. The box score tells you 5 ER, but he was one pitch away from being through 6 having given up only 3 (Brandon Inge homered on a 3-2 pitch with a man on). To me, one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far has been the non-development of Olson and Liz.
- How demoralizing was Adam Lind’s 3-run home run (or should I say, 3 RBI-homer, right Mr. Thorne?) off Alberto Castillo? Castillo has actually not been terrible since being called up, but I have to believe he will be sent back down as soon as Jamie Walker is ready to return. Castillo is 33 and has no future with this team. I was fine with bringing him up when they did, because they really didn’t have any other left-handed options. However, once Walker is ready to come off the DL, I think it’s time to say good-bye to Castillo.
- Fantastic night for Melvin Mora. 4 hits, including a double and a homer, and 5 RBI’s. He’s got his OPS above .750, and has been playing very well since the break. Mora would be a tough guy to deal because he has a no-trade clause, and another year left on his contract, but if he keeps playing well maybe someone will have some interest in him, and he’ll be interested in them.
- Brian Roberts, after his 0-5 last night, is just 4-25 since the All-Star Break. Roberts has had second half slumps before, but I think it’s a little too early to start worrying about that too much, especially since he has drawn 4 walks in the 6 games.
- 2 more hits for Adam Jones, and his line now sits at .285/.329/.413/.742 for the season. He has looked amazing the last 2 months or so. I think we may have a future star on our hands.
- Another good night for Aubrey Huff. Huff’s OPS is now up to .874. I’m not sure his trade value is ever going to be higher than it is now. He has been killing the ball all season, plus he is usually more of a second-half guy anyway. He is one guy the Orioles should definitely be willing to move before the deadline if an offer is out there.
- Ramon Hernandez homers in his third straight game. All those teams looking for catching help, are you paying attention? Ramon still has a relatively expensive year left on his contract for next season, so it would be best for us to ship him out, even if the return isn’t great. Getting rid of that year of money would do wonders for freeing up some payroll for a certain first baseman from the Baltimore area (cough Teixeira cough).
- You’ll hear me rave about Nick Markakis a lot on here. Not only is he my favorite player on the team, but he is also our best. After two more hits last night, plus a walk, Nick now sits at .295/.400/.489/.890. Ridiculous! He is 5 points of AVG and 11 points of SLG away from getting to that .300/.400/.500 line that pretty much signifies an outstanding season. Plus, he might be the best defensive rightfielder in the league. There was a story yesterday in the Baltimore Sun about the Orioles cutting off contract talks with Nick for the time being. He will go into his first of three years of arbitration this off-season, and signing him to a long-term deal and avoiding arbitration should be one of the Orioles top priorities this winter. Hopefully the O’s can also buy out a year or two of free agency, because as of right now, Markakis could hit the free agent market after the 2011 season.
Tonight the Birds look to ensure at least a series split, in what should be the best pitching match-up of the series. The Blue Jays throw-out strike out specialist A.J. Burnett, while the Orioles turn to their most (only?) reliable starter, Jeremy Guthrie.
But for last night, the Orioles- in the LOSS column.
Keywords: Baltimore Orioles
