O's v Twins 8/24

Tillman pitched a very solid game and it’s too bad that he was bettered by Scott Baker. The Twins always seem to have a bunch of up and coming pitchers, and baker looks like a pretty good one. Tillman induced 3 DP’s, none better than the one in the 1st inning by Izturis. It was the kind of defense this young staff needs to know they have behind them. They need to know they can throw strikes and let batters put the ball in play, and it looked like that’s the attitude that Tillman had tonight. He’s only 21, so it’s tough to complain about his performance in a total 6 ML starts. The gaping hole in the middle of the line-up becomes more pronounced with Jones out of the line-up, and Luke Scott has truly looked lost for a month and a half. Again I’d say that his slump can be traced back to the last interleague series and the limited playing time he got. He has little to no confidence and truly looks overmatched. With Huff gone, this line-up has to rely on Scott, so he really needs to pick it up. Even when he does though, we still need at least one more big bat in the middle of the order.

I read this in the Sun this morning: Fourteen of the Orioles' past 25 losses have been by two runs or fewer. Of course you can look at this however you want. I choose to look at it as the O’s making progress, while trading away Huff and their closer, Sherrill, over the course of the last month, and losing their best pitcher, BY FAR, Bergesen, to an injury on 7/30. For the most part, we are playing teams tough and our starting pitching has given us some solid performances over the last few weeks. I know, it’s not much, but it still provides hope that the O’s are turning the corner. And that isn’t just coming from a homer like me; I hear it all the time listening to opposing teams broadcasts on MLB Extra innings. It’s really happening, and while I would love to see this team actually WIN more games, I DO see progress that will hopefully continue through the end of the year, and perhaps we play spoiler come September. Maybe Trembley survives? I am not sure about that, but I have seen progress in the last month or so whether the losses pile up or not. Go O’s!