O's Seeking new Lows.....

Apologies to AB for not being around here for 6 weeks! Very busy and very apathetic....


Another pathetic loss for the O’s last night as these types of games continue to pile-up. Nobody hits with RISP and we don’t make enough plays to win close games. It’s as ugly as I can ever recall, and consider this season the most disappointing I have ever witnessed. I had a great deal of optimism that this team would continue to improve; that we’d see better years from Wieters and Reimold as they began to settle in, that Jones would continue to develop as an All-Star caliber CF with power, that Tillman and Matusz would be making steps forward and showing us why we believe that this young roster had the makings of a contender, with some added parts. While Matusz has certainly pitched very well at times and I believe he will be a #2 starter for us, Tillman was sent down and it seemed like that was the beginning of the end to this season. And we are only 1/3 of the way complete. Pathetic. Here are some additional observations from last night’s game:

- We made Vasquez look like he pitched last year in the relatively weak NL, minus the World Champs

- I still find it hard to believe that this team is this bad, but they continue to do the same things they’ve done for many years running, poor base running and poor defense. And, there’s been some personnel turnover so it’s leading me to believe the coaches are evidently the problem or the players have tuned them out. Either way, McPhail better be on the horn looking for a replacement manager ASAP, b/c we’ve got to get something out of this season that is wasting away quickly, though perhaps not quick enough!

- 2B into the gap in RCF showed just how strong A-Rod is. Wow! And now Jones is holding his hand.

- Cano is just a pure hitter. Wonderful to watch

- 6th inning - 2-0 change-up Matusz threw to Thames was sick, then got him to pop-up with 2 runners on

- Matusz got out of the jam striking out Granderson looking. Wieters framed the strike perfectly, b/c I don’t think it caught any of the plate. The angle that the Yes Network showed going to commercial was a beautiful view of Wieters framing the pitch, and the pitch being outside.

- Home plate ump was calling brutally low strikes, in particular, the 2nd strike on Jones in the ?th which was across his shins! Put him in the hole and then he K’d

- Miggy’s poor throw and the lack of a defensive first baseman in Wiggy, cost the O’s a chance to win; good teams don’t make those plays in those circumstances, and the margin for error in baseball can be so small that you simply can’t get away with those kind of mistakes against good teams, like the Yankees. There’s a reason the O’s are 22 games under .500 a mere 52 games into the season: they don’t make enough plays that they should, both in the field and at the plate. I think they have a lot more talent than their record indicates, but even that I am beginning to wonder about. This franchise has created a losing atmosphere over the course of a dozen seasons, and I don’t really know how that is going to be changed at this point.


- In showing the O’s vs. Yanks highlights on Sportscenter this morning, Linda Cohen said “it’s amazing that the game was tied in the 7th against Baltimore!” It’s so depressing how bad we are, and while I don’t think we are this bad, or as bad as our record indicates, until we start winning we will continue to hear constant jabs at this inept team. And man, it makes for a very, very LONG and depressing summer!

- I’m not sure why Dave Trembley even wants to be here, and perhaps he doesn’t, but until McPhail lines up a replacement, why would you fire him? It’s all so pathetic it makes my head spin. Go O’s!