5 in a Row

Nothing like a series against the Royals to give a team a boost. The Orioles followed up taking the final two from the A's over Memorial Day weekend to sweep the Royals in KC. The best thing about this win streak is that each starter has gotten a win over the last five days. Erik Bedard was great last night. The great thing about yesterday's win was that he outlasted Gil Meche, who was just as good as Bedard until the Orioles produced a run with some small ball in the 8th. For those who criticize Sam Perlozzo, I think you have to agree with his decisions late in the game last night. Having Bynum pinch run and the bunts by Patterson and Roberts were the difference in the game. As Perlozzo has said before...his decisions come down to the players getting it done, and that is certainly what they did last night.

With the possibility of getting back over .500 this weekend, I saw some good news for the Orioles on the bottom line of ESPN last night. Apparently Bartolo Colon will not be pitching Saturday because of an injury to his triceps. Right now it looks like Joe Saunders(2-0, 1.96 era) is scheduled to go in Colon's place. Saunders initial stats look good, but he does have a WHIP over 1.5, and a mediocre BB/K ratio.

Playing the Angels certainly won't be easy, because they have been hot lately, and are currently the 3rd best team in the AL. Their pitching staff is very solid. John Lackey is having an extremely good year, and their rotation is one of the tops in the AL. Their bullpen is also tough with guys like Rodriguez and Shields to close out games. Hopefully Brian Burres can be tough against the Angels tonight, and get this series off to a great start.

Guthrie

I don't think I'm alone among O's fans when I state that I am starting to love Jeremy Guthrie. He has been absolutely spectacular in his 6 starts this year, and is performing better than any of our starters over that stretch of time. His era is currently at 3.02, but that includes several lousy bullpen performances at the beginning of the year. With my math, his era has been 1.91 as a starter. With a .232 BAA and 1.02 WHIP, it certainly doesn't look like an aberration that he has given up so few runs. His BB/K ratio is good and so are his homerun totals. At some point Guthrie may drop off in his performance, but I don't think he will slide far. He appears very athletic out on the field. I loved watching the O's game against the Nats when he almost beat out an infield hit by busting his ass down the line. At the same time though, he seems to be a very cool guy on the field. He doesn't seem to get worked up, and has a very efficient business-like approach on the mound.

Its amazing to me that the O's got this guy for practically nothing with the way he has been playing. I understand a bit why Cleveland couldn't keep him. They have a pretty good rotation, and Guthrie didn't really show them much according to his stats.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/guthrje01.shtml

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Jeremy%2520Guthrie&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=425386

However, he had a good year in the minors in 2006. Perhaps he just wasn't accustomed to coming out of the bullpen, which is all he did with Cleveland besides 1 start.

Guthrie is making it very easy for O's fans to forget the O's acquired Jaret Wright this past offseason. I truly don't care about the progress Wright may be making, because his spot has been taken by somebody who is pitching like an All Star lately. Its pretty impressive that a guy who was waived back in January is now proving his worth as a big league starter.

Memorial Day Wrapup

Well Memorial Day weekend is over, and the summer tourist season is officially under way. The standings in baseball are beginning to separate the contenders from the back of the pack. Currently the Maryland area's 2 teams are both outside of the contender region. The Nationals have been playing their best lately, but still can't make any headway in the standings. They have won 10 of 14 games, but still find themselves last in the NL East, 12 games behing the Mets. They are also 3 games behind the Phillies for the next spot in the standings. So the Nationals right now appear to be headed to another season in the cellar. I truly hope the team is able to make some big moves this offseason in anticipation of the increased revenue from the new stadium.

The Orioles are 2nd in the AL East. The problem is that 2nd in the AL East doesn't appear to signify what it has for the last decade. The O's are 3 games under .500, and are barely performing better than the other mediocre teams in this division. Two days of play could easily put the O's last in the division. So the current 2nd place standing is not much to cheer about. The O's are currently 5.5 games back in the Wild Card after Detroit was swept by the Indians, so while they are not out of conention, they certainly have a long way to go as well.

It was a good thing to see the O's score 8 runs in 3 straight games over Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully the Royals continue to play like the Royals against Baltimore, and the O's can even themselves up in the standings this week.

Orioles Win and College Lacrosse

Saturday was the semi-finals for Division I lacrosse at Ravens Stadium. I watched the first game on TV between Delaware and Johns Hopkins. I really liked the Blue Hens' aggressive style. They got after the Blue Jays early, and tried to put a hit on their offensive players any time they went for a shot. They pushed around the Blue Jays for a while, but really didn't have an offense. While a combination of Delaware's aggressive style of play and missed chances by Hopkins kept the game close, it ultimately was won by the better team.

I missed most of Duke and Cornell in the other semi-final, but did catch Duke's dramatic goal to win the game with just seconds left. This just seems like a fairy tale story for the Duke program. Previous season was cancelled over false allegations, and now they come back to win the National Championship. Sounds like a movice script. I truly hope Hopkins crushes them today. As a fan of the University of Maryland, I have learned to hate Duke. Maybe the hatred starts with Coach K, but it definitely spreads to the rest of the University as well. So combine the Duke hatred with the support for the Hopkins team from Baltimore, and I will definitely be looking for a Blue Jays victory.

Now while I was watching the lacrosse games on Saturday I thought what a great day it would be to be tailgating at the stadium. You could start early before the Hopkins game...Take a break before the other semi-final matchup to fill up on food and booze, and then head over to Camden Yards for the O's game that night after a couple lacrosse games at M&T. That would truly be a great day of sports watching in Baltimore.

So on to the O's. They managed to get a win on that Saturday night game...even with Danys Baez pitching. I'd love to say that Baez pitched well, but he did give up another run on 1 hit and 2 walks. Luckily the O's bats finally came alive for 8 runs. So the O's got the win, but Baez has now given up runs in 6 of his last 7 outings. His problems certainly don't appear to be solved.

Great news however is that Miguel Tejada seems to have figured things out a bit. In his last 4 games he has 3 homeruns and 8 RBI. This is a big turnaround after hitting just two long balls in the first 6 weeks of the season.
The other guy that is playing where he is expected to is Brian Roberts. His OBP is now over .400, and he continues to steal bases and give the players behind him a chance for RBI. If these two guys can stay hot, then the O's offense will definitely pick up.

While the O's only went 3-3 on their homestand, they did win 2 out of 3 against the A's. It feels good to beat a solid team, even though they aren't the A's of a few years ago. Hopefully the O's beat up on the Royals in KC this week, and get their long road trip off to a great start.

Baez does it Again

Danys Baez's right arm is killing the O's all by itself. 1 inning...2 hits 1 run...and Baez is 0-4 in the month of May.
Is there a record for losses by a reliever in a single month? Baez has to atleast be in sight of that record! Maybe its time for the O's to create an injury...send him to the DL..and give him a week off to get himself together before having him rehab in the minors for a little while. Something has to be done, because he cannot be trusted in a high pressure situation right now.

Its also upsetting to see that the Orioles blew it for Jeremy Guthrie again. What does this guy have to do for them to give him a win. His 4 May appearances have looked like this...

Innings Earned Runs
6 - 1
8.1 - 0
7 - 1
7 - 3

Thats an amazing month for a guy just working his way into the rotation. He should be 3-1 or 4-0 over that span, but instead he has settled for 3 No Decisions and just one win. Hopefully the guy stays positive and keeps pitching like he has. I love what I've seen so far, and will be a big fan of his if he can stay in the rotation.

Other O's notes...Great to see Tejada with a 3 run homer. Hopefully he will pull out the power a little more often in the future.
Bad News... O's continue to hit into double plays...3 more tonight, including two by Melvin Mora...who has looked awful at the plate lately. He isn't taking pitches and seems to be swinging at everything. In his last 10 games he has just 2 walks, 3 RBI, and his average has dropped 21 points. Hopefully Melvin turns things around soon, or the O's might need to start thinking about who will be playing 3rd in 2008.

Georgetown Wins One and Loses One

Georgetown had a great basketball season in 06-07, largely in thanks to the play of Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert. I think they would have been frontrunners for the National Championship next season if both guys came back next season, because Ohio State lost Oden and Conley, while Florida's starting 5 are all gone. Yesterday it was announced that Hibbert will return for another year while Jeff Green will enter the draft. While it certainly won't help Georgetown to lose the current Big East POY, it seems to be a good decision by both players.

Green is ready for the NBA. From what I've seen in draft write-ups, experts think he will go between 10 and 20 in the draft. While I think it would be more advantageous for a player to come out next year instead of now because of the Oden-Durant effect, Green's game doesn't have a ton of room for improvement. He is a polished player who is likely to have a similar draft potential next year as well. He can handle getting minutes off of the bench in the NBA next season, and won't have to risk getting hurt in college before his pay day.

Hibbert is a slightly different story. While some people have him ranked higher on draft charts than Green, he still has more room to develop than Jeff. He has a lot of skill for a guy his size, but he wouldn't be able to get away with a lot of his moves with the athletic big men in the NBA. Another year in school will provide him with a chance to hone his skills while getting stronger. The possibility of earning National POY will also increase his exposure before next year's draft. I don't think there are a combination like Oden and Durant who will be draft eligible next season, so Hibbert will also have less competition next season for a top draft spot.

Both of these guys seem like quality guys and quality players. Its great to see two Maryland high school products get the chance to star close to home, and also move on to the Pro level. Either one would probably be successful with any decision they made, but I think they both chose well for where they are right now.

Baseball is On...Everything else is Off

At this time of year there really isn't much going on in sports in this area besides baseball. The biggest news recently in local football is that Clinton Portis thinks its acceptable to hold dog fights on private property...even if it is a felony. Clinton should have went with a "No Comment!" when asked about Mike Vick, and went on planning what he will do during his weekly news conferences this fall.

The Ravens are having a mostly quiet offseason...except for Steve McNair getting into a little trouble with his brother in law. Can't wait to see if Willis McGahee can really bring some explosion back to Baltimore's running game.

I watched the NBA Draft Lottery last night expecting to see the Wizards represented. With the way they finished their season, they felt like a lottery team. The Wizards greatly need an impact player, especially down low. Hopefully they can find that player outside the lottery, and don't keep drafting projects like Andray Blatche and the 2 Russian guys they selected and haven't even signed yet from 2006. The Zards are a playoff team, and need help now...not 5 years down the road. I'd much rather have a solid player who has proven himself in the NCAA than a guy who is playing in some obscure foreign league or not living up to his potential in college.

The Nats are proving to be irrelevant this year. Even with their winning ways of late, they are still 5.5 games behind the 4th place NL East Phillies. Ryan Zimmerman has been heating up lately, but nobody else on that team really interests me much.

The Orioles lost to the Jays again last night. O's are really bumming me out right now with how they are playing, because each loss seems to be by just 1 or 2 runs. They are capable of winning these games, but are really not coming through in tough spots. Particularly disappointing is Miguel Tejada. Not only is he not hitting homeruns(2), but he isn't hitting anything for power with just 6 doubles on the year. I love the high average, but he is supposed to be an RBI guy for this club. Not an average guy.

Baez hurting the O's

I thought Danys Baez's signing was a good one by the O's this offseason. While he isn't a great pitcher, he is very capable of helping a bullpen out. However, he is severely struggling right now, and its really hurt the Orioles lately.

Since last Sunday when he gave up 2 runs without getting an out against the Red Sox, Baez has only had one solid outing. He has pitched 4 more times, and given up 2 runs in 3 of those 4 outings. Baez has two losses over the last week, and all 3 of his losses have come in May. When this month started he had a 2.92 ERA, but now he is sporting one of 6.10. He isn't just blowing things in meaningless situations though. His pitching has directly led to 3 losses in the last week. That is way too much damage for a setup man to cause a team. The O's have deserved better lately, and its a shame their bullpen has let them down.

The good news for the O's is that the rotation has remained solid despite several injuries. Erik Bedard has lowered his ERA over his last 5 starts, and his team has won his games 3 times, despite Erik now getting the W's. Jeremy Guthrie backed up his Red Sox gem with a great game this weekend. 7 innings and 10 k's was surely impressive, and it looks like Wright's spot has been adequately filled.
Hopefully the team uses their day off tommorow to get things on track before the Jays come to town. It would be great to see the O's redeem themselves after getting swept by Toronto last week.

Curlin beats out Street Sense

I wasn't one of the revelers at Pimlico yesterday, but did enjoy the racing from the comfort of home. One of my favorite moments from the weekend was watching ESPN's bottom line Friday night and learning that Panty Raid won the Black Eyed Susan Stakes. Props to whoever named that horse, and its sad to think I may never see the words panty raid written on ESPN ever again.

I also enjoyed ESPN's Today at the Preakness coverage of all the early races. Its fun to see the other races and not just tune in for the big one. Kenny Mayne does a great job with Randy Moss(not the Patriot) on the coverage. I loved his comment, "It so exciting I could just put the slots in myself." It also gives them time to show some of Baltimore's finest. The segments with Rob Stone walking the infield with cans of Bud Light strewn about were great. I loved watching him interview one of the trash cleanup guys who I believe was named Willy. Let me reenact part of that conversation as best I can

"Whats the worst thing you've seen today Willy?"

"Probably the urination on the ground. People just going anywhere."

"So what will you do when you get home from all of this?"

"I'll take a shower and have a few cocktails."

Great interview...especially when you throw in the drunk ass white kids posing for the camera behind all of this.

As for the race...it lived up to its top billing. The horses that had been talked about most were the ones who were contending down the stretch. Hard Spun was easily caught by Street Sense. And while it looked like there would easily be another Triple Crown bid at Belmont, Curlin turned it up a notch to grab the win. Great race, and the Preakness proved to me again why it is the most exciting horse race in the country.

O's Beat Nats 5-4

So the O's are up 1 to 0 in the Battle of the Beltways. A win is a win, but the box score still scares me when I look at the bullpen. Danys Baez managed to get his 10th hold of the year, but he did so while giving up 2 runs in 1 inning of work. Another long ball surely isn't giving me confidence in his abilities, especially with a 5.31 era next to his name.
And while Chris Ray didn't give up a run in earning his 9th save, he did give up two walks. This isn't a good sign in his first game since the Boston debacle last Sunday. Hopefully he gets his control in order, and resumes his normally dominant role.

The number of base runners for the O's was also a good sign tonight. I wish they would have scored a few more runs with how they were getting on base, but atleast they were creating opportunities. Brian Roberts' 4 hit night is great to see. It seems he has had an ordinary beginning to the season so far. He is doing decently as the leadoff man, but has yet to be spectacular.

For Saturday I hope Jeremy Guthrie is able to repeat his performance from Sunday against Boston. It would be great to see him emerge as a guy who can get innings as a starter for this club. Meanwhile the O's luck out by not having to face Jason Bergmann. He has had an amazing start to the year(.162 BAA, 1.00 WHIP), although the Nats putrid offense wouldn't reflect that in his wins. The O's instead get to face Mike Bacsik...a guy who last pitched in the majors in 2004, and has a career 5.88 era in less than 100 innings pitched. If the O's don't put some runs on the board tommorow, I will be greatly disappointed.

Preakness

Tommorow is The Preakness, which is one of the biggest sports days in Maryland. It is probably the only time that Maryland's horseracing industry looks healthy and alive. Very little attention seems to be paid to racing the rest of the year, but the area sure gets hyped for this weekend. I like watching horseracing, but its a hard sport to follow. The viewing opportunities for a casual fan are limited to the big events, and there isn't much reported on the sport in the news.

Preakness is my favorite race to watch though, and not just because I'm a Marylander. The Kentucky Derby is great, but The Preakness creates more drama. It doesn't matter who wins the Derby. Its a huge field every year, and there are multiple horses with a realistic shot of taking the roses. The horse that does come out ahead though is automatically a hero. They will go down in history as a great horse after winning that race, no matter what else they do.
Preakness gives that horse a chance to become a legend. Especially nowadays when it has been so long since a Triple Crown winner.
I think most people would love to see a horse win the Triple Crown. People want another great horse to come along and become a legend. So Preakness is more exciting to me than the Derby because it gives the crowd a favorite to root for.

Belmont to me will become more exciting only if there is a horse that has won the first two races of the Triple Crown. At that point it becomes potentially more dramatic than The Preakness, but that doesn't happen every year. Each and every Preakness there is a Triple Crown candidate that has already been identified. Following that horse through the track is a great thrill, and there is always a lot of excitement for horse racing built when their is a potential Triple Crown winner going into Belmont. Thats what makes Preakness uniqe and exciting to me. Hopefully 2007's race provides another exciting finish on Maryland's most important day of racing.

O's Swept

I feel like I might have to stop writing about the O's until they start winning. Things are too frustrating right now, especially during their 5 game losing streak. They have lost 4 games by 5 runs. They've given up less than 4 runs a game during that time, so its not like pitching has been the problem. The O's offense is struggling. Among their regulars, their best OBP is just .375(Millar). They don't get on base well, and that means that when Kevin Millar hits a homerun like last night...its just a one run shot. It seems teams like the Yankees always seem to be hitting 2 and 3 run homeruns. One reason is they have 5 guys getting on base at better than .390. The Orioles as a lineup are struggling. They have gotten impatient and look to be frustrated. With a pitching staff that seems to have improved itself, the O's batters need to have confidence that they can get things done. I don't see that confidence right now, and that makes this team hard to watch.

So what will help get the Orioles out of their funk. Hopefully the O's remind the Nats this weekend that Washington is the worst team in baseball. However, the Nationals have not played like that recently. They are currently winning while pitching excellently. That doesn't bode well for the Orioles' quiet bats...especially with the NL batting rules.
Following this weekend's series the Jays come back to B'more. The schedule looks to be matching Cabrera and Litsch up again, which would be an interesting matchup to watch again. Hopefully another strong outing from Cabrera will help the O's get back on track.

Private School Athletic Facilities

The Washington Post had a good article in the Sports section today on DC area private high schools and the trend of building multi-million dollar athletics facilities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502035.html

I personally found the article interesting, since I was an athlete at a Maryland private school, and have witnessed the boom in development of athletic facilities since I graduated. The pictures of Georgetown Prep's new facilities are amazing. 23 million dollars is also a ton of money to spend on athletic facilities, but certainly isn't surprising knowing Georgetown Prep. However, it is probably money well spent. Prep's AD Dan Paro, my middle school English teacher for a side note, is right on when he stated that Prep isn't just doing this for what they need in the present, but for what they might need 25 to 30 years down the road. If you are going to spend big money on athletics, you definitely have to think about the long term needs of the school. Prep is addressing their needs for future generations of their athletes, and is setting a standard that will be hard to match. Its no wonder their lacrosse, basketball, and football teams have been much improved over the last decade with this type of leadership. They will definitely be able to attract top area athletes to the school with this type of dedication, and I expect them to continue to be successful with their sports.

Other schools that I have observed make improvements over the years.

Gonzaga - They have a great downtown location in DC, but that leaves them short on field space. Putting field turf on their on campus field was a great idea. Their field was always hard and short on grass when I played their, and having a low maintenance, perfect playing surface is good for the athletes, potential recruits, and the school.

Dematha - For a school with one of the best athletic reputations in the country, they have always had awful facilities. They have just started work on a new center that will change the landscape of their campus, while upgrading much of their athletic facilities. They still have a problem without a field on campus, but the article noted they might put field turf in at local fields to help their teams.

Calvert Hall - Calvert Hall made big changes to their athletic landscape by building a true football stadium...not just bleachers for their teams. Their new track is also great, and they have taken a big step in making their facilities attractive to potential students.

Loyola - The Dons created a great looking building to house their athletics. Their new weightroom is great, and their pool is amazing for a high school. While things look good they could have improved their football and lacrosse field and basketball court more. I think they lacked some of the long term thinking when it came to those two areas.

Unlucky Cabrera

Daniel Cabrera goes for a complete game while giving up 2 runs and somehow the O's lose? That is such an unlucky break for Cabrera. It sucks to know that you did your job, but your team still got a loss. Of course every player should strive for perfection, but Cabrera should be extremely satisfied with what he did on Tuesday. The O's bats went sour, which is something that happens over the course of a season. However, this just seems like an awful game to do so. The O's have lost 3 in a row against AL East teams before tonight's games, and 2 of those games should have been wins for Baltimore. First was the breakdown in Boston, and then the debacle with Erik Bedard and the check swings before Danyz Baez underhanded one to Troy Glaus. A 2-1 loss is like another kick to the nuts. The O's aren't playing badly, they just aren't winning.

Luckily for the O's it is still early in the season, and everybody but Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland seems to be playing mediocre. However, the Yankees probably won't stay down, and if the O's struggle with a hurting Blue Jays team than they really are setting themselves up for another season on the wrong side of .500.

O's Blow it to Sox

Chris Ray is usually a good closer. However, when he does blow saves, he really blows it. Ray has 3 blown saves this year, and each won has been tragic for O's fans. First it was the 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth grand slam to Alex Rodriguez. The second blown opportunity was another grand slam to Willy Mo Pena. Finally yesterday he manages to blow things with the bases loaded by allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks. I read that this was the first 5 run lead blown in the 9th inning since 1978!!! Congratulations Chris Ray. You and Danys Baez are the first guys to blow a 5 run lead in the final inning of a game in 29 years...and you only had 2 outs to get!

The Orioles' Mother Day game was as frustrating as it gets for an O's fan. The O's have been preaching about how they need to save their bullpen, and they are anxious about a young starter like Guthrie coming in to pitch after Trachsel and Burres didn't allow enough rest for the pen the last 2 days. I was shocked to see Guthrie pitch so well. I know he has great potential, but to take a shutout against Boston at Fenway into the 9th is ridiculous. Thats an amazing start. So why would he be pulled with 2 outs left in the game after pitching just 91 pitches? How great would it be for the O's to see their young pitcher solidify his role with a shutout of the first place team in your division? That truly would have fired the whole team up. Instead you deny a young pitcher his opportunity for his first career shutout, and somehow blew the game. Seems like Karma was involved to me.

I'm usually not one to get down on Sam Perlozzo. I've heard some people get enraged with how he manages a game, but I give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I completely disagree with what he did in the 9th yesterday. After one baserunner reached base on an error by the catcher, Guthrie gets yanked. Your pitcher has given up no runs and only 5 baserunners up until that point, and is your best option to get through that inning. He was in the "ZONE," on fire, whatever you want to call it. There is no doubt in my mind that Guthrie would get through the next 2 outs. Even if he loses the shutout, atleast he is the one responsible for it, and not some reliever who inherited the runner. Old school players and fans have to be shaking their head that a pitcher was taken out of a game with a shutout and just 2 outs left in the game. I agree with them. Part of the problem with the O's overusing their bullpen has been babying the starters. Let these guys pitch longer. Give them an opportunity to win games themselves instead of turning things over to relievers who 9 times out of 10 are guys who are in the bullpen because they wouldn't be able to cut it as a starter.

Time to erase this memory from my brain. I don't want to remember such an awful loss. Hopefully a sweep of the struggling Blue Jays will help ease my mind about the O's. And hopefully Sam Perlozzo will trust his starter to get the last two outs of the game next time one of them finds himself in that situation.

Orioles Streaking Back

In my last post I wrote about how the Orioles' season has been divided up into 3 different streaks. Well it looks like they have another one going now. After splitting with Cleveland(good result against the #1 team in the AL Central) , they took 3 straight from the D-Rays. The Bedard-Shields matchup on Wednesday night was a great pitching matchup. Getting a win against a team when their pitcher has a great night is a huge plus. Bedard looked like what O's fans expected all year, and the D-Rays seem to have developed a #2 to go with Kazmir. The O's bullpen seems to be back on track after some shaky outings over the last few weeks.

It will be interesting to see how the O's play against Boston this weekend. A win in this series brings Boston back down to earth a bit, while getting the O's over .500 again. A bad series puts them back in the pack in the AL East, and gives the Sox an even greater lead in the division. Tonight's game looks the most promising going up against Julian Tavarez. He has pitched just 4.2 innings at Fenway this year and given up 6 earned runs. I'm hopeful the O's will carry over the hitting from last night and give Brian Burres some run support. Saturday and Sunday will be difficult to get wins on because of Schilling and Beckett, who are a combined 11-1 this season.

Orioles April Review

So the first month of the baseball season is complete. Despite living near DC, and having MASN on my cable provider, I still have no interest in the Nationals. I haven't watched a lot of their games, and I don't see myself doing so at this point. Following a team with the worst record in baseball and no history really isn't intriguing to me.

But apparently following a team with a losing record is fine with me if I have a personal history with them. The Orioles are struggling right now, and the only thing keeping them out of the cellar is the demise of the Yankees!

The Orioles season has been a period of streaks so far. There first streak of 3 losses to the Twins was a pathetic way to open the season. Nothing went right in that series, but the O's managed to bounce back pretty easily. In their next streak they went 11-4, and beat up on the Yankees, Jays, Rays, and Royals. Two of those four losses were to the Tigers, who definitely have the O's figured out after sweeping the O's this week. So the O's current streak has them at 1-9. Thats about as rough a stretch as you can go. The bleeding eventually has to stop.

Before the season fans would have thought a night like tomorrow was a definite Orioles win. Erik Bedard was hot in the Spring and supposed to pick up right where he did at the end of 2006. However, his ERA is at 6.09, with a WHIPof 1.53 and a .291 BAA. His strikeout totals have been excellent so far, but he has given up too many HRs, 6, so far this season. I've got a feeling he will get things under control and become dominant again, but its rough to see him struggling so far.

The rest of the O's rotation has done decently so far. Nothing spectacular, and aside from Jaret Wright shoulder, nothing terrible either. Cabrera has decent stats and has managed to keep his walk totals manageable on most nights. There is still room for improvement though. Loewen has the best ERA of the group, but has also pitched the fewest innings. His WHIP is too high, and he actually has more walks than strikeouts. When he can limit his pitches and go deeper into games, he will help this team out so much more. Steve Trachsel has proven so far he deserves to stay in the O's rotation. He isn't dominating anybody, but he is keeping the O's in every game. He is giving the O's a chance to win, and that is what should be expected of a guy in his situation.

The Orioles bullpen has been decent so far as well. John Parrish has had a great month to start the year, and most of the other regulars have been decent as well. Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford are doing exactly what they were signed for. Danys Baez has let me down a few times, but is still a decent option. Chris Ray has suffered from 2 bad pitches with the bases loaded to make his stats look worse than they are. Those two game losing grand slams were tough to take, but I still have my faith in him. The bullpen as a whole is in better shape than last year, and I'm happy with their performance through April.

Hitting has been a disappointment so far. While the Orioles haven't been really been blown out so far this year, they haven't blown out others so far either. The Orioles don't have a double digit outing yet, but I feel like thats something they need to get going. Miguel Tejada is doing what he is getting paid for. He is hitting for a great average, and despite a slow start with the RBIs, those are starting to pile up too. Melvin Mora's average is mediocre, but he has shown his power is back. Hopefully he can keep his run production up all year long. Ramon Hernandez has been hot since his return from the DL, and looks to have another solid year behind the plate. Aside from those 3, the Orioles really aren't getting things done. Nick Markakis has had several clutch moments, but he isn't making contact like he did to finish in 2006. Brian Roberts is getting on base and stealing pretty well, but his average is down as well. Jay Gibbons is looking like he shows up to Camden Yards solely for the paycheck.

While I'm disappointed with the O's record right now, I'm not down on this team yet. I think there are a lot of guys who have yet to get hot. I have faith that Ray, Bedard, Cabrera, Roberts, Markakis, and Huff will all pick things up. When that happens I don't think this team will be losing a lot of games. The team is in better shape than in previous years, and just needs a jolt from a couple of players to get them streaking back towards the win column.