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.