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6/7/2010 9:49:19 AM

since no one ever reads the 49th post, and since i never notice when i'm making the 49th post

Quote :

"i mean i guess the O's front office is just trying to do whatever they can to spark this team into winning some games, but it really sucks that trembley had to be thrown under the bus. the guy was given a shitty hand the second he took over in 2007. he really has no control over what the bullpen does, or the fact that adam jones and matt wieters keep swinging at an unreasonably high amount of pitches outside the zone and leave their bats resting on their shoulders on too many pitches inside the zone that are much better pitches with which to make contact. roberts is out indefinitely (he might be done for good imo), jones can't hit, wieters can't hit, markakis started slow. if roberts was healthy and the rest of those guys performed like they did last year in addition to wigginton, i'm sure this team would've put together several more wins and wouldn't be nearly as bad as they've shown. and i'm sure millwood, guthrie and matusz would have a lot more confidence stepping on the mound knowing they had a little bit of run support behind them. i always liked trembley and thought he was nothing but a class act, and i hate that he had no control over this team's failures. he didn't have the greatest bullpen management, but it's not like he was able to go out there and hold leads himself. but i did hear that a lot of scouts reported that the orioles' spring training regimen was kind of a joke, and that they were the worst prepared team entering the season. you can certainly lay a lot of that on trembley. still, i don't know who the fuck they're going to convince to take over this ship that's already at the bottom of the ocean. people still don't want to deal with peter angelos despite the fact that he's let up on his crushing death grip over the last couple years. i don't even put much stock in managers anyway considering a very, very small percentage have shown the consistent ability to produce wins from year to year using managerial tactics with their respective clubs, earl weaver being one of the few that did. but there are definitely characteristics about managers that you can't quantify, so that alone is probably worth shaking things up a bit when nothing is coming together. i don't even know how i'll react to whoever has the misfortune of inheriting this mess, but apparently angelos wants rick dempsey. regardless of what happens, i'll be riding this glorious dogshit atom bomb all the way to the bottom "

6/7/2010 10:04:13 AM

^i like that there is another knowledgeable O's fan here

i agree about Trembley...He was basically given dick to work with. however, his in-game management was absolutely horrible. Numerous runners left on base, few stolen bases, etc. At the end of the day the players need to hit, but the manager also needs to be able to help create situations for his players to be successful. The Roberts injury hurts, and so does the Pie injury (though I think he should be back soon). Those two, IMO, are the baserunning threats who have been lost since about the first week of the season, and the multiple leads blown in the 9th and the multiple losses in extra innings indicate to me that if they had those players healthy and Trembley managed the strategy a little better, then this season might not be such a wash (relatively).

McPhail (his name bothers me) needs to bring in some bats next year, no excuses. You can't compete with old veterans carrying the load for young, developing players, especially in the AL East. Jones, Wieters, and Markakis need to step it up. If Ty Wigginton is your slugger, you have problems. He didn't even make the All-Star ballot!

And I'll be pulling for the O's til the day I die. I grew up blocks from Memorial Stadium and seeing the Orioles like this is so much different than the team I knew growing up. Here's to the future!

Picked up SS Manny Machado with the 3rd pick in the draft. He has been described as Alex Rodriguez with less power, but I hate comparisons like that. He's 6'3" and some think he may eventually move to 3B, but he's 17 so who the hell knows. Either way, IF he pans out he should help to bring back the defense of yore to the O's infield.

6/8/2010 1:17:40 PM

Quote :

"few stolen bases"

that doesn't bother me too much, but i haven't really kept track of a lot of in-game details during o's games just because i can't watch them in NC because of the ongoing TWC/MASN feud (one reason i can't wait to move to DC in august). but i read weaver on strategy a couple years ago, and he was never big on stolen bases except for situations late in the game when something needed to happen, his whole reasoning being you only get 27 outs per game, and putting a steal on early in the game is potentially a waste of an out at a point when there isn't as much at stake. he used the same logic towards bunting, i believe. and as i mentioned before, earl weaver is one of the few managers in the history of baseball whose managerial decisions had a positive affect on wins over the course of his career, so he obviously had a good thing going. but like i said, i don't know when trembley was or was not putting the steal on since i haven't followed individual games closely. and it definitely sucks when your main base stealing threats are injured.

and i know macphail's strategy is to develop young pitching and then spend money on bats. i think the orioles would definitely benefit from a new impact bat, but i think it's also going to be hard to convince a player like that to sign with baltimore given the current state of the team. usually you have to overpay for someone to do that, i.e. ivan rodriguez signing with detroit after they tied the single-season record in losses right after he won a world series with the marlins. it can certainly pay off, but if it doesn't then you just look stupid in the end

and just because i never get tired of this

6/8/2010 8:22:06 PM

i'm in cary, so i can't watch games either

however i follow game trackers closely and the reason i mentioned the stolen bases is because late game management was poor...it could be a 10 game difference, it was that bad

i think they need another manager like Weaver (tough because they suck) and two guys who can hit for average and with RISP. i'm not too concerned about HR's, they're actually not too bad in that category. unfortunately i would bet half are solo shots.

i'm trying to go to a weekend homestand this summer, i jjust need to pick a weekend

6/8/2010 8:57:21 PM

Quote :

"i think they need another manager like Weaver "

i read some article where some guy was throwing around names as potential candidates, and he mentioned larry bowa as one of them. he's probably the closest person to earl weaver in terms of intensity, but i think he's also kind of difficult to deal with from what i understand. i'm sure he's probably not even on the radar in terms of coaching prospects though. i've also seen ryne sandburg and don mattingly's names thrown around, but i doubt there's much to get excited about there either. mattingly would be about 2 years too late for the people who were screaming about mark teixeira a year and a half ago. sandburg doesn't really have much experience, and he's only been a minor league manager anyway.

6/8/2010 10:21:33 PM

also read that Bobby Valentine could fit as well...he has great disguises

might be hard to get him away from Japan though

btw, that Earl Weaver video had me laughing uncontrollably

agreed about Sandberg...they need to sign a manager with MLB experience, not another minor league guy no matter how promising

[Edited on June 8, 2010 at 10:27 PM. Reason : .]

6/8/2010 10:25:12 PM

i don't know how much you can attribute to his managerial skills, but buck showalter has a history of taking over troubled clubs and turning them around (yankees, diamondbacks, i wanna say rangers but he could be too far removed from them). this team seems like it'd be right up his alley considering his resume. hell, he and gene michaels laid the framework for the yankee dynasty of the mid 90s. i've never given torre or cashman much credit for that, but cashman has done well in recent years.

not sure if you've ever seen this one or not



god i wish there were still managers like him

6/8/2010 10:46:22 PM

that's awesome

Earl Weaver is like a mix of Ari Gold and Mick from Rocky

curious, how did you become an Orioles fan?

6/8/2010 10:57:18 PM

i lived in fairfax til i was 2 and then moved down to NC, but i spent a lot of time in northern virginia because my parents worked for usair, so we could fly for free. the orioles used to be on HTS down here when i was a kid and i considered them my home team. this was also in the early-mid 90s when they were respectable. it helps latching on to a good team when you're little.

6/8/2010 11:00:22 PM

yeah they were awesome back in those days...they always had ace pitchers and at least one or two sluggers

then Jeffrey Mayer caught that ball and they have been cursed ever since

i can be patient and wait however long it takes to be good again, because with all of these prospects it's like a grab bag and there have to be some gems in there. the farm system was depleted for multiple reasons, and to rebuild it was basically to build a farm system from scratch. it just takes time, and unfortunately for the Orioles casual county fans are migrating to the Nationals because it's not a long drive to see a good team.

6/8/2010 11:12:26 PM

yeah, i thought about jumping ship a few years ago and jumping on the nats bandwagon since technically they'd be my home team now. (un)fortunately i learned the importance of not abandoning your team under any circumstances by attending nc state. 1983 would've been the only good year for me to be a fan of both organizations. i still plan on going to an o's game or two once i move up to DC this summer, if only for the fact that it's been probably 10 years since i've seen a game at the yard, and i miss it a lot



[Edited on June 8, 2010 at 11:41 PM. Reason : .]

6/8/2010 11:39:37 PM

going back to the draft, one thing that eats me up inside every year around this time is the fact that the o's could have had tim lincecum in 06, and they passed on him for fucking billy rowell. you don't pass up on the most electric arm in the draft that led the NCAAs in strikeouts for a high school bat, especially when there were absolutely no arms in that farm system at the time. i don't know if they thought lincecum had signability issues or what, but i doubt macphail would've let him go.

6/9/2010 10:53:15 AM

who the fuck is Billy Rowell? would have been damn nice to have Lincecum instead

i like the potential of this new guy Machado, but he's no phenom like Strasburg or Harper

could be a few years before we see him...he turns 18 in a month or so

6/9/2010 5:41:04 PM

Jake Arrieta, the O's (current) top pitching prospect called up to start against AJ Burnett and the Yankees. With Matusz, Tillman, and Arrieta now in the rotation, looks like they're packing it in until next year. shocking!

hopefully this tortuous season doesn't kill their desire to pitch period, much less with the O's.

6/10/2010 2:43:10 PM

Wow, you guys are awful. Like 1962 Mets bad. Sad to see for a good baseball city.

6/13/2010 3:38:19 PM

it's only going to get worse with Millwood, Wigginton, Guthrie, and Tejada available for trade over the next month

they won't unload all of them, but McPhail is sure to acquire a good prospect or two out of this

i just hope this season isn't historically bad, but it's certainly shaping up that way

6/18/2010 4:46:35 PM

They need to get rid of Millwood and Tejada down the stretch for prospects and concentrate on making a good farm system. This is 1989 levels of bad this year (which means, based on past BMore results, we should have a winning team by...2016?).

BTW, Jeffrey Maier, as douchebaggy as he was, wasn't the curse. Remember, they won the division going away in 1997 and crushed the Mariners in the Playoffs, then lost to the Indians in 6.

Plain and simple: management made some bad choices in the late 90s-early 00s.

[Edited on June 19, 2010 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2010 1:32:47 PM

Syd Thrift killed the Orioles with his horrible signings and equally worthless draft picks

I believe he was GM for a part of the span you are talking about

caught an L last night to the Padres...David Hernandez blew another save and gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th

looks like they'll lose 50 before they win 20 (18-49)

6/19/2010 2:35:32 PM

i've heard buck showalter and eric wedge's names thrown around for interviews for the new manager. i think the most either of them could do is boost morale.

and like 25 of the orioles' 50 losses have come against AL east teams. and 25% of the yankees' wins have come against baltimore. god dammit i hate this team so much right now.

6/23/2010 9:29:18 PM

from Yahoo

Quote :

"Nick Markakis called team owner Peter Angelos and arranged a meeting to discuss the team's woeful performance. The pair met Thursday at a restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood. For the reserved, soft-spoken Markakis, his big step forward was a loud message. "I wanted to give him my input and tell him the things I thought we lacked and needed, and what we needed to change," Markakis told The Sun. "He's completely open to anything. He was listening, and he was a lot easier to talk to than I anticipated. You know me, sometimes you'll have a better conversation with the wall than talking to me. But it went a lot better and it was a lot smoother than I thought it was going to go. If I can strike up a conversation and talk to a guy like him who owns the team, I think it is a good situation." It was an intriguing gesture from Angelos, who has grown as invisible in recent years as Markakis is quiet. Angelos has been criticized for both being too hands-on and too hands-off with the franchise, which he bought in 1993. A segment of the Baltimore fan base attributes the team's decade-plus losing streak to Angelos. "He's an exceptional young man, first-rate all the way," Angelos told The Sun of his right fielder. "Baltimore is lucky to have him and his fine young family.""

6/25/2010 7:50:03 PM

^nice

maybe it did some good...4 wins in a row with a sweep over the Nats

6/27/2010 7:00:37 PM

we've got ourselves quite the pitcher's duel in Detroit!
7-6 in the 2nd

[Edited on July 5, 2010 at 2:22 PM. Reason : a]

7/5/2010 2:20:15 PM

go orioles!

7/5/2010 2:21:08 PM

i can't keep up with the edits fast enough!

it's now 8-6 in the 2nd

7/5/2010 2:26:12 PM

not playing too horrible as of late...only have to win 16 more games to not have the worst record of all time!

7/5/2010 8:54:48 PM

they're not even the worst team in baseball in my opinion. teams like the indians, pirates and probably cubs would have a similar record if they had to play so many games against 3 of the top 4 teams in runs scored.

7/5/2010 10:12:49 PM

well also they lose a ton of games late...

if you look at the amount of blown saves by the closer committee, they might be mediocre this year if it weren't for poor bullpen pitching

7/7/2010 2:36:22 PM

true. somehow the d-backs have a worse bullpen though. and berken has actually done pretty well. also replace the indians with the d-backs in that last post i made the other day.

[Edited on July 7, 2010 at 2:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/7/2010 2:42:30 PM

rallied in the 8th to beat the Rangers 6-4

heyo!

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 12:20 AM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 12:20:32 AM

i think i saw some stat that said 19 of their wins are come from behind victories, and they lead the majors in 3+ run comebacks

and lol @ corey patterson DHing in the leadoff spot

7/9/2010 3:28:51 AM

well that shows they're at least resilient

and the "rally" in the 8th last night was 3 straight walks with the bases loaded scoring 3 runs...good eye, O's!

7/9/2010 4:52:57 PM

Back to the suckfest! 4 losses in a row since the break

the roster could change significantly by the trade deadline

Up for grabs:

Ty Wigginton
Luke Scott
Miguel Tejada
Jeremy Guthrie
Kevin Millwood

Of all these guys, i think they need Luke Scott the most...as for the others, begone!

7/20/2010 12:36:39 PM

yeah but they probably won't get shit for any of those players.

7/20/2010 3:32:48 PM

another come from behind victory. at least they're good at something.

7/21/2010 1:25:07 AM

THIS IS OUR YEAR

7/21/2010 9:00:05 AM

Get rid of Tejada and Millwood, now. Send them to Cincy or something for prospects.

7/21/2010 11:55:12 AM

the best they can get in return for Tejada is a veteran utility type player

Millwood is on the DL so that has to hurt his stock a little bit

7/21/2010 12:41:42 PM

W vs. the Twins tonight, 3-2

Like Scott with a 2 run HR in the 6th that ended up winning it

i'm ok with how bad they are as long as they can win one game out of every series, that's the most realistic high expectation i can set for them

7/23/2010 9:39:54 PM

L to the Blue Jays, but Wieters smacked 2 HR's...that's good news, he's been struggling and just came off the DL, so hopefully he can keep it up...they need his bat

7/26/2010 9:54:07 PM

every night i get to see how awesome buster posey is doing, and every night i cry because that was supposed to be matt wieters.

7/27/2010 1:39:57 AM

Buster is a stud

7/27/2010 1:41:09 AM

what an astute observation

7/27/2010 2:12:44 AM

I got to watch him play a lot in college. It was insane how dominant he was even in the ACC.

7/27/2010 2:31:00 AM

dude used to catch 8 innings and then come in as GT's closer in the 9th.

7/27/2010 4:37:19 AM

Wow, playing for 2 teams is impressive

7/27/2010 9:13:30 AM

Quote :

"every night i get to see how awesome buster posey is doing, and every night i cry because that was supposed to be matt wieters."

He's been in the bigs for a year. He's got some time to meet his promise.

7/27/2010 9:17:53 AM

agreed...he's only 24 and hasn't been riddled with injuries like the other high draft picks the O's have had

i mean, he and the O's really can't get much worse so i feel like there's still a lot of upside for him

7/27/2010 11:45:11 AM

pretty good article on jake arrieta and how shitty he's been in his first 50 IP

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/arrietas-early-struggles/

7/27/2010 12:57:17 PM

I wonder if the Orioles could beat the Bowie Bay Sox.

7/27/2010 1:02:38 PM