4-2 on the road the last 2 series against the yanks and the rays. baseball is still fun

8/5/2012 11:38:21 PM

haters

http://mlb.si.com/2012/08/06/baltimore-orioles-postseason-drea/

8/7/2012 3:16:30 PM

and another extra innings win, this one in 14...i think i read they've won 12 straight games that have gone to extra innings.

impressive. now just start winning the regular old 9 inning games more frequently and we might snag that second wild card spot. currently tied with the A's.

8/8/2012 12:39:38 PM

I think hammel should be back soon. britton got demoted again too.

8/8/2012 4:36:42 PM

8/8/2012 10:42:36 PM

manny machado will make his major league debut tomorrow. not sure how i feel about this.

8/9/2012 12:52:51 AM

yeah going from Double-A to the majors? he's been on a tear for the last 10 games hitting around .450, but for the whole season he's only around .265 or so.

might just be for his defense at 3rd base since Reynolds and Betemit are atrocious error machines.

8/9/2012 10:28:12 AM

i'm not saying he won't be able to make the adjustment to playing third, but it would've helped if he had been getting some innings at the position in AA. this could just be a case of addition by subtraction where getting reynolds and betemit the hell off of 3B and putting anyone else there will automatically improve them, but i don't know. this is neither a good offensive nor defensive team. teams that don't score many runs are usually better served by increasing offensive production vs improving the defense. not to say there's no value in improving the defense, but it's kind of a 2 way street. teams that score lots of runs are usually better off upgrading the defense at certain positions even if if costs them a couple runs in offensive production in the process. if they already score enough to win games, there's more marginal value in stopping the opposition from scoring and giving the pitching staff some more wiggle room.

machado just doesn't have experience at 3B or hitting MLB pitching (or even AAA pitching). it's just hard to understand how they've figured this will be an upgrade considering machado's defense at 3B may not be too good from the lack of experience, and i don't expect him to hit well either. it just seems like if they were really concerned with 3B defense they'd put andino there and just platoon reynolds and betemit vs LHP and RHP, respectively and maybe throw in chris davis at 1B/DH whenever necessary. so this all could just be an effort to put people in seats/let's see what happens. i don't know.

8/9/2012 1:11:11 PM

i'm not so sure about it either, but we shall see.

they're promoting Dylan Bundy to AA-Bowie, i think he gets a start August 14

8/9/2012 2:54:00 PM

i wouldn't be surprised if we see bundy in the majors next year. hopefully he won't get babied too much. and jonah keri seems to think the machado call up is an okay idea. i stand corrected on machado not getting any time at 3B. he's played 2 games there.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/34314/os-call-up-of-uber-prospect-manny-machado-is-worth-the-risk

8/9/2012 3:15:05 PM

for Bundy's career path so far i would anticipate a mid-season call up to the majors next season...unless they just say fuck it and throw him in there right off the bat.

have they mentioned if Machado gets the start at 3rd tonight?

8/9/2012 3:28:50 PM

starting at 3rd, batting 9th. i doubt they'd start bundy in baltimore. i bet he'll start in AAA. they need to be careful about starting his free agent clock too soon. i'm sure he'll progress through AAA quickly, but i expect toronto and tampa bay to bounce back next year since they've been so unlucky with injuries this year (toronto especially), and the o's will most likely finish in the cellar again. even if he's ready there may be no point.

[Edited on August 9, 2012 at 4:21 PM. Reason : AAA]

8/9/2012 4:20:43 PM

not bad Manny. not bad at all. though a win would have been nice.

8/10/2012 12:32:49 AM

didn't see highlights last night because a bunch of 12 year olds i don't give a shit about were on tv instead

8/10/2012 9:30:31 AM

MANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8/11/2012 10:59:15 AM

Machado named AL co-player of the week along with Adrian Gonzalez

also, O's traded for JC Romero. i guess they want to make the already strong bullpen stronger? they gave up a middling minor league infielder, so why not, i guess.

8/14/2012 4:11:25 PM

i mean, he kinda gave up 9 earned runs in 8 innings with the cardinals earlier this season, so i don't know how much stronger he makes it. he was also playing in norfolk at the beginning of the season. i really don't get this move, but i don't get a lot of things about the orioles this year. so until he blows a lead resulting in the o's missing the playoffs or something, whatever

8/14/2012 8:20:09 PM

Damnit Hamilton has a 4HR game against the O's and today Beltre has a 3HR game against, you guessed it, the O's. krikey!

8/22/2012 11:03:07 PM

so the orioles don't want their pitching prospects throwing a cutter

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2012/08/more-talk-about-the-pitch-the-orioles-dont-want-their-young-hurlers-to-throw.html#.UDZsJ6qaK7c.twitter

this just seems like they're making a lot of incorrect decisions based off interpreting results the wrong way. obviously, if a pitcher starts depending more on his cutter it's probably because it's an effective pitch. i can't figure out if peterson is trying to suggest that a pitcher's velocity on his 4 seam also drops as a result of using the cutter more because of some tendency (that i'm skeptical of actually happening) for pitchers to let attributes of the cutter grip sneak into his 4 seam grip, or if they're just looking at the average fastball velocity. because yeah, the average velocity is definitely going to drop when you throw a slower fastball more often. i mean, it just seems like peterson explains why it's a slower fastball, which, uh, thanks for the explanation, i guess?

saying the cutter is a pitch typically thrown later in a pitcher's career is fine and all, but dylan bundy's cutter is supposed to be filthy. he already has an awesome pitch. why would you get rid of it? i get that the kid needs to develop his curve and changeup, but let him get better at throwing his cutter to professional hitters too. they're eliminating a weapon from his arsenal by not letting him use it. and using justin verlander as an example for anything to support your rationale is just foolish. that guy is a freak of nature. you can model a guy after justin verlander in a videogame. not real life.

i mean, god. it boils down to "justin verlander doesn't throw one. why should we have bundy do it? duh." this organization is so unbelievably stupid. i've been looking for reasons to support my hypothesis that it's our staff that have prevented matusz, tillman, arrieta and britton (still young, i know) from reaching their potential, and this article just supports it. i hate these one size fits all pitching philosophies like the o's are using that have permeated all of MLB where pitchers aren't evaluated and developed on a case by case basis because people who aren't very smart can't interpret data correctly. and it doesn't help when journalists (not doctors. journalists) like tom verducci cherry pick data that supports their BS narratives about how young pitchers who exceed X innings are more likely to get hurt the next season, which is why strasburg is on a tight leash.

tl;dr: this is why we (o's fans) can't have nice things

8/23/2012 7:30:04 PM

i agree...from everything i've read, his cutter is off the charts good. if there is some mechanical flaw that makes his fastball slower because of throwing the cutter, then shouldn't the pitching coaches be able to correct that?

on another note, there was a rumor circulating that the O's may bring up Bundy to pitch out of the bullpen if they reach the playoffs. Machado's success has them thinking like drunks now. no need to rush Bundy...did that once with Ben McDonald and look where that got him and the Orioles. it is just a rumor, and i don't think it will happen, but still...Duquette scares me a little bit.

8/24/2012 10:34:21 AM

i'm not completely up to speed on when your free agent clock starts, but if bringing him up late this season wouldn't mean he'll become a free agent sooner, i don't know that it'd necessarily be a bad thing. even though his K/BB% went from 20.00 (hahahahahahaha) to 3.67 to 1.75 from A to A+ to AA, he's still just been making people look stupid all year. and he's only had 2 starts in AA

i just wouldn't want him to get knocked around or something and take it the wrong way, but it seems like he has a good enough head on his shoulders that he wouldn't let that happen. the other thing to consider is that the o's are in a playoff race, and throwing this kid for an inning or two might not be terribly risky, but it may not be the smartest thing to do either, especially if he has a bad inning and they end up losing a crucial game or something

but this is all hypothetical of course. hopefully there's no truth to that rumor

8/24/2012 11:29:51 AM

Calling someone up on the 40 man roster doesnt do anything to their free agent clock. I should've known that. So I guess if they call up bundy, whatever?

8/25/2012 4:30:41 PM

so the rumor is the orioles are going to call up bundy on the 31st and start him against the yankees on sept 6

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/08/where-does-bundy-factor-into-the-orioles-season.html

and i saw this in the braves thread, but mlb.tv is only $10 for the rest of the season. o's games will still be blacked out if you live in MASN territory, but you can easily go through a proxy server so you can watch the games. i just subscribed since i'm in california until the end of the season.

8/26/2012 12:34:19 PM

looks like the O's acquired Joe Saunders for reliever Matt Lindstrom and player to be named later. his nickname is Bazooka Joe, so i'll go ahead and support this guy on that alone.

8/27/2012 5:26:39 PM

yeah. i haven't really read anything on the trade. he's been kinda bad his last 2 starts but gave the dbacks 6-7 decent innings during each outting since the all star break for the most part. lindstrom has been a pretty key part of the bullpen all year, but arrieta and matusz ( ) should hopefully be able to replace him without much of a drop in value i guess. i hate tinkering with the bullpen since that's what's kept us in games all year, but i think as long as saunders performs the way he has the last 2 months (except the last 2 starts) then it's a good trade and made the o's better. plus hammel is coming back soon, so the last month might be kind of exciting with a hopefully stable rotation. maybe TB and NYY not facing saunders for a while will help too since we have 13 more games against them.

hope Ernie doesn't come in here telling me i don't have any original thoughts

8/27/2012 6:04:44 PM

8/27/2012 10:26:36 PM

this picture... just all sorts of crazy




never in a million years did i think we'd be sending out ticket packages to the playoffs.

8/28/2012 8:25:07 AM

about damn time

big win over the White Sox last night

8/28/2012 10:19:45 AM

^^ any time i think about that i immediately remember that we have 13 games left against the yanquis and rays and have to finish the season on the road in tampa bay

the next 2 weeks are huge. it really sucks that the last game of the series against the blue jays got rained out on sunday. hopefully we can take at least 4 of 7 from the yanquis this weekend and next weekend. teixeira getting hurt is nice.

[Edited on August 28, 2012 at 10:59 AM. Reason : tex]

8/28/2012 10:58:55 AM

came across this comment from a blog post about the o's defying their expected win totals

Quote :

"Is the Orioles run differential really as bad as people say? here are some rought stats (might have made some mistakes against the entire MLB (excluding AL West) League - AL West 3 And as it makes sense, against the AL West AL West -49 However, that -49 is really against just LA/TX LA/TX -63 Now looking at the 7 teams they are going to play the rest of the way, their run differential against them is. They only have a negative against one. White Sox 2 Yankees 3 Toronto 3 Tampa Bay -10 Oakland 4 Seattle 10 Boston 12"

not saying this is any indication of what to expect over the next month, although we've owned the red sox this year and they just got worse after the LAD trade, and we haven't really played enough games against the a's and mariners, but at least when you isolate 2 teams that have killed us this season it doesn't make it look like they're outperforming themselves as much. kind of an interesting way of looking at it. i still think the team is lucky as hell, but maybe it's a bit less luck than i thought before.

8/28/2012 3:22:08 PM

Saunders got smoked last night. Britton on the mound tonight, with a win we take the series. Need the win as we are only a half game ahead of the Rays, and lined up for the last wild card spot.

8/30/2012 11:07:09 AM

Quote :

"tonight"

12:35 actually. real early game. also an important game as we have 3 coming up against the yanquis in new york this weekend. not feeling good about that. also, bundy is apparently not getting called up next week. apparently they're hoping hammel will be ready to start on sept 6 instead.

8/30/2012 11:56:43 AM

today, tonight, whatever. haha didn't look at the time.

saw that about Hammel. i think he's doing a rehab start this week in Norfolk.

8/30/2012 11:58:50 AM

haha just clarifying in case you were planning on watching it later this evening or something since it'll be over before people go home from work.

8/30/2012 12:22:29 PM

Where are the best places to sit at a game without paying too much?

8/30/2012 2:29:27 PM

i assume you mean at Camden Yards...i haven't been in years, i live in Charlotte now. i've always preferred to sit along the 1st or 3rd base line, but that's not specific to Camden Yards, just kind of what i prefer for baseball in general. it may be harder to get decent cheaper tickets now though with this unexpected resurgence of Orioles baseball.

8/30/2012 2:32:04 PM

britton with 10 Ks through the 7th

i'm not sure about cheap seats either. i moved up to DC 2 years ago, but i haven't made it up to enough games to know all that well. i don't think there are really any bad seats though, so you probably can't go wrong anywhere. i've heard on hot days one side of the upper deck gets more shade than the other, but i can't remember which

anything you get will be cheaper than what tickets will cost in october

8/30/2012 2:40:13 PM

yeah barring a meltdown, looks like a W. to add to your earlier post about run differential:

Quote :

"But here's the deal: A month ago, the Orioles were 52-49 and 8.5 games behind the Yankees. Their run differential at that time was minus-63. Since then they've gone 19-8 and outscored their opponents by 24 runs -- or nearly one per game. There's nothing that screams fluke about what has happened over the past 30 days. The Orioles might have lucked into a 52-49 record but at this point they're for real. "

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/28430/orioles-starting-to-look-like-team-of-destiny

finally writers are accepting the fact that the O's are not going away. it got tiring to read every week that they will collapse, then it never happened, yet they kept saying it would.

8/30/2012 2:44:47 PM

it was perfectly reasonable to keep saying they'd collapse though. i guess it's a good point that matusz, arrieta and tommy "5 runs, all earned" hunter gave up a ton of runs between the 3 of them as well as reynolds' and betemit's 3B defense being terrible, but to be fair, the offense in june and july was the worst in the AL. i hated reading it too just because it was a constant reminder that the end of their run was coming.

but occasionally seasons like this happen and teams are successful despite the fact that they really shouldn't be (the angels do this all the time, which is why i hate them, but that's a different story), and that makes baseball weird and awesome

[Edited on August 30, 2012 at 3:09 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2012 3:08:23 PM

well Strop about blew it, but all is well that ends well.

8/30/2012 3:12:39 PM

could be tied for first on sunday if they sweep the yanquis. not likely though

then 4 more games against them at home next weekend

8/30/2012 4:25:31 PM

Signed Randy Wolf...and sent Britton to Norfolk to make room.

Britton has struggled at times, but after an outing like he had yesterday why would you send him down?

8/31/2012 12:59:44 PM

god fucking damn it. this fucking organization.

8/31/2012 2:10:28 PM

forgot rosters expand tomorrow. he's on the 40 man, so this isn't a big deal.

8/31/2012 2:32:09 PM

9 Ks for gonzalez. 1 shy of 2 starters in a row with 10. damn.

8/31/2012 9:09:28 PM

9/1/2012 12:42:47 AM

fucking strop. fucking hardy. tillman starting tomorrow. god damn it.

9/1/2012 4:33:46 PM

tied with the yankees! now the Baltimore Orioles State Shit can commence!

9/4/2012 10:57:46 PM

lookin real bad for the yankees if they get swept tomorrow and then have to go to baltimore for a 4 game series

9/4/2012 11:52:09 PM

^^just shutup already

looking good. i already told my friends if the O's make the playoffs i'm buying a keg and we're going to drink and watch baseball. hell if they win the division i might even buy a pizza to go with that keg.

9/5/2012 10:43:33 AM