Off The Grid

I'll be away from the internet until at least next Tuesday...have a good 4th everybody!

Comeback WPA

One more "comeback" post. The WPA graph from FanGraphs.com :

O's batting leaders in WPA:

            WPA
Markakis   .513
Wieters    .131
Scott      .102
Salazar    .090
 

Koji...See You In September

Koji Uehara is out for 8 weeks with a partially torn tendon in his elbow.

I keep beating this drum but...man, The Warehouse did a lousy job building a viable rotation this winter.

Good news for David Hernandez. Dave...it's your time. You're about to get an 8-start audition to show you can strike out major league hitters. Don't let us down!

With Rich Hill, Jason Berken and David Hernandez as 3/5 of the rotation...it could get ugly quick. All Baltimore fans need to desperately hope thise guys improve.

Red Sox Reaction

Gotta enjoy these while we can...


Surviving Grady

Apparently, sometime after the rain delay of last night's game, Tito decided to give the lads a rest and replaced the entire team -- particularly the bullpen -- with robot doppelgangers. This was evident the moment the Sox headed off the field with only two outs in the bottom of the sixth; robots, despite their advanced computer brains, are notoriously bad at counting outs. And because robot players are also inherently lazy and nonchalant, within what seemed the blink of an eye, our comfy 10-1 lead became an 11-10 kick to the pills. So what should have been a chapter for the John Smoltz memory books became a first-night-in-prison hazing for our relief corps.

Over the Monster

Then, something disastrous happens; the opposing team forgot that they were supposed to lose this game, and the first team (our heroes) reminds us all that an entire bullpen can have an off-night. I'm not sure there's anymore I want to say about this game.

Extra Bases

Manny Delcarmen walked out of the Red Sox clubhouse right behind Justin Masterson, just after midnight, and placed his hand on Masterson’s left shoulder. “Unbelievable, dude,” Delcarmen said, and then they both walked silently down the tunnel toward the exit.

Boston Dirt Dogs

Papelblown!

Sox Blow the Biggest Lead in the History of Earth
Final: Baltimore 11, Boston 10
When Push Comes to Save, Papelbon Is No Mariano
But It Was Nice That He Got That Ceremonial Save on Monday
Markakis Cracks Two-Run Double Off Pap to Give Orioles the Improbable Win

Joy of Sox

Okay, so maybe watching last night's game was like passing a kidney stone ...Earl Weaver once said, "This ain't football, we do this every day." And so last night becomes a distant memory -- and lo: A new day and a new game.(Still, if everyone in the bullpen was going to have a shitty outing, it was awfully nice of them to do it all in the same game.)

Red Sox Monster

So there we all were, watching the Red Sox cruise along in the sixth inning with a 10-1 lead against the worst team in the American League East.

And then what happens? A cherry bomb goes off in our hands, that's what....

...it's not every day that a team is historically bad, which the Red Sox qualified for tonight by allowing the biggest comeback win in Baltimore Orioles history.

Comments on the game thread from Sons of Sam Horn:

It's weird, it's the same thing for me. This is a totally ridiculous loss and I'm sure that it'll bother me later, but right now, I'm more amazed than anything.

Embarassing. I haven't seen a little water cause somebody to melt this badly since Margaret Hamilton.

what a nightmare

One of the worst losses I've ever seen. Brutal.

That's the worst loss of the season - hands down - absolutely disgusting and unnecessary. What a choke!

Markakis is 0-7 vs Paps w/ 4 Ks. (1 minute later) Wow. I mean, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD I DIDNT GO TO THIS GAME.

kill me now.

Baltimore 11, Boston 10

I stayed up watching the Pirates vs. Cubs and the Twins vs. Royals waiting for the rain delay to be over but having the day job and being worn out from a post-work hike, I had to surrender to sleep.

And now this.

Honestly, I have no idea what to say. The play by play is insane. Oscar Salazar singles to the catcher?

God bless MLBTV. I'm going to have to go back and watch the rest of the game before I comment. I'm just in shock...

MASN to Televise Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate All Star Game

MASN to Televise Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate All Star Game

Special Mid-Atlantic Classic Coverage in HD on July 15 at 7 p.m.


(Washington D.C.) -- MASN, the local leader in live sports entertainment, will broadcast the Mid-Atlantic Classic live on July 15th at 7 p.m. on MASN and MASN HD from the Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, MD, home of the independent Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.

The game, which will pit a team of 28 Valley League Stars against a team of 28 Ripken, Sr. League Stars, will air in high definition during MLB's All-Star break. In addition to the game, a Home Run Derby between the two leagues will precede the contest at 5:30 p.m.

Legendary broadcaster Johnny Holliday and former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave Johnson will handle play-by-play and color duties for the Classic, just as they did during MASN's broadcast of the Cal Ripken League All-Star Game in 2007.

"As the home of two Major League Baseballl teams, MASN is excited to showcase the best amateur talent in the Baltimore-Washington region throughout MASN's seven state territory," said MASN spokesman Todd Webster.

About the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League:

The mission of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League is to promote, promulgate, and perpetuate collegiate wooden-bat baseball in Maryland and the District of Columbia. By creating community-based summer collegiate baseball teams, the League seeks to promote amateur and youth baseball and softball in the area through the improvement of existing fields and facilities and fostering spirited competition with an emphasis on sportsmanship, teamwork, honesty, and fair play. The backbone of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League is the investment in and partnership with local communities.

About MASN

MASN is the television home of the Nationals and the Orioles. The network carries over 600 live sporting events every year including more than 275 NCAA Division I football, basketball, and lacrosse games. MASN is currently carried on 23 cable and satellite providers throughout a seven-state region.

Base Hits: 6/29/2009

A rambling version of Base Hits on this Monday. A lot to talk about...

Some good news from Birdland this weekend. Firstly, they won the series with the Nationals 2-1.
Secondly, The Warehouse came to terms with 2009 1st round pick Matt Hobgood. Here's the video from The Baltimore Sun's website.




The kid sure says all the right things. I imagine he'll end up in Bluefield with the rest of the high school signees.

Also a couple of nice articles about Orioles players from the national media. Marc Hulett writes about the Oriole acquisition of Cleveland farmhand Michael Aubrey this week for FanGraphs.com:

The 27-year-old former Tulane University start has below-average power for a MLB first baseman, but he can hit for a solid batting average with gap power and he is an above-average fielder. It's a very nice low-risk, medium-reward move by an organization that is getting better by the season.

I know nothing about Michael Aubrey in particular but organizational depth at the corner infield positions is something the O's really need and Aubrey can't hurt.

Also at FanGraphs.com, Dave Cameron takes a look at underrated rookie pitcher Brad Bergesen.
When you can command a sinking fastball and have an off-speed pitch to keep opposite handed hitters at bay, you can be an effective major league starter. Bergesen doesn’t have the same potential as some of the more hyped arms in the Orioles system, but don’t discount his strengths and write him off as a no-stuff guy who belongs in the bullpen. Command, sinker, and change-up - it’s the recipe for a solid back-end starting pitcher.

Bergesen takes a lot of criticism from many analysts due to his anemic strikeout rate in the majors. It's a fair criticism but you also have to consider a couple of other stats too.

Ground Ball percentage among AL starters:

                   GB%
Rick Porcello     56.9%
Roy Halladay      56.3%
Brad Bergesen     54.0%
Felix Hernandez   51.3%
 

If Bergesen can keep inducing grounders at this rate, he's going to hang around awhile. Interesting to see fellow rookie Rick Porcello on this list. Halladay and Hernandez strike out a ton of batters but Porcello doesn't have that kind of stuff. Let's take a closer look.

            GB%   K/9   BB/9   K/BB
Porcello   56.9%  5.03  3.09   1.63
Bergesen   54.0%  4.30  2.04   2.11
 

Odd that Porcello is touted for Rookie of the Year and gets none of the criticism that Bergesen gets. He only strikes out one extra batter per nine and walks an extra batter per nine.

If Bergesen keeps the walks and the ball down, he's going to have some success in this league. If he can edge his strikeout rate closer to 6 K/9, he could be a great one.

Shysterball had a funny post regarding Sindney Ponson's positive test for a stimulant during the WBC.

It includes the killer line, "The only non-natural substances in Ponson's pee-pee are Yoo-Hoo and failure."

Well played, sir.

Speaking of Shysterball, he also has a post up about Matt Wieters at the NBC baseball blog, Circling The Bases questioning the divinity of the Oriole's rookie catcher.

But a funny thing happened on the way to immortality: Wieters has proved human.

Twenty-one games into his big league career he's at .243/.300/.405. Yesterday he dropped a ball at home plate, turning a sure out into a run for the Nationals. Overall, he's thrown out just two of 15 base stealers and has committed three errors in less than a month.

Now, this post is mostly tongue in cheek but I wonder about Dan Connolly:

Sunday, though, it was back to work at the old ballpark. And let’s just say my Saturday was a whole lot better than Orioles catcher Matt Wieters' Sunday.

The phenom went hitless in three at-bats, made his third throwing error in four games and dropped a ball to wipe out what would have been a sure out at the plate.

Afterward, Wieters was typically calm -- saying he’s working on his defense, and he’s not worried about a bad game...

But, here’s the funny thing: The way things are going right now, Wieters (.234 average, two homers, six RBIs) is not the Orioles’ best candidate for Rookie of the Year. Outfielder Nolan Reimold (.286, 9 homers, 20 RBIs) is, with pitcher Brad Bergesen (5-2, 3.76 ERA) also ahead of the backstop.

Look, it's not even June yet. It's certainly fun to dream on Matt Wieters but who really thought he was going to show up and start dominating right away? Wieters dominated High A immediately, struggled for a couple weeks in AA before taking off and was overmatched his first month in Norfolk before beginning to bludgeon opposing pitching.

Based on that, you had to figure for an adjustment time of at least 2 months in the majors. And you have to forget his cumulative numbers at this point; even with his recent struggles he is OPSing .786 the last two weeks. It's in fits and starts...but he's coming.

Besides, Jesus wandered in the desert for 40 days before showing up in Galilee and dropping miracles on everybody? We'll call Wieters first 40 games his "desert period".

Koji Uehara goes on the DL and David Hernandez gets recalled from Norfolk. One has to wonder if Uehara's future on this team is as a reliever. He can't go more than 5 innings, at least not while staying healthy. Of course, the prospect of Hernandez and Jason Berken going up against the lineups in the AL East for the rest of the season is frightening.

Speaking of pitching, Braves 22-year-old rookie pitcher Tommy Hanson continues to dominate all comers. On Sunday, he shut out the Red Sox for six innings and Atlanta eventually won 2-1.

I bring this up to compare and contrast Hanson against Chris Tillman. Both started the season in the International League.

           IP     K   BB  WHIP  ERA
Hanson    66.1   90   17  .859  1.48
Tillman   72.2   75   21 1.142  2.97
 

Not quite as dominant but he's still striking out more than 1 batter per inning. And look at the tiny walk rate of 2.6 per nine. The concern about Tillman was always his control but he seems to be addressing it. How long until he shows up in Baltimore?

Adam Dunn launched a monster shot off of David Hernandez on Sunday, way out on Eutaw Street. At first, I thought he had actually hit the warehouse on the fly but it wasn't even the longest shot in Eutaw Street history. For more, we go to Eutaw Street expert, Roar from 34:

Adam Dunn stroked a 442-foot home run in the second inning of Sunday's 5-3 loss to the Nationals that one-hopped the warehouse. Dunn's blast was the second-longest Eutaw Street home run during game action, missing Henry Rodriguez's 443-foot shot on June 17, 1997, by just a foot.

I never saw the Henry Rodriguez shot but Adam Dunn's shot was an absolute monster. The biggest Eutaw shot I've ever seen..by a lot!

A plug now for Roar From 34:

Roar from 34's Eutaw Street Week

Monday, June 29 through Sunday, July 5 will be "Eutaw Street Week" on Roar from 34. All content posted during the week will have a Eutaw Street theme or connection, including additional entries to The Eutaw Street Chronicles and an interview with Greg Bader, director of communications for the Orioles, about the new 2110 Eutaw Street promotion.

I'm a big fan of The Eutaw Street Chronicles so some good stuff to look forward to this week.

While I'm beating the drum for marginal players (Oscar Salazar...), I've got to say some nice things about RP Matt Albers. He's really been pitching well since his latest callup. A 1.29 ERA over 14 innings for the month of June. If only he could cut down on the walks. A nice 7-8-9 inning combo would be Albers-Johnson-Sherrill (at least as long as Sherrill's here...).

Tough week as the Orioles return to the AL. Boston in for three at the Yard and then another road trip west to take on the Angels. Can they manage .500? Eh...