Random O's Related Notes

I may be the only one left out here not calling for Sam Perlozzo's head at this point. Support for Sam has eroded with The Oriole Post and Oriole Central having joined Oriole Magic is calling for Perlozzo's removal. The general opinion of Camden Chat and the comments on Roch Kubato's blog echo the sentiment. Even Roch is questioning Sam's decision making and David Steele at the Baltimore Sun is calling for Perlozzo to be cut loose.





Why should Sam remain? I've got three reasons.





A) I believe a manager should be given a full two years to show what he can do. We should probably let him play out the string.





B) It's not his fault nobody's hitting.





C) It's not his fault Mr. Reluctant is a bum. (Although as I mentioned before, Baez has had enough second chances. Take him out of that setup role now!)





I don't agree with many things Perlozzo does (bench makeup, bullpen deployment, etc) but the O's should be a winning team even with a modest offensive output and they haven't been able to manage even that.



But this team will be in a lot of nip and tuck games and Perlozzo has not shown a knack for winning the close ones. Managers really don't affect the game much during games that aren't particularly close but good management is needed to guide the team to close wins. The sparkline below shows wins (up bars) and losses (down bars) for the O's this season. The red bars are games decided by one run.






That's a lot of red below the line (especially lately) and it's the most damning evidence of Perlozzo's poor management thus far.


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John Maine got shelled on Tuesday and roughed up again last night. The beatings will continue, mark my words.

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Former Oriole "Stumblin' " Jack Cust has been making the most of his latest major league opportunity with the A's hitting .283 with 8 HR in only 14 games. Good for him and I hope it works out for him this time. He's been an outstanding minor league hitter for years.

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Paul Bako sucks. He lives on his reputation as a defensive specialist but I haven't seen evidence of it this year. His bumble of a pop foul induced by Brian Burres in his last start merely highlights his struggles behind the plate this year. And we all know what a lousy hitter he is. Really, there was no one better? Even Alberto Castillo may be a better fit.


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A fine article over at the Roar From 34 about the state of the overworked bullpen. Although they proclaim they are not "statheads" they do a nice job of breaking down the stats to make their point.

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A really interesting stat that is stunning to me is Jeremy Guthrie and his ability to adjust to hitters the second and third time through the lineup.

1st PA: .326
2nd PA: .163
3rd PA: .091

Not only is it unusual for this number to drop as the game progresses, it drops dramatically. Once he's "stretched out" completely, Guthrie could become quite a workhorse in this rotation.