Pinstripe Destruction

O's win. 12-0. Over the hated New York Yankees.

Take that one to your grave Phil Rizzuto.

Phil Rizzuto is the perfect example of why I hate the Yankees. If he had played in St. Louis, you never would've heard of him. Because he played on some great teams for the Yankees, it got him into the Hall of Fame. It's a joke. A .273 career hitter. Career OPS+ of 93. He somehow managed to win an MVP in 1950 even though he was only the third best player on his team that year (behind Yogi Berra and Joe Dimaggio). All because he was an average hitter who was little and played for the Yankees. He never led the league in anything but sacrifices. Feh.

Anyway, the enigma that we call Daniel Cabrera shut down the Yanks last night for 6+ innings and allowed the mop up guys to mop up.

Hopefully, Erik Bedard shuts them down this afternoon and drops the Yankees further back in the playoff hunt.

Paul Bako Can Really Handle A Pitching Staff...

You heard that a lot about Bako when the O's signed him. Great glove man. Handles pitchers well. Intanglibles baby!

Well, when Paul Bako is behind the plate the league hits .267 against O's pitchers, a full 20 point above the .247 the league hits against Baltimore when Ramon Hernandez calls the game. They also slug 33 points better with Bako donning the mask (.409 to .376) instead of Hernandez.

While we're at it, opposing baserunners have stolen bases at a 72% success rate against Ramon this year. Not great. But our great glove man Bako has allowed them to steal at an 81% success rate.

Why do we still pay this guy?

Quick Notes

Aubrey Huff is (finally) having a truly great month in August, hitting .395 with 3 homers and 4 doubles thus far, good for an OPS of 1.191...Corey Patterson continues to (oddly) wear out lefty pitchers hitting them at a .322 clip for the season, 80 points better than his career average...If Erik Bedard strikes out 6 batters today he will pass Dave McNally (1968) and Mike Mussina (1996) to place third in Baltimore history in single season strikeouts (behind only Mussina's 2000 and 1997 seasons). He will also be 4th in franchise history which includes the St. Louis Browns.