Picking Up The Pieces

It's been real busy at work these last two weeks and quite frankly, I wasn't seeing much worth writing about on the field so apologies for the lack of posts this month. With only four games to go, it's time to start sifting through the wreckage so I'll start with some stats.

I stated at the beginning of the month that some Oriole hitter would have to go on a tear to reach 20 homers this year and wouldn't you know that Nick Markakis did it. He hit 6 in August and has continued that pace with 6 more in September. He now sits at 22 homeruns, not to shabby for a 23 year old rightfielder.

Nick also has accumulated 110 RBI so far. Quick, name last Oriole who drove in 110 RBI in a season by the age of 23? Give up? Well, there was no last one. No Oriole had done that before Markakis (Cal drove in 102 during his age 22 season). So hats of to Nick for a record-breaking season.

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Does anybody realize how long it's been since we had a good regular leftfielder? The last guy who manned that position well was B.J. Surhoff! More on leftfield later...

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Brian Roberts is quickly setting the standard for Oriole secondbasemen for years to come. If he can manage two more doubles this year he will own the top three spots for 2B by a secondbagger in Oriole history. If he can steal two more bases, he will join Roberto Alomar as the only two secondbasemen in history to hit 40+ doubles and steal 50+ bases. Enjoy him folks, he's a special player.

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Baltimore Orioles' ERA+ in 2004 and 2005: 101 and 106 respectively
Baltimore Orioles' ERA+ in 2006 and 2007: 84 and 88 respectively

I know he hasn't had much to work with but the Oriole staff has actually gotten statistically worse since Leo Mazzone's arrival.

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Forget the wins. There are only three Oriole pitchers who have come on the scene in their rookie year with such positive results: Mike Boddicker, Mike Mussina and *mumble*rodrigo lopez*mumble*. Well, two outta three ain't bad...

Catch Up

Wow, so much for my sunny optimism...

A couple of weeks ago I was confident that the O's could finish somewhat strong (maybe just a hair below .500 for the month of September) but now, let the stinkfest continue! The Orioles were somewhat respectable until the Warehouse officially hired Dave Trembley and since they have gone in the toilet. 30-3. No-hit by a rookie. Routinely bludgeoned by the Devil Rays. Add it all up and it's looking like a dismal end to the season.

Bright side: The Baltimore Orioles are now sporting the third worst record in baseball. We may as well go for it and lose out to garner the number 1 pick in the 2008 amateur draft.

The two reasons to watch the O's this season, Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts, are no longer worth watching. Bedard is now injured and his season is over. (He holds the Oriole record for K's in a season but I was looking forward to seeing him break the record for the franchise. It was easily within his reach.) Roberts is still playing but has been mired in a terrible slump and is now hitting less than .300.

Add to this Jeremy Guthrie's strained oblique and the starting pitching looks scarier and scarier. A weird hodge-podge of rookies and scrapheap guys. Victor Zambrano?

The curse of Wild Bill Hagy?

In the midst of all this, Jay Gibbons is linked to the HGH investigation. Has there been a team with more players linked to steroids with less success to show for it? The Baltimore Orioles are the poster child for not using steroids!

Bright sides: (There are very few.) Looks like Millar will be back next season, a good veteran presence and until we get better talent, one of the more useful members of our lineup. Nick Markakis is putting up great numbers. A bunch of kids are going to get some valuable playing time over the next three weeks. And as the season wraps up, I'll have some really gnarly numbers to look at as we sift through the wreckage. Ugh.