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.