Winter Meetings

Am I crazy to think these might be the most significant set of Winter Meetings for this club in more than 10 years? I hope I'm right.

Jaret Wright and Kris Benson were not offered arbitration, as expected. Some people thought Corey Patterson and Paul Bako might be but they were not offered arbitration either. Corey Patterson was a possibility since Dave Trembley values his defense and his baserunning prowess but Patterson would have received a high salary for one year, I would estimate somewhere in the $7-9 million range. Think that's crazy? Look at his numbers compared to Gary Matthews Jr. who make considerably more. That number would not be in line with his true market value. Expect the O's to pursue Patterson but not to get in a bidding war for him.

Baltimore shouldn't be offering Paul Bako a hand of friendship let alone arbitration but there are hints in the press that Bako may be back next season. Aaaaagh! I won't believe it, I refuse to believe it...

BTW, none of these fellows ranked high enough to garner Baltimore any draft picks had they offered them arbitration so nothing lost.

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.

Odds and Ends...

The Strange Case of Corey Patterson

Corey has really turned it around in July. He has been red hot (.368 batting average this month) after being just as cold as can be for the first half of the season. It's only been seven games but since Trembly has tried Patterson as the #2 hitter he is hitting .357 and OPSing .821. Much like the Millar as cleanup hitter experiment, I hope Trembley leaves him there until he plays his way out of the role.

But the strangest thing about Patterson's performance is his turnaround against left handed pitching. He has hit .242 for his career against lefties but has worn them out this year at a .344 clip! That would be great if he suddenly hadn't forgotten to hit righties (.262 for his career, .218 this season, even after his recent hot streak). I have never seen this kind of turnaround in an established player.

Leave Huff At Home

Aubrey is hitting .294 and slugging .447 at Camden Yards and hitting .220 and slugging .327 on the road. The solution? Sit him on the road. Nothing else seems to be working.

If Paul Bako wasn't so horrible with a bat, I'd suggest the same thing for Ramon Hernandez (.806 OPS at home, .638 OPS on the road)...

Send Up A Mannequin Instead

Paul Bako would be a much more fearsome hitter if he never swung his bat. He only sees 3.4 pitches per plate appearance, the lowest on the team outside of Corey Patterson and Jay Payton but at least those guys have some offensive skills to offer by swinging the bat. Sitting there like a pitcher and letting three balls go by is hardly worse. Better yet Paul, anything that looks like it's going to be in the strike zone, foul it off. Just don't swing or swing to foul it off. At least you'll be there to piss off the opposing pitcher and in some small way help wear him down.

And I want to hear no more about his defensive prowess. Opponents have stolen 17 bases off of him and he has caught only 4 good for only a 19% kill rate. Only 6 catchers in the majors have more passed balls than him...and they're all regulars! He's terrible. Would it really be so bad for J.R. House or even Eli Whiteside to sit back there once a week? Alberto Castillo would be a better choice. One of the worst signings this team has ever made.

Speaking of J.R. House...

Hey, O's! The season is lost outside of playing for pride. Let's see what some of the kids can do. Is Paul Bako really in your plans for next season? Let's get House up her and see how he does. House's line in Norfolk: .307/.366/.461. He's can't be worse than what we have as a backup catcher. Jon Knott's up but maybe we could throw him out in left everyday and see what happens. Maybe we could see if Adam Stern can hit with Patterson probably out the door after the season? And let's play Brandon Fahey out there everyday to see if he can really play. (I don't think he can but at least we'd know for sure.)

Dave Trembley's playing for his job so I doubt this will happen...

Happy Easter Victory

It's really time to start pitching around A-Rod. When he's hot, he's in Pujols/Bonds category. Just walk him.

Good to see the much maligned Jay Gibbons setting the table for the even more maligned Kevin Millar today. Millar jacked one out to leftfield to get Baltimore back into the game after A-Rod's two run shot in the 1st inning.

Do O's fans think the team is snakebitten? Here's the surest sign our luck is changing. Paul Bako hit a three run shot in the Bronx today. That matches his total for the last four years! You know what the odds were against that homer? Incredible.

It's a good thing Johnny Damon didn't start the game. He was on fire from the moment he got into the game.

Kevin Millar looked rejuvenated today. His bat looked so old and slow in Spring Training but I guess Yankee Stadium got the juices flowing again.

And how about Nick Markakis. He does it with the bat, the leather and the legs today. Outstanding.

Outside of the first inning, Erik Bedard pitched like an ace today. He only gave up two hits, struck out four and walked none.

Chris Ray recovered nicely to save the game in the 9th, 6-4.

But the real hero was Paul Bako with a three run shot off of Darrell Rasner. I have beaten up on Bako quite a bit but today, he's aces in my book. That doesn't change my overall opinion of him as a ballplayer though...yet.

Nothin' wrong with taking a series in the Bronx.

Random Notes from Yesterday's Games

Most reactions to the Opening Day loss to the Twins were tempered with the old "It's only the first game." line, which is an absolutely correct assessment. But Rick Maese at The Baltimore Sun has thrown that argument completely out the window and is taking a bit more pessimistic approach. And I quote:

"It's the Orioles, and if you're expecting things to go according to plan, well, you probably haven't been paying much attention lately."

Jesus Rick, are we Red Sox fans now? Haven't seen that much dreariness and despondency at the start of the season since I left New England.

Speaking of Boston, the Red Sox got whooped 7-1 out in Kansas City. Gil Meche beats Curt Schilling! How did this happen? Curt explains in his blog, 38 Pitches:

"When you are facing a guy like Gil certain things can make it easier or harder. He’ll walk some guys if you give your offense a chance. His stuff is so good that when offenses have to press against him, or their down and need to make something happen, he can eat you up."

The lesson: Don't get behind on Gil Meche. Who knew?

Looking at the rest of the AL East, Toronto wins it in the 10th in Detroit and the Yankees beat the devil Rays in the Bronx. Tampa made a nice run at it with their young hitters leading the way but they just don't have the arms to keep themselves in the game.

I was listening to a podcast of the Dan Patrick Show and Peter Gammons was optimistic about the O's. This is notable because I haven't heard anyone in the national media say anything nice about Baltimore this offseason. He thinks they are the most improved team in the East and that they are good enough for at least a 3rd place finish. Keith Olbermann actually picked them second! A nice change of pace.

I watched the rest of the O's game and saw that Bako had not one but two passed balls! Where's the D? Isn't this guy supposed to be a defensive specialist?

O's Drop Opener

OK, I'll admit that I didn't see the entire game, just from the 4th inning on. (I was out of town with the family, didn't get back until late...) So here's some incomplete notes on the game, I'll watch the rest on replay later...

I'm going to assume that Paul Bako was woozy from that big collision with Justin Morneau. I'm just going to assume that since this defensive dynamo couldn't possibly have let that passed ball go with out so much as a flinch in the direction of the ball for about 3 seconds, allowing a runner to score from third. And that throw that nearly went into the outfield while he tried to throw out Jason Tyner. That big collision with Morneau was the only play he made all night. I think Adam Donachie could have done as well....but I digress. It is now obvious that when Ramon Hernandez is not in the lineup there is not only a gaping hole offensively, there is also a big dropoff defensively. Get well Ramon...

Erik Bedard was not sharp. The ump had a tight strike zone, at least most of the time (Melvin Mora would disagree...) and Erik was getting squeezed on some good pitches. He gave up 10 hits including back to back homeruns in the second to Morneau and Torii Hunter. Although Erik usually keeps the ball in the park, he had three games last year where he gave up two homers in a game so this game wasn't unusual. Bedard just seems to give up homers in bunches from time to time.

Johan Santana wasn't that sharp either and turned out to be quite hittable last night. He got bailed out by Rondell White who made an unbelievable catch in left on what would've been a double for Mora in the 5th and never really was threatened after that (save the solo shot from Tejada to open the 6th).

Melvin Mora had a tough night, getting called out looking twice on very questionable outside pitches and getting robbed of a double. He looked better than his box score line would indicate.

Jay Gibbons stroked two doubles which made me happy for the guy. Hopefully, he keeps a hot bat through this first week or two and robs Kevin Millar of much of his playing time when Jay Payton comes back. I have been a big booster of Millar and I think he can be a useful player but man, does he look old up at the plate. His bat looks slow and his control of the strike zone seems to be suffering too.

The bullpen looked good especially John Parrish. Time will tell but the much maligned deals the O's made in the off-season for bullpen help seem to have paid off.

Today, Cabrera vs. Bonser. Go O's!