Groundhog Day starring Perlozzo + Baez
Sam Perlozzo is making it a little too easy to copy & paste blog entries at this point. With three of the last four entries coming right after a Danys Baez failure, it's hard to understand why we keep seeing this happen. It's like a bad version of the Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day". The annoying part is that Perlozzo and Mazzone admit that Baez is leaving his stuff up in the strike zone. HELLO?!? Why put him in a tie game, if you can at all avoid it. It really isn't worth talking about any more. I know there isn't much mop up time with all these tight games, but let's just wait until there is for Danys to get another crack. Confidence is one thing. Blind faith is another.
The rest of the series saw some good things. While Daniel Cabrera didn't have a good start, Steve Trachsel and Jeremy Guthrie did. I think Guthrie has established himself as a legitimate starting pitcher to this point. Meanwhile, the Orioles showed a little life offensively for the first time in a while--though they continue to underwhelm in the clutch. Where they could only muster 2 runs in the last 2.5 games against the Jays in Toronto, this time, they racked up some hits and score at least four runs in each game--even against AJ Burnett. Alas, they are five games under. On the plus side, they're pretty much even with the Yankees, so if you feel underwhelmed in the season to date as an Oriole fan, imagine what you'd be feeling as a Yankee fan? And no one is picking apart Joe Torre's decision-making. It's all on the lack of pitching. Meanwhile, Toronto and Tampa Bay continue to struggle for consistency. Boston keeps motoring along. Will that continue? Hard to say. They really came up lame in the second half last year, partly due to injuries but also due to slow second halves from Lowell, Youklis, and others. Are the Red Sox catchable? Definitely. By the Orioles? Uhh, I didn't say that. The Orioles just need to figure out how to win the head-to-heads and they have two months to learn that lesson. That's actually good as I think there are a couple of ruts they need to work out of. I look at Huff and Markakis as historically second-half players. I have to believe Tejada won't be Placido Polanco forever. I think Patterson has to re-find himself or risk being lifted for Jay Payton full-time (I don't know if the competition will help or hurt) and I think Kevin Millar can benefit from the rest of the team stepping up. But before all else, they need breaks to go there way and they need to stop beating themselves. At that point, there's too much talent on this team to continue like this. Isn't there?
The rest of the series saw some good things. While Daniel Cabrera didn't have a good start, Steve Trachsel and Jeremy Guthrie did. I think Guthrie has established himself as a legitimate starting pitcher to this point. Meanwhile, the Orioles showed a little life offensively for the first time in a while--though they continue to underwhelm in the clutch. Where they could only muster 2 runs in the last 2.5 games against the Jays in Toronto, this time, they racked up some hits and score at least four runs in each game--even against AJ Burnett. Alas, they are five games under. On the plus side, they're pretty much even with the Yankees, so if you feel underwhelmed in the season to date as an Oriole fan, imagine what you'd be feeling as a Yankee fan? And no one is picking apart Joe Torre's decision-making. It's all on the lack of pitching. Meanwhile, Toronto and Tampa Bay continue to struggle for consistency. Boston keeps motoring along. Will that continue? Hard to say. They really came up lame in the second half last year, partly due to injuries but also due to slow second halves from Lowell, Youklis, and others. Are the Red Sox catchable? Definitely. By the Orioles? Uhh, I didn't say that. The Orioles just need to figure out how to win the head-to-heads and they have two months to learn that lesson. That's actually good as I think there are a couple of ruts they need to work out of. I look at Huff and Markakis as historically second-half players. I have to believe Tejada won't be Placido Polanco forever. I think Patterson has to re-find himself or risk being lifted for Jay Payton full-time (I don't know if the competition will help or hurt) and I think Kevin Millar can benefit from the rest of the team stepping up. But before all else, they need breaks to go there way and they need to stop beating themselves. At that point, there's too much talent on this team to continue like this. Isn't there?
posted by sandyk at
10:54 PM
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