Welcome Back Tejada
When you look at the Oriole lineup top to bottom, it's hard to understand why they've been so underwhelming. After all, while they lack the huge bopper like a David Ortiz or A-Rod, there are a lot of talented players on this team. They have a five guys who've hit at least 25 HRs in a season (Mora, Tejada, Huff, Gibbons, Millar, Payton) and a bunch more who could do it and not surprise anyone (Markakis, Patterson, Hernandez, Roberts). And yet they spent the first third of the season at the bottom of the HR pile. Did the power just deflate or was it a team-wide slump? Personally, I was trying hard to believe it was a team-wide slump and that the one person who could bust the Orioles out was their unquestioned leader.
Whaddya say, Miggy?
Well, Miguel Tejada has hit 3 HRs in four games and suddenly the Oriole offense looks legit. Against two fairly talented Oakland starters, Tejada went deep and the rest of the team followed. They score 8 runs on Saturday and Sunday and won going away. For a team that had a hard time scoring more than five runs for the previous few weeks, this really was busting out. Meanwhile, the pitching continued for the Orioles. After Bedard took the Orioles offensive dud Friday night, Brian Burres made sure Saturday was a laugher by dominating the A's. Sunday, D-Cab never looked sharp, but did what he had to and his only major mistake was a 3-run shot to Nick Swisher (who took everyone deep this weekend). On Sunday, the bullpen worked nicely with Bradford, Walker, and Ray closing it out nice and easy. The Orioles ERA is down to 4.23 (5th in the AL) despite injuries to 60% of the projected starting rotation and the collapse of Dany Baez. As May comes to a close, the Oriole starters have given up more than four runs only three times this month (twice by D-Cab and he actually won of those). Deal with it Mazzone-haters--so far this season, the restuls are shining through. But it doesn't mean anything if you can score some runs and close it out. With Baez safely ensconsed in mop-up duty until he regains his stuff, I feel better about the latter. So it's all about scoring some runs. Enter Mr. Tejada.
This guy is too good to hold down. My fear of him being Placido Polanco was starting to feel real. After the opening day HR, he only had one HR in his next 45 games! In fact, until Thrusday, he had yet to hit a HR with a man on base this season. This from a guy who drove in 150 three years ago. This from a guy who was a start in the All-Star HR Derby a few years back. It seems like he hasn't been the same player since the Sammy Sosa incident. Rough second half of 2005. Trade demand that off-season. Mediocre 2006. Then this early stretch. But the recent trend gets you excited. This is a guy that carried the A's to a 20+ game winning streak in 2002 (winning an MVP in the process). He's been complaining about a lack of pitching and how the team needs to get better, but the team is getting the pitching now, Roberts and Markakis are doing damage in front of him in the order. The Orioles need is someone to step up and get the clutch hits. Not just in the 7th inning and later, but even the first inning when a 2-run HR can give the Oriole starting pitcher instant leeway and set the tone for the game. Will it continue? WHo knows. I do know the Royals are a team that the Orioles have matched up well against and they need to generate some momentum to get back to 500. The Yankees are still struggling (swept by the Angels in Yankee Stadium? Wow!) and the Orioles are, believe it or not, in second place. It's not about places at this point, but given a recent article ws titled "Orioles bad, Red Sox great" (wow, the creativity of some papers, though admittedly it was a syndicated column--by a Baltimore Sun writer, no less) and somehwere else in that paper, it was explained that the Orioles were 26th of 30 MLB teams. I guess by that measure, I am relatively optimistic. Keep up the starting pitching + non-Baez relief and let Miggy come to life and I'm willing to take my chances against most of those 25 teams ahead of the "bad" Orioles.
Whaddya say, Miggy?
Well, Miguel Tejada has hit 3 HRs in four games and suddenly the Oriole offense looks legit. Against two fairly talented Oakland starters, Tejada went deep and the rest of the team followed. They score 8 runs on Saturday and Sunday and won going away. For a team that had a hard time scoring more than five runs for the previous few weeks, this really was busting out. Meanwhile, the pitching continued for the Orioles. After Bedard took the Orioles offensive dud Friday night, Brian Burres made sure Saturday was a laugher by dominating the A's. Sunday, D-Cab never looked sharp, but did what he had to and his only major mistake was a 3-run shot to Nick Swisher (who took everyone deep this weekend). On Sunday, the bullpen worked nicely with Bradford, Walker, and Ray closing it out nice and easy. The Orioles ERA is down to 4.23 (5th in the AL) despite injuries to 60% of the projected starting rotation and the collapse of Dany Baez. As May comes to a close, the Oriole starters have given up more than four runs only three times this month (twice by D-Cab and he actually won of those). Deal with it Mazzone-haters--so far this season, the restuls are shining through. But it doesn't mean anything if you can score some runs and close it out. With Baez safely ensconsed in mop-up duty until he regains his stuff, I feel better about the latter. So it's all about scoring some runs. Enter Mr. Tejada.
This guy is too good to hold down. My fear of him being Placido Polanco was starting to feel real. After the opening day HR, he only had one HR in his next 45 games! In fact, until Thrusday, he had yet to hit a HR with a man on base this season. This from a guy who drove in 150 three years ago. This from a guy who was a start in the All-Star HR Derby a few years back. It seems like he hasn't been the same player since the Sammy Sosa incident. Rough second half of 2005. Trade demand that off-season. Mediocre 2006. Then this early stretch. But the recent trend gets you excited. This is a guy that carried the A's to a 20+ game winning streak in 2002 (winning an MVP in the process). He's been complaining about a lack of pitching and how the team needs to get better, but the team is getting the pitching now, Roberts and Markakis are doing damage in front of him in the order. The Orioles need is someone to step up and get the clutch hits. Not just in the 7th inning and later, but even the first inning when a 2-run HR can give the Oriole starting pitcher instant leeway and set the tone for the game. Will it continue? WHo knows. I do know the Royals are a team that the Orioles have matched up well against and they need to generate some momentum to get back to 500. The Yankees are still struggling (swept by the Angels in Yankee Stadium? Wow!) and the Orioles are, believe it or not, in second place. It's not about places at this point, but given a recent article ws titled "Orioles bad, Red Sox great" (wow, the creativity of some papers, though admittedly it was a syndicated column--by a Baltimore Sun writer, no less) and somehwere else in that paper, it was explained that the Orioles were 26th of 30 MLB teams. I guess by that measure, I am relatively optimistic. Keep up the starting pitching + non-Baez relief and let Miggy come to life and I'm willing to take my chances against most of those 25 teams ahead of the "bad" Orioles.
posted by sandyk at
11:45 PM
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