Sleepless in Seattle

The Orioles made their first trip to Seattle and, as always, I managed to catch two of the games in person. I usually try to hit the first and last games of the series to spread things out and, in this case, it gave me a chance to see Bedard and Cabrera. Unfortunately, I had to watch the bullpen as well. I have to admit that I would've been insane if the Orioles were swept in this series. Living in Seattle, I hear about the "M's" all the time and their fans can be a little, well, annoying at times. It ruins my days when I have to see this the night before (thus making me, yes, "Sleepless in Seattle"). Each of the comebacks this week was painful, especially given the Orioles would be playing the better baseball for most of the game. They hit the ball well throughout, jumped on early leads, and got solid starting pitching. Well, at least until the first two innings of Wednesday's game. But maybe that's what they needed. Instead of jumping out to the lead and then wondering what ills will befall them at game's end, they could focus on battling back. It's tough when you lead after six innings in all but one of the five games in a five-game losing streak. In fact, it's downright demoralizing. On the other hand, they had trailed by as many as four runs during a game only twice in almost the last four weeks (and never lost by more than three). So maybe they just needed the change of pace. Hey, whatever floats your boat, guys. I'm just happy I didn't have to see three blown leads. Who am I kidding? I was on pins & needles in the 9th, even with the five-run lead and Ray on the mound. And that was before Ramon took the foul tip to the place where no man should ever take a foul tip.

Of course, no entry is complete without a little Sammy critique. I think Perlozzo opened himself up to more second-guessing when he pulled Bradford for Parrish (who has been struggling a la Baez) in the 8th of Game 1. I think it got worse when he used Baez in the 7th and waiting until he threw eight straight balls before pulling him in Game 2. All I kept asking myself was "where is Todd Williams or Scott Williamson?" Did Perlozzo really trust Baez more than the two of them. Blowouts, Sammy, blowouts! That's when you use Baez. Instead, the tying runs got on board, and the rest is history. The whole world knows Baez is down. Sammy, make him earn his way back or else you'll earn your way out the door.

Anyway, I believe Baez's stuff (and the stuff of the rest of the bullpen) is too good to not bounce back and we can look back on April blog posts to remember how great things once were. But right now, it ugly. There's no other way to describe it. Almost makes you re-think the wisdom of the Wright-Britton deal (Oriole brass: "Anytime you get a starter for a reliever, you take it"). On the bright side, Cabrera was clearly the hero today. Where his last start was great until the end, in this one, Cabrera saved the best for last. The fact that Cabrera went 8 gutty innings and was throwing harder in the 8th than the 1st was a thing of beauty. If the 9th inning wasn't so long, I bet he would've been given a possible chance to close it out. That would've been nice to see. But Ray needed the work and everyone gets a day off tomorrow.

So what do we have to look forward to in the next few days? An off-day tomorrow. The MLB Draft (I'll be watching for at least the first five picks as it's on TV for the first time). Interleague baseball, with the Rockies in town. Possible bullpen changes (Hoey? Bell? How about Cory Doyne--a name you never hear, but a guy with great AAA #s of late). And one more thing this weekend. Are you ready for this? The return of R-Lo. Rodrigo Lopez makes his Camden Yards return against Jeremy Guthrie (you could argue R-Lo's replacement). Fun times ahead.