Who Are You Calling A Patsy?

When you are a playoff-caliber team, there are things you expect to be able to do. Win home series against pretty much everyone. Sweep against the weak teams. Win road series against those weak team and hang on and don't get swept on the road against the top teams. If you're really good, you starting wining even those road series. If that's the litmus for success, the Orioles have been doing a pretty good job since the break. Their two series losses were on the road against playoff teams. They've won all home series, including a sweep of the Rays, 3 of 4 from the White Sox, and 2 of 3 from the Yankees. And they've won road series against the A's and now Devil Rays. Going into this weekend, a win was the expectation and the result. And while Saturday's 9-2 loss was disappointing, it can be said that the Rays were due and with Scott Kazmir on the mound with his good stuff, you can accept one letdown.

Now, the Orioles take on the Mariners and Red Sox at home. Watching the two teams play yesterday, I was listening to the Mariners broadcasters, who also subscribed to my theory. Only, they were clearly marking the Orioles as one of the weak teams in the league and the Mariners as one of the top. They mentioned how they had survived the rough part of the schedule and could now finally feast on the American League softies. Hmm. For a team that hasn't done squat in four years, the Mariners are awfully confident. And maybe they should be--after all, that's a solid bullpen they have. And some of those hitters are awesome, like Ichiro and, umm, uhh...Well, they got some serious decent overpaid hitters like Beltre, Sexson, etc. Anyway, I'm not saying the Orioles should destroy the Mariners this week and maybe the Mariners are good enough to give the Orioles all they can handle (perhaps my bias of living in Seattle affects this post), but should the Orioles be willing to accept anything less than 2 of 3 (which is what the Mariners thought THEY should be expecting). Trachsel against Weaver--as much as I may not like Trachsel, he's been better than Weaver. Guthrie against Felix Hernandez--while King Felix can turn it up at any time, Guthrie had won three straight starts before the no decision at Fenway and I think he's ready to put on a show at home. Finally, D-Cab against Horacio Ramirez. How the Orioles let this guy off the hook last time is beyond me, but it can't happen again. Meanwhile, Cabrera can be a wild card (pun intended), but there's no doubt in my mind that he's a better pitcher than Ramirez. So, a team with one bonafid star hitter and a rotation that pales in comparison to their counterpart (at least statistically) in each game and we're the underdog? At what point do (a) the Orioles wake up and realize there's no reason why they can't compete at a wild-card contender level or (b) I wake up and smell the coffee. Admittedly, the lack of a stopper hurts us right now whereas they have one of the best. And if you look at the games at Safeco Field, the first two losses could've been Oriole wins if not for the failures of the bullpen. But, with the exception of the pair of losses at Fenway and the final game against the Yankees, this has been a better bullpen (especially Walker, Bradford, and Baez) and it'll be nice to see how the teams matchup if the right pen shows up. Meanwhile, Trachsel can audition again and, if he doesn't get traded, I think Burres goes to the pen in favor of Olson. That strengthens the pen and gives the right guy the chance to prove himself--he has done all he can in AAA. Lots of intrigue, both on the field and off, for this homestand. I guess the gut checks never stop.