Spring in His Step Could Mean Big Summer for Mora
Tune in today, Friday, March 7th at 1:00pm to see the Orioles take on the Boston Red Sox, live from Ft. Lauderdale Stadium
As the countdown to opening day is on, and most fans can't wait to see new players like Adam Jones and Luke Scott, it occurs to me how important it would be for this team in 2008 if some holdover veterans could produce numbers like they once did for the Orioles.
Leading this group of players may be Melvin Mora.
He's off to a great spring start and had three hits, including a double and homer, with 4 RBI's, in Tuesday's win over St Louis.
The odds are against Mora having a big year. The last three seasons his average has decreased from .283 to .274, his homers down from 27 to 16 to 14 and RBI's from 88 to 83 to 58.
Mora is now 36 and the numbers could continue to slide, but reports from Florida indicate he has a renewed enthusiasm this year and is one player enjoying the youth around him in the clubhouse.
Last season, Melvin seemed to almost never smile when reporters were in the clubhouse and he just didn't seem like the Melvin that was always cheerful and upbeat. He also had some fundamental lapses in the field and on the bases that he simply must reduce this season.
If Mora could hit .280-18-75 that would be a big help to this now rebuilding club and show that, even at 36, Melvin is far from done.
MASNsports.com is pleased to welcome broadcast veteran Steve Melewski to our editorial team. Melewski, will cover the Orioles for MASNsports.com throughout the year in order to bring fans Maximum Access to the Birds.
Leave a comment