Farewell to arms
Though it wasn't his intention, Orioles manager Dave Trembley might have come up with a fitting slogan for the season after yesterday's loss:
"I think we're making it a whole lot more difficult than we should."
Start printing up the T-shirts.
Nine walks? Three hit batters? Yeah, that'll put a crimp in your victory plans.
The offense creates leads. It ties a game with two outs in the ninth inning. And the effort is wasted.
Hitting coach Terry Crowley must be feeling pretty good these days. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz must be feeling the same as his predecessors.
All the knowledge and people-skills in the world aren't going to help if you don't have much to work with.
Jeremy Guthrie's tank might be getting a little low. Brian Burres and Chris Waters might be better suited as long relievers. Radhames Liz might be too raw to stick in a major league rotation. Garrett Olson might never be confident enough to trust his stuff and challenge hitters. Daniel Cabrera might go down as one of the most frustrating and underachieving starting pitchers in club history.
The bullpen is out of whack, with too many guys forced into roles that don't necessarily suit them - or too many guys who don't belong up here. Losing Matt Albers hurt. Losing George Sherrill hurt in triplicate.
Fernando Cabrera flips a ball. Trembley is ready to flip his lid. Kranitz, too.
Kam Mickolio will join them on Tuesday, giving Trembley another pitcher he can't necessarily trust in a tight situation, another pitcher who's learning his craft in an unforgiving environment. Same with Bob McCrory if he's called up. And Brad Bergesen. Good for the future, bad for the present.
Waters, who had 30 people from his native Lakeland, Fla. in attendance yesterday, admitted that he let the atmosphere "overwhelm" him. I wasn't aware that Tropicana Field had an atmosphere.
The Orioles have lost nine of their last 11 games and are a season-worst nine below .500. And it could get a whole lot worse. We've all seen it happen before, though often times because the lineup is overmatched. That isn't the case now. It's the pitching staff. And there isn't much that Trembley can do about it - unless he goes into the T-shirt business.
One overworked starter and 15 relievers that can't throw strikes. It's going to get ugly but you'll know who to trust for the bullpen next year by the time it is over. Then pray a kid or two (Tillman and either Bergeson or Hernandez)comes through while the O's sign a veteran to plug a hole until Matusz is ready by July. You can't rely on Liz or Olson to step up in '09, though they might (wishful thinking), to fill the void they helped create, along with Cabrera.
The goal isn't current respectability. That boat sailed long ago. The goal this year is to not get too fed up with another losing season and to get excited about the young talent that is beginning to push its way through our system.
The past ten years have been about trying to create the illusion of current respectability and we've seen how far that's gotten us. While getting rid of Bradford does leave a hole (in terms of experience and talent) at the back end of the bullpen, I was tired of changing the channel every time he came into the game. I always expected him to serve up his patented floater down the middle and resulting bomb. I don't ever want to see another side arm pitcher on our staff; sometimes they strike out the side, but most of the time they serve up dingers.
Roch,
Any word on why Jim Johnson wasn't brought out to pitch the 9th inning last night?
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Sorry, I'm not with the team and wasn't able to ask. I wondered the same thing. I know he's the closer and it wasn't a save situation. Maybe that's it. But I'm not sure. - Roch
OK, so everything that can happen, HAS happened, we hit bottom,let's tough it out the rest of the way, stop pounding on the team that we have,this includes all my fellow bloggers, the Masn TV announcers, and, yes, even you Roch. The team has played their hearts out, I will support them as I have in the past,through the good times and bad and go to Spring Training 2009, hopefully seeing Trembley and Kranitz, and Crowley, and lots more familiar faces,a new winning year! Yes, it can happen. Go O's
The O's need to sign a few veteran starting pitchers to two year contracts rather than using all of these 4A candidates like Waters, Burres, etc... Bring up Mitchell for the pen, sign a couple veterans and use the minors for development. Giving away Bradford and other veterans for this is painful.
What does Jim Hoey's time-table look like? I had forgotten all about him.
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I'll try to contact him this week, but from what I've heard, he's expected to be ready in spring training. - Roch
Tell Anita to start printing the LTB t-shirts.
And the O's gave Chad Bradford away why? I know he is not part of the future, but he should be a part of the attempt at current respectability.