Somebody needs to pitch in
If you're manager Dave Trembley and pitching coach Rick Kranitz, what do you say to your pitching staff during tomorrow's pre-game meeting?
Position players aren't invited. Just the hurlers - the guys who are making everyone want to hurl.
Throw strikes! Stop hitting the batters!
That outta do it.
Is it just me, or has Alberto Castillo hit every other batter he's faced since the Orioles purchased his contract?
It's gotten beyond ugly. It's impossible. The starters are terrible. Plain and simple. This is a bad, bad rotation. It's a minor miracle if the bullpen isn't summoned before the fifth inning.
Garrett Olson is getting another chance tomorrow. He needs to step up. Trembley might adopt him if he goes seven.
Jim Miller will join the bullpen - yes, more inexperience, but also a fresh body. Others will follow. And it will be nice to have Adam Jones in the lineup again.
Maybe he can talk to the pitchers, too.
Or hit the first 2 and then start throwing strikes.
Hey Roch! Hopefully you or someone else can answer this question. At tonights Shorebirds game, I wanna say the top of the 6th, there were two outs with one on at second. The Blueclaws batter pops up to Wally Crancer in Right Field. The runner comes around, but the inning is over since that was the third out. Without any explanation given, the Home Plate Umpire (who kept making bad calls) sends the runner back to second and has the batter come back to hit again. There wasn't any time called or given during the pitch, so that couldn't have been a reason. The sections around us right behind home plate couldn't for the life of us figure why the Umpire just gave the batter literally a do over. Luckily the next pitch he grounded to 2nd, although Ryan Adams did bobble the ball and just barely got the guy out at 1st. We lovingly yelled at the Umpire during the bottom half about giving our guys the same treatment. All we got though was "the look." Can someone help us out and explain this?!?! Sorry for the long post, did win a Garrett Olson autographed baseball though.
Old O's Fan,
We've always ragged on Jim Hunter for being too positive and glossing over the negative - actually glossing over what's actually happening just to say something good. Now, you say he was too negative? No such thing. Maybe Palmer has just trained him to be objective.
Roch - are you going to any Baysox games this week?
I went to all 3 Nationals games this weekend. They seem to be going up as the Orioles go down. The 2 teams have been going on opposite streaks lately.
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I planned on attending Thursday's game, but I found out that I'm co-hosting a program on MASN earlier in the day. Depends how quickly I can get down there. - Roch
Roch, you said Jim Miller is a "fresh body" and it reminded me of something that I have heard often. When a pitcher comes up from the minors, you hear about a fresh arm being added or something similar. Miller is new to Orioles' bullpen, but he is anything but "fresh." He has already pitched 80 innings in the minors this season. When you combine their major league and minor league numbers, very few relief pitchers on the current club have thrown this many innings.
When a player comes to the big leagues with no experience and having already thrown more innings then normal (he threw 66 last year), what do the O's expect to see? I hope he looks great and has some gas left in the tank, but realistically, what does the team look for in a situation like this?
god help us! i can't wait for spring training.
It's really hard to watch this team now. The pitching is just embarrassing and it's pretty sad to watch. I hope some things change soon or they could ruin a lot of the positives from this season.
Could you please show this rant to the pitching rotation, Roch?
1. Throw the damn strikes!
2. Stop hitting batters!
3. Throw your fastball in the middle of the plate!
4. Follow number 3 so you can use your other pitches and establish them!
5. Get a curve ball that drops down! I.E., Webb or Haren's curveball!
6. Stop walking people! Why do you even want to walk them?
7. This is for the lefties - get the lefties out! Why are you put on this Earth to do? To get the lefties out!
8. This is for Daniel Cabrera - Come on, Daniel, get aggressive! Are you like a cat, trying to nibble? C'mon, get aggressive! If you have to, get your fastball to 96-97 mph again and throw that fastball over and over again. Use your changeup more often so the batters have a hard time beating your stuff. Your stuff is so good that you used to strike out 7 batters more times than I can count. Where did that guy go? Don't change your stuff, just because Kranitz told you to change stuff up. Don't be a finesse pitcher where you even aren't that. Be yourself. Be the power pitcher you used to be. That's all. Just use your changeup and curve, and still be that pitcher.
9. This is for the young pitchers (Olson, Burres, etc). Y'all got Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, Chris Tillman, and so on in the minor leagues. Why are you guys not stepping up and taking what is yours? You know you can pitch, you've pitched beautifully in the Minors. Garrett - you know you can do it, you had a 1.45 ERA or something in the Minors with a very nice strikeout numbers with low walks. Where is that man? You seem afraid on the mound when I look at you. It's not criticism but I'm just saying it. You need to be aggressive, you know you can get batters out. Ryan Howard, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, all these guys --- they're all human. They will get themselves out if you pitch them the right way.
10. Play the game the right way. Try your best to put up a Zero in the first inning, and let your offense do their work. Remember, it's 3 outs at a time. Don't rush. You're in control of the game. You dictate what the batter does. If you feel like you're not doing it right - step off and breathe. Get the catcher to talk to you. Don't be afraid to get him to talk to you. Be on the same page with each other. It is all about communication. Be yourself. You all have confidence. Why did we get you to play for us if we knew you had that great stuff y'all got? Come on, Brian and Garrett, you can be deceptive with your stuff, you know you can command your stuff. Daniel Cabrera, you know you can do it too. Your stuff is so great that I used to marvel at how you could consistently pump 96 mph fastball after fastball, and get people to strike out. Your stuff is so good, that I know it's all about your mechanics. When you bring your hands to your knees and hips, it's just throwing your command out of whack. You need to try to tweak it, maybe use an overhand motion like Jim Johnson does to gain control. Find a way.
That's what I'm saying to everybody. Find a way. Because if you don't, you might not be playing baseball next year. Find a way because I know you can!
I will be delighted to see Jones in centerfield over Payton. It will give me a reason to watch the last month.
I imagine you could pull four fans out of the crowd and they would do better than the guys in our rotation 2-5 spots.
Why isn't Huff getting kudos for his year. He cleared waivers and no one wanted him for the home stretch. How is that possible?
what do the orioles do next season with all the pitching woes?
no one wants Huff because for the last five years his numbers have steadily decreased so this season appears to be a fluke to the rest of baseball. On the other hand, he had a monster second half last season to which he credits Crowley for helping his swing and he hasn't stopped hitting since so maybe he actually has turned it around. Despite this, he'll have to have a good first half next season to be legitimate trade bait at next years trade deadline. The other thing preventing him from being intriguing to clubs is the 8 million he's owed for next season. If McPhail had made a trade he would've had to eat most of that contract and with Huff hitting so well that doesn't make much sense. Might as well take your chances and see if he can duplicate his efforts again in 09 because if he keeps hitting at this pace he'll definitly be worth the 8 million.
I bet the offers McPhail got for Huff were laughable and we all would've been pissed with the meager return on a guy having a career year.
Roch,
Sunday's game was the first time all season that i proclaimed (out loud and to myself) "I can't watch another pitch of this game!"...As much as i dread the thought, September is going to be awful...at least my Cowboys begin their super bowl quest soon though (***ducking the rocks and garbage being thrown at me***)
Anyway, I'll still say it....Go O's!!!!