High praise from Huff
The Orioles are 3-14 in series finales this year and 1-7 on Sundays.
Edwin Jackson had a lot to do with keeping that trend going today. He retired the first 11 batters he faced, blanked the Orioles on two hits over eight innings and turned in his eighth quality start of the season, and fifth in a row.
"He wasn't even close to that (in Tampa)," said Aubrey Huff, Jackon's former teammate with the Rays. "He definitely has developed probably some of the nastiest stuff in the big leagues this year.
"He's throwing strikes now. When he was in Tampa, he wasn't going over 94 (mph). Now he's got 98 with a hard slider and a changeup. I don't know where that came from. That's Tampa's loss."
Justin Verlander yesterday, Edwin Jackson today. It doesn't seem fair.
"I've told all the guys. I've told Matt Wieters, 'Look man, it's going to get easier. You aren't going to get back-to-back starts like that. This isn't what the big leagues is all about.' I told him that," Huff said.
"Honestly, I've played nine years and the last two guys are probably the best back-to-back I have seen in my nine years."
Here's a little more information on Dennis Sarfate: It looks like he'll throw from flat ground at Double-A Bowie beginning Friday while the Orioles are on the road. Somebody needs to watch him.
He's scheduled to report to the minor league complex in Sarasota on June 19 and begin throwing from a mound, and could embark on a rehab assignment on July 2.
Chris Ray picked up the save today at Triple-A Norfolk with two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Ray threw 17 of his 28 pitches for strikes.
Single-A Frederick's Brian Matusz threw seven scoreless innings against Salem, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out four. His ERA is down to 2.37.
I don't know when he'll move up to Bowie. He might have to wait until the break. It might happen a little sooner. But it's coming.
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Categories (click for archive)Roch Kubatko | Roch Kubatko Orioles |
Great points by the manager and Huff. Our bats will not have to see that type of pitching every night and our pitching the past two nights will win most games, I'll take solace in that going forward.
Justin Verlander yesterday, Edwin Jackson today. It doesn't seem fair.
Like I said in another post, they're for real. The Tigers are team to reckon with this year. Good pitching, good hitters. And in a playoff with those two guys plus Porcello--they can come out of the AL into the World Series.
You heard here first (at least I haven't read it anywhere else!) from this lifelong Orioles fan. Barring injury or suspension for some unnamable infraction anyway.
Roch,
Huff's comments are nice, but...Seattle's pitchers are Washburn (ERA= 3.45), Bedard (ERA = 2.48) and Vargas (ERA = 1.65). At what point does Huff see it getting any easier?
Seriously, Detroit was tough, but no ML team is easy.
Dear Kool Aid drinkers,
Welcome back to reality.
Old Andy sure put a nice cloak over you. I was reading talk of ".500" and maybe even a wild card spot on here for the last few days.
Keep dreaming. As long as Andrew's retreads are on this team and that stellar bullpen continues to ruin games for us, this team has no shot at anything other than last place.
Make all the excuses you want.
And you can thank Mr. MacPhail for all his hard work when the O's finish with 69 or 70 wins again this year. But this year was not about wins and losses. Right? LOL.
Sorry for the non-baseball content Roch:
"brummie, you're an idiot. But that's OK, I know where you are coming from since you are rooting for ManU, the Yankees of the EPL. And please, try to call me out on that comment.
It is amusing that with your stupid free-spending ideas you want the O's to act like Man City. How's that Robinho thing working out? An awful lot like Pedro would have worked out here, eh?
And to O's fans, at the expense of Brummie, know that YOU will NEVER walk ALONE."
Actually dude, MAN U makes maybe one big signing a year and then signs some young guys to develop ( the da Silva brothers, Macheda, Anderson, Tosic). Plus their youth system is probably the best in the EPL (see Welbeck, Evans, Gibson and Foster among others)
Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City are the ones blowing stupid money.
What is it? 3 years since Liverpool won a trophy? Wow. I guess that Barry signing will push you guys over the top? LOL.
"Rafas cracking up, he's cracking up he's cracking up he's cracking up."
Comeback and talk Footie when Liverpool can win a title, any title!
Should have been a pretty good 3 game series crowd this weekend.Has to be the best non yankee bosox series in quite a while.Whatever happened to Jeremy Boderman? Didn't he crash and burn after signing a big contract?
Roch,what is you obligation to blog about the west coast games? I'm just hoping the replays will be on when I get up in the morning.
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No obligation. Guess it's up to me and my schedule. I don't see myself cranking out entries at that hour, but we'll see how it plays out. I might have to stock up on venti lattes at Starbucks. - Roch
Every start Matusz performs down at Frederick is a waste of time. He is dominating the league and needs to be moved up to Bowie. And maybe by the end of the year, a month at Norfolk.
Matusz deserves the promotion to Bowie now just as Patton deserves to be promoted to Norfolk now.
Let's say most of these pitchers make it to the major's. I know it is doubtful that they all will work out, but what do you see as the future? Hernandez as a closer? Which pitchers are projected to the bullpen?
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I haven't heard any talk about Hernandez as a closer. They could all be in the rotation. Hernandez could be late-inning reliever. Depends how they progress from here. I could see the rotation getting very crowded...and that would be a great thing. - Roch
About Matusz... is there a scenario in which Patton moves to AAA (sending Liz back to the bullpen) and Matusz moves to AA to take Patton's spot? Sounds like it works for all involved.
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If it was up to me, that would be how it played out. But don't know what the Orioles have planned. - Roch
Good point Ray. Why didn't Reimold PH for zaun? Curious. Bullpen has been the only mild downer the past 2 games. The rest is workable. Tigers pitching was nastier than our lineup. :(
When the opposition is throwing two real hard throwers at you, then, you've to respond by fielding your best fast ball hitting lineup. I felt that the O's could have used a better lineup on each of the last two games.
berken pitched great today. the 1927 yankees in their prime weren't going to hit jackson today. nice to see ray have a good outing at norfolk. he needs to string together about 5 or 6 quality outings in row. a good game here a bad game there isn't going to get him back. he needs consistency. the o's had a good homestand. nice to see over 100,000 for the last 3 games. .500 on the road trip wouldn't be bad but i think they can take 4 out 6.
I wonder if Ray is suffering from the old Yogi quote
"90 % of this game is half mental"
Brummie,
No name calling or dosparaging remarks, just a simple question: Do you think the Orioles organization (not just the major league team) is better than it was two years ago?
Jack,
I know you are often lumped into the same boat as Brummie, but I see distinct differences in you views. I would though like to ask you the same simple question. Do you think the Orioles organization (not just the major league team) is better than it was two years ago?
hi roch,
dont mean to b..ch to you...you are one of the very few media guy's i think that they know what they're talking about,(along with palmer,demper,amber,scott,tom,phil,buck and my favorite dave johnson) but i have to get this off my chest..i have never in my 40 yrs. said anything to anybody besides (wife,kids,friends and family)and not that i dislike trembley at all but....but he really is the laziest manager i have seen..i really hate to say that cause I LOVE THE ORIOLES,since HTS and VCR's (now dvr's)I HAVE NOT MISSED more then 10 games.Though all this losing i'm there biggest fan..We lose every sunday cause trems sets in stone lineups...you can't do THAT.It's one thing when we had no pitching,but now we may have a chance if he goes with the hot hand..thats what a manager does,desides who the best team for that day is going to be.You dont deside 4,5,even a day ahead of time.Thats just lazy. he can't worry about players feeling more then the team.DONT use sunday as a day off for some regulars..i live for the o's and it breaks my heart for those guy's who pitch on sunday.I played ball all my life i never seen a coach use sunday as a rest day..these guy's want to win and now we hafe the pitching to win we should put the hotest team on the field for as long as they're wining...SORRY IF I OFFENED ANYONE AND FOR ANY MISS SPELLING...GO O's
What a pleasant week. Probably the best in a number of years We are not going to be a factor in the pennant race but then we did not think we would be at the beginning of the year.
We are in need of corner infielders. Neither of the present occupants will be enough if we are to really try to play with the Sox or the Yankees. But that takes nothing away with the progress we have made. And it appears like there is a lot more on the way.
Barring injuries, always a factor when talking about pitching, we are near where we would like to be. Our outfield is solid and will be for the foreseeable future. We need a better bench but that we can obtain easily.
All in all, it is difficult to find fault with where the team is at this point. Are we going to have some failures? Of course we will for that is the nature of the beast. But we are certainly better able to handle them then at anytime in the recent past.
Despite some of the recent posts to this blog I think the F.O. is deserving of some praise. So far they have made few missteps.
Jim...Huff is on pace to hit 25 hrs and 115 rbi, and, is playing good D at first. Who are you going to get better???????????????????
PV, those DBags won't answer your question because they are unwilling to give the only obvious answer. They constantly say the same crap to draw attention to themselves by getting people to respond to them. And, it works! No one thinks anything they say has validity, but they sit in their mothers' basements longing for someone to pay attention to them. They come here, spout repetitive stupidity and people do. It's almost as good as having a girlfiend! Between the School of Roch and Rosie Palm, those guys are in business. SCROLL THE TROLLS! DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS!
Brummie, you have once again managed to prove to everyone that you are nothing but a dummie. Yes, it's back to reality for all of us kool aid drinkers. Forget about the fact that two very talented major league pitchers just pitched brilliant games against the Orioles and would have beaten EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the majors the way they threw over the last two days. Just go to your fallback. It's all McPhail's fault.
->It's all McPhail's fault that Verlander and Jackson pitched great games against the Orioles.
->It was also McPhail's fault that it rained every day for the first five days of the homestand.
->Oh, and the world-wide recession...of course we all know Andy McPhail is behind it as well.
Brummie, its time for you to understand one thing, every time you post an anti-McPhail remark is another time where real baseball fans who understand the game get to see what a complete idiot you are.
"And you can thank Mr. MacPhail for all his hard work when the O's finish with 69 or 70 wins again this year. But this year was not about wins and losses. Right? LOL."
this year wasn't about winning you moron. They believe they HAVE their own stud pitchers in the minors for the next few years. You are ridiculous. I'm shocked roch doesn't just block you. You are on here to start problems. Imagine if you met roch? You'd probably crumple under him. He'd just laugh at you
I have to agree Matusz should have never even gone to A ball. A 1st round pick out of college should be ready for AA atleast, he should be promoted soon.
Please! No soccer talk, its such a gay game.
I think all the hoopla around Matt this weekend was kind of a distraction for the team.Hopefully everything settles down on the road trip and he can relax without worrying about impressing the home crowd.There's been a lot of roster changes the past couple weeks and it takes people time to absorb all of them.I kind of wish they would have waited until the next homestand to bring Matt up.It just seems like it was a rash move without a reason bringing him up so soon.The good thing about the weekend is that it showed people will show up if they're excited about the team.
What is up with Brummie_Oriole?