Lost in Boston
Well, here’s something: at 11 games below .500, the Orioles are officially at their lowest point of the season. I think the fact that we’re just getting there on September 2nd is better than might have been expected.
It’s come to that.
Or there’s this: Markakis, Roberts, and Huff are all on pace for 50 doubles this year. If they get there, they will be the first trio of teammates to accomplish that feat…ever.
Radhames Liz is on the hill tonight in Boston against Jon Lester. I still care.
Also, let’s hear it for the Bowie Baysox, who open up their march to the Eastern League championship on Wednesday. We’ll be keeping tabs on it.
Also also, don’t forget that tonight is Tuesday, which means that I’ll be on with the Fighting Ungers. Tune to 1570 AM if you’re in the area or hit up wnst.net and click “listen live.”
We’ll probably be talking some Ravens and maybe a bit of O’s, and I’m guessing the “Most Needs to be Slapped Athlete” contest will get some play as well.
That official Orioles paycheck ought to be coming to me any day now.
Despite my apparent blind faith in this team, sci’s point did get me thinking. It definitely is a red flag that our minor league pitchers, despite sparkling numbers in AAA and below, just don’t seem to be able to put it together in the bigs. Maybe it’s just bad luck, inexperience, lack of depth which forces them to the bigs earlier than they should be, or.. there’s something amiss in how these guys are taught in the minors. Or maybe this is way more normal than we all think.
On one hand, you have Boston, whose every damned prospect seemingly comes to the bigs ready to play like a 10 year vet. On the other hand, New York’s prospects seem to struggle (with the exception of Joba). Really, I think the Orioles just end up looking like they have much worse of a minor league system than they do because there’s no backbone of major league starting pitching to begin with. If we had, you know, even 3 solid major league starting pitchers, guys like Liz and Olson might not struggle as much or at least wouldn’t look as bad when they did. Granted, our minor league system hasn’t produced many quality starters other than Bedard over the years, but bad drafts and injuries shouldn’t facotr into whether or not this year is thought of as a success. The jury is still largely out on our older prospects like Olson and Liz while we wait for the guys we really believe will be good.
Also, Andy has been very active in grabbing a couple of guys from independent or Mexican leagues (correct me if I’m wrong). Can’t remember names off hand, but I seem to recall Roch mentioning a few names. I like that Andy will look at all options to shore up depth – with 10 or more years of mediocre drafts/trades and injuries, you have to look everywhere for players.
On another note, why can’t we teach Liz to throw a sinker, or Olson to throw a cutter? Liz throws a changeup, at least, with regularity (unlike D-Cab, who mystifying-ly refuses to throw that pitch year after year). But seriously, the more weapons, the better, right?
So who’s really really depressed that Guthrie is missing a start?
Well, yeah.. but better that than risk yet another injury. He’ll be alright, he’s just tired. Should be interesting watching a bunch of new bullpen arms try and patch together a game. Eesh…
This is just so damn ugly and frustrating. I really — desperately — wanted this to be the season where we didn’t embarrass ourselves. Alas, it was not to be. Barring some insane September Surge, we’re fading…fading…gone.
In other news, did anyone get a chance to read my latest Examiner post? I’m really hoping for some feedback on those. Good, bad, whatever.
Also, the new sports radio station in town is official: it’s 1370, and it looks like (for now) it’s going to be Jim Rome, Fox Sports Radio, and Jerry Coleman doing 3-6 pm. I think I might focus on this as my next Examiner post, but here’s the quick take: they’re making a huge mistake if they don’t add more local programming. That said, going with Fox programming is a direct strike at WNST, which airs Fox when it’s not local. More to come on that.
The Guthrie thing has me very worried. “Tired Arm” is often baseball code for “something more serious we don’t want to tell you about yet.” Even if it is just fatigue, though, it’s terrible news. We are now officially a AAA team.
I’m not worried about Guthrie. It seems silly for a 29 year old guy, but he’s building up arm strength via innings. It’s the same reason why a prospect can only throw around 30 more innings tops than in the previous season. The arm just isn’t built to pitch without coaxing it into it. I’m sure Guthrie will be fine and come back better next year.
I don’t see any way the Orioles make it to 68 wins without Jeremy, though. Heck, I’ll be impressed if they win any more games (although those Oakland games coming up will be fierce!). So it goes.
So it goes.
I’m tempted to ask how we fell so far, so fast, but I already know the answer. It’s starting pitching, and that’s it.
What surprises me, though, is how thoroughly disappointing the young guys have been. I never imagined Liz and Olson would be this bad, and I certainly never imagined that Loewen would flame out completely and turn his attention to a career as a position player.
I’m experiencing a terrible kind of awe at how this season has gone. So much promise, so much progress…all gone in the space of two weeks. Everything came toppling down at once, and it happened in nearly direct harmony with the same situation last year. And the year before…and before.
This is madness. Sheer madness.
neal, read your Examiner piece and it definitely has me intrigued on Heinz; reminds me of that post you ad awhile ago about the boxing writer (?) very cool deep stuff. But I’m still getting into the groove of my class workload and can’t sacrifice time to read the whole 12-page piece. Definite bookmark though.
And yes, I do feel the same way I did last year about the Os (embarrassed, ashamed at the massive swoon), but with this season there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel; it’s just that real progress takes time. And I now fully realize how ABYSMAL the farm system is and how much Andy Mac has to do to right it, God help him.
*ad = did
jesus…
No amount of positivity can keep me from feeling the utter suck of yet another crushing swoon. Unbelievable.
How can Olson and Liz have low 3.00 or even high 2.00 ERAs in the minors and come up and just look like fucking fools out there? I mean, 4 or 5 runs ok, but 7? 8? 10?? Are the AAA leagues really that bad that guys just can’t hit a fastball or a changeup? Fuck’s sake, this is re-god-damn-diculous.
What’s more is Jim Johnson is getting an MRI with a shoulder issue. As Joe Angel might say: “My goodness…”
Schmuck made a good point in his comments earlier. Pitching doesn’t get better in September. At least not when your pitchers are guys pitching more innings than they’ve ever pitched or at levels they’ve never pitched at, with a shattered bullpen and injuries. It’s “running them out there” time.
This really is years and years of shit management, shit drafting, and shit luck. This offseason is more important than any in the last 10 years.
Hey, at least we’ll get another high draft pick.
One other depressing thing to point out – the Nats are actually playing much better at the end of the year. So it’s not a given that a “lesser” team HAS to swoon at the end of the year. Are the O’s worse than the Nats? That would be truly depressing.
I know that we all realize intellectually that this is part of the rebuilding process, but these embarrassing losses tend to destroy all the good that came earlier in the year. And is anyone questioning Kranitz yet? He’s gotten NOTHING out of any of these starting pitchers. That’s undeniable. (Aside from Guthrie, but he was already good.) Hate to put blame on the coaches, but there it is.
I don’t think the O’s are worse than the Nats, but right now it’s hard to tell them apart. Which is stunning when you think about it. Who would have guessed that back in July?
Great point about Kranitz. Though you have to wonder if anybody would be able to mold these guys into capable big league starters. I just don’t think Olson, Liz, Burres, et al have what it takes to be starters. Long men and/or situational relievers, depending on the individual? Absolutely. But not starters.
This is so depressing.
By the way, I put some thoughts on the new radiio station up at the Examiner.
I’m talking about at least creating some serviceable starters. Someone who can go five or six innings consistently, giving up three or four runs. These guys were sold to us as serious prospects (at least Liz, Olson, and Cabrera were) and they seem to have regressed under Kranitz as the season has gone along. Just noting what I see. I do hate blaming coaches though. It always comes back to execution by the players…
The O’s are not as bad as the Nats, you’re right. My point was just that not every “bad” team gets infinitely worse as the season goes on. Some actually learn how to play together and improve.
I think it’s a stretch to put anything on Kranitz. By all accounts he’s a fine pitching coach – what the hell can he really do to make these guys serviceable? I don’t know. You are right, though, that we were sold on guys like Liz and Olson and Cabrera. We ate it up pretty readily, and that makes me worry about Tillman, Arrieta, etc. One thing I suppose you could pin on Kranitz is that, since he tends to try and work with a guy’s strengths, and Liz’s strength is his fastball, well… fastball after fastball with a slider in there somewhere ain’t gonna cut it.
It’s really amazing how a guy like Cabrera started off so great and now he’s no better than a guy like Liz. That Burres started off really well and now he’s back to his old self. D-Cabs getting suspended/injured/bad again really hurts this team.
I don’t even know.