Game Two in Miami
Man, baseball in Miami is depressing. That stadium is way too big for a team with even average attendance, and it’s positively insane for the Marlins to play there. Can’t imagine what it’s like for the players.
I’ll have to remember this series next time I find myself lamenting attendance at the Yard. Things could most definitely be worse.
As for what happens on the field, tonight would be a good night to score early and often, as Jason Berken takes on Ricky Nolasco. The latter’s numbers are atrocious (3-6, 7.15, 1.61 WHIP) — no reason we can’t get up early and give Berken a cushion to work with.
Of course the “score early and often” thing could go the other way, too, since Berken has had his moments.
(photo)
This game has the potential to be the complete opposite of last night’s game.
Eh. Nolasco’s number are extremely misleading, since he doesn’t walk guys and does strike guys out and has a .380 BABIP (!), which is ridiculous.
I missed the rally last night because i fell asleep. Hopefully we don’t rally tonight, just whoop ass!
@Andrew – I don’t see how you can call those numbers “extremely misleading.” I view ERA and WHIP as the two paramount stats when evaluating a pitcher because they are the two stats that most directly represent actual results. BABIP means little to me because it doesn’t account for things like defensive adjustments and strategic and/or situational hitting. I realize I’m inviting your wrath here, but to my mind a stat like that oversimplifies on-the-ground reality way too much.
I’m not saying it’s totally irrelevant, but I am saying that it’s not something that should be weighted heavily.
Then again, Nolasco has done a fine job tonight so maybe you were right after all.
This game is ridiculous, and not in a good way.
Felix, Felix, Felix. My goodness.
There’s a run that didn’t need to score. I actually kind of feel bad for the kid. He just can’t get out of his own way.
@Tomás – Now that’s a fact.
@neal s – Let’s get really wacky and start talking DipERA… defense-independent ERA. Now THAT’S a telling statistic.
BABIP is pretty good at indicating luck or lack of on the part of a pitcher, or their propensity to serve up laser-like line drives.
Anyhoo… Felix Pie must die. That is all.
So…this is…depressing? Is that the word I’m looking for here?
There’s something about playing in Florida that just doesn’t work for the Orioles. I have vivid memories of Tropicana field as a classic House of Horrors, and now we’re poised to move to 1-10 all time at wherever the hell it is the Marlins call home. Ugh.
@Tomás – I think that’s the word. “Demoralizing” would be too strong in this case, although it might get there if they can’t pick up the W tomorrow.
@neal s – My wrath you will get. Well, I’ll explain what I mean anyway.
If we’re looking at any particular game and trying to figure out what we can expect from the opposing pitcher, we only need to look at his stats. If you see a guy with those kind of terrible WHIP and ERA statistics, you immediately say “while it’s no sure thing, the Orioles will probably score a bunch of runs and get a bunch of guys on base”.
But what I see is a guy who is pitching really well except for the hits, which sounds stupid, but when you know (and we KNOW) that a pitcher, by and large, does not control if a hit ball falls in for a hit, and you know that an over-the-top ridiculous amount of hit balls are turning into hits for this pitcher, you can’t really say anything except he’s been really, really unlucky.
And nobody can predict continued bad luck. So instead all I can say is that I’m not surprised at all that Nolasco was very, very good tonight. Because he’s been underrated all year.
But of course you are right. The bottom line is how many runs do you allow, and Nolasco has allowed a ton. But…it hasn’t been his fault, and he probably won’t continue to give up runs.
That was a forgettable game.
@Andrew – I don’t necessarily disagree with any of that, so let’s look at what the O’s did tonight.
They got Nolasco to throw 101 pitches (69 strikes) in seven innings, and they managed seven hits and a walk in that time. They also struck out seven times. Not terrible, but definitely not great.
Now, I didn’t watch the game (caught most of it on the radio) so I have no sense of how those stats actually looked. On paper it’s mixed results all around with Nolasco coming out on top. On the ground, though, there were probably a hundred factors that went into the O’s only managing two runs. You could look at those raw numbers and easily imagine the O’s scoring more.
Whatever the reasons, though, Greg is right. Utterly forgettable game.
Apparently the Os have acquired Cleveland’s former #1 draft pick (missed which draft year), Michael Aubrey, for a player to be named later. He is reporting immediately to the Norfolk Tides and plays 1B.
Nice catch, Tomás. Here’s an article on the Aubrey transaction. Looks like it’s purely an organizational depth move, but I like that because you never know. Plus it’s insurance if they have to designate Salazar and he ends up getting claimed.
As for the player to be named for getting him, you can bet that’ll be a C-level prospect at best.
@Tomás – Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was 2003.
Yeah, I saw the Aubrey trade and don’t know what to think. Snyder isn’t any good in the field, and if the team is going to try to force him into being a third baseman…well, it won’t end well. But then again, why not try?
Neal, I watched only parts of the game myself, but that line looks pretty good to me. I know that if Bergesen did it (he won’t ever strike out nearly that many, but run with me), we’d be throwing a party.
Anyway, we’ll get’em tomorrow.
@Andrew – That’s a great point about if Bergesen had the same line. We’d definitely take it. Bottom line is that Nolasco did more than enough to win tonight, and what it means or doesn’t for the rest of his season (and career) is pretty much irrelevant as far as we’re concerned.
Gotta win tomorrow. That’s it.
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I love the fact the DT called out Pie’s shit plays last night. Complete lack of focus. Unlike Wigginton and Mora who are over-aggressive, Pie was asleep out there. And Tony at the OH alluded to DT calling him out in public after trying to deal with things regarding Pie behind the scenes. Seems to me Felix has some clubhouse problems. Regardless, it’s good to see DT will still call a guy out. I was worried about that. A lot of people think he should be calling out Mora and the veterans, but for what? Trying too hard? Last time I checked no one on this team was pulling a Miguel Tejada and showing up late and walking to first base.
@dan the man – Mora isn’t “trying too hard”, he’s making foolish decisions on the basepaths A LOT (something Tejada did a lot, too). Although, frankly, everybody is. I think Mora gets the brunt of it because he remains, inexplicably, in the five hole because he had a fluke, abnormal second half last year. And that’s not really on him.
Sigh.
For all of the key players we have in place to develop into a real, honest-to-God championship quality club, there remains so much work to do – particularly on the infield corners – that it can be more than a little frustrating on days like these. Outside of Brandon Snyder, there’s nobody pushing the argument, and that means we can probably enjoy Mora batting fifth into next summer, too.
Sigh.
@Andrew – I’m hoping that’s why they signed this Michael Aubrey guy, to instill some competition for our future 1B with Brandon Snyder like they did with LF.
@Tomás – Eh. I think that one, Aubrey is a free agent after this year, and two, his career so far is wildly underwhelming. I highly doubt that Aubrey is in The Plan. If anything, I think the O’s just want to see Snyder at third (where he has never been any good), because strong hitting third basemen are more valuable than strong hitting first basemen.
How about some good news, huh?
Unsurprisingly, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman are the Orioles’ representatives in the Futures Game during the All Star break. The Orioles are the only team with two pitchers in the game.
@Andrew – That’s pretty awesome. Speaking of Tillman, I’m getting close to being ready for the kid to come up. I really don’t have a whole lot of faith in Berken or Hernandez, whether or not that’s fair or justified, I don’t know. They both certainly have decent stuff, they just aren’t really using it correctly at the major league level. Not saying I’m ready to just send Berken packing after like 6 starts or whatever, just that I don’t think Tillman needs to do a whole lot more in AAA. After the All-Star break, I say let’s make some moves.
Personally, I never had much faith in either guy in 2009 for the Orioles as starters. Although I did think it wildly unfair that Hernandez was shipped out after one bad start, but Berken’s been given the benefit of the doubt after many bad starts.
And I’m not totally against giving Tillman at least a cup of coffee. With such a young arm you have to watch his innings, and he might not make it deep into September before being shut down, but I think after the trade deadline, why not?
If I’m MacPhail, I’m trying to move at least Baez, put Berken and Hernandez in the pen (drop whoever isn’t doing his job), call up Tillman. That would all be early August, I guess. Assuming Tillman stays healthy and productive between now and then, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen.
But Troy Patton probably ought to be called up, too. Maybe the rotation by August 5th would be Guthrie-Bergesen-Patton-Hill-Tillman, which would at least be interesting. Bullpen of Sherrill-Johnson-Koji-Ray-Bass-Berken-Hernandez (or whoever).
I’d probably try to trade Sherrill, too. Although I’m pretty happy with him at closer – but mostly because I don’t want Johnson to become the closer.
Does anyone recall where and how Kam Mickolio is doing? I just recall he was having control problems last time I heard, but I don’t think I’ve seen his name in awhile.
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@Kevin – Ahahahaha… oh man. That’s good stuff. Where’s JtG when you need him.
Kam is having a pretty mediocre year if I recall correctly, but that’s a job for Andrew. What it is, Andrew.
The next start for Patton is pretty big, I think. He’s had one bad start and one solid start (again, if I’m recalling correctly), and it would be great to see him really dominate a team out there and really get himself into the mix as far as the Next Callup is concerned.
Mickolio is relieving at Norfolk. When I saw the Tides in Buffalo he was terrible and blew the game, but overall he’s been pretty good (30 K, 9 BB in 29 innings). Pitching in Harbor Park is probably helping him keep the ball in the ballpark, since he’s giving up a lot of fly balls but only 2 homers.
Kam’s gigantic, so he’s going to have control problems associated with repeating his delivery, but a power fastball can certainly help as long as he generally knows where the ball is going.
We’ll see Kam again in September, for sure.
Who’s gonna be at the yard this weekend?
@Kevin – I’ll be there Friday.
@Kevin – I’m basically taking the night off from Orioles baseball tonight with the hopes that when I check the score later tonight, we’ve won and I can then watch the archived game with much glee. If we lose, well then I will be happy I wasn’t depressed for that portion of my night.
But when the boys are back home I expect to be at the yard at some point this weekend, with the hope that we will crush the Nationals.
go O’s.