Koji Redux
David Hernandez, we hardly knew ye.
He’s on his way back to Norfolk and their suddenly formidable rotation. In his place, Koji Uehara rejoins the Birds after a stint on the DL.
I think we basically know what we’ll get from Koji as long as he stays in the rotation: decent starts for the most part. He’ll keep the team in a lot of games but the bullpen had damn well better be rested because he’s not going past the sixth.
Are we OK with that? I say tentatively yes, for now. But he’s probably a guy who’s best suited to the bullpen eventually, considering the arms that should be competing for spots next spring.
Tonight he’s up against old mate Garrett Olson, who has been in Seattle essentially what he always was here: unspectacular. There’s no reason the lumber can’t find a groove against him tonight.
Here’s a strange nugget: former Sun scribe Rick Maese writing about Matt Wieters for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Huh.
(photo via)
Boy, Garret Olson sucks. I’m not sure I’d trade Felix Pie back for him.
Got this one on the radio and it’s really bumming me out. You all know that I don’t really get bummed about the Orioles losing, but one thing that cuts me to the quick is when they’re playing flat. That’s usually what happens in the annual August Swoon, but at least when it happens then I’m used to it. It’s an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling in June.
Koji was about what I expected tonight, and I’m sure that rain delay didn’t help anything. It’s hard, though, not to read anything into it. My head says “not a bad return from the DL” but my heart says “we might already have Koji’s best in the rear-view.” I hope my heart is wrong.
They have to find a way to pull this one out.
Branyan HR makes it 5-2 Mariners, followed up by an infield hit. This is what I’m talking about.
Yeah, this easy portion of the schedule has not worked out at all. At ALL.
But hey, we’re drafting well, our top prospects are inching closer, and we’ll get another top five pick next year. Hard to argue with that.
Oh wait, no it isn’t…
It’s funny…nothing has changed. This team is doing what we all knew they would do, performance-wise. But on top of that they’ve moved up some prospects who have shown real signs of life, inaugurated the Matt Wieters era, and generally given us a well-deserved glimpse of what’s to come. There is a lot to be happy about right now, especially in light of the recent pitching promotions to Norfolk.
But night in and night out, the last ten games or so have been brutal. I’m talking classic swOOn brutal, the stuff that usually sends the casual fans dashing to their closets to dig up their Ravens hats and Ray Lewis jerseys.
I have to be honest: it’s hard to stomach. And I know it’s hard to stomach for everyone reading this.
I mean, damn, we couldn’t DDT Garrett Olson of all people? A mediocre pitcher whose tendencies are all too familiar?
Damn and damn.
Still, I’m pretty sure I’m headed to the game Saturday. Anyone else?
And again I say, this is why I wanted to talk about the minor leagues. Because we can’t see the improvement in the Orioles on a nightly basis, and honestly today is a very, very exciting day with Arrieta’s promotion that isn’t ruined by this dreadful baseball game. But it comes awfully close.
I’ve had the nastiest case of tonsillitis for the past entire week. All I’ve wanted was to lie in bed and listen to Joe and Fred and some good Oriole baseball. But damnit if the O’s aren’t making me double up on Ibuprofen.
HIT.
HIT THE BALL.
@Andrew – I think the only problem — and this isn’t a TLC thing, I think it’s the same for any site — is that it’s hard to follow the minor leagues because you can’t watch or listen to the games on a regular basis. I love what you’ve been doing every Monday and I’m pretty sure everyone else does, too. But in terms of talking about these guys all we have are the numbers. We don’t really have stories or any sense of who these guys are. I’d love to have a sense of what kind of guy Jake Arrieta is. There aren’t a lot of avenues to get that because we’re not seeing him on a regular basis.
Hopefully, though, that’ll change soon.
Meanwhile, O’s lose 6-3 and DtM’s tonsillitis grows worse by the moment. Sorry, buddy.
I missed this game in its entirety and I’m glad I did.
I probably would have been yelling “IT’S GARRETT OLSEN. HIT HIM AS HARD AS YOU SAW EVERYONE ELSE HIT HIM LAST YEAR” at the television.
Very, very loudly.
@Miles – hahaha, no doubt.
@neal s – Interesting thought, that I understand wholeheartedly. I think you and I disagree fundamentally because I couldn’t care less what a guy’s favorite team growing up was (for instance) as long as he’s hitting a ton of home runs for the black and orange and you seem to care a lot more about the personalities involved…but there is a lot of logic behind not being able to really get behind a big time prospect because you don’t know him.
It’s an interesting thought is all…
@Andrew – It’s just a fundamental thing in terms of what really engages people. We need stories. Not necessarily to know personal details about a player, but just some kind of narrative focus that provides the kind of context that performance alone can never offer.
Look at Wieters — the love for him has never really been about his performance, it’s been about what his abilities might mean to a moribund franchise in need of a true cornerstone.
I’m fully confident, though, that each member of the Next Wave will develop his own story in time. It’ll be fun to watch that happen.
Last night was a bad loss. If you can’t beat Garrett Olson when he pitches like that, you’re really not going to beat anyone. Markakis is in a deep funk right now. And again, I can’t believe how much Wigginton has sucked this year.
Overall though, things will be fine. Adam Jones scorched the ball last night, at least in his first two at-bats, although they weren’t hits. He really does look like a young Eric Davis, which is a very good thing.
@sci – I’ll counter your Eric Davis comp with what I think is a better one: Grady Sizemore. Not as much power as Davis, nor as much OBP (and Jones won’t put up Davis’ stolen base numbers, but could do a Sizemore impression), but a higher batting average. Now if only Jonesy could take as many walks as Sizemore could…
That may be a slightly better player/skills comparison, but he literally LOOKS like a young Eric Davis.
Also, DT, there is something called pinch hitting. It occurs when you are down by a reasonable amount in the ninth and the bottom of your order is coming up.