Orioles

Sitting atop the pitching mound at 6′ 9″ and 251lbs. Daniel Cabrera is an imposing figure. If you were to casually watch him throw in practice you would think he was a monster. Then he steps onto the field against the Yankees and quickly reminds me why the Orioles are 7 games under .500. They have no pitching. One quality starter, that would be Guthrie, does not a team make. Sure Cabrera looks nice but he has absolutely no command over his throws. The Yankees were ducking and jumping away from his balls all day. This is a guy capable of throwing fastballs in the high nineties. Today his fastball topped out at 92 because anything faster would have been so out of control, he may have killed a fan. At the beginning of the year it appeared Cabrera had turned a corner winning five of his first six decisions. But now it’s back to the same old Danny C.
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Again, we will have more pictures from last night’s game up at some point today. Dr.Gonzo had to make the drive home from the meadowlands last night and is now doubt getting some much needed rest. That leaves me to touch on Colt Brennan’s performance at the end of the game.

Colt Brennan continued his gunslingin’ ways in the fourth quarter of the Jets preseason game yesterday throwing the game winning touchdown pass to former Terp Jason Goode in the final minutes. Oh yeah, and he got to see a Hall of Fame quarterback, and the ultimate gunslinger Brett Favre, in his preseason debut. Brennan, who turned 25 yesterday, made all of his birthday wishes come true. “I want[ed] to meet him” said Brennan of Brett Favre. Okay well almost all of his wishes came true. Brennan finished the day 4 of 5 for 79 yards and a score. In addition to throwing the game winning touchdown to Goode, Brennan also completed a 37 yard loft to Billy McMullen. The golden boy keeps shining.
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So yesterday as I am watching the Orioles get absolutely blasted by the Red Sox, they lost the game 12-1, I couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between O’s skipper Dave Trembley and “The Priceline Negotiator” William Shatner. I have never heard this comparison made before and would really like to know what the rest of you think. Was I just trying to find amusement in an otherwise unfunny drubbing of the Orioles? Let me know:

Does Dave Trembley look like William Shatner?
( surveys)

The O’s continued their slide back to mediocrity yesterday as the Toronto Blue Jays stole the final game of the series to complete the sweep. The Blue Jays won 6-5 in a game that appeared to be well in hand. Jeremy Guthrie once again had a solid start allowing just one earned run through seven innings but relievers Johnson and Sherrill quickly blew the lead. Guthrie, the Orioles most consistent pitcher, simply cannot get a break. Guthrie usually does not get enough run support but couldn’t complain yesterday as the O’s took an early 3-0 lead. The problem yesterday was the defense. Jim Johnson took over in the eighth and gave up two runs, then the O’s “all-star” Jeremy Guthrie blew the save by allowing the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly and the winning run on a hit by Adam Lind. According to Spencer Fordin of MLB.com “Guthrie has worked at least seven innings in nine of his 20 starts and has given up three runs or fewer 15 times, but will go into the break with a losing record.” Guthrie currently has a respectable E.R.A of 3.49 but a record of only 5 wins and 7 losses. If I were Guthrie I would be uber pissed off at my teammates. Can someone throw Guthrie a freakin bone here? The blown save was Sherrill’s fourth in his last 11 games. The O’s are now 44-46 and are looking more like…well…the O’s.

This weekend the slumping Washington Nationals will face the Baltimore Orioles in what hopes to become the next big rivalry in baseball. When the Nationals came to town in 2005 it ended what had been a 35 year MLB drought in the nations capital. The area was excited that baseball was finally back, and rightfully so. That year the Nationals exceeded expectations by finishing .500 and drew more fans to the ballpark than the Orioles did. However since then it seems the Nationals have become just another struggling franchise. The past two seasons the Nats have had losing records. Injuries have plagued their 2008 season, Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Johnson are both out, and their offense has reached anemic levels. Even with a new ballpark their does not seem to be a whole lot of excitement surrounding the Nats which currently lead the N.L in losses with 49. The Orioles on the other hand have been playing some of their best baseball as of late. Coming off of 3 straight losing seasons, and a 69 win season a year ago, the O’s appear to be back on track. With new skipper Dave Trembly at the helm and the addition of outfielders Luke Scott and Adam Jones the O’s are 3 games above .500 and have won 5 of their last 8 games. While the team does not have much star power, they traded away Tejada and Berdard, they have solid depth throughout the roster and a talented young core.

While relatively new, the beltway rivalry has had plenty of controversy fueling its fires. When the Nats came to D.C in 2005 Orioles owner Peter Angelos strongly opposed the teams move claiming that the Orioles had a legal right to the baseball market in the Metro area. Also, Washington Nationals games are broadcast locally by MASN, a sports network owned by the Baltimore Orioles. Many Nats fans believe that this leads to uneven reporting and coverage of the Orioles. The Orioles took the earlier series this year 2-1 at Camden yards. The series tonight will be the first time the two teams have faced each other in the Nationals new stadium and should be a hot ticket around town. Get your popcorn ready.

Hernandez, Huff, and Cintron each tallied solo homers and George Sherrill recorded his 24th save of the year as the O’s defeated the Astros 7-5. With the win the Orioles moved 3 games over .500 with a record of 37-34 and completed the series sweep over the Houston Astros. Miguel Tejada had a rough homecoming in Baltimore as he went 2 for 12 and almost injured himself late in the game after fouling the ball off of his knee. Tejada’s only highlight of the series came in the sixth inning, a solo homer to cut the O’s lead to 6-3. The Orioles responded with a solo home run from Aubrey Huff but almost blew the lead late in the game thanks to 2 errors from Alex Cintron. Who would have thought that at this point in the season both the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Devil Rays would be over .500?

Brian Roberts has nothin’ but love for Miguel Tejada. Tejada was traded from Baltimore to Houston in December ‘07 for five players, including SP Troy Patton, OF Luke Scott and SP Matt Albers.