Brace Yourself

We have an Armando Benitez sighting. According to atlanticleaguebaseball.com Armando has signed on with the Newark Bears. Armando is now 36 years old and is only 11 saves shy of 300. How he even got that many saves is beyond me.

Short Minors Update

The star returns. Matt Weiters returned to the lineup for the Norfolk Tides last night going 1/4 with a run. Really it doesn't matter what he did in the game as long as he was in it. He did just DH so you can see that the O's are continuing to be safe with him.

In other minor league news prospect Troy Patton had another strong start for the Bowie Baysox. He pitched 5 and a third innings allowing only one earned run on two hits.

.....Good to see Weiters back in the game and hopefully it wont be too long before he is back behind the plate. Also a nice start by Patton for the Baysox.

Eaton Alive

Not sure who that was on the mound for the O's last night, but the name on the back of the jersey said Eaton. Eaton who has been the O's worst pitcher so far pitched a gem of a game and got the Win as the O's beat the White Sox by a score of 6-2 to improve to 8-8 on the year.

The Good....

• Adam Eaton: 7 and 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 2 earned runs, and a whopping 9 K's.
• The O's were 4/12 with RISP.
• Ty Wigginton had a much needed good day at the plate going 2/4 with a double.
• Nick Markakis picked up his AL leading 19th RBI.
• Felix Pie had a couple hits to raise his avg. to .171

The bad....

• There may have been a couple small things, but im going with nothing.

.....I have been pretty hard on Eaton so far this year, but I am willing to give credit where credit is due. Nice start Adam, keep them coming.

Injury Update

Starting pitcher Alfredo Simon will have tommy john surgery on his arm and will be out at least a year. This is a tough loss to an already thin O's rotation.

....This seems to open up a permanent spot in the rotation for Brad Bergesen if he can build off his impressive first start. Let the time of the O's young guns begin.

Fielding Follies

If the O's want to have any sort of success this year they are going to have to clean up their play in the field. They have committed eleven errors this year which is tops in the AL, but I see a couple bigger issues here. For one, the players committing the errors are guys who are playing their natural positions like Roberts (2), Huff (2), and Zaun (2). I could understand if it was a guy like wiggy who is moving all over the diamond, but your regulars should be making these plays. The second is the amount of unearned runs the O's have allowed, that number is a whopping 19. To show how big that is the second most allowed in all of baseball is eight. That means that the O's are making errors with men on base and that the O's pitchers are getting flustered by these errors. Its early so no need to go crazy, but this just seems like an area that the O's have got to improve on.

O's Fall

The O's failed to build on their win Tuesday night as they fell last night to White Sox by a score of 8-3.

The Good....

• Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts each picked up two hits and are batting close to .400 on the year.
• Jamie Walker made his sixth appearance of the year and has still yet to allow a run.
• Adam Jones returned to the lineup, although he did go 0/4.

The Bad....

• Jeremy Guthrie did not have one of his better starts. He did get through the sixth but allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks.
• The O's made two more errors which ties them for the most in AL.

The series continues tonight at 7:05 as Bartolo Colon takes on Adam Eaton.

......Was really hoping for a couple game win streak with Guthrie on the mound, but the White Sox took an early lead and never looked back. If this O's team has a chance to finish near .500 they need Guthrie to win close to 15 games and to do that he needs to pitch better then last night.

Cal + Under Armour

Oriole great Cal Ripken Jr. signed a five year deal today with sports clothing giant Under Armour. Under Armour will outfit the Aberdeen Ironbirds along with the teams that take place in the Cal Ripken World Series. This looks like a great deal for both sides.

.....Sounds like we could be seeing some sweet Under Armour commercials with Cal in them.

Nolan Reimold

Over at the Toy Department blog in the Baltimore Sun, Childs Walker, discusses O's prospect Nolan Reimold. He breaks down the LF options including Pie, Montanez, and Reimold. Its a good read if you do not know much about Nolan.

....I agree with the article where it says that the O's first choice would obviously be Pie taking over the LF and performing like he was projected to a few years ago. That said if he can't hit a lick that just wont work. Reimold seems like the only position prospect that is major league ready for the O's and he is 25 so his prospect window is closing quickly.

Bergs The Word

Well we got a small glimpse of the arms the O's have in the minors and it looked good. Brad Bergesen had a very strong start going 5 and 2/3 innings and letting up only one earned run on four hits and two walks and had 4 K's. He began to get hit a little the second time through the lineup, but that is normal for a young pitcher as veterens are ready to adapt and a young pitcher like Brad needs to learn to adapt as well. Overall a good win for the O's as they get back to .500 at 7-7.

The Good....

• Brad Brad Brad Brad


• The bullpen. Baez, Ray, Johnson, and Bass combined for 3 and a third innings of one hit no run relief


• If their are still people who dont think Nick Markakis is a star they are idiots. Nick went 4/4 with and picked up 3 runs and 2 RBI's. He is now batting .389 on the season.


• Huff had 2 HR's and Luke Scott picked up 3 hits.

The Bad....

• Ty Wigginton was 0/5 to lower his average to .217. He also made an error that led to two unearned runs. I know Wiggy is being asked to do a lot with all of the injuries, but he needs to start improving some at the plate.


• Felix Pie was 0/3 to lower his average to .135, with Lou Montanez here (and picking up a double yesterday) Pie could lose some AB's if Lou plays well.

The O's will contiue their series with White Sox tonight at 7:05.

Moving Forward

Time to move past this Boston series and moving past it will bring up a big question. Did this series show us the real Orioles of 2009? Personally I do not think so. I don't think the O's are as good as they started, but they are not as bad as that Boston series was. I think they just caught Boston at a bad time. The O's definitely have some issues that's for sure, the bullpen is inconsistent and the rotation could be an issue. This offense will win some games and they will get some good starts here and there out of the rotation, but that said this year is not really about competing for the AL east title its about a stepping stone to the future. Its about seeing a guy like Markakis continue to grow into one of the best in the game and seeing a guy like Jones take steps towards being the star many project him to be. We also should get glimpses of even younger players like Weiters, Tillman, and tonight's starter Bergesen. Wins and losses will always be important, but the growth of the young players on this O's team is much more important.

Freel to the DL

Ryan Freel was placed on the DL today with a head injury. He suffered the injury in the Red Sox series on an errant pickoff throw. He will be replaced on the roster by Lou Montanez.

...If you had seen my minor league updates then you know that Montanez has been tearing it up in AAA and looked likely to be the first position player called up.

Bergesen Tonight

Brad Bergesen the Orioles minor league pitcher of the year will make his MLB debut tonight against the Chicago White Sox. The 23 year old right hander was 15-6 with a 3.22 ERA at AA Bowie last season. So far this year he has made two starts and is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA. Although not as highly touted as many of the O's other minor league arms he is definitely the most polished.

.....As I said in an earlier post it is always exciting when a young pitcher makes his debut. No matter what I know that I would rather see a guy like Bergesen get a start than some other retread veteren, or Adam Eaton at this point. Also to make room for Bergesen the O's optioned Liz back to AAA so they killed two birds with one stone.

2010 Options

Tim Dierkes over at MLBtraderumors.com discusses the O's 2010 club options. The options in front of the O's consist of Greg Zaun for 2 million with a 500K buyout and Melvin Mora for 8 million with a 1 million buyout. Remember these are just options as Huff, Baez, Hendrickson, and Freel will be FA's after the year.

......As Dierkes states I would expect the O's to pick up both options because for the money they will be worth it. As for the FA's I know its way way way in the future, but I would expect the O's to keep Huff, but let the rest walk. I figured today would be a good day to talk some future stuff.

Low Five

The O's lost their fifth in a row the Red Sox today 12-1.

The Good...

• ???? I am open to suggestions.

The Bad...

• Mark Hendrickson pitched so so but needed over a 100 pitches just to get through five innings.
• The Bullpen was a disaster, but Liz showed that he still needs to be in the minors.
• The O's left another 14 batters on base today, more specifically Ty Wigginton left five on base as he hit into two double plays.

.....Lets just move past this series and look forward to the O's returning home to face the 7-5 White Sox.

Freel exits early

Ryan Freel left todays game with an apparent conussion after he was hit on the head on an attempted pickoff play. Freel was responisve in the dugout, but was still being sent to a nearby hospital.

.....Some real bad luck going around right now. Luckily this doesn't seem to bad and hopefully Ryan can return soon. Also in some more uplifting news it looks like Adam Jones will return to the lineup tomorrow.

Around The O's

Orioles minor league pitcher of the year Brad Bergesen will make his first start tomorrow against the Chicago White Sox. The 23 year old Bergesen will be filling in for injured starter Alfredo Simon. So far at AAA Bergesen is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

....I like this move as their is no need to rush any of the top pitchers yet, and Bergesen deserves a shot to show what he can do at this level. I always have a high level of excitement when a young pitcher makes his first start.

The Adam Jones injury is being a called just a tight right hamstring and although he is expected to sit today the injury is not considered serious. Felix Pie will start in center and Luke Scott in right.

Lastly over at MLB.com Alden Gonzalez says that Mark Mulder has said he would be ready to pitch two weeks after signing with a team.

................Not much has been mentioned about Mulder so far this year and I have no idea if he or the O's would be interested in each other, but I think a veteren signing like Mulder could make some sense. He would be a veteren presence and he cannot be any worse then Adam Eaton is. Best case scenario is he is healthy enough to give you some great outings and worst case he stinks less then Eaton.

Minors Update

Matt Weiters missed his second straight game yesterday with what the team is still calling a hamstring cramp. This is most likely just a couple days of precautionary rest.

Other than the Weiters update the only real prospect news was Brian Matusz getting the start yesterday and going six innings only allowing one earned run on seven hits and striking out eight.

Over at MILB.com in their week in review they discuss the hot start of many of the O's minor league pitchers. If you have not been keeping track it is worth checking out.

O's Lose Fourth In a Row

The O's lost to the Red Sox 2-1 yesterday causing the O's record to fall to 6-6.

The Good...

• Koji Uehara had his second strong start of the season going seven innings and allowing two runs on five hits and two walks. It was a great start considering the Red Sox had pounded out 16 runs in the last two games.
• The bullpen has now not allowed a run in two straight games, but last night they only pitched one inning.

The Bad

• The O's could only muster one run on six hits as they left 14 men on base.
• O's top hitters Roberts, Huff, Markakis, and Scott went a combined two for fourteen

The O's will finish their series today against the Red Sox at 11:05 ET as Mark Hendrickson will face youngster Justin Masterson.

....It was great to see Koji pitch another strong game since with this lineup usually if you go seven innings and give up two runs you will get the W. Adam Jones had to leave this game with a hamstring strain. I am sure there will be more updates on that today.

Orioles go down 6-4

The good.....

• O's bullpen pitched four innings of scoreless relief including a strong inning by Chris Ray.
• Nick Markakis drove in his league leading 16 RBI
• Brian Roberts had two hits to increase his average to an impressive .435

The Bad...

• Adam Eaton
• The Orioles left 17 men on base

.....Adam Eaton should not be in the starting rotation. I would understand if it was a guy who has a great career and the O's are hoping he can pull it together, but he is not. He has not had an ERI under 5 since 2005 when he was pitching for SD. I know the O's don't want to rush the young arms, but they might as well give someone else a shot.