Epilogue

I'm glad to be with you, fellow Orioles fans, here at the end of all things.

It's been another disappointing season here in birdland, but in one sense, it's one we here at Orioles Update will always remember.

The Orioles had another losing season. Like every season since 1998. It began so well, back in April, with an Opening Day win over the Yankees that reminded us that there was still good in the world, and that Orange and Black wouldn't stay down forever.

The Orioles started ok, but then, like Orioles do, they lost and they lost and they lost and they lost some more. I'd hoped that we'd see the start of turnaround this season, and it was not to be.

But something did happen this year that hasn't happened in a long time. The Orioles much-maligned farm system began to churn out talent again. Super-prospect catcher Matt Wieters, and pitchers Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz, the best and brightest prospects of the organization, were called up and did not seem over-matched. Lefty Brad Bergesen, before his injury sidelined him, was on his way to a stellar rookie campaign. Left fielder Nolan Reimold, was mentioned as a candidate for Rookie of the Year. Reimold, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and fourth outfielder Felix "Strawberry" Pie, give the Orioles an outfield that compares favorably to their competitors in the power-packed AL East.

For the first time in a long time, there was hope.

But then, the bad guys won, and the world fell into darkness.

There is only one thing to do Orioles fans. Only one thing can save us now: click this button and don't stop clicking it until pitchers and catchers report!




See in you the Spring, my friends. If there is a spring, that is.

Jerry Hairston, Jr: True Oriole

The Orioles are horrible. Contrary to all my hopes for this year's team, they are awful, with the once-bright prospects of 2010 dimming a bit too as the star players of the farm system have been called up and look quite mortal so far. To be fair, Wieters, Tillman, and Matusz (who was excellent on Sunday) are all rookies, but the O's still seem to have no long-term solutions for the corner infield spots.

But I digress. The Orioles are awful. But, thanks in part to an old friend, they aren't PERFECTLY AWFUL.

If I had to pick a low point of the past 11 seasons, I would probably say that Jack Cust tripping twice between third and home epitomized the frustration of being an Orioles fan during this era of incompetence. The "Mother's Day Massacre" of 2008 and Clay Bucholtz's no-hitter against the O's certainly warrant mention, too, as do I'm sure dozens of even-worse-than-usual Orioles games that I'm too numb to remember.

Yesterday almost topped all those moments that will live in infamy, though. Losing to the Yankees stinks, but it's expected. Losing to Andy Pettitte stinks, but it's even more expected. Getting perfect-gamed by Andy Pettitte and the Yankees? Horrible.

That's where the Orioles found themselves yesterday. After 7 and 2/3 innings in which they had been completely baffled by Pettitte, former Oriole second baseman Jerry Hairston Jr, playing third for the Yankees on this nearly-historic night, let a routine ground-ball roll through his legs to spoil Pettitte's perfection. Clearly rattled, Pettitte gave up an opposite-field single to Nick Markakis, and then lost even his shutout bid on home run by Melvin Mora in the 8th.

The O's still lost of course, and that stinks. Still, the less they're on the receiving end of "Great Moments in Yankee History" the better. (**** you, Jeffrey Maier.)


And Jerry, don't feel bad. You may have put on the pinstripes, but last night when it counted, you proved that you were still and always will be an Oriole.

Finally.

The Orioles snapped a 9-game losing streak to the Oakland A's, despite a completely Oriole-esque (that's not a good thing) baserunning error by Brian Roberts.

But, since Roberts also had 3 hits, all is forgiven.

David Hernandez was effective enough, and Albers and Baez were actually not terrible, holding a one-run lead into the 9th inning, when Jim Johnson coordinated a successful defense of the lead. (Speaking of Jim Johnson, Orioles Update mourns the passing of one of our favorite sports figures, Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson)

Hopefully, it's the Orioles' turn to win 9 straight, but somehow I doubt it.

But anyway, WOOHOO!

This is Not High-Quality Baseball, Year 12

Ok Orioles. Look, I'm sure you tried. But this baseball thing just isn't working out, and it hasn't been working out for a long time. Maybe you should try hockey or shuffleboard or Senior Design Consulting or something. Maybe you should find someone really terrible at something else and just become huge fans of them. And write a blog about it. Because you're really making this torturous on your blogging contingent. The Oriole-parazzi is seriously depressed if not downright suicidal at this point.

I tried to be optimistic, I really did. The season started out well, and there have been a few hot streaks, including some early series wins over the Yanks and a complete dismantling of the NL East (not including the Marlins). Some of the O's vaunted young prospects, namely Bergesen, Wieters, and Riemold coming up and making up some noise.

But, mostly, it's just looking more and more like a typical season of Orioles baseball. Completely dominated by the Red Sox and Yankees. Losers of 9 straight vs. the Oakland A's, tying a ML high of one team consecutively losing to another team.

Tillman and Matusz rushed to the majors and failing, it seems to stop the bleeding.

I didn't really expect the O's to be good this year, but I hoped this was the year we'd see them start to turn the corner. But with their traditional second-half collapse again, I'm not sure there's much reason to believe that 2010 will be any better than 2009.

(Administative note: I learned the other night that Orioles Update has at least one reader! We assure our loyal readership that our several month-long hiatus had NOTHING to do with the Orioles' second-half collapse, absolutely NOTHING. Instead, a busy summer schedule and general laziness as a blogger have been the main reason. But, one can only say "Orioles stink" in so many ways, so maybe it does have just a tiny, tiny bit to do with the traditional second-half collapse.)

Everything's Back to Normal...

One day after the biggest comeback win in franchise history, the Orioles demoralized their fan base by recreating the well known (among Orioles fans, anyway) "Mother's Day Massacre" of 2007, blowing a 5-1 in the top of the ninth before falling to the Sox 6-5.

Winning 1 series from the Red Sox? Is that too much too ask?

The Long-Awaited Return of Orioles Update

Greetings my feathered friends. It has been awhile.

The absence of Orioles Update has more to do with the business of my work and my laziness as a blogger than it does with the fact that right after my last three posts in one day burst of activity, the Orioles went on a nice little nose-dive where they only won once in two weeks.

You'll notice that the blog was also not updated when the O's won consecutive series against high-profile interleague opponents the Braves, Mets, and Phillies, and then proceeded to be swept by the anonymous Florida Marlins. Then they took 2 of 3 from the Nats. (But really, who doesn't?)

And now, the Red Sox are in town. With their loud contingent of fans and their unpleasant habit of whomping the Orioles in embarrassing fashion, this did not look like it would be pleasant. Monday night's 0-4 loss to John Lester was exactly what I expect from Orioles vs. Red Sox. And so were the first 6.5 innings of last night's rain-interrupted game, as the Sox took a 10-1 lead. Honestly, I'd ceded control of the TV to the local Phillies fan, and was halfheartedly watching the annihilation on MLB Gameday, when something strange happened. Let's let the front page of Yahoo Sports tell the story, shall we?

And the story.

Did the O's really score 5 runs in the 7th and 5 runs in the 8th and hang a blown save on obnoxious Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon? Did we really see George ("Never a doubt, Georgie.") Sherrell get out 5 consecutive right-handers at the heart of the Sox lineup for the save? Did we really just witness the greatest comeback in the Orioles' 55 year history? Yes to all.

This is another great reminder of the potential of this year's team. Yes, the Orioles are streaky. The Orioles are still largely bad. There will be weeks at a time where what they're doing out there will hardly resemble baseball at all.

But, on the other hand, this year's squad has already given us more memorable wins than the last few versions combined, with the Opening Day win over the Yankees, the Nolan Reimold-powered walkoff win vs. the Jays, the recent walkoff win vs. the Mets, Brian Roberts' ninth-inning homer to beat the Phils, and especially this unlikely, historic comeback. Games like this remind me that this team is worth watching, and hint that a brighter orange future is on its way.

(AP Photo -- Nick Wass)

Obligatory MATT WIETERS Post

MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!
MATT WIETERS!

I don't EVER remember as much hype and excitement about an Orioles prospect as there's been about MATT WIETERS (His name really is in all caps. Check his birth certificate -- copies are available from the Orioles' online store.)

(Gail Burton -- AP)

From the time he was drafted, and then signed at the last minute of the last hour of the last day before he would go back into the draft (Sleazy superagent Scott Boras represents him, unfortunately), WIETERS has been regarded as the Orioles' savior, and ever since Andy MacPhail announced earlier this week that he'd be called up, Birdland has been abuzz with WIETERSMANIA RUNNING WILD. (I would be remiss to not point my loyal reader in the direction of www.mattwietersfacts.com, where they can order lots of great MATT WIETERS t-shirts.)

So, in true Orioles fashion, WIETERS was 0-4 in his debut. But, the rookie catcher had a great day behind the plate, helping his old pal Brad Bergesen to pitch his best game of HIS rookie season. As mentioned in a previous post, Luke Scott supplied all the offense needed to beat the Tigers.

There will be many more at-bats for MATT WIETERS, and we here at Orioles Update think that he will live up to the lofty expectations that he's set with his systematic destruction of minor-league pitchers. But right now, he is just one of many exciting young players to watch on an Orioles team that seems to finally seems to be reaping the fruit of improved drafting and player development.

Now go, MATT WIETERS. Go out and smite the enemies of Birdland. Smite them with thy magic powers and save us from the tyranny of the YankSox.

Endangering Species

When a famous Tiger once said, "They're Grrrrrrrrrrrreat!", he was talking about his favorite cereal, not the status of the world's tiger population.

Poaching for fur and destruction of habitat have greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the world but the population has dwindled to about 2,000 in the wild. (Wikipedia)

The Detroit Tigers are also endangered, but for a far different and more unstoppable reason: Luke Scott.



Luke Scott's career numbers against the Detroit Tigers (thanks to Camdenchat.com):

9 games
31 AB
18 H
11 R
4 2B
9 HR
19 RBI
5 BB
.639 OBP
1.581 SLG
2.220 OPS
OPS+ 387

During the first two games of this three game set, Luke's hit 4 home runs, including a grand slam in last night's 7-2 win over Detroit. Only 3 left handed hitters have EVER homered off Dontrelle Willis. One of them is Luke, who took Willis yard twice in last night's game.

If you touched Luke Scott right now, you'd burst into flame.

He's just that Grrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaat!

Turning Point...

It's not in the nature of Orioles Update, the website that brought you the world-famous Adam Eaton Kitty Picture Day (ADAM EATON KITTY PICTURE DAY!!! ADAM EATON KITTY PICTURE DAY!!), to be serious. But, work has caused me to fall a little behind, including giving short shrift to one of the best Orioles victories in many years. On Monday and Tuesday, the Orioles beat the badly-slumping Toronto Blue Jays by scores of 4-1 and 7-2, respectively, for their second consecutive series win after taking two of three from the rather bad Washington Nationals.

But, the Orioles had yet to complete a 3-game sweep this season, and with Roy Halladay on the mound, their chances did not look good. Working busily from home, I periodically checked the score, and upon seeing that the Blue Jays had taken a 7-2 and then 8-3 lead, it seemed that there was little point in checking scores the rest of the afternoon. In between conference calls I checked to see what the final damage was, and was surprised to find that the Orioles had clawed their way back to tie the game with a 5 run 8th inning, only to give up the lead in the top of the 11th on a two-run homer by Aaron Hill.

But, while some may question the talent, there is no quit in the team. In the bottom of the 11th, Nick Markakis led off with a single against former Oriole BJ Ryan. Aubrey Huff popped out, and then Melvin Mora singled off new BJ pitcher Brian Wolfe, advancing Markakis to second. Luke Scott, who had homered earlier in the game, his first since returning from the DL, singled to score Markakis and advance the tying run to third. Rookie Nolan Reimold came to the plate, and had no intention of either letting the Orioles lose or playing any more baseball on this day. Reimold hit a line drive into the first row in leftfield to give the Orioles a memorable 12-10 win and their first series sweep of the season, and thier first three game sweep against Toronto since 1994.

So far this season, Adam Eaton has been released, and Brad Bergesen, Jason Berken, and David Hernandez have earned their major-league wins in their debuts in the Orioles' rotation; the Orioles look to have a very good young outfield of Markakis, Adam Jones, and Nolan Reimold; and as we speak, uber-prospect Matt Wieters is playing his first major league game as the Orioles' catcher.

David Hernandez got his first win, and pie in the face for his troubles.

With these positive developments, and with the O's most highly-rated pitching prospects still in reserve, it seems that the team has passed its long-awaited turning point, and finally back on the road to competitiveness.

(Matt Wieters' first Major League at Bat)