It's Been Awhile

Since I last posted, the Orioles have played poorly against Detroit, swept Kansas City, and lost 2 of 3 from the Red Sox. After their 5-1 win at Washington tonight, they are 20-22 on the season. At least they have shown that they can defeat bad teams easily (with the exception of the Seattle series), which should help the club remain somewhat respectable even as they limp to yet another fourth place finish.

In the Boston series, predictably, Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen got hit hard, and the Birds lost both games. Lopez now has a 7.46 ERA and has allowed no fewer than 4 earned runs in every one of his 9 starts. Bruce Chen has a 8.23 ERA and hasn't shown any signs of curing his home run problem. With Daniel Cabrera on the Disabled List, it is now time to make some wholesale changes to the rotation. You can't go with a 4 man rotation when half of those involved have ERA's above 7. There are several good options in case the Birds do decide to alter the rotation. Hayden Penn, a call-up last season, has a 1.48 ERA in 5 starts for Triple A Ottawa. There is also the option of moving Kurt Birkins to the starting rotation. He started in Ottawa and posted a 3.20 ERA. However, having his left arm in the bullpen is a huge asset. With those options, it is hard to imagine that Adam Loewen would be called up from Double A Bowie, but in recent years the Orioles have done strange things with call-ups. Lopez and Chen are two of the Orioles most veteran consistent pitchers, but eventually, you have to make a change. We're already though 1/4 of the season. If it were up to me, I'd call up Hayden Penn, and I'd also give John Halama a chance. He's pitched better than his stats indicate.

In other news, I think the most painful team to like in baseball is the Kansas City Royals. This isn't just because of last weekend's series, in which they blow a 7-4 lead in the 9th inning, but in general, they're in even worse shape than Tampa Bay. At least the Devil Rays have a good farm system and good leadership. Allard Baird has destroyed the Royals by trading Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Beltran for absolutely nothing, and David Glass has proven himself to be one of the cheapest owners in modern memory. He gets millions of dollars from the Yankees every year and does absolutely nothing with it. I think the final straw was in 2003, when everything went right for the Royals yet they only finished 83-79. When your ceiling is 83 wins, it certainly doesn't bode well for your future.

Perhaps that explains the case of Chad Carroll. As Rick Maese wrote in the Baltimore Sun last Sunday, Carroll finally gave up his loyalty to the Royals this year, and sold it, along with his memorabilia, on Ebay for $278.47. Carroll said, "It's their ownership and they're never going away. They all seem to forget that fans own baseball, and every year fans have less and less of a voice. It's not right. The game is being taken away from the fans." The winner, which turned out to be his friends, gets to choose his new team. Now, don't laugh, but one of the major contenders his friends are thinking of is the Orioles.

I'm watching Spurs-Mavs right now, and you've got to give the Spurs credit for hanging around. If they can keep it within 10 to the 4th quarter, I think they're going to take it. They've been overplayed to this point, however.

Song of the Day: "Ohio", by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Written by Neil Young, it's an amazing song about the Kent State shootings that occured in 1970. There are only two paragraphs of lyrics, but the courage Young had to call out Dick Nixon the way he did makes it worth every single line.

Curse of the Moose

Ever since Mike Mussina defected the Free State for the Big Apple following the 2000 season, the Orioles have not had a single starter turn in back to back seasons with an ERA under 4. The only starter to have an ERA under 4.00 last year was Bruce Chen, at 3.83. Well, this season, Chen has an ERA of 8.40 and has allowed 11 home runs in 30 innings pitched. For the record, the only Oriole starters to even have one season under 4.00 since Moose's departure are Rodrigo Lopez (2002, 2004) and Sidney Ponson, in his contract year (2003).

The Orioles lost again at Boston tonight, thanks to a David Ortiz double in the bottom of the 6th. If there is good news to take out of the loss, it's that John Halama pitched two scoreless innings. With no other lefty veterans on the roster, Halama has the potential to fulfil a crucial role for the Orioles. Also, Nick Markakis got two hits, including a triple, which will hopefully boost his confidence. He's struggled of late, but he can bounce back.

The Orioles, 14-17, have Erik Bedard going against Tim Wakefield tomorrow, and then Kris Benson going in the Sunday matinee. The two have been the most reliable starters this year, so the Birds have a respectable chance of getting out of Beantown with a series win. At the very least, the Orioles should win on Sunday, when Benson goes up against youngster Lenny DiNardo. DiNardo has three starts on the season, which ranged from good to mediocre to Bruce Chen. However, nothing comes easy against Boston, considering the power of their lineup.

It's been a rough stretch for the Birds, and it won't get any easier in the next 11 games, 8 of which are against winning teams (Boston and Detroit). If they can head into the Nationals series at .500, it will be a major success.

Not Much Relief From the Relievers

The Orioles head into tonight's game with Toronto at 13-14, the last loss coming courtesy of another horrendous performance by the bullpen. Tonight's loss was even more crushing because the blame goes to one who was among the few stalwarts- LaTroy Hawkins, who allowed a home run to Troy Glaus that put the Jays ahead for good, at 5-3. Also culpable were Jim Brower (real shocker there) and John Halama, who had been pitching decently up until yesterday. This bullpen collapse spoiled a good performance by Erik Bedard, who allowed only two runs in six innings of work.

Reacting to the dismal failures of the bullpen, the Orioles took action today, calling up left-hander Kurt Birkins and right-hander Julio Manon from Triple-A Ottawa and designating veteran Jim Brower for assignment. Eddy Rodriguez was optioned to Ottawa. Birkins had a 3.20 ERA for the Lynx, in 5 starts. Manon is a minor league veteran, posted a sub 1.00 ERA for Ottawa, but spent the past two seasons overseas.

Getting rid of Brower, who walked more batters than he struck out, is probably addition by subtraction at this point, but neither Birkins or Manon are Jonathan Papelbons or Chris Rays, highly touted young pitchers ready to step into the majors and dominate big-league hitters.

This was to be expected entering the season, seeing as they failed to compensate for losing B.J. Ryan as a solid bullpen arm. The front office evidently felt that having a patchwork bullpen would be good enough (or more likely, were just too cheap to do anything about it). This is understandable considering that prior to the 2005 season, two veteran relievers, Steve Kline and Steve Reed, were signed, and both turned out to be huge flops. However, it's not as if there weren't moderately priced relievers out there on the free agent market. (Julian Tavarez, Jay Witasick, Chad Bradford etc.) The consequences for having as bad a bullpen as the Orioles do are devastating. Baseball games are won and lost in the final three innings. Sadly, the Orioles seem to have forgotten about that.

At this point, there are few solutions to the problem, other than calling everyone from Triple A up and crossing your fingers. If a team would take Javy Lopez for a reliever with some years still left on his contract, it'd be great, but that doesn't seem too likely.

I know the Orioles aren't going to contend this year, and they wouldn't even if their bullpen was decent. However, the way the season has been going so far, poor relief could make the difference between a winning season and a losing season. With the starting rotation set to be as good as it has been in years, despite the early season struggles of Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen, and an offense that, if it can avoid injury, looks to be capable of producing runs, the Orioles have a chance for at least a winning season. It would be a shame to see that all go up in flames simply because the front office did not acquire bullpen help.