Free Kicks: Windsor Edition

Expatriate is a bit busy today, so I'll be filling in for him on the Free Kicks today. Just a quick aside first, as I give many thanks to Falco and Expatriate for filling in for me over this past week. But! Plenty enough about myself, and lets line up for the kick.

Jamie Walker Not Getting Another Chance
A day after speculation about left-hander Jamie Walker's future with the Orioles, it has been announced that he's expected to be released by the organization. Fellow blogger Falco offered up his evaluation of the situation yesterday insisting that Walker deserved more time before the Orioles will release him. In all honesty however, I have to say that I do agree with the club's decision to release the struggling reliever. Jamie Walker is a stand-up guy and is a fantastic teammate from all that I have heard, but at the end of the day he just was not getting any better. Walker's best days are behind him, and the Orioles could not afford to keep trotting him out there against left handers when they were mashing him at a .458 clip. I like the guy and I like all he does volunteering with members of the armed forces, but he just wasn't able to do his job at a major league level. In his stead, the Orioles are expected to bring up Alberto Castillo, who is a lefty sidearmer; left handers are batting .256 against him at Norfolk, which isn't great but the Orioles are hoping he provides a boost to that aspect of the bullpen.

Orlando Could Still Be Magical
It is very true that the Magic were thoroughly outplayed in last night's Game 1 defeat at the Staples Center, but don't let it fool you into thinking that this series is over. Far from it, in fact. The simple fact of the matter is that Kobe Bryant had a transcendent game and the Magic's three point shooters were off the mark on wide open looks. Quite frankly anyone who knows basketball could guess that there would be a game like that in this series, as Kobe Bryant is still the best player in basketball and perimeter shooting teams always have an off night or two in the series. Dwight Howard did not get into a rhythm early and played well under his capabilities, but he's bound to have a big game if the Lakers keep guarding him one-on-one. Meanwhile, Stan Van Gundy and his staff have now seen what Jameer Nelson can contribute on the big stage in his current condition, so his minutes should be managed in a better fashion in later games.

Just remember that if nothing else has been learned about the Orlando Magic this postseason, it's that they can take a punch in the mouth and come back stronger. Just look at the Cleveland series, in which they never blinked at massive early deficits and refused to let the momentum of the series slip away after LeBron James' heroics in Game 2. The Magic have built their postseason success on bouncing back, so let's see how they come out on Sunday before writing them off.

Jamie Walker Needs Another Chance

After giving up two home runs in Tuesday's loss to the Mariners, Jamie Walker's job in the bullpen could be in trouble. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reports that Walker's time as an Oriole "may be numbered."

In the article Zrebiec quotes Dave Trembley as saying about Walker's future: "Obviously, I'd like things to be better; I'd like to see him be more effective against left-handed hitters. I'm aware of what's going on. Hopefully, it gets better."

Since he got here in 2007 from Detroit, his job has been to be a lefty-specialist, perhaps even be a setup man at times. His current line is not terrible, a 5.12 ERA with nine strikeouts and no walks. He has yet to earn a decision and has only blown one save. But opponents are batting .373 against him, and he has not been doing well in his job of getting out lefties. He was given another chance this season after struggling last year with injuries, and after starting well, he has done very poorly in the last four weeks.

But this is a little harsh to bring his way. No doubt Walker is struggling, and it is possible he is on his last legs at 38. But the Orioles will not be gaining much with losing Walker. No one will take him in a trade, and he won't go to the minors. Sure he isn't playing well, but he had a wonderful start to the season. Plus, another young arm would have to come up to replace him. The only person that could be brought up as a lefty specialist would be Alberto Castillo from Norfolk, but there is no telling that he will be any better. Chris Ray needs much more time and is not a lefty specialist, and no one else from the Tides would be a valid replacement. The only thing the team would gain by dropping Walker is salvaging a little bit of salary.

Obviously he needs to perform better or else the Orioles truly will need to release him, but for now, it is worth it to try to fix Walker's problems and keep him as an Orioles. Maybe he will be able to pitch better with more time from Matt Wieters. Maybe the pressure will get him to perform better. Give him the chance, for now.

(Photo credit: ESPN)

Free Kicks

Forget the obligatory "Extra Points" title for a miscellaneous post, I am going soccer with this one. Or pulling a Doug Flutie, depending how you look at it. Enjoy.

"Offensive" Performance
The Orioles scored 8 runs and lost. I don’t think Fernando Cabrera should have been pulled in the 6th. Sure he had walked two, but he was fresh and had still gotten the first two guys out. I thought he would settle down and it would have been a better idea to let him work it out than send in Alberto Castillo with runners on first and second. If you have a fresh reliever like Cabrera, you should use him to the utmost. Instead, they sent out a pitcher who in his Orioles debut (discussed on ATH here) saw the very same situation against the very same team and imploded. What else did Dave Trembley expect to happen?

That said, there is simply no excuse for Garrett Olson’s performance. Trembley keeps saying Olson's problem is trying to pick at the corners of the strike zone rather than going right at batters. On one hand, if the problem is all in his head it seems easy enough so solve by telling him to attack batters more with his fastball. On the other hand, success for a pitcher is as much about mental makeup as it is about physical talent. He has been told throughout the season to start going after batters but has yet to do so consistently. Olson could have a promising future with the Orioles, but he first has to start playing with the confidence of a major leaguer. So much for an aberration…

ACC Tears its ACL
The Atlantic Coast Conference is now publishing injury reports for all of its football teams prior to each week’s games. Within the conference, this is a rather benign idea- everyone is playing with the same information. Of course this opens the door to Belichick-esque ambiguity and petty misdirection, but at least everyone can do it. But what does this say about non-conference games? When Maryland plays California on September 13th, the Bears will know the status of Maryland’s injured players while Maryland’s coaches are left in the dark to guess who they will have to account for on the field.

It isn’t that this is a bad idea, but it should not be handled at the conference level. If this is worth attending to, it should be attended to by the NCAA as a whole- and good luck to anyone who tries to get the NCAA to act on anything. The problem is not whether or not to have injury reports; personally I don’t mind which way it is handled. However it is handled should be the same for every team in Division I. Injury reports, as the NFL has shown us, have been a source of great subterfuge. Don’t subject ACC teams to stricter standards than their competition, no matter how small the disadvantage.

National Favre League
I know this is a Maryland sports blog, but every other media outlet is talking Favre so I just can’t help it (bring it on, Windsor and Falco). It is being reported by various sources that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has spoken with ownership of the Green Bay Packers regarding Brett Favre. He is demanding that the Packers either accept him back onto the team (and it is implied that they start him) or trade him sooner rather than later. The Grand Commish has ostensibly stated that he will not have a league where Brett Favre is refused the right to play in the league because the Packers won’t let him play for them and won’t let him play elsewhere.

Goodell realizes that this is damaging the image of one of the NFL’s more recognizable players and forcing fans to choose between a football icon and one of the league’s most storied franchises. In that competition, football loses. The Commissioner wants the situation dealt with as fast as possible, as this story seems to have legs that will never get tired. Moreover, Goodell realizes that no player of Favre’s status should be locked out of the league if he wants to play. The NFL cannot afford to force Favre into permanent retirement under these circumstances or risk alienating a great ambassador of the game. I’m normally against league interference in teams, but this is another great move by Goodell on behalf of the game of football.

Blue Jaywalking

I saw a characteristic O’s game last night. A pitcher had retired 6 straight and was cruising going into the 7th inning. The opposition had just padded their lead and the other team was burning through relievers and looked to be going under. Then suddenly, a single. Then a walk. Then the wheels completely came off as a thunderous comeback brought the game to a tie, to be finished off in the bottom of the 9th as yet another mistake was exploited for runs, ending the game 7-6. There was one problem with this vision, however.

The Orioles weren’t making the comeback, they were the ones giving up the win.

With 26 of 44 wins being come from behind, I am almost more nervous when the Orioles are ahead in the late innings than I am when they are behind. Recently however, the bullpen has been allowing more and more games to slip away after playing lights-out for the first two months of the season. Not that anyone can blame them or their exhausted arms- we have already focused heavily on relief pitching worries here on Around the Harbor, but last night’s loss was just not at all characteristic of this team. Against the Expos (they call themselves the Nationals, but we know they’re the Expos), the Royals, and the Rangers, the Orioles let go of games they should have won. This team cannot afford to do so and still finish with a respectable record.

There will be many questions about this game, in addition to understandable shock and outrage. I will do my best to answer them:

Should Daniel Cabrera have been left in the game in the 7th inning after allowing the first two base runners? While Cabrera had played well over the previous few innings, he had walked 4 batters already and had a pitch out of 101. I understand that when Cabrera is starting you know you can afford to pitch him a bit longer than you would a standard starter, but when he loses his control it is difficult to get it back. Dave Trembley was looking to stop the bleeding before a rally got started. Had Dennis Sarfate performed as he is expected to, it would have.

Is Alberto Castillo that bad? No. The moment he came in the game I knew it would not end well. He may be 33 years old, but he was making his first major league appearance, and unlike a young pitcher, he knows that if he blows this opportunity he might never pitch in the majors again. That much pressure, particularly as he entered the game with runners in scoring position with the task of keeping Toronto from tying or taking the lead, cannot lead to an accurate picture of whether he can be a solid relief pitcher while others get healthy.

How long until Alex Cintron comes back? I never thought I would long for Cintron’s defense until I watched Freddie Bynum play shortstop over the last week. Two critical errors over that stretch have caused two Orioles losses. His second stint in Baltimore is going even worse than his first, and it is unlikely we will ever see him in Baltimore again once Alex comes off the DL.