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.

Sunday continues to haunt the Orioles

Hello everyone, I'm Falco, and welcome to the Around the Harbor sports blog. I'm the most traditionialist of us three, given my fascination with sports history. I'm probably the biggest lacrosse fan of us three, given I freelance for Inside Lacrosse, but baseball is by far my favorite sport. But like most sports fans, I'm very opinionated.

The Sunday curse struck again for the Orioles, as they lost 11-10 to the Texas Rangers despite a valiant 5-run comeback attempt in the final two innings. The Orioles now have fallen to 1-13 on Sunday games, and 44-43 overall. Only thing I would question with the O's is the use of shortstop Freddie Bynum, who would go 0-3 and made a terrible throw to destroy a double play opportunity, which prolonged the 5-run Texas 8th inning. Kevin Millar had a solo shot and two doubles on the day.

So we fans couldn't take advantage of the "We Win, You Win" deal where if the Orioles won the game, fans could get a free ticket in the same section in a future non-prime game. I'm not sure which game I would want, but I've wanted to see the new Rays for a while. Do you remember anything like this from last season? The Orioles were bad on Sunday games then as well, but this offer never occured. There really does seem to be a sense of revival among the fans. Considering this was supposed to be a rebuilding year with many "experts" saying the Orioles would lose triple digit games, this season has been a huge success thus far with a winning season and improved attendance. It still is a rebuilding year and the Orioles won't make the playoffs, but a .500+ record at the break would be great.

The Orioles go on the road to Toronto and Boston before the All-Star Break. If Adam Loewen is hurt (he left the Sunday game with an arm injury), then the Orioles don't have a true long reliever for the road trip with Matt Albers out. This will put a lot of strain on the rotation, and they may need to go longer than normal. But if the Orioles can pull out three or more wins, they go into the break with over a .500 record.

(Photo credit: Gail Burton, AP)