After capping off an amazing week with a thrilling extra inning win against the Red Sox on Sunday, the Orioles are turning things around in a hurry.  After sweeping the Yankees earlier in the week, they then swept the…whoa, that was a crazy dream.

The Orioles began their slide on Opening Day. (Photo by Shawn Levin)

I just had a dream where the O’s actually were improving.  Obviously that was a dream.  They did beat the Sox on Sunday in extra innings thanks to a Nick Markakis single to drive in the winning run, but that win only broke their 10-game losing streak, or their first win since May 25, however you’d like to word it.

This past week was busy for Baltimore.  After a horrendous start, Orioles’ management decided to fire manager Dave Trembley and name Juan Samuel interim manager.

That move didn’t pay off right away, as Samuel’s first game was an 11-0 beating at the hands of the Red Sox.  Before their win against the Sox, the O’s were busy getting outscored 37-7 during month of June.

Hopefully more changes are imminent.  But what changes should be made?

First off, ownership shouldn’t be worried about spending money. Right now, their payroll sits around $73.8 million. So far this year, the Orioles are averaging 22,757 fans per game.  What do those numbers have in common, you might be asking?

Well, when you consider the last time Baltimore was somewhat competitive (2004 when they finished 78-84), the gorgeous Camden Yards saw an average attendance of 33,877.  That’s a difference of over 11,000 fans per game. If you do the math, that works out to 891,000 fans per year.

When you consider the average cost of a ticket at Camden Yards is around $25, that’s a loss of $22.7 million from 2004.  Bottom line: a payroll of about $100 million won’t cost the club much because the fans will pay the extra freight with increased attendance.

C’mon, Peter Angelos. Isn’t it embarrassing that the Enoch Pratt Free Library is outdrawing the Orioles this year?

And the road attendance is higher on average than the home attendance. That’s the very definition of a patsy.

Now is a time to bring up young talent.  I would like to see Jake Arrieta getting a phone call soon telling him to pack his bags for Baltimore.  Next it would be nice to see the O’s seriously look for that big bat in the middle of the lineup that actually might scare some pitchers.

Hopefully with those moves and key players getting healthy, we can then see some improvement.

Oh, and IM to Peter Angelos, let me know if you need Phil Garner’s number. You’ve heard of ol’ Scrap Iron, haven’t you? Jimy Williams was managing Houston in 2004 and getting booed because the underachieving Astros were 44-44 at the All-Star break?

And Garner managed them to a 48-26 record the rest of the way and took them to the playoffs?

And then won the National League pennant with the same team in 2005?

Yeah, that Phil “Scrap Iron” Garner. You might want to give him a call.

—by Andy Mindzak

Chris Tillman

With the team on a heavy downward spiral, it’s time to shake things up, and Tillman is just the person to call up.  With AAA Norfolk this year, Tillman posted a record of 5-4 with an ERA of 3.12.  Tillman also tossed a no hitter for Norfolk back in April.  Tillman pitched decently in limited action last year with the O’s but lost the 5th starter battle with David Hernandez and wound up starting the season in AAA.  With the Orioles season slipping away, now is the chance to see what he can do. [Read more...]

Just when we thought things were starting to look up, the Orioles take a few more steps back. To put it simply, this past week was brutal for the team.  Playing against Cleveland, Kansas City, Texas and Washington should have produced more than two wins, but unfortunately that’s all they could muster.

If that wasn’t enough, the news about Brian Roberts certainly didn’t help put us fans at ease. When the Guide spoke with Andy MacPhail last week, he mentioned that Roberts was just about ready to get out on the field—however the news about Roberts being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia made that seem unlikely. Hopefully B-Rob will get better soon and help the Orioles regain some respect.

The good news is that Luke Scott seems to have found his bat. (File photo)

The good news is Luke Scott seems to be out of his slump. For the week Scott was hitting .385 with two home runs and three RBI. Nick Markakis seems to be getting better after his slow start, as he hit .357 for the week. Adam Jones might be righting his ship as well. Jones hit .308 for the week with two home runs and five RBI for the O’s, which is a sight for sore eyes. Ty Wigginton didn’t hit particularly well for the week, but he did manage to drive in seven runs which was the team high for the week.

Alfredo Simon seemed to get it together after his blown save last week, earning a save and holding opposing hitters to a .143 average, but he pulled a hamstring covering first base against the Nationals and is out of action for now. The Orioles are recalling a couple of minor league pitchers to fill out the bullpen. David Hernandez picked up a much needed win and Jeremy Guthrie pitched well enough to earn a win, but alas, it was not in the cards.

As it stands right now, Baltimore with a horrendous record of 14-31, sits 18.5 games out of first place and 10 games behind the fourth-place Red Sox.

Not where you want to be, especially this early in the season. The O’s host the Oakland Athletics and then make a trip to Toronto this week.

Hopefully the team can start to string together some wins and at least make an attempt to get back into the AL East mix.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

—Andy Mindzak

Things can’t get worse…right?  After a dismal April to start the season, the Baltimore Orioles have somewhat leveled out in May and are hoping to build on this to get back in the AL East mix. Thanks to a few moves by general manager Andy MacPhail, things seem to be slightly improving.

The injury bug bit the O’s early and hard this year, taking out star second baseman Brian Roberts and newly acquired closer Mike Gonzalez, which led to their horrid start. Baltimore started the year off by posting an April record of 5-18, but have improved so far in May by going 7-7 on the month. A sweep of the hated (really hated) Boston Red Sox to start the month made people forget about their early swoon, but that quickly came to a halt at the hands of the New York Yankees who then swept the O’s. Since that sweep by the Yankees however, the O’s are 5-4 (Hey, I know it’s not much, but you have to start somewhere!).

The starting pitching has been good. The bullpen is another story. (Photo by Shawn Levin)

A big bright spot has been the Orioles starting pitching.  Kevin Millwood has done a decent job as their ace, even though he is still searching for his first win.  Young whipper snapper Brian Matusz has been consistently solid all year, and Brad Bergesen has been on fire since his recent call up, winning three starts in a row.  Another bright spot for the O’s would have to be Ty Wigginton, or as editor Jackie Watts likes to call him, “Babe” Wigginton. Wiggy is second in the American League in home runs with 12, one behind leader Paul Konerko.  Not bad for a ‘utility infielder’.

Speaking of the O’s bats, has anyone seen them?  Baltimore ranks third-to-last in on base percentage with a paltry .309 OBP.  What is even worse is their clutch hitting. The O’s are hitting a horrific .227 with runners in scoring position which is third to dead last. What MacPhail has done to help alleviate this was send down Nolan Reimold and call up Corey Patterson.  Where this really helps is by having Patterson as their leadoff hitter, that will allow Adam Jones to do his thing in the two slot, where he is a much better hitter.  Nick Markakis has been improving this month and Matt Wieters has been solid all year, but they will need help from everyone else if they plan on competing.

As for the Orioles bullpen, well at least Will Ohman has been pitching well.  If you guys really need me to tell you about the bullpen, I will, but I might need a few stiff drinks before I even think about how miserable they have been….
—Andy Mindzak

What a game. That’s all I really need to say about the O’s win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday the 13th. Before the game started, we had the opportunity to talk with General Manager Andy MacPhail, who noted that the season hasn’t gone as planned, but they are trying to make moves to turn things around. One of which was the demotion of Nolan Reimold, even though he was hitting .300 over his last six games. According to MacPhail, the move was not to light a fire under the team, but rather afford Reimold the opportunity to get his swing back. While Reimold was on his way down, Corey Patterson was on his way up. Patterson will help fill a void at the leadoff spot and will give a slight boost in left field, which was very evident on the very last play of the game.

MacPhail also said that Michael Gonzalez, the Wild Child closer on Opening Day, would be back with the team soon. (Photo by Shawn Levin)

The game started off well for the O’s, as they took a 1-0 lead thanks to a Ty Wigginton single in the fourth inning. Unfortunately for Baltimore, that would be all they would get off Felix Hernandez. Seattle struck back immediately in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs, thanks to an Ichiro Suzuki two run HR (I swear that guy is a machine). Seattle would tack on two more runs on solo home runs by Mike Sweeney and Michael Saunders. At this point, the crab cakes started to lose their luster, and everyone had the same ‘here we go again’ feeling. Not so fast.

Finally, thanks to a high pitch count, the Mariners pull Hernandez in favor of Brandon League. Patterson rudely welcomes League with a leadoff home run to close the gap. Next up, Adam Jones, who promptly strikes out, but thanks to a wild pitch, gets to first base. A single by Nick Markakis and a walk to Ty Wigginton loads the bases with one out for Luke Scott.

Normally, this isn’t a bad thing, but with the way Scott has been hitting, it wasn’t looking so good. My, how things can change with one swing of the bat! Scott, with his amazing sunglasses (circa 1993) took League’s first offering to left field for a grand slam, putting Baltimore ahead 6-5. As Scott crossed the plate, I found myself with an appetite again as I tried to track down some more crab cakes, or at least another hot dog.

With Baltimore now ahead, they summon upon new closer Alfredo Simon, who according to MacPhail, was excited about his new role as the Orioles closer. Simon induced Ryan Langerhans to ground out to second, but he then hit Josh Wilson to put the tying run on base.

Luckily for Seattle, Ken Griffey Jr. was awake this time and was able to pinch hit (Seriously though, don’t you just hate it when they try to wake you up in the seventh inning or later to pinch hit? How would anyone get some good shut eye under those conditions?). Griffey then walked before Simon was able to strike out Saunders setting the stage for the grand finale.

Simon worked ahead of Ichiro, earning an 0-2 count before Suzuki hit a soft single to the newly promoted Patterson. Patterson seemed a little slow charging the ball, but made a strong throw to home in an effort to preserve the win. The throw was a little up the first base line, but catcher Matt Wieters did a phenomenal job keeping his left leg to block the plate, reaching across his body to catch the ball, and then come back to apply the tag on Langerhans to end the game. With the crowd going ballistic, you would think there were 48,000 fans in attendance, not the listed 20,938 on hand. A pie in the face of Patterson from reliever Will Ohman made the game official. We need more games like this one, O’s!

—Andy Mindzak

I am watching the Indians have their way with the Os today on MASN, and Amber Theoharris just came on to say that Mike Gonzales, the Orioles’ opening-day closer who could not throw in the same zip code as home plate, could be back with the team soon after a rehab stint in Florida.

Please, no. The Orioles are having a hard enough time as it is.

Gonzalez’ stats so far with the Orioles:

Three games  pitched, two games lost, no wins, ERA 18.00, one save. Opposing batters are batting .556 against him. Please, can we send him farther south for more rehab? Like Antarctica?

(—Jacqueline Watts) editor (at) baltimoreguide (dot) com