Amber's further adventures in blogging
There are times when I'm just not sure what planet she's on.
How long has it been since the Orioles had a legitimate outfield?
2003, probably. Bigbie (117 OPS+), Matos (113) and Gibbons (106). Not great, mind you. But legitimate. All of them slugged in the .450s. Plus they had Surhoff (101) and, oh right, an injury-hampered Melvin Mora (143 -- and you knew who you were then!).
Probably hasn't been since the mid-90s.
Well...that is an interesting estimate. Remember, this is "legitimate," not necessarily "impactful" or "special." The 2000 O's had the ancient Belle/Brady/BJ trio, too. More sickly bees than killer. But they all OPS'd on or slightly above the league average, really -- 109, 106, 104.
But let's be kind, rewind, and say that maybe the 2003 and 2000 Orioles outfields didn't happen, although they did and they were all firmly competent. The 1999 Orioles had Albert Belle, Brady Anderson and BJ Surhoff, too. They were, how do you say, pretty f'n good. Belle was at 142, Brady at 128, Surhoff at 115. They were a damn sight better than either of the playoff outfields of '96 and '97.
Last night we learned the O's have one now. The defense was phenomenal as Nick Markakis gunned down Whitesox slugger Jim Thome at 3rd base in the 3rd inning from right field. Look for it on SportsCenter. Then in the 5th, Luke Scott threw a rocket home from left field---Orlando Cabrera was meat.
Scott's throw was one of the prettiest throws I've seen in my 5-seasons covering the Orioles. Honestly, when it happened, it was as if I'd seen Sasquatch.
I knew those type of throws probably existed, but I'd never seen one---not by an Oriole at least. Hopefully, my friends will believe me when I re-tell the story.
Here's where Amber always really starts to lose me. Whether it's the insane Easter chocolate bunny Jesus ramblings of a madwoman or equating a couple of throws with seeing Sasquatch, she never fails to deliver the delirious goods.
Let's also not ignore that she is basically saying here, "I know Sasquatch probably exists, but I've never seen him/her/it." Well if an Oriole outfielder can make an assist, it's just a matter of time before Amber does confront the famed "Big Foot," so I guess that's good for everyone.
Those two plays go much further than just last night. From here on out, forward scouts from ball clubs all over the league will write, "do not run on right or left fielders," when preparing their base runners to face the Orioles.
And here it goes with Amber's knowledge of the scouts again. Last time, it was any baseball scout telling you how realistic it was that Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez would hit 25 home runs this season, despite that Millar has done that once, half a decade ago, and is 100 years old, plus Ramon's lack of EVER doing it before and being on the bad side of 30 and a catcher. Sure, just ask the scouts!
Also, from this point henceforth, thanks to two throws, all runners will be instructed to never run on the cannon arms of Markakis and Scott. This will probably give the Orioles a good +10 in the W-L standings. Particularly considering that Markakis gunned down the fleet-footed and elusive JIM THOME, who runs about as well as Sasquatch does anymore.
Offensively Scott and Markakis are both batting over .300.
A useless statistic.
Good teams have solid outfielders who can hit and have good arms.
They also have pitching, infielders that can hit scattered about...
Also, we just discussed some good or at least not bad outfields. All on bad teams.
Imagine in a year-or-two when Adam Jones really comes into his own. The Bird's outfield could be one of the best in the Major Leagues.
I am having a good time imagining the outfield as belonging to The Bird, I'll give you that. The Bird running meetings wherein he expresses disappointment in Adam Jones' struggles with offspeed stuff, but doesn't get on his case about it. The Bird spending entirely too much time on batting average and the very occasional chances that right fielders get to throw out guys at third base, or left fielders to throw someone out at home.
Turns out The Bird is Dave Trembley. Which I agree is awesome.
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Looking back at that '99 team
Belle, Brady, and BJ sure did mash the ball….and so did Cal and Baines. Even Charles Johnson had 16 HRs
Mussina won 18 games, and Scott Erickson won 15….even fat Sid had 12 wins.
So how the hell did that team suck as bad as they did?
by Chanumas on Apr 18, 2008 3:49 PM EDT 0 recs
Crappy luck?
According to baseball reference.com, their Pythagorean Win-Loss record was 84-78, while their actual record was 78-84. D’oh!
MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC
by spike2131 on
Apr 18, 2008 10:39 PM EDT
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well
Cal only played 86 games, Baines in 107. Will Clark was really good over 77 games, too. The team was fuckin’ geriatric.
Mussina had his usual good year, but Erickson’s 15-12 was fairly lucky as he was really a hair below league average overall, about the same as Ponson. Juan Guzman was good when he was in.
The rest of the pitching was awful. The entire bullpen before Mike Timlin was a wreck.
So, in short, old farts, lots of lineup changing, injuries, age, horrible relief pitching, unreliable starting pitching outside of Moose. 78-84 seems about right for a team that was pretty good on its best days with Mussina on the mound but pretty bad a lot of the time.
by SC on Apr 18, 2008 3:59 PM EDT 0 recs
way to use the reply, Scott
Anyway, it’s also worth noting that their Pythagorean W-L was 84-78, so they were the Unlucky Team among the 10-year Oriole collapse.
by SC on
Apr 18, 2008 3:59 PM EDT
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Oh yeah....
That was the Heathcliff Slocumb year….
and even Timlin was pretty unspectacular
by Chanumas on
Apr 18, 2008 4:10 PM EDT
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Timlin had serious confidence issues back then
Wolf, wolf, wolf.
by birdman on
Apr 18, 2008 4:22 PM EDT
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wow...
according to bp, luke scott is “vying to be the first Orioles left fielder to finish with a positive VORP since Larry Bigbie in 2004, which speaks volumes about this franchise’s recent ineptitude.”
"Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones."
by j.q. higgins on Apr 18, 2008 4:19 PM EDT 0 recs
Perhaps...
The Bird could, oh- I dunno, lose Brandon Fahey on the next road trip, and notice that this team could use more Moore… but only after he looks it up.
Improving the ballclub: Not one of Peter Angelos' concerns.-SC Wed Jan 30, 2008
by dayzd toe on Apr 18, 2008 4:33 PM EDT 0 recs
At times
Amber reminds me of this dolt Sarah Green that does a sports column for the Highlights of free dailies, the Metro, here in Boston. I imagine that Amber and Sarah know more about sports than they are letting on, but they write to the lowest common denominator—people that like sports (like your hometown bumpkin), but aren’t really into sports, so it’s easy to tear them apart.
They are not writing for us, they are writing for idiots.
"We might as well just win this game." -Adam Jones
by exitfare on Apr 18, 2008 5:03 PM EDT 0 recs
don't buy what?
that she knows more?
that may very well be true.
"We might as well just win this game." -Adam Jones
by exitfare on
Apr 18, 2008 5:19 PM EDT
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yeah
I mean there is something be said for writing for the casual fan and trying to keep hope alive! (which I think is dumb, but that’s me, and most people don’t feel that way probably), but she gets things wrong. Not like, “I like small ball” wrong, just plain old wrong. Bill Plaschke says things I think are idiotic, too, but he at least gets his numbers right.
by SC on
Apr 18, 2008 5:23 PM EDT
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Are you the Grinch?
I look forward to the blogs, pretty much for the precise reasons you do. I can completely understand wondering why the hell she writes a column, especially if that’s your line of work. But it’s pretty obvious, so I just find the humor in it.
by drj on Apr 18, 2008 6:52 PM EDT 0 recs
Well
at least it’s a safe bet she writes the shit herself – and there’s something to be said for that, I guess. It’s pretty wacked out stuff though, and she takes it way too far. She’s in desperate need of an editor that knows how to say no.
by Jonny Pops on Apr 18, 2008 8:25 PM EDT 0 recs





















