O's 7, Rays 4: First place is Birdland

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 9:37 AM EDT

Garrett Olson pitched a quality start in his return to Baltimore, and the O's got rid of Rays starter Jason Hammel in short order to pound out a 7-4 win at home and stay tied with the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

I watched the game but didn't talk, and here were my impressions of Olson last night, in numbered form!

Five walks in six and two thirds is still just not good. At all.
I won't, however, go so far as to say he was "the same guy" as last year. He dealt better with falling behind and even losing batters, and those that pointed out the small strike zone last night (probably a more correct strike zone than most pitchers are used to anymore) are correct. He never lost his head and threw fat pitches just to get them over. He trusted that his stuff and his defense would bail him out. It's a dangerous way to live if you're going to walk that many, but it's the right mindset, I'd say.
I was glad to see him wearing No. 18 instead of 57. Last year, Alberto Castillo had 18, and 18 has been worn by the likes of Pat Kelly, Javy Lopez, Jeff Conine, Bob Milacki, Damon Buford, and, of course, Larry Sheets.
I'd rather see Olson struggle and learn than watch Steve Trachsel simply struggle.

Who's slumping? Nick Markakis and Luke Scott, that's who. But Razor Ramon seems to be finding his swing, and Aubrey Huff continues to kill the Rays. Huff is also having a good April by his own standards, and that deserves to be said.

If the Birds win tonight and Boston loses, then we'll have finished April in sole possession of first place in the AL East. For a team that was supposed to lose 95-100 games, that's pretty good. And it's been a lot of fun to watch this team play hard and win some ballgames.

In the end, sanity usually wins out, and Boston and New York will end up vying for the division, and Tampa Bay might make a LITTLE noise, and Toronto will continue to be madly overrated by TV people if nobody else, and the O's will probably wind up finishing in fifth. The White Sox, Marlins, Athletics and Cardinals are also all in the thick of things at the tops of their respective divisions. April is always a fun month. And of those five teams (including the O's), two of them might actually make a run all year, even if none of them wind up winning anything.

The unexpected does happen. The Orioles contending this year, however, would be far more than unexpected. Which makes it all the more fun.

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walks...

it is fair (or is it?) fair mentioning that olson was pitching on short rest. i don’t know how many pitches he threw the other day in his 2 1/3 inning outing at norfolk, but he was most def gassed last night when he left at 105 pitches.

he only had 2 walks after 5 innings which i’d look at as a huge step for olson. i recall last year it was painful to watch him try to get through 5 w/o reaching 100 pitches and walking 5/6 batters.

ronnie's a dillweed.

by j.q. higgins on Apr 30, 2008 9:43 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

He threw 41 pitches the other night, 19 for strikes. He’s had bouts of control problems in the minors, too, it’s not just up here.

Actually, I’m pretty stunned that (1) he threw 105 pitches last night, and (2) they let him. I thought he’d be pulled after five, but brother man got us into the seventh. That’s a fair and probably big factor.

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 9:58 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Olson did look like he'd taken a step or two...

...which is what you want out of a young pitcher coming to the majors for the 2nd time, right?

I agree with the notion of being unable to compete year-round. Even if our starters all pitch to the best of their ability, the defense is solid, and the bullpen is lights out, there is just no way we have a contending offense. No way at all. Not with Millar and Huff batting 4th and 5th. Not with Luis Hernandez in the lineup. Not with Mora continuing to OBP under .300. There’s just no chance. We’ve been really, really lucky so far, other teams have made mistakes, other teams have failed to capitalize on our mistakes. It won’t be like that all year.

"Might as well just win this game." - Adam Jones, 4/17/2008

Adam Jones is the tits.

by KenDixonFanClub on Apr 30, 2008 9:51 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Shut up

What you say is true but no one wants to hear it right now, Captain Buzzkill.

by punkrawka on Apr 30, 2008 10:01 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

T.S.

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 10:03 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

what does T.S. mean?

"Might as well just win this game." - Adam Jones, 4/17/2008

Adam Jones is the tits.

by KenDixonFanClub on Apr 30, 2008 3:46 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Lemme guess

Tough shit?

I've got two nickels and a paradigm. - RWH

by BPinOK on Apr 30, 2008 4:51 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

They've also had a pretty easy schedule so far

The Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Indians, and Angels are the class of the AL (2008 records notwithstanding), and the Orioles have played a grand total of 3 games against those teams so far.

57 of their remaining 135 games (over 40%) are against one of those teams.

I still expect this team to win less than 70 games.

by dkdc on Apr 30, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

for that to happen, they'll have to go 54-82 for the rest of the year

which is distinctly possible, i suppose. but i’m a little more optimistic than

by zknower on Apr 30, 2008 11:40 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Also

The Yankees are not remotely the class of the AL. They have question marks all over the place.

by zknower on Apr 30, 2008 11:41 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

they always do

They’ll patch their holes. They always do. Plus while I’m not confident in Ian Kennedy’s rebounding chances, I think Phil Hughes will end this season as their No. 2 starter. And they’ll get someone else, too.

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 11:53 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

it's gonna be hard to patch the posada hole if he has to have surgery

there aren’t a lot of good catchers out there, or dintcha notice?

by zknower on May 1, 2008 8:42 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

they could trade for Ramon Hernandez

Or try to lure Javy Lopez out of retirement. I hear he’s in the best shape of his life!

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on May 1, 2008 12:06 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Ramon would go to NYY

and his BA would immediately rise 50 points, just to spite us.

"If you're a fantasy baseball player, don't pick anybody from the Orioles. ... Nobody is going to pop your eyes out. But if you're in the American League East, bring your lunch, because you're going to need it." - Kevin Millar

by duck on May 1, 2008 8:30 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I am in NY right now

and apparently the Yankees are still the best team and most storied franchise baseball.

Also, apparently the Orioles suck.

"We might as well just win this game." -Adam Jones

by exitfare on Apr 30, 2008 4:57 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

competing year-round

“there is just no way we have a contending offense.”

Yeah, our offense is just terrible. Our pitching has been pretty damn good so far which has allowed us to overcome a crappy offense. But our pitching is not nearly this good. Albers, JJ, and Burres are bound to struggle at some point this year. Same with Randor. And I’m not sure if I’m 100% on board with our closer, Glorified G.

Wolf, wolf, wolf.

by birdman on Apr 30, 2008 5:16 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Olson

I am willing to blame those walks on what appeared to be a ridiculous strike zone. I could only watch it on gamecast so i don’t know how reliable this is but there were pitches in the middle of the strike zone being called balls. In fact I am quite proud that a young pitcher would work through all that.

by Reddrummer9187 on Apr 30, 2008 10:21 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

O's 2008

Runs Scored: 115 Runs Against: 114

Going into last night, they were running a deficit. So this current record is a bit lucky.

by drj on Apr 30, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Lucky is better than good

MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC

by spike2131 on Apr 30, 2008 11:28 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

no it's not

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 11:29 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

sometimes

Improving the ballclub: Not one of Peter Angelos' concerns.-SC Wed Jan 30, 2008

by dayzd toe on Apr 30, 2008 11:45 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I'd rather be both

"Turn them over to us one time. I'll show them where the other side of the fence is." - Dave Trembley

by duck on Apr 30, 2008 12:03 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Would you rather

Have a 15-11 record with 115 Runs Scored and 114 Runs Against, or a 13-13 record with 125 Runs scored and 105 Runs Against?

Given, those numbers don’t mean a lot this early in the season. But in the first case you are winning a lot of close games, and in the second case, you aren’t. Lucky is better than good.

MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC

by spike2131 on Apr 30, 2008 3:56 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

"Lucky is better than good"

The later will eventually catch up the former. We’re couple of games above our pythag, which suggest we’re a bit lucky. Eventually, we’ll run out of luck.

Wolf, wolf, wolf.

by birdman on Apr 30, 2008 5:22 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

"Lucky better than good?"

I think this will be in top 5 worst camden chat debates

by Y Not on Apr 30, 2008 5:25 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Luck = preparation + opportunity

I’ve got a million more sports cliches for you guys if you ever need them, by the way.,

"Turn them over to us one time. I'll show them where the other side of the fence is." - Dave Trembley

by duck on Apr 30, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

The later will eventually catch up the former.

Not if you are lucky, it wont.

MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC

by spike2131 on Apr 30, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

we don't hit enough

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 5:49 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Just ask Matt Albers...

Or Jeremy Guthrie, for that matter

by duck on May 1, 2008 7:48 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

"Not if you are lucky, it wont."

I need some of that.

Wolf, wolf, wolf.

by birdman on Apr 30, 2008 5:53 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

The AL east is weird with RS and RA right now.

The Red Sox are barely over, the Yankees are under, and the Blue Jays, who are 5 games under .500, are above even. I’m sure that doesn’t mean much of anything, but I noticed it.

I don’t think the Orioles can keep this up, but I do think they’re going to finish much better than I did before the season started. They might have a better record than they have in a few years. I think its less luck and more them playing harder. Maybe not, but I feel like last year the team kind of gave up, they almost never came back when they were down.

by Pack Man on Apr 30, 2008 11:55 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I’m going to hold back optimism on final record until I see how they do in July and after. That’s when recent Orioles teams have thrown the towel right the fuck in and tanked. So far this team doesn’t look like one that’ll collapse and give up, but you could’ve said that in 2005, too. And in 2002.

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Apr 30, 2008 11:57 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

well, again...

luck, luck, luck.

the team will not keep coming back and winning one run games. just like it was improbable for the team to SO drastically UNDERPERFORM in one run games last year.

ronnie's a dillweed.

by j.q. higgins on Apr 30, 2008 12:23 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs