Gameday Thread: O's (24-23) @ Rays (28-20)

try not to suck.

I thought it was a sign of absolutely no confidence to take our two best players out the day that Traschel is coming back, but I suppose it has more to do with Roberts and Markakis slumping than it has to do with trying to guarantee a Traschel loss. Still, it does not look good for Trax tonight.

and his blog at The (Baltimore) Sun

Interesting lineup

No Brian Roberts. No Nick Markakis. No Ramon Hernandez.

Check it out:

Freddie Bynum – SS

Melvin Mora – 3B

Aubrey Huff – DH

Kevin Millar – 1B

Luke Scott – LF

Jay Payton – RF

Alex Cintron – 2B

Adam Jones – CF

Guillermo Quiroz – C

Steve Trachsel – P

Matt Wieters has returned to Single-A Frederick’s lineup after missing the last two games with a jammed left thumb. He’s serving as the designated hitter and batting third.

The Commodores are holding a concert here after tonight’s game. They just got done rehearsing while Fernando Cabrera threw a bullpen session. I’m sure he enjoyed unleashing fastballs to Brick House.

In case you’re wondering, I’ve been told that I’m easy like Sunday morning.

Lionel Richie isn’t here, however, which is in keeping with the Rays’ concert series theme. They had Sly & the Family Stone earlier this year, but without Sly. And Sha Na Na without Bowser.

Gotta admit, I’m not a big fan of The Captain without Tennille.

Sure his average is down, but his OBP is higher than last year, he is still slugging .442, and his K/BB ratio is much improved. It might be worrisome that he is only batting .264 but everyone thinks that will come around anyways and as is evident by the amount of walks he has, guys are just pitching around him because there really is absolutely no one to protect him.

appears to be working, rumors of an hourlong blackout notwithstanding

there are no announcers miked into the feed.
i can hear thorne’s voice somewhere off camera.
video feed is just raw.

Edwin Jackson ain’t got it today – 12 straight balls?

Ouch. We GOTTA jump on this guy tonight.

somebody turned on their mics.

good lord. we can’t score a run to save our life.

fucking kidding me.

In fact, even Joe Angel said “You gotta be kidding me.”

Jackson throws FOURTEEN BALLS in 17 pitches., WALKS the bases loaded with just one out. And the Orioles can’t score ONE DAMN RUN.

UnFuckingBelievable.

Tampa scored, so we can all go about our normal Saturday activities. There will be no O’s win tonight.

We can’t even look forward to decent pitching tonight.

and these asshole announcers don’t know:
-who’s batting
-what the score is
-what’s going on in the field.

i’m not sure i can watch. maybe i should just head out.

“right now, steve trachsel is doing his thing”

haha thats god damn right

what say you gentlemen?

These young guys need to learn how to pitch in the bigs. This season is all about having the youngsters learn.

I like that kid.

he’s playing hard today.

The Orioles scored a run!

Trachsel has to be done after this game, right? We can’t continue to give him starts over Albers or any of the other youngsters, can we?

it’s afro night at the trop

i mean, dude just has nothing left

this is really it right? shit even sendy rhleal could do better than this.

thorne just said the tv feed is up.

i’m heading off in disgust. may be back later. Trachsel has to to be done.

and the first thing I see is a triple.

ooooooooof.

Another gem from Joe Angel, as Trachsel stepped off the rubber: “I mean, it’s understandable.. if you had Steve Trachsel’s ‘stuff’, you wouldn’t want to throw it, either.”

Haha he’s ripping on him tonight.

We wish you well in all your future endeavors.

this is just utter shame.

Steve Trachsel’s career is OVER.

who do we think gets the long relief role?

from what i can gather.

It isn’t a 20 game losing streak, but instead they drop 2 out of three for five out of six series’s.

that Trachsel’s excuse after this one will be something like, “Well, that’s what happens when you get skipped in the rotation twice.”

Seriously, without a “nail in the coffin, man he really IS cooked” start like tonight, Trax sticks around a few more weeks, maybe months. Better to get this out of the way now and DFA him than drag this out.

Edwin finds his control after getting an 8-run lead.

speaking of DONE

thanks for that uplifting moment.

we’re going to win

Only down by SIX now! Woo-hoo!

I’m a fan of the guy, but you only get so many mental blunders to go along with that .240 average at 36 years old before someone like Salazar or Moore is called up. Or anyone. Anyone at all. Please.

I say yes.

This is the organization that trotted out guys like Brower and Ortiz until everyone was sick of just the mention of their name. Will Trax be the next?

go Os.
we will win.

Guess how many we scored.

If you said NONE, you’ve obviously watched an O’s game in the past 3 days.

What are these numbers?

1.2, 5.1, 3.0, 3.0, 6.1, 2.1

This game is fun, the O’s are well on their way for fifth now. Now that Trax is gonna be DFA, Albers should have been the guy to start next but he has most certainly not impressed tonight. While you all rooted for Trax to get beat up so that he was axed I hoped he would hold on, so that they don’t rush any of our pitchers up through the farm to fill in the gaping hole now left with both Loewen and Trax gone along with the fact that Burres should be dropping off soon enough.

bet they don’t score

I flipped over to the Cubs-Pirates game, and was rewarded with 14 innings of baseball, that was much more entertaining than watching the O’s get stomped.

I think I would’ve made through 2 before retiring. Which is more than we can hope for from Trax, obviously. C’mon, is it time for the other cleat to drop or what?

Meanwhile, just to rub it in, the Sidwatch: a 6 hitter this week (10-1 win), leaving him at 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA. See how nicely our investments pay off…for other people?

OK, Daniel, the term “stopper” was invented for what you’re going to do tonight/this afternoon. Just do it. Please. Go O’s!