And with the team in the general over the past few days is astounding

1) Let’s start by looking beyond just this game. It is absolutely unfathomable to me that Dave doesn’t give Roberts and Markakis a day off. He somehow sits Luke freakin’ Scott two days ago, the hottest fucking hitter on the planet….and in contrast, Roberts and Markakis are completely in the shitter, and we have OK bench players who could use some more ABs (Andino and Pie), and yet they still trudge out there everyday. Naturally, I’m upset with the players themselves for their play, but give them a freaking day off. Pie has about 4 ABs in the last month and Andino, IIRC, was 4-5 in his last game. (Surely if he can play short he can play second.)

2) Moving to today’s game…reading that there were indeed 4 failed hit and runs just makes me laugh, it’s so absurd. I’ve watched other teams and you don’t see 4 hit and runs attempted in a month. To paraphrase something I read tonite on the OH (yes, occasionally there is intelligence exhibited over there): Just stand on the damn base and wait for someone to hit the ball. You’ll score more runs doing that.

How Juan Samuel still has a job is beyond me. (But then again, how Tom Trebelhorn had a job for so long boggled the mind as well.) This isn’t really about Huff’s boner at 3rd today—thats pretty much on him—but more about Samuel’s perpetual windmill tendencies. How many runners have we had thrown out at the plate this year, often not even on close plays? I mean, shouldn’t we just put a mirror out there and let the runners decide for themselves whether or not to run?

Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dave likes Juan, seeing as how much he likes “aggressive” baseball—in other words, baseball that costs teams runs over the long haul. With the exception of Roberts stealing bases (and he needs to stop getting his ass picked off…or just get as far as first base to begin with, that would be nice too), this team shouldn’t be going anywhere on the bases. Starting Aubrey freakin’ Huff with a hitter not exactly afraid of the strikeout (Mora) is laughable.

3) That moves me to the next point, concerning the top of the 9th tonite – how Dave doesn’t either a) have Mora bunt, b) pinch-run for Huff, or c) BOTH! I mean, why do we even have Felix Pie on the team? Or, hell, Andino could have run for Huff. Either way, Wiggington takes his place in the line-up, obviously. You bunt Mora, Huff’s on 2nd with one out, and they either deal with Luke Scott, or they walk him and put 2 on for WIeters and Reimold. What are we worried about, Huff’s turn at bat coming up again in 2-3 innings?

There are other problems…Wieters’ DP was ugly, but I mean, come on, I’m not gonna rag on that dude. But this flaccid penis of an offense is getting old (3 runs or fewer in 9 of the last 10 games). Brian and Nick can stop sucking whenever they feel like it now. And the entire team needs to relearn the joys of taking a freaking walk (Jones and Markakis swinging at the first pitch in the first inning last night after Brian had just worked Bedard to an 8-pitch at-bat was absurd.

And it also goes back to Dave. Why does he warm up Baez tonite and then bring in Johnson? Why do we have Wiggington, if he doesn’t start against lefties? Why do we have Pie, if not for pinch-running/late game D? How in the bloody hell does Luke Scott not start two days ago? How do Roberts and Markakis not get a day off? How can we continue to bat Mora (and his 682 OPS before tonite) as high as 5th, with Scott and his plus-1000 OPS (before tonite) as low as 6th?

Sorry for the long post…had to vent

But I haven’t heard anyone question Dave on the baserunning miscues or the hit and run/small ball failures in the past. But I doubt they will. Every question I usually hear in his post game press conference might as well be asked by Amber (no offense to Amber, but her job is different than a reporter so you know what I mean). It’s softball city.

Every time I look up he has that fat lug running somewhere. There’s probably only one guy on the team who should be playing much more than station-to-station ball. I really hate the hit-and-run.

Thank you, z. Thank you.

Everyone knows I’m generally a Dave defender, but there was a time when the hit-and-run play was employed with an element of surprise. I’ve called every single running situation tonight before it happened, because Trembley calls it virtually every time a hitter is ahead in the count with a runner on first base or runners at first and second with less than two outs.

The three straight hit-and-run situations in the ninth forced Melvin Mora to swing at every pitch. It takes the discretion away from the hitter and creates the opportunity to make two outs when a borderline pitch might get called a ball and give you two baserunners with no one out. Worse still, the Orioles do it so regularly that opposing pitchers probably know they don’t have to give in when they’re behind in the count. That’s why God made advance scouts.

Of course, he advocates sacrifice bunts instead, but at least someone is saying something. I just wonder if anyone says it to Dave?

i’m tired of watching him get owned out there – the play at 3rd last night was especially bad – but the whole team from roberts to markakis to mora, etc., all have blundered on bases regularly.

they need a seminar or something.

How good has our young pitching been lately!

Remember when we all thought our offense was good??? What a fucking hallucination that was – these guys are terrible!

Nobody works the count any more, there’s NO situational hitting, nobody can score the runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs. FUCK!

The O’s did not clearly have this game in the bag. With the recent hitting struggles, they clearly did not. That’s what makes giving up at least an entire innings with baserunning blunders aggravating. The O’s needed all the chances they could muster to plate some runs. The stupid aggressive play took those opportunities away.

he pitched swell. I sorta wanted to vote for Hwigglingggton out of sheer ecstasy over not seeing him in the line-up, but you can’t have everything. And I’m actually surprised at the small % Luuuuuuke has drawn to this point (22) considering both his input last night and his brain-bending hot streak. The guy probably lies down in bed in his hotel room and sets the sheets on fire. I hope he’s not rooming with Huff, who will get picked off or caught stealing while trying to hit the smoke alarm.

While Z’s J’accuse summary is perfectly fair, and I agree that this Wacky Hit ‘n’ Run till You Die thing spells just what you’d expect (wacky death), I still can’t get myself volcanic over it. The quote-baserunning-end quote we’ve seen over the last fortnight has been so other worldly— the stuff nightmares are made of, in fact. And reeks of 2007, which was largely a 162-game nightmare, come to think of it.

I’m still not over OUR BEST PLAYER GETTING THROWN OUT ON A WALK. I mean, if that’s ever happened before in MLB, it was probably to a NY Highlanders pinch runner not yet familiar with the rules of “base ball” or the rules of English or both. Did anybody else on that thread even freakin’ BLINK? Are we that NUMB now? Are we not men?

Poll: The Orioles baserunning coach is actually

a. Pee Wee Herman
b. Barnum N. Bailey
c. dead from the neck up
d. we have a baserunning coach?

Put otherwise, our baserunning is one big adventure brought to you by circus people who haven’t been exercising the anterior lobes of their cerebellums much lately because they don’t actually exist. Or something. Are ya with me?

OK, day off today— just try to stay off the basepaths of busy urban intersections, fellas.

Go O’s!

After reading Stacy’s writeup, I’m not that sorry I did. 4 failed hit and run attempts and 2 pickoffs would have driven me up the wall.