Semi-sweet Lou (with sacharrin. deal with it)

by b_duardo on Sep 1, 2009 6:51 PM EDT

an ode to the loser - 2009 Orioles baseball

Poor Lou.

Coming off the eastern-leauge triple crown he was presented with competition in sping training. Lou was dominant but he lost out on the job to the toolsy pick-up with the twisted testicle and the lack of options.

Felix opened the year lousy. Everyone hated him except for Duck. It seemed he would never do anything more noteworthy than twisting his testicle. On the farm, Lou was tearing it up but now Reimold was breathing down his neck. His window was short. The former first rounder had finally gotten himself into a position to succeed.

And then... he didn't. He broke his thumb or something. He is back this week but I don't think he will ever be back with us. And we are all better for it.

Happy trails, here's wishing you a great year or two in the national league. Maybe you can be eric byrnes (without the defense or zany excitement).

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Comments

eric byrnes?

lofty goals. maybe david newhan.

Matt Wieters can get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop in under one lick.

by daveh873 on Sep 1, 2009 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

i feel like you already might have heard

but lou montanez can hit. something, something, something

by b_duardo on Sep 1, 2009 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions

some part of me wishes that

The Twisted Testicle would have stuck. It has some strange alliterative resonance with the Splendid Splinter

by b_duardo on Sep 1, 2009 10:55 PM EDT reply actions

Actually, I wasn't defending Pie, iirc

I thought he should have been benched 3 weeks before he was.

Baltimo? He’s president of the Felix Pie Fan Club.

And my initial thought of benching him before May 1 was probably not a good one, given how he’s improved.

Jim Palmer: "I said to Nolan, 'Why do you run every ball out like that?' and he said, 'Why wouldn’t you?' "

by duck on Sep 2, 2009 7:27 AM EDT reply actions

I am and was angry about Felix being benched

Because it signaled a a complete failure by the front office.

Wasn’t Felix brought in to play in a no-pressure zone? If so, why was he ousted so quickly? Didn’t we know that he would fail initially like in Chicago?

I don’t want to bring the Pie argument into another thread, but the aforementioned questions seem pretty valid.

"There's only one cure for what's wrong with all of us pitchers, and that's to take a year off. Then, after you've gone a year without throwing, quit altogether." -Jim Palmer

by Baltimo on Sep 2, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn’t Felix brought in to play in a no-pressure zone?

I know this pointed was disputed in another thread, but I seem to remember reading that Pie would be given the Adam Jones treatment (i.e., he would allowed to struggle and keep his job) in LF. But I’m not 100% sure.

If so, why was he ousted so quickly? Didn’t we know that he would fail initially like in Chicago?

I think it’s because he was soooo bad in April. I think the front office was willing to put up with below average performance from Pie, but he wasn’t just bad, he was practically a little leaguer in April. Jones posted a .700 OPS in April last year. Pie posted a .461 OPS in April this year (with less ABs). Throw in some poor defense, and it’s hard to keep running a guy out there. I’m not saying this was the “right” or “fair” decision. But if Pie could have just posted a .600 OPS in April, he might have prevented Reimold from taking his job.

Birdman is too sexy for this website.

by birdman on Sep 2, 2009 5:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I guess

But I would have given him until late-June/early-July irrespectively.

"There's only one cure for what's wrong with all of us pitchers, and that's to take a year off. Then, after you've gone a year without throwing, quit altogether." -Jim Palmer

by Baltimo on Sep 2, 2009 6:52 PM EDT up reply actions

I was annoyed too

But I don’t recall reading anywhere that he was going to get a full season, just that he would get a shot.

by O'sFan21 on Sep 3, 2009 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Not a full season

But more than a few weeks.

"There's only one cure for what's wrong with all of us pitchers, and that's to take a year off. Then, after you've gone a year without throwing, quit altogether." -Jim Palmer

by Baltimo on Sep 4, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions

The Adam Jones treatment

worked because there wasn’t anybody behind. The best two hitting prospects (excepting weiters) were lined up in left field behind Pie. Pie was gifted the position. He did not earn it and that shit doesn’t fly for building a cohesive team atmosphere. It was a big FU to the guys who came into spring training and beat him out. And I would argue it ruined lou montanez’s career. The dude had to be benched when he was. And in retrospect it was a perfectly played hand.

by b_duardo on Sep 3, 2009 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Lou Montanez ruined his career by sucking for 8 years in the minors.

You know, this isn’t the first time that Pie passed him by…

"I hate making excuses. If I suck, then I suck. And I suck. That's the way I'm playing. If you suck, you suck. You have to take responsibility in this game. Right now, that's the way I feel. Yes, I suck." - Jose Guillen/quote of the year

by getxstoked on Sep 4, 2009 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions