Rays 8, Orioles 2: Will we ever leave the desert?
by Eat More Esskay on May 7, 2011 4:59 PM EDT
in Post-Game
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PrintHere's your one piece of good news from today's 8-2 loss at the hands of the Rays: Orioles batters took ten walks. That includes two by no other than Vladimir Guerrero, who now has four walks after going 115 plate appearances before getting his first.
Here's your bad news: everything else. Today was the kind of game where you might despair of the Orioles ever being a good baseball team again. Jeremy Guthrie only went five innings, giving up seven runs on ten hits, with a three-run home run by each of Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton, whose blast was a monster shot to the opposite field. Guts gave up a run in the first inning after Longoria doubled in Ben Zobrist, and because it was Guts pitching, you just knew the game was a lost cause from then on. Unfortunately, today was one of those days where Guthrie didn't exactly help himself out much.
Orioles hitters managed just 1-12 with runners in scoring position, including failing to score a run with the bases loaded and only one out in the bottom of the 2nd inning when the game was still just 1-0. No one could get a hit when it mattered. In an ordinary season with an ordinary team, there are games like that. The problem with the Orioles right now is it feels like every game is like that. In spite of those ten walks, O's batters only recorded five hits, and three of these were Nick Markakis. At least Nick is finally showing some signs of life at the plate, hitting 10-for-30 since May 1. He's raised his batting average by 30 points in that time. That still leaves him at .234/.291/.328 on the season. It'll be a long climb, but maybe he's finally on it.
Even the one thing that looked like it might be a positive was taken from us. Matt Wieters hit a deep drive to left field in the bottom of the 8th inning that would have been his fifth home run of the season, except the Rays' Sam Fuld made the perfect leap to grab the ball that would have landed in the front row. Video replays showed it was definitely going out if not for the catch. A two-run homer there would have at least been something to hang our hats on. But no. We are denied even that.
And so we Orioles fans continue our wandering through the desert, clinging always to the faint hope of an oasis just over the horizon, trying futilely to will into existence the cool water to slake our decade-plus thirst when we know full well that should we ever manage to lay our eyes on that promised land, as we drop to our knees to immerse ourselves in its glory, all we will truly find is scorching sand and a dream dashed once again by the cruelest of mirages.
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this was the saddest game I’ve ever been too. left in the sixth inning, it was just too much.
"I have fear, but I am not afraid."
Music City Miracles Hall Of Fame, Class of 2010
Sad game
For semi-national tv. It even played in the NorthEast for most of it because of rain in Boston.
by James (Lost in Boston) on May 7, 2011 5:35 PM EDT reply actions
Hats off to the younger generation
who have never seen an Oriole dynasty…..I jumped on the O’s as a small kid in the late 60’s because Boog and I share the same last name and the O’s kicked regular ass. All of you born after 1980 are truly tough and I tip my hat to you. Not only do you stick to your team but you do it without benefits.
If I had a message to my contemporaries, I said, it was surely this: Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. ... -Thomas Merton-
1981 here
So at least I got to have Cal. Though I wasn’t really a fan until college, when my roommate was a big baseball fan and got me to start following it too.
this team makes me hate everything.
"I have fear, but I am not afraid."
Music City Miracles Hall Of Fame, Class of 2010
by danielreese05 on May 7, 2011 6:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I know the feeling....when Angelo's fired Davey Johnson
after 2 trips to the ALCS when the O’s hadn’t sniffed the playoffs in years I had a small stroke and subsequent emotional issues…..I could go on but I only like making myself suicidally depressed on weekdays….
If I had a message to my contemporaries, I said, it was surely this: Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. ... -Thomas Merton-
Born in '84
I got to enjoy the late nineties teams and Cal. And have watched generations become Red Sox fans, sigh. This team is so very disheartning to watch sometimes, but theyre arent too far from sniffing 500 and thats all we can really realistically hope for with this team. My fave team this decade was I think the 01 team, with hairston, brob and gary mathews. they came and busted their humps everyday and came so close to 500 b4 a now all too familiar august/sept dive. yes thats my favorite team the past 10 years. sigh
Wants to have a Bromance like Luke Scott and Felix Pie.
by Are you there Wieters? It's me, Mike. on May 7, 2011 6:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I've gotta believe they'll win again....
If only by the law of attrition. Too much history, too nice a city and the best stadium ever will eventually be back on top. Hang tough!!
If I had a message to my contemporaries, I said, it was surely this: Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. ... -Thomas Merton-
Born in '84
I got to enjoy the late nineties teams and Cal. And have watched generations become Red Sox fans, sigh. This team is so very disheartning to watch sometimes, but theyre arent too far from sniffing 500 and thats all we can really realistically hope for with this team. My fave team this decade was I think the 01 team, with hairston, brob and gary mathews. they came and busted their humps everyday and came so close to 500 b4 a now all too familiar august/sept dive. yes thats my favorite team the past 10 years. sigh
Wants to have a Bromance like Luke Scott and Felix Pie.
by Are you there Wieters? It's me, Mike. on May 7, 2011 6:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I am from the early 80s
Loved the 90s playoff teams. Baseball can still be great and fun even if your team isn’t great.
by James (Lost in Boston) on May 7, 2011 9:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, we didn't have the worst offensive performance today.
Justin Verlander no-hit the Blue Jays.
There is something in the air. It’s only a matter of time before our number comes up.
"What the hell is a Baltimore knot?" "I don't know, but it's never the same thing twice." - The Wire
I was just gonna come post something similar
Except the title was going to be “Orioles once again miraculously not the team who was no-hit today”
No
That also shows the insanity of the no-hitter and why it’s really meaningless. Francisco Lirano’s no-hitter was not a good performance. He got INCREDIBLY lucky.
Yes, he got incredibly lucky.
But all no-hitters are lucky. We can’t take anything away from Liriano, because me did throw a no-hitter. You should just read what Dave Cameron said, because it’s much more well-written than I could make it.
Awful
yeah this team is just plain awful. At no point before, during, or after the game did this team show any interest in looking like a mlb ball club. I have no confidence that this team can avoid the sweep. However, F-U Rays, go O’s. Thanks for taking my money AM.
BTW
To all you players reading this blog, I don’t care how you had issues hitting the ball and all that crap. Figure your shit out and win a ballgame. Really, I have 2 hours to figure out an assignment my manager gives me, not 15 days. Stop being such a baby and do your job. Thanks in advance for not looking like a joke.
by Philly O's on May 7, 2011 11:00 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Sometimes I have 30seconds to figure out how to save 200-600 peoples lives
and I manage not to choke….le sigh…
I think this game just set the rebuilding effort back a few years.
"Initially thought I had BieberFever but turns out I have pneumonia."
-Guts
by Steve. on May 7, 2011 8:38 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
If this team jumped leagues
we’d be looking up at the Nationals right now.
Seriously. The Nationals.
< slumps shoulders and slowly wanders away >
Like a bad, suave dude. You know what I'm sayin'. COOL. SC 7/24/08
Some of the pitchers might be hitting better.
"What the hell is a Baltimore knot?" "I don't know, but it's never the same thing twice." - The Wire
by Eat More Esskay on May 7, 2011 9:04 PM EDT up reply actions
I was at the game today, given that the Caps were bounced out of the hockey playoffs. Otherwise, I would have been at VC. So much for trying to beat teams from Tampa Bay. I made sure to give Tampa fans the evil eye when passing them today. Yes, there were Tampa fans at Camden today. Last year, I went to a game between the O’s and Rays. The O’s drew a good crowd — 30,000 plus and the fans were almost all Oriole fans. Today, more Rays fans. Sad to say, we followed a car with a Maryland licence plate, with the Rays sticker on it. (Will say, I like the Rays a whole lot better than I like the Yankees.)
I
Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.
I had also gone to the game where the O’s lost in extra innings to the Yankees on a Sunday. That game was characterized by many good defensive plays by the Yankees, with the O’s being robbed of several hits. The O’s, on the other hand, did not have the crisp fielding of the Yankees. And then today, Fuld had made the defensive play, costing Wieters of a home run or, at the very least, extra bases.
Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.
Oh, god, that game with the rain delay?
We had the awesomeness of coming back against Rivera spoiled by a terrible decision to send Robert Andino, and then the awesomeness of Adam Jones throwing Derek Jeter out spoiled by embarrassing defense. I can’t imagine how painful that was to watch in person.
Caught Longoria's HR tonight
yes, it was painful. No, I did not throw it back.
"If Matt Wieters is Jesus, then I'm an atheist."
Mark Grace complimented your catch
on the Fox broadcast.
Good on ya for not throwing it back. Throwing anything on the field is bush league BS. We need more O’s fans like you, who know better than that.
Like a bad, suave dude. You know what I'm sayin'. COOL. SC 7/24/08
by 33 on May 8, 2011 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Around the minors 5-7:
Norfolk topped Indianapolis 5-2. JJ Hardy went 1-3 with a walk. Nolan Reimold doubled and struck out in 4 at bats. Josh Bell doubled and walked in 4 plate appearances. Brandon Synder singled and struck out in 4 at bats. “Troy Patton” went 2 and a third, striking out 2, walking one, giving up 1 ER and 3 hits. For the year, his ERA is 3.38 in 13.1 innings with a K/BB of 12/3. It’s worth remembering that the Tides play in a pitcher’s park (HR park factor: 0.91 per bbtf).
Bowie lost to Erie 10-2. Xavier Avery went 0-5. Ronnie Welty hit his 5th homer and struck out. Welty is 24th in the OPS in the Eastern League. Wynn Pelzer got rocked tonight, allowing 8 earned runs in 5 innings, with 10 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. He allowed 2 homers.
Frederick beat Wilmington 3-1. Tyler Townsend homered again, his sixth for the year. He also singled to go 2-4. His one real blemish is the strikeout to walk ratio which is 24/1 in 101 plate appearances. He is 23, so it might be time for greener pastures, but he has to draw some walks. LJ Hoes went 1-3 with a walk. LJ could teach Tyler about plate discipline.
Delmarva beat Asheville 7-4. Jonathan Schoop went 1-4 with a walk. Mychal Givens went 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout, though his struggles continue as he is batting a cool 152 on the season. Jarret Martin struck out 4 in 2 innings, allowing a hit and a walk as well.
If you look at those UZR ratings or whatever
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