A Tale of Two Teams

by timg56 on Jul 19, 2011 7:22 PM EDT

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2015654101_brewer19.html

Baltimore Oriole fans are not alone in their sense of frustration and despair. The other team I like to follow, the Seattle Mariners, are doing their best to match Baltimore's futility. Keep in mind they play in the West, where the level of competition is arguably below what the O's have to face in the East.

When matched against the Mariners, the Orioles look like an offensive powerhouse. However the M's actually have a young pitching staff that has lived up to expectation, unlike that of Baltimore's. And let's not even think about bullpens. Seattle has one and we don't.

So this gave me the following question: Are O's fans on the right track in criticizing the team and in particular Andy McPhaill for a failure to sign good bats or his strategy of developing arms and buying bats? (As an aside - I believe there is zero question on the policy of spending millions on relief pitchers being both failed and idiotic.)

From my perspective one of the key problems with the Orioles right now and perhaps the biggest cause for worry is that the pitching - which was supposedly the team's strength - is a mess. I'd follow that closely with team defense appearing to be sub-standard. Focusing on guys like Vlad and Lee is missing the real problem. The fact our stable of young pitchers is a chimera (and I'm not referring to the fire-breathing kind).

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m's pen...

looks kind of crummy to me, but hats off to them for taking chances on laffey and pauley and turning them into decent relievers. this kind of scouting and development is where the o’s get killed.

"the secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits"

by j.q. higgins on Jul 20, 2011 9:22 AM EDT reply actions

However the M’s actually have a young pitching staff that has lived up to expectation, unlike that of Baltimore’s. And let’s not even think about bullpens. Seattle has one and we don’t.

Part of that equation is park factors, and as you note, team defense. The M’s can field the ball, the O’s can’t.

Folksy literate type.

by birdman on Jul 20, 2011 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

Good point on the parks.

Pitching in Safeco favors their staff numbers.

I tend to think Baltimore could have been at least competative and should be around .500 if the pitching had been to the level of the end of last season and the start of this one. And that’s with our suck ass bullpen.

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests".
- Patrick Henry –

by timg56 on Jul 20, 2011 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions

No other team really basks in solidarity with the Orioles

Apart from the Pirates, who actually aren’t even doing that themselves.

"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 Jul 21, 2011 2:27 AM EDT reply actions

Seattle

really should’ve been smarter in preseaseon getting hitting, they would easily be in first with even slightly better offense. It’s not like Cust and Figgins were going to improve suddenly. Baltimore, on the other hand, had no reason to think their pitching would implode so horribly.

If Seattle had Guerrero’s line drives, Andino’s occasional hits, and Hardy’s numbers they’d gave 55-60 wins. If Baltimore had Seattle’s pitching they’d have the same. People whine about Vlad and Lee but the offense hasn’t killed Baltimore, the pitchers have in spades. Seattle fans, at least, don’t whine about their pitching when it’s their hitting that sucks.

As I said in April, if Baltimore got decent pitching all year they’d make the playoffs, they haven’t and now won’t, no hope. Hitters did fine. Seattle wishes they had Baltimore’s hitting woes.

by dsciswe on Jul 21, 2011 12:24 PM EDT reply actions

haha Guerrero's line drives!

You really crack me up man.

I am eating you, motherfucker. You cannot hurt me. - PhilR8

by O'sFan21 on Jul 21, 2011 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

I was talking

to a former scout and he still wonders why the Mariners left their hitting like it is and why Philly didn’t try and add 2 solid right hand bats. Then he told me Guerrero should get a 1B glove because he’d be better there than a lot of guys are right now (which got me to thinking why the O’s nor his advisors have told Vlad to work out at 1st base, for the future?).

And Seattle plays out of Safeco but their pitching stats are just as good on the road…

by dsciswe on Jul 21, 2011 6:32 PM EDT reply actions

operative word: "former" scout

by Luke E on Jul 21, 2011 7:52 PM EDT up reply actions

This reminds me

there was this guy who always used to come to our practices and games in college and pretend that he was a scout and talk bullshit to anybody that would listen. There are lots of those losers out there.

I am eating you, motherfucker. You cannot hurt me. - PhilR8

by O'sFan21 on Jul 21, 2011 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions