I am getting really sick of the first line of an AP recap being, "Baltimore's latest victory might have been a costly one."
Brian Roberts missed time with an injury. Sosa missed time. Matos missed time. Bigbie was out. Bedard is still out. Javy Lopez is still out. And now Melvin Mora's hamstring is "not good," in the delicate words of Lee Mazzilli.
Fantastic. If ever I was going to go on a profanity-filled tear, now would likely be an understandable time.
If Melvin Mora is out for a while, who in the hell is going to play third base? Chris Gomez. Come on. Losing Javy Lopez's bat is one thing. Losing arguably our best hitter right now in addition to Lopez is another. Without Mora, the heart of this order is decidedly weaker.
I'm telling you, cosmic forces are conspiring to strike down the Orioles. Hey, do YOU have a better explanation? And don't say "bad luck."
I'm sorry, I'm not buying it. Get real. Chris Gomez is not a viable replacement for Melvin Mora. He wasn't a viable replacement for Roberts either. I know he's hit some singles. He's a good guy. I'm not knocking Gomez, I'm happy to have him on the team. His job isn't to start at second or third base.
Roberts and Mora have been impact players. You simply don't replace important pieces of the lineup with Chris Gomez, it doesn't work. Again, I'm not faulting Gomez for this. He's not Roberts and he's not Mora. It's not his fault.
Now you may ask, "Why doesn't this work if Sal freaking Fasano does in place of Javy Lopez?" And first, I remind you I don't think Fasano is better than Lopez. Second, I don't think Javy Lopez is as important as either Roberts or Mora.
Ahhhhhhhhh!!
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...