- Brian Roberts might be our only All-Star, but at least he's deserving. He should be starting, if you wanna get real about it, but he's not, and it's what it is, so whatever. Roberts' 2005 season was, by simple, park-adjusted OPS+, the best in Orioles history for a second baseman (offensively). He has a score of 126 in the first half of 2007, which would rank seventh, behind his own 2005, Grich (1976), Alomar (1996), Grich (1974), Alomar (1997), and Grich again (1975).
- Erik Bedard leads the majors in strikeouts. By a lot. Bedard's 149 whiffs are 24 ahead of Johan Santana and NL leader Jake Peavy. After a rough April, he has been phenomenal.
- Jeremy Guthrie? Holy shit! Jeremy Guthrie! Chances are that Guthrie does even out a little bit over the second half, but his ERA isn't somewhat fluky like Chad Gaudin. Guthrie's WHIP is sub-1.00, and he's held opponents to a .207 batting average. He throws strikes and challenges hitters. He's one guy who has clearly been Mazzonefied.
- Jamie Walker says lots of cool stuff and has pitched basically exactly as he was expected to.
- Similarly, Chad Bradford has been fine. See how much the first half sucked? I'm using adjectives like "fine" to try to paint things in a positive light.
- Sam Perlozzo got fired.
- Danys Baez eventually went on the disabled list.
- Kevin Millar rules. So he's not the ideal first baseman. I don't care. The .395 OBP works for me. And the streakiness hasn't even really been a factor. He hit .231 in April, but had a .370 OBP to accompany it. Since then, he's gone .290/.390 in May and .300/.417 in June, despite not hitting a home run in 20 games that month. We all wish he'd hit more homers, but Millar was never a power hitter. He's a patient line drive hitter with a little pop. And that makes him the second-best hitter on the team.
- Nick Markakis is admirably battling in his second season. He's not tearing it up, but he's not having a real sophomore slump either. While it's hard to not be disappointed that he isn't blossoming, it could be a lot worse.
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