Here’s a weekly look at players making an impact, for good and bad, for the Orioles this week:
Birds Up
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Brian Matusz (LHP) Brian looked as good as a rookie could in the first 7.0 IP of his second start, when two bloop hits, some shaky D, and a incompetent bullpen performance did him in. Then he overwhelmed the A's lineup for most of 6.1 IP today. This kid's the real deal. |
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Ty Wigginton (2B/UT) - With Brian Roberts out and Julio Lugo batting as badly as we feared he might, Wiggy's getting ABs and doing something with them. |
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Kevin Millwood (RHP) - He's got two losses on his record, and you could argue he doesn't deserve either of them. He's given up 6 ER in 3 starts. If this team could hit its way out of a wet paper bag, he'd be 3-0 right now. |
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Jeremy Guthrie (RHP) - It's not his fault he doesn't have a win. He went 13.2 IP this week with just 4 ER, yet it may as well be 2008 all over again. This team doesn't hit when he pitches. Then again, they don't hit when ANYONE pitches this year. |
O's down
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Mike Gonzalez (LHP) - He left the team for the birth of his first child and came back to a demotion. Now he's out for at least three weeks and on a FLA rehab stint. |
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Brad Bergesen (RHP) - He showed his home opener performance wasn't a one-time fluke, as he was as bad in his second start. The sinker's not sinking, and Trembley, Kranitz and MacPhail may be considering Jake Arrieta for his spot with many more bad starts. |
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Matt Wieters (C) - Yes, the Curse of Small Sample Size has hit Wieters, as his AVG has dropped almost 150 points in a week. But Matt just plain didn't hit this week. |
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Felix Pie (LF) - He was one of the few bright spots in the O's lineup, now he's on the shelf for the remainder of April with a shoulder strain. And we have to deal with Lou Montanez. |
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David Hernandez (RHP) - He was a bit unlucky in his first start. His second? Death by a thousand paper cuts. But those 5 runs in 5.0 IP stay on his record. |
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Peter Angelos (OWN) - Reports surfaced that Andy MacPhail and Cal Ripken met about a role for Cal in the Warehouse, and Peter himself stepped in to nix the deal. Then Angelos "clarified" his position in a way that made him look even worse. Even if the reports are Cal's way of whining, why would you NOT do this, Peter? |
