Birds Up, O's Down

Birds Up, O's Down for July 19-26

By Bad Pseudonym Jul 27, 2010, 1:16pm EDT

Craig Tatum: He ended with a good week, at least (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Here’s a weekly look at players making an impact, for good and bad, for the Orioles this week, July 19-26:

Birds Up

	Matt Wieters (CA) - Matt returned from the disabled list to go 3-for-6 with two homeruns. But even Matt can't win games by himself. Unless he starts pitching again.
	Luke Scott (DH) - Luke is as hot as you think he is since his return. He's batting .452, has an OPS of 1.517 and has five home runs in seven games. Not a bad week.
	Craig Tatum (CA) - The Tater wondered what he'd done to deserve demotion. Well, after a week of batting .389 in five games, I'd say it had something to do with having an option left. And that's about it.
	That's it. Seriously, that's it.

O's down

	Scott Moore (2B) - Scott got the axe this week as a quarter of the projected Opening Day lineup returned within six days of each other. Going 0-for-11 in his last four games certainly didn't help his cause.
	Jason Berken (RHP) - Just when we thought Jason had hit a small bump in the road last week, he completely implodes this week. When batters are hitting .389 against you, that's not good. Giving up five runs in 3.2 IP? Not good. Allowing four out of six inherited runners score? Not good.
	The Entire Starting Pitching Staff (except Jeremy Guthrie) - Let's see... Kevin Millwood? Meh. Brian Matusz? Yuck. Brad Bergesen? Double Yuck. Jake Arrieta? Double Yuck, too.
	Nick Markakis (RF) - Brutal week for Nick. He batted just .111, and had an OPS (.342) that just 50 points higher than his AVG for the year. He's done enough this year that I won't give him a down arrow, but Nick Markakis, you're on notice.
	Julio Lugo (2B) - b2b appeared in just three of the past seven games, and figured to lose the most playing time of anyone still on the roster with all the starters coming back. And considering he went just 2-for-10 in those three games, I'd say that's not a bad thing.