The Baltimore Orioles have played two exhibition games in Florida Grapefruit League play thus far in 2011. At this point, it's almost as if the latter part of 2010 never ended for the Orioles. In the first game the O's defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4, and today the Orioles bested the Tampa Rays 12-6. First off, let me say at the top that these games mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Orioles might well go out and lay an egg tomorrow or the next day, calling into question quite a few things. However we also have to remember that's how baseball goes. However if two spring training games were an indication of how the season will play out, things would be looking up.
Both Oriole starting pitchers (Brad Bergesen and Jeremy Guthrie) pitched two perfect innings in both games, which is a good sign. In the Tampa game the Oriole bullpen got taxed a bit (to the tune of six runs), but that's going to happen in spring games. In my opinion, the Tampa game is a much better indication of what could potentially lie ahead (if either game indicates anything). First off, the Orioles started their prospective Opening Day lineup, aside from first baseman Derrek Lee (who's still recovering from off season surgery). Most of the regulars had either two or three at-bats; Nick Markakis hit two homers, and Adam Jones, Jake Fox, and Vladimir Guerrero each homered as well. Tampa starter Andy Sonnanstine was beaten around fairly well through two innings of work. Regardless of what he threw, be it a change, curve, or even a wicked splittah (as they say in Boston), it seemed to catch too much of the plate, and the Orioles took advantage of that. This game was also against a division foe, and one can only hope that it translates into success against Tampa in the regular season.
Above I alluded to the last two months of 2010, when the Orioles won 60% of their games (under Buck Showalter). Jeremy Guthrie said after the Tampa game that it felt like it did at the end of last year. While it's easy to feel that way after a win, Guthrie might be onto something there. Traditionally over the past 13 years, the O's have started out respectable only to fade after the all-star break. (In 2010 it was the opposite...) In 2009, the O's finished August, September, and October 20-40. The proceeded to start spring training 1-6; at the time, I felt it was no big deal. However when the team started the regular season 2-16, I thought back to that 1-6 and realized that there was a potential correllation in that perhaps the team got used to losing. In this case, the O's finished the season in 2010 extremely strong, and it appears that they've picked up where they left off in spring training.
Ultimately, we can't take two games in Grapefruit League play as meaning too much in the grand scheme of things. However you'd certainly rather win these games than lose them. And that's exactly what the Orioles have done. Stay tuned folks, we could have a season on our hands.
Written by:
