Going into spring training the Orioles were often mentioned as a team to watch in 2010 in that they were up and coming. The crop of young starters were lauded as the future of an organization that seemed to once again be emphasizing pitching. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis were refered to as a tandem in the outfield that would be worth watching in years to come, as was Matt Wieters behind the plate. The Orioles had apparently made good personel moves in trading for Kevin Millwood, re-signing Miguel Tejada, all among other things. So why has none of this worked out to date? Are the Orioles snakebitten or cursed? It often seems that way if you think about it. However I've always found the line between winning and losing very fine in sports. It's very easy to say something like they just need to play better. However the fact remains that this season has been what it's been; but why?
- Patience at the plate: I suppose a better way to put it would be lack thereof. Almost from the first pitch in Tampa, th Orioles seemed content to hack away at any offering that wa thrown up there by opposing pitchers. Eventually, teams take note of that and they cease pitching in the strike zone. If you knew you could get a guy out by throwing a change-up off the outside corner as opposed to inside heat aren't you going to do that? At various points when the Orioles have appeared that they were breaking out of the funk they'd force pitchers to throw the ball in the zone. Until they start doing that consistently, they're going to continue to see balls.
- Lack of run support: This goes hand-in-hand with the lack of patience. If you're swinging at bad pitches odds are you aren't scoring runs. Enough said.
- Over-pitching: As the season's gone on, Oriole pitchers have seen that they weren't getting many runs behind them. So eventually pitchers such as Kevin Millwood start to feel that they have to take the entire team on their backs and be perfect. They start either nibbling on the plate, or trying to place the ball perfectly in the zone. When you nibble, you generally miss and you end up walking people. When you try to place the ball, generally it ends up elevated in the middle of the plate. Once again, enough said.
- Over-managing: Dave Trembley undoubtably did the best job at which he was capable. In my opinion, common sense failed Trembley. The decisions he made were good sound baseball decisions. However while he was deciding to match-up in the later innings, other teams were planning on going out there and just trying to hit. I suppose that if common sense is dictated by results, one has to ask where it lies in situations as such. I don't want to be overly critical because Trembley knows the game much better than do I. However, results are results.
- Injuries: All of the above-mentioned items are in theory within the Orioles' realm of control. However the most important reason fo the season not going according to plan is totally outsie of anyone's control, and that would be injuries. This has realy bitten the Orioles in the derriere literaly from the very beginning when it was revealed that Brian Roberts was having back problems. While Roberts was ready for Opening Day, he re-injured himself on April 9th, and hasn't been in the lineup since. From there on down, take your pick of which injury has been the most costly: Felix Pie, Luke Scott, Mike Gonzalez, Jim Johnson, Alfredo Simon, Matt Wieters...to name a few. The extended absences or Roberts and Pie were the most costly, as the lack of a true lead off hitter has forced a lot of people such as Markakis and Jones bat out of order. This effected the pitches that players saw, and the quality thereof. Furthermore, Nolan Reimold (remember him?) never truly recovered from his achilles surgery after last season, which severely limited his productivity. Whether or not we ever hear from Reimold again remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that he was rushed back too quickly.
While you're not supposed to talk about this, the Orioles also have the worst luck of any team. Generally when the O's have taken risks in games this season, other teams have managed to make that perfect throw to nail a runner at home plate. I mentioned Alfredo Simon's injury above; he was pitching in an extra-inning game in DC in May, and injured himself covering first. The O's went on to lose on a walk-off homer. Two players (Scott and Wieters) were injured running the bases, Scott on a home run trot! The Orioles can still win some games this season, but the longer these funks go on, the harder it is to get out of them. I suppose that in the off season Andy MacPhail needs to find a big bat to stick in the middle of the lineup so as to help drive some runs in next year. Furthermore for the remainder of this season, the O's need to allow their young starters to struggle. It's good for a young pitcher to make mistakes and to learn from them. To date, 2010 has been nasty to the O's, but there's still time to make amends. And if not, we'll start anew in earnst in 2011.
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