Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Published
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Jake
on April 30, 2007
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From Ken Rosenthal:

It would be a longshot, but the Orioles likely would be interested if Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez opted out of his contract and became a free agent. Signing Rodriguez would enable the O’s to move third baseman Melvin Mora back to the outfield. More likely, the Orioles will bid for one or more of the premium center fielders on the market. Owner Peter Angelos generally shies away from agent Scott Boras, but he covets Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira, a Baltimore-area native and Boras client, so why not Rodriguez?

Yeah, longshot sounds about right. Why, exactly, would ARod leave the Yankees for the O’s? It won’t be about money, I have no doubt the Yankees (and the Red Sox for that matter) will be able, if they want, to outbid our humble team. Would I like to see ARod in B-more? Uh, yeah. Is it going to happen? Nope. Such is life. Teixeira, to me, is a much bigger likelihood and would certainly look good at first base (not to be harsh to Aubrey Huff).

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

Legendary strength coach Chuck Berry

Published
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Jake
on April 27, 2007
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Ah Will Ferrell. You are the best. Video after the jump, its more then worth it. (via With Leather)
Continue reading ‘Legendary strength coach Chuck Berry’

Nice gesture

Published
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Jake
on April 21, 2007
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For the rest of the season the Orioles will be allowing anyone who shows a valid Virginia Tech student ID in to Friday night games for free.

(via Roch Kubatko)

Cabrera has a nice curve

Published
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Jake
on April 20, 2007
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To wit:

Another Cabrera tops the list when it comes to curveballs. Baltimore’s Daniel, who throws the hardest power-curve in the game at 84.7 mph, also possesses the one that’s most difficult to hit (.513 WR). We see a correlation between speed and Whiff Rate when it comes to the curveball, as fellow hard-throwers Francisco Rodriguez (.494) and A.J. Burnett (.453) come in at No. 2 and 3.

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

A stupid policy

Published
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Jake
on April 19, 2007
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I went to the Wizards game with the Old Man on Sunday to watch as they were torn to shreds by the Bulls. The game was more awful then the final score depicts (101-68, Bulls) but hey whatever. In addition to the basketball atrocity that we witnessed on the court, something else pissed me off. Here’s the situation. We had originally planned on going to the O’s game against Kansas City but that got rained out. I had already given away our two tickets to the Wizards to a friend who works at the bar so we had to go down to the Verizon Center and scalp seats.

Anyway there’s 9:30 left in the fourth quarter and the Old Man and I are lounging in our seats, he’s reading the newspaper and I’m thinking of anything else besides how much it sucks to not have Gilbert or Caron playing. The usher/attendant comes over and asks us to see our tickets. Obviously we weren’t sitting in our correct seats. Some things to keep in mind though:

1. There’s ten minutes left in the game
2. We are the only two people in our row
3. The entire section is, at best, 1/4 full at this point
4. The game is a blowout
5. We were sitting in worse seats then the ones we paid for

Our actual seats were right next to some, uh, fairly large people, and with an entire empty row it didn’t seem to make any sense to have to squeeze beside people when there wasn’t a crowd or anything. The usher though tells us we have to move, that we aren’t allowed to be in a different section. Seriously? I mean really now. There’s 10 minutes left in the game, we are in an empty row, who’s being harmed by us being comfortable while watching shitty basketball? This is the customer service you want?

I’m not sure why exactly, maybe it was the depressing realization that the Wizards season is essentially over, but this really pissed me off. Yeah, yeah, I know, we weren’t in the right seats and its our fault but come on now, have a heart.

Dude can jump

Published
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Jake
on April 9, 2007
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Joey Gathright might not be able to hit a baseball with any consistency but dude can jump. Here’s video of him jumping over cars.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySfw8f0beg[/youtube]

(via the Sports Guy)

Its not just me

Published
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Jake
on April 9, 2007
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I’m not the only one predicting big things from the Orioles this year my friends. There are other, smarter people then me who see the possibility of a splendid ‘07 season for our boys. SI.com’s Jon Heyman has the Orioles at #4 on his Team’s that could surprise list (and I’m aware this is an old article, I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet):

4. Orioles. Finally developing some young players to brag about (Erik Bedard, Nick Markakis).

I hear ya Mr. Heyman. Add Daniel Cabrera to that list as well. Of course Mr. Heyman predicts that the O’s will finish 4th in the division, so maybe forget him then.

Also we’ve got Keith Olbermann (who I adore) giving us a somewhat nice compliment (also old):

The Orioles could pull a stunner, but all three of their young pitchers (Cabrera, Loewen and Bedard) would have to come through, and Nick Markakis would have to stretch his strong spring through 162 games.

And then Mr. Olbermann really earns some respect:

The Red Sox are the pick in the East with Baltimore second and the Yanks tumbling to third in a season that will harken back to the gory years of the early ’80s. Toronto’s fourth, and Tampa Bay an intriguing fifth. As stated, it’s the Tigers, Indians, Twins, White Sox, and Royals in the Central, then Oakland, L.A., and a you-pick-’em between Seattle and Texas in the West.

So there you go people. I’m not the only one expecting big things from the O’s. More on this weekend’s series victory over the Yanks to come. Oh and today’s our home opener.

Game 3 recap 4/4/07; Twins 7, O’s 2

Published
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Jake
on April 5, 2007
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Uh guys? Its going to be hard to win the Wild Card, like I predicted, if you don’t win any games. 0-3 is, I believe, not a great way to start the season but thats just my opinion. I could be wrong I guess. Whats there really to say about yesterday? We didn’t really hit and Jaret Wright certainly didn’t pitch well (2.1 innings, 6 Rs, 4 ERs) and we didn’t field (3 errors). It was a pathetic showing.

Because I can’t bring myself to talk about Nick Markakis not hitting, I’d instead like to talk about a couple things I saw in Jorge Arangure Jr’s (the WaPo beat writer) game story that stood out to me. First, this bit:

It almost was uncanny how the three games exposed each of Baltimore’s weaknesses, which include a lack of depth, a weak back end of the rotation and a deficient bench.

Its the back of the rotation part that sticks out here. Jaret Wright is our THIRD STARTER! Thats not back end of the rotation, thats the front end or at least the middle. Back end to me is your 4th or 5th guy. Jesus are we in trouble if we only go two deep in the rotation.

Then there’s this Jaret Wright quote:

“I thought it was terrible,” Wright said of his 2 1/3 innings, in which he allowed six runs and walked five. “I thought the stuff was okay, but I didn’t know where it was going. I got myself in trouble and couldn’t get out of it.”

Hey Mr. Wright, your stuff isn’t “Okay” if you DON”T KNOW WHERE ITS GOING! It can have all the movement in the world but if you don’t know where its ending up, whats the point (and clearly he didn’t have any idea, hence the 5 walks).

Finally there’s this, and while I like Mr. Arangure alot, I must quibble with his last paragraph:

On the same night Wright floundered, former Orioles ace Rodrigo Lopez, discarded after an 18-loss season last year, won his first start of the year for the Rockies. (He gave up one earned run in seven innings against the Diamondbacks.) Perhaps the Orioles moved too quickly to rid themselves of Lopez, who won at least 14 games three times for Baltimore. Including spring training, Wright has walked 22 in just 20 2/3 innings and has allowed 17 earned runs.

Now thats just me Jorge. No need to kick the man while he’s down. Having said that, one start each is way to early to be making judgements. I, for one, am glad Rodrigo is no longer in town. Lets not forget that Lopez lost 19 games last year with a 5.91 ERA; he wasn’t exactly Jim Palmer.

So yeah, thats all I got. We’ve got the Yankees on Friday, with Loewen against Mussina (here’s hoping Mussina gets the no decision in a Yankees loss; I still love the guy). A victory would be fantastic any time now guys.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Published
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Jake
on April 5, 2007
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Forget the previous post, now I really have no reason to live:

Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas will be out two to three months with a lateral left meniscus tear in his knee. The injury will require arthroscopic surgery, which will be performed today at Sibley Memorial Hospital by team doctor Marc Connell.

The Wizards (39-35) have eight games remaining in the regular season, are currently seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference and are one full game behind Miami in the Southeast Division. All-Star forward Caron Butler (broken bone in right hand) is already out for six weeks.

Hello first round playoff exit.

I have no more reason to live

Published
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Jake
on April 5, 2007
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I didn’t have the strength to write yesterday about the Wizards getting blown out by 20 in Charlotte on Tuesday. And if this wasn’t so important I might not be writing about last nights loss to the Bobcats AT HOME but, as surely you’ve read/heard by now, our injury woes have gone from bad (losing Butler) to worse:

Consecutive losses to the lottery-bound Charlotte Bobcats would have been painful enough for the slumping Washington Wizards, but the outcome of last night’s game at Verizon Center was reduced to secondary status the moment three-time all-star guard Gilbert Arenas fell to the court clutching his left knee late in the first quarter.

Arenas, who didn’t start the game as punishment for missing a pregame shoot-around, suffered a sprained left knee when Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace fell into the side of Arenas’s leg after making a sensational reverse layup.

Arenas limped off the court with some assistance, did not return and will undergo an MRI exam today. The team is expected to announce a timetable for his recovery based on the test results.

How many knee sprains can one team have in a season? Jamison, Blatche and now Arenas. Obviously losing two in a row to the lottery-bound Bobcats sucks but losing Arenas, perhaps for the rest of the regular season, is a killer. Luckily the Knicks are awful and we are only one game away from clinching a playoff spot but a Wizards team without Caron and with a hurting Arenas is even MORE unlikely to make it out of the first round.

What else is there to say really? A season that started with so much promise is now going down the tubes. Its quite depressing.