The guy is an idiot. I dropped my bat. It kind of freaked me out. I was upset they took him out of the game. He is good to hit. He’s 9-15. The guy [stinks].
–Dustin Pedroia, to reporters, on Daniel Cabrera who nearly hit him in the head with a fastball causing benches to clear in last night’s Red Sox win over the O’s
The Orioles have allowed 30 runs in a game and been no-hit by a rookie with only two major league starts. So what’s next? Someone accidentally takes the field naked, assuming he’s having one of those weird dreams you had as a kid?
Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Steve Trachsel has been traded to the Cubs for Class AAA right-handed reliever Rocky Cherry and Class AAA third baseman Scott Moore. Thank God the O’s got something for Trachsel, its not like he fit into next year’s plans.
Even though I meant it when I said I’d never talk about The Game That Shall Not Be Mentioned….I have to break that vow (for this post only!) just because there have been some interesting tidbits of info that I’ve read since and I might as well mention them. To wit:
-Wes Littleton actually got a save in the game. Littleton entered the game in the 7th (when the score was 14-3) and was awarded a save. This is absurd, isn’t this up to the scorekeepers discretion? (via With Leather)
- Via The Big Lead, the great Ken Rosenthal (former Baltimore Sun employee, by the by) used The Game That Shall Never Be Mentioned Again as a good opportunity to absolutely destroy the O’s.
Good times.
Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar set a club record by reaching via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in his 50th consecutive game. Millar, who broke the mark set by Ken Singleton in 1977, began his streak on June 20.
The first text, 9:20pm yesterday, sent by college roommate Mario: “Nice pitching today Baltimore”.
The second text, 10:01 pm, sent by good friend The Cooler: “Just ran across the bball scores…Orioles gave up 30 runs tonight”
The third text, 10:12 pm, sent by college friend Jordan: “So r u a nationals fan tonight?”
The fourth and final text, sent 2:03am this morning, by Mario again: “24 earned runs for the orioles bullpen?”
Yesterday was not a good day to be an O’s fan. I won’t go in to the details, by this point you already know them all (30-3 loss, 30 unanswered runs, 9-7 loss in the second game of the doubleheader, last time a team scored 30 in a game was 100 years ago, etc. etc. etc.). Usually its nice when your favorite team is the talk of the town, this being one of those exceptions. Its always enjoyable when one of your defeats inspires a column entitled “The Greatest Beatdowns in History” (we came in 8th, for the record).
I am glad that I didn’t watch the whole thing. I turned off the TV when it was 14-3, safe in the knowledge that we’d been blown out by the lowly Rangers. Little did I know what was to come. As John Gruber wrote, regarding the Rangers “They might as well have just gone ahead and pantsed them while they were at it.”
The Big Lead says “This is the wackiest score we’ve seen in the sport in our entire left, and that’s not hyperbole.” That sounds about right. 30 runs in a game is almost unimaginable. I echo Roch’s thoughts:
30-3.
No matter how many times I write it or say it, the absurdity nearly overwhelms me.
30-3.
You have to laugh right? To keep from crying, yeah, but I mean come on. Are the O’s the worst team in baseball? No, not even close. This is just one of those flukes that happen. Sadly they happened to my O’s. SC’s right though, who cares?:
Look, in one way, I find it as embarrassing as anyone else does. No one should give up 30 runs in nine innings. Ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. But, it happened. And, of course, it happened to us.
Dave Trembley is still my boy, I didn’t get crazy overnight or anything. My advice to anyone whose mentality toward the team changes thanks to the Texas Rangers (who stink and can’t hit) dropping 30 runs on the O’s is simple: Laugh it off. To hell with it! Who cares?
I’m not even saying it doesn’t suck. But, really, think about it. This was an historical disaster in pitching. This was the first time in 110 years that someone has scored 30 runs in a game. I tried for years to score 30 on RBI Baseball 4 for the Genesis, and the best I ever did was 26.
The odds are overwhelming that you or I will never see another 30-spot in a Major League Baseball game. It’s too bad it was a game with us that went the way it did. It’s still just one loss. And at least it was unique.
Stephen Dubner at the Freakonomics blog helpfully points out that the Rangers scored all 30 of their runs in just four innings, for what thats worth. I just can’t believe the Rangers’ 8th and 9th hitters BOTH went 4-6 with 7 RBIs. Sigh.
Chris Mottram has a pretty funny screen grab from the O’s website during the game. Never let hope die! His brother Jaime reminds us that at least we had Cal. At least we got that going for us, which is nice.
My friend Jason talks about how mlb.com does a good job putting video highlights up on the web. If it were up to me all video/audio/print from this game would be erased forever. I know I will never speak of this game again. Never. This is it. I am now at peace.
The O’s news of the day is that they’ve reportedly decided to extend Dave Trembley’s contract through the 2008 season. I’m in favor of this move. The O’s are 29-25 since Trembley took over and I like how they’ve been playing since Sam Perlazzo was let go (nothing against Mr. Perlazzo). The emphasis on running I enjoy (especially with B-Rob and Corey doing it). I like having the team stretch together and I like how he’s stood up to Tejada.
Its been quite the move up the ladder for Trembley, he started the year as the O’s bullpen coach. I’m glad Joe Girardi didn’t want this job, its worked out well with Dave. Interesting note, did you know Trembley is only the 7th major league manager in history to not have played professional ball? I didn’t.
More reaction:
Roch
Camden Chat
Fanhouse
Well the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline came and went and, because they hate me, the O’s did nothing. Jay Payton, Kevin Millar, Steve Trachsel? All still with us, for reasons that are beyond me. Yeah, I get it, no one was offering anything good but….that’s because these guys aren’t that good. Take a shot on some mid-level prospects and maybe give some young guys a shot but whatever.
Anyway, just because July 31st has passed doesnt mean people can’t still be traded. Now they just have to go through the waiver wire process first. Tim Dierkes at MLBTradeRumors.com helpful lays out the rules for us:
Any player can be put on waivers by his team, and the player does not need to be informed.
Other teams have the chance to make a claim on the player during a 47 hour window.
If the player is claimed, the team that placed him on waivers has the option of pulling him back. If the team pulls him back they can’t trade him for 30 days.
If his team decides not to pull him back:
Option 1: His team can work out a trade with the team that claimed him. Any player involved in the trade who is on a 40 man roster must go through waivers first.
Option 2: His team can just dump him and his salary on the team that claimed him, getting no player in return.
Option 3: No one claims him, and his team is free to trade him to any team.
If more than one team places a claim on a player, the winning claim is awarded based on worst record or the league the claiming team is in.
As you can see, trades are still possible, just more difficult to pull off, so the O’s might still make some moves. I would imagine Aubrey Huff, Jay Gibbons and Jay Payton will have no problems clearing waivers and Lord knows I’d like to see them moved on. More interesting though is the name Jerry Crasnick puts forth as the name most likely to garner the most speculation: shortstop Miguel Tejada. Now Crasnick admits that there’s probably only a 10% chance Tejada gets moved but I think there’s a serious chance he does. Some random thoughts that pop into my head when thinking of this:
- Tejada is owed $26 million over the next two years: fairly certain no one is going to claim him.
- The Angels failed to trade for Mark Teixiera and had serious interest in Tejada last year, maybe they can rekindle things.
- The O’s played well without Tejada, he isn’t the saviour everyone was hoping for and this team needs to grow around its younger stars (Bedard, Guthrie, Markakis) rather then an aging former All-Star.
So yeah. Maybe Tejada could go. Frankly, I don’t really see it. I think Andy MacPhail is going to take the rest of the season to look over what he’s got and make some moves this off season. I will say though that before I was very much opposed to parting with Miguel. Now, not so much.
For the record, by the way, Crasnick also mentions pitchers Danys Baez and Trachel and hitters Millar and Payton as possible August players on the move.
Ah well, looks like Maryland native Mark Teixiera won’t be coming to the O’s, at least not this year. Ken Rosenthal is reporting that he’s been traded to the Braves. Sigh. Teixeira would have looked really good playing first and batting fourth for us. Maybe we move on to Adam Dunn? One can only hope.