When the Yankees arrived in Baltimore a week ago, the Orioles were 3-16 and I wrote that they weren’t that bad. This week, the O’s arrive in the Bronx coming off a three-game sweep of the Red Sox and have won five of their last seven games (four against Boston and one against the Yankees last Tuesday), and I’m here to say, the Orioles aren’t that good (I also believe the Red Sox aren’t that bad, but I’ll save that for Friday’s series preview).
Nothing has changed about the Orioles other than their luck.While the Yankees were in Baltimore last week, Alfredo Simon was called up and installed as the closer, with Kam Mickolio returning to the minors. Since then, the O’s have made just one roster move, sending former closer Jim Johnson to the minors in order to return Brad Bergesen to the fifth spot in the rotation. The Yankees won’t face Bergesen in this series and they’ve already seen Simon. Nothing has changed about the Orioles. (Incidentally, I noticed I forgot to fill in the “Who’s Replaced Whom” section in my O’s post last week, so I’ve included the full 2009-to-2010 comparison below).
The O’s swept the Red Sox by outlasting them. Two of the games were decided by one run in ten innings, and the other had a final score of 12-9. I like the Yankees chances of winning a slug-fest with the O’s, but with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte lineup as the Yankees starters in this series, I don’t see one developing. The O’s counter with Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, and David Hernandez. Hernandez, the only one of the three the Yankees didn’t see (and beat) last week has been a five-inning, keep-you-in-the-game sort of pitcher in the early going, but has walked nearly as many men as he’s struck out and gives up a ton of fly balls, which is a recipe for disaster when facing the Yankees in the Bronx. Matusz vs. Burnett Tuesday night looks like the O’s best chance of a win on paper as Matusz has been solid (three straight quality starts including his loss to the Yankees last week) and I always feel like Burnett is due for a stinker, no matter how well he pitches (and he flat-out dominated the O’s in Baltimore last week, allowing just three singles and a walk in eight shutout innings). Tonight, CC Sabathia faces Jeremy Guthrie for the fifth time since joining the Yankees. Sabathia is 3-1 those matchups thus far, including last Wednesday’s 8-3 Yankee win in Baltimore.
Baltimore Orioles
2010 Record: 7-18 (.280)
2010 Pythagorean Record: 9-16 (.360)
Manager: Dave Trembley
General Manager: Andy MacPhail
Home Ballpark: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Bill James Park Indexes (2007-2009):
LH Avg-104, LH HR-115
RH Avg-107, RH HR-129
Who’s Replaced Whom:
- Miguel Tejada replaces Melvin Mora
- Garrett Atkins and Rhyne Hughes replace Aubrey Huff and Robert Andino
- Julio Lugo replaces Ty Wigginton while Wigginton fills in for Brian Roberts (DL)
- Matt Wieters inherits Gregg Zaun’s playing time
- Lou Montañez is filling in for Felix Pie (DL)
- Craig Tatum replaces Chad Moeller
- Kevin Millwood replaces the starts of Jason Berken and Mark Hendrickson
- Brian Matusz replaces Rich Hill and Adam Eaton
- Alfredo Simon inherits Danys Baez’s innings
- Will Ohman replaces George Sherrill
- Alberto Castillo inherits Brian Bass’s innings
- Cla Merideth inherits Chris Rays’ innings
- Jason Berken replaces Jim Johnson (minors) in the bullpen
25-man roster:
1B – Rhyne Hughes (L)
2B – Ty Wigginton (R)
SS – Cesar Izturis (S)
3B – Miguel Tejada (R)
C – Matt Wieters (S)
RF – Nick Markakis (L)
CF – Adam Jones (R)
LF – Nolan Reimold (R)
DH – Luke Scott (L)
Bench:
R – Garrett Atkins (1B/3B)
R – Lou Montañez (OF)
R – Julio Lugo (IF)
R- Craig Tatum (C)
Rotation:
R – Kevin Millwood
R – Jeremy Guthrie
L – Brian Matusz
R – David Hernandez
R – Brad Bergesen
Bullpen:
R – Alfredo Simon
R – Cla Meredith
L – Will Ohman
R – Matt Albers
L – Mark Hendrickson
L – Alberto Castillo
R – Jason Berken
15-day DL:
2B – Brian Roberts (strained abdominal muscle)
RHP – Koji Uehara (strained left hamstring)
LHP – Mike Gonzalez (strained left shoulder)
60-day DL:
OF – Felix Pie (surgery to repair ruptured latissimus dorsai)
Typical Lineup:
R – Adam Jones (CF)
L – Nick Markakis (RF)
S – Matt Wieters (C)
R – Miguel Tejada (3B)
L – Luke Scott (DH)
R – Ty Wigginton (2B)
L – Rhyne Hughes (1B)
R – Nolan Reimold (LF)
S – Cesar Izturis (SS)
I like Adam Jones. I can't help it.
Also, check out the ESPN power rankings:
1. Rays
2. Yanks
.
.
.
16. Nats
17. Red Sox
18. Angels
Awesome. I mean, kind of stupid, and it won't last, but what the hell, enjoy it!
Did the Yankees demote Melancon today, as he is surely not available after 2 innings yesterday? If so, who replaced him?
[3] Nope, he's on the active roster. Assuming yankees.mlb.com is up to date.
[4] Ah, the ol' "we don't know what to do so carry 13 pitchers" routine.
Greg Golson, eventually, I assume...
let's hope it's really not a problem because 1-8 is so strong, but randy winn with regular abs or marcus thames patrolling lf is probably not going to be much fun to watch for the next month or so.
[3] mitre and loogan needed some company.
[6] Egads...he might be worse than carrying a 13th pitcher. Why "eventually," I wonder? Even if he's on the MiL DL they could call up another bat (Miranda?) or at least a corner OF just in case. Or, how about Russo, and make Peña the emergency OF?
[7] 'Loogan"?
Brilliant!
Boone + Logan (contracted)
Pun on LOOGY
Alludes to too(o)ptimistic.
Very well played!
[9] No one has ever been toooptimistic about something involving Boone Logan
[10]
Boone Logan's Runs are all earned
Good start.
[11] Farrah Fawcett! Michael York!
I really do wonder what level of offense Cervelli would have to offer to make the replacement of Posada behind the plate worthwhile ..... .260/.330/.400?
Diane, there has to be some New Jersay connection to Walking that could be exploited for NJ.
[15]
huh?
NJ = Nick Johnson (also = New Jersey)
[14] It depends more on Jorge, I think. If he keeps OPSing in the .900 region, I'm not at all convinced that Cervelli at .730 would be worth it. Plus, the equation depends on who gets bumped from DH (though that is not really an obstacle so far this year).
Whatever the case, Cervelli is irrelevant. We'll be discussing Montero next year.
[15]
Oh, perhaps Nick has a house in Newalk, New Jersey :-)
Oof. Okay, for a warm-up that'll do.
Tramps like us, baby we were born to walk.
(Apologies to Mr. OK Jazz.)
[18] keep bearing the torch - i'm with you.
hmm cc giving up the long fly.
Ugh.
I'm not comfortable. Nor is CC.
CC feeds Atkins diet of high cheese ...
Inning of True Outcomes. So far.
[24]
How should we judge ITOs?
Diane - full of bad puns tonight (so what else is new?)
[23] was my favorite, no contest.
I bet Brett walks.
[27] was before a pitch had been thrown to him...
Evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show. I'm RIYank and I'll be your host for this wonderful baseball event.
Feel free to talk among yourselves.
[29] are you ok tonight? did those hoosiers do something to you?
i kinda think leiter is going to get so frustrated with mk one day he is going to smack him or throw something at him.
[30] It was the Fighting Irish.
Nah, I'm fine, it was just getting lonely, so I decided to shout and listen to the echo. More of a Chyll Will move, but I figured I could get away with it.
[31]
I'd chip in for his legal defense fund ....
[32] Hard to follow along--I'm half work, half looking in at Gameday. No game on TV tonight, and I am sticking with my Sterling-Waldman boycott.
I'm leaving for a month in Italy in a two days, so I'm a little distracted.
[32] yep, good move.
is this "yes-mo" thing new?
Wow ... Randy Winn being entrusted with an entire start.
C'mon Baby Ruth!
[34] Wow, a month in Italy!
Research?
[35] Yes-Mo. No idea what that means.
Okay. Enough of this not hitting Jeremy Guthrie poppycock
[34] Leaving for Italy "in a two days"?
I'd say you're already there mentally!
=)
Zero fly ball outs so far against CC ....
[37] I wish. Actually, teaching a May Term course---I've done it the last few years.
[39] Wotsamatta fa yoo?
Dang, that Atkins diet isn't working for CC at all.
Rye Mold makes CC's tummy hurt ...
[37} it's a slow-motion replay - but called yes-mo
Phew.
That was a little scary.
[20] Hey, I heard that!
A month in Italy..? I'm tooptimisitc you will be having a great time..
I'll resign myself to the spring holidays here in Nippon and a visit to the hot springs..baths and sake ahoy! http://tinyurl.com/2bl96uh
NICK THE STICK!!!
Swish is the new Rob.
You know, not enough attention has been paid to how ridiculously overrated the Angels pitching staff was coming into the year. "Five solid starters" or "five number twos" my ass.
Oink!
gritner oinking away
Only hope to contain...
"Winn last year, if you didn't follow him..." and who the hell would?
it's hard not to think kevin long is a miracle worker
Well that just upped our WINN expectancy!!!
Nevermind. :)
wow!! good for winn.
[46] Dude!
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
[54] Long is criminally underrated.
FTW!
Randy Winn says "we don't need another stinkin' OF."
What is the prognosis on neck cancer?
[61] Or, "I gotcha corner outfielder right heah", as they say in Italy. Well, Little Italy.
That should go some ways towards getting Winn out of Girardi's "doghouse".
And now Jeter hits one where they are. You just can't overstate the impact that Gardner has had on the rest of the line up.
Now we need NJ to get with the program ...
So, from what I can tell, NJ should simply stop hitting line drives.
[65] wait, i am starting to believe in the power of the pig, but what does gardner have to do with jeter's hit?
[68] It's contagious.
[68] Because he obviously taught Jeter the trick to "hit 'em where they are" to get on base. And you can't tell me that Winn didn't take a page out of Gardner's book with that unlikely HR.
I missed the memo, how is Gardner related to a pig .... as in "gets uniform dirty"?
[58] Remember when the Republican Party used to play that at their rallies? Did no one actually read the lyrics?!?! :)
I'm taking too much enjoyment from this article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=edes_gordon&id=5157384
GG Gardner..wonder what his final stats will end being? If he's at .370 OBP for the year that will be enough?
[69] I'm not a science guy, so I have a question. The longer the Singularity gets regular playing time, will that result in an ever-widening disruption of space-time?
[71]
72. cult of basebaal
April 29th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Watching Brett Gardner hit is like watching a pig sing … I mean, it ain’t pretty, but *hell* it’s a singing pig!
[74]
Thanks ...
(someone needs to create a Banter "glossary")
[73] To where time travel is possible:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/03/time-travel-possible-says-stephen-hawking/
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes humans are capable of time travel -- and he's not afraid to let everyone know.
[74] To which the mighty Gritner responded with a hit ... and someone posted "Oink! Oink! Oink!"
[73] I'll try to explain it in layman's terms. (The field equations are very complicated.)
The answer is, yes, that's what would happen, except that "longer" and "time" have no meaning in this context. But what could happen is that Brett's corona could be causing Paul O'Neill's hot streak in 1999.
[75] definitely.
who the hell are these 18% who think jamie moyer is going to win 300 games?
[72] Yep.
Bruce made them stop, but I liked the irony, myself.
So after the pig went yard yesterday, they should have renamed him "Babe"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myyb4FUUMwI
[81] Without looking at the link, I'm gonna guess, "That'll do pig, that'll do!"
[78] The ramifications are mind blowing. Just think, Babe Ruth 1920...
Robbie looking like he's getting sloppy at the plate ...
Uh oh, no JoPo?
[84]
yes .... fly ball happy now ....
[85] This better not confirm my über toopessimism about Yankees injuries, from the other night.
po better be okay
[87] Yes, but if Gardner AND Cervelli were *both* starting ... think of the GRIT Quotient in every game!!!
[89]
In some countries, I'm willing to bet "pig brains" are a delicacy ...
I'm watching the Jays-Indians game and Austin Kearns is batting for the Tribe. He's having a fine start to this season, but every time I watch Kearns it makes me sort of sad. I was living in Ohio when he and Dunn both came up, and there was not only such enthusiasm about both of them, it looked at first like Kearns was going to be the better player---a real star.
The Derek and Rob show.
Queen Latifah ... in a love triangle in a movie .... I wonder who her GF is?
Nick "The Stick" baby, really REALLY good to see him hitting like this at NYS.
That was maybe the best at bat I've seen all season.
[93] the way mk was fawning about her with al, i would say mk
fuck that mk - tell us the news on po now
[96] Oh no..I have the same feeling now I had when I first tried grilled squid...eeewwww....
lohud says po left with tightness in his right calf - went for an mri
[97] Via LoHud:
Garrett Atkins? WTF?
[99][100] Hope fully it's not time to call up another pitcher.
Which knee did Po get plunked in last week?
cc is good friends with the dp tonight
[100] thanks for the effort. you need to channel gardner though :}
Damn, that was nice.
CC will pitch the eighth, barring mishap here, right?
Asking for diabetes, there.
[105] Especially because the bullpen is short.
OK, I'll cut it out.
[102] well if aj is going to catch then i think another pitcher is entirely appropriate.
2009-2010 for Montanez: .171/.218/.243/.462
Why did Po go for an MRI?
I don't think Swisher is just a fluke. He's made a lot of changes to his stance, and is now going the other way more and better. I think we just have a better hitter then last year.
[105] More seriously, if he gets a quick 8th, Girardi might let him go the distance. No wait, it's a save situation, so 8 is probably the limit regardless.
[103] right
[110] strained right calf
[112] Well, maybe Marte, Logan, Aceves, Robertson, Joba, and Melancon could each face one batter. Say they get one out among them, then Mo could retire the last two for the Save.
[113]
hmmm .... delayed cascade injury???? rushed him back a bit?
Just cause I'm keeping track...
.367 .420 .495 .916 146 OPS+ / Austin Jackson
.211 .211 .211 .421 14 OPS+ / Melky
.260 .333 .448 .781 110 OPS+ / Matsui
.326 .420 .484 .904 143 OPS+ / JD
[116] Or he's just getting old ...
=(
This just in: Joe Saunders is not good at pitching.
Blue Jays are rolling again. They're not that good, really. But jut getting rid of Ricciardi has helped immensely, I think.
[117]
Two things to temper the A-Jax love (I know cause I have him on my $$$ roto team)
Majors-leading 34 Ks in 119 PAs
.527 BABIP
damn the yanks have had some bad babip luck tonight
guess a little bit of good luck too, such as the e4
[121] Wait, you mean he's not likely to keep hitting .360+ this season?!?!
[122] That was not luck, that was the Gardner Effect.
Well, yes :-)
[121] Batters do have some BABIP control. But nobody has .527 control, wow.
Grrrr. Atkins.
HD Supershot seems a lot like YES-MO
[128] And the Coors Freeze Frame
CC at 100 pitches...
[121] He's also seeing a crap-ton of fastballs 1st time around the league ... we'll see how he hits when the pitches, they start wiggling ...
Crud...Po with a sore calf means that they will call up Chad Moeller. I'd rather have 13 pitchers than three catchers, if one of them is Chad Moeller.
Joba slugging down a RedBull in the bullpen ... how is that different than a "greenie"? :-)
[117] Oops....:
.213 .308 .250 .558 51 OPS+ / Melky
[124] ah yes, i was not in the proper space-time continuum
What was the coaching visit for: "this is the last batter fer ya, big guy" or "get 'em out quick and you can go for the CG"?
[132] I'd sort of like to see them carry 13 catchers, and 3 pitchers. CC, Hughes, Aceves.
[137] Now that's a plan I can get behind!
[136] my vote is "stop eye-fucking the ump, make your pitches, and let's end this"
[137] [138] except it is sacrilegious - mo would like a word with you 2
Dammit. Crap or get off the pot Joey Joe Joe. Get somebody up in the damn pen if CC's not coming back out.
[140] Mo would still be on the team as the starting CF.
Why no Mo?
[143]
Mo doesn't want cheap saves anymore? :-P
[144] I'll take that over "something wrong with Mo"
[140] [142] Exactly. I explained this two days ago.
Can't you just see the scene in the club house? Girardi is moping around, Cashman is there, they toss around a few names. Mo stands up, looking serious. "Somebody needs to play center field. I can do it. I will do it."
Cervelli jumps up and starts shouting something unintelligible. Jeter slaps Mo on the head. Posada looks very slightly less dour. Swisher lets out a whoop, and everybody knows everything is going to be okay after all.
Jeez, I sound like Bat Girl.
YES-Mo is like a new toy for them.
I remember when I used to are about Chamberlain
Joba. Interesting.
[143] [144] Shhh. Joe lost count. When he went to the mound, CC told him it was only the seventh inning, because he wanted to keep pitching. Now Joe thinks it's the eighth.
[150] Fucking hysterical.
I tip my hat to you, sir.
[146] I assume Italian National Hero Cervelli is shouting in Italian
[150] Tricking Joe? Maybe. Nothing gets by the Binder, though.
[152] Hahahah.
Also well played. Honorable mention.
[150] Or maybe it's Gritner messing with the space-time continuum again.
[153] yep i don't think the binder is so easily fooled.
would girardi actually go to mo here?
They're pinch hitting for Garett Atkins???
we really need a consistent, easy to type nickname for girardi
So, presuming that Cervelli is the starting catcher for a bit, will the Yankees' starters put up zeroes for the next two weeks?
good lord that is scary sometimes.
nice win boys.
The Yankees Winn!
Rack another one up!
If I were Dave Trembley, and Reimold almost got his hand crushed sliding into first in this game with two outs, I'd lose my mind
[159] The odds are good, considering how much Hughes and CC struggled with Po behind the plate tonight and yesterday.
That's Randy Winn's voice?
That game was boring, but quite satisfying.
V-Mart actually threw out a base runner. Itzuris. Dude must be ghastly slow. Snuffed out what looked like a Halo rally.
Well, whatever, it's the Rays we need to watch now.
What's the deal with Teix always taking it himself?
Why does Mo feel sore?
[158] Goldman calls him "Coffee Joe". That's a little easier than "Joey Joe Joe", which is really Joe Torre's nickname, anyways ...
[168] Tweaked his "flank" on Friday.
Ugh.