Lack of talent showing....

[bigbird]

It's pretty obvison after watching games vs Boston, NY and the BJs that we lack the talent level to compete in the AL East. I've tried to be a most optimistic fan this season but we really lack in all phases on the game. 3/5ths of our rotation is really bad at this point. The back end of the bullpen is just horrible, we don't have a #2 hitter, and we start at least 3 guys every night who are under or fighting to stay above the .200 mark.

The sad part is we really don't have much to trade and can't take on much if any salary.

It could be a very long summer in Balmer.

[Sports Guy]

I am not seeing much of a talent difference with the BJ's.

Halama and Brower are just not reliable.

We are still the 500 team that many of us thought we were.

We do have a #2 hitter...Perlozzo just won't bat Mora there. What we don't have is a #3 or #4 hitter, whichever place you feel Tejada should NOT be in.

[blakesta]

It's pretty obvison after watching games vs Boston, NY and the BJs that we lack the talent level to compete in the AL East. I've tried to be a most optimistic fan this season but we really lack in all phases on the game. 3/5ths of our rotation is really bad at this point. The back end of the bullpen is just horrible, we don't have a #2 hitter, and we start at least 3 guys every night who are under or fighting to stay above the .200 mark.

The sad part is we really don't have much to trade and can't take on much if any salary.

It could be a very long summer in Balmer.

Hahah glad you've noticed how "some" people say baltimore...

[bigbird]

I am not seeing much of a talent difference with the BJ's.

Halama and Brower are just not reliable.

We are still the 500 team that many of us thought we were.

We do have a #2 hitter...Perlozzo just won't bat Mora there. What we don't have is a #3 or #4 hitter, whichever place you feel Tejada should NOT be in.

I don't think the BJs suck at three positions night after night.

[Jagwar]

Posted this in the game thread, thought it was worth repeating here. It isnt just the back end of the bullpen that is a mess. Other than Ray and Hawkins, look at the blokes that Perlozzo has to bring into games.

1. Key contributors are Halama, Brower, Britton and Rodriguez (along with Byrdak before he got injured).
2. In a good bullpen, Rleal could be the 6th or 7th pitcher out of the pen, now he is the 3rd.

To top it all off, the team is counting on Todd Williams and John Parrish to save the day

[Spoonless]

I am not seeing much of a talent difference with the BJ's.

Halama and Brower are just not reliable.

We are still the 500 team that many of us thought we were.

We do have a #2 hitter...Perlozzo just won't bat Mora there. What we don't have is a #3 or #4 hitter, whichever place you feel Tejada should NOT be in.

Sad thing is, they were saying on the radio how Mora volunteered to bat 2nd.

[boogidownoriole]

To top it all off, the team is counting on Todd Williams and John Parrish to save the day

Do you think Yankes, Sox and Jays have great middle relief? They have problems too like everyone else

[bgfield]

We do have a #2 hitter...Perlozzo just won't bat Mora there.

Exactly. Perlozzo was here all last season when Mazzilli screwed around batting pretty much everyone second. If you don't use Mora as a #2 man, then we don't have one. Batting Conine there is absolutely absurd.

[Mu'ayyidSaafir]

Posted this in the game thread, thought it was worth repeating here. It isnt just the back end of the bullpen that is a mess. Other than Ray and Hawkins, look at the blokes that Perlozzo has to bring into games.

1. Key contributors are Halama, Brower, Britton and Rodriguez (along with Byrdak before he got injured).
2. In a good bullpen, Rleal could be the 6th or 7th pitcher out of the pen, now he is the 3rd.

To top it all off, the team is counting on Todd Williams and John Parrish to save the day

Another bullpen basher. It's very easy to do that after a game like tonight's (although the starter got the L, remember), but let's get real. It's been over a week since any of the O's non-Canadian starters has pitched more than six innings. The bullpen had to go 10 2/3 over three games in New York and they acquitted themselves rather well, giving up only three earned runs. But they're overworked at this point. On a team where the starters are doing their jobs, a bullpen that's at least three men deep should not be a huge liability, and the Orioles pen is three deep (Rleal, Hawkins, Ray). So this is not John Halama's fault! We were never meant to see him four times in the the span of a week! Blame the starters that are forcing him to do all this work.

[birdsfan4ever]

We have a #2 hitter, Mora, Perlozzo just doesnt use him there. Batting Conine second is just a terrible move, the only worse choice as the #2 hitter on this team is Raul Chavez.

[bgfield]

Another bullpen basher. It's very easy to do that after a game like tonight's (although the starter got the L, remember), but let's get real. It's been over a week since any of the O's non-Canadian starters has pitched more than six innings. The bullpen had to go 10 2/3 over three games in New York and they acquitted themselves rather well, giving up only three earned runs. But they're overworked at this point. On a team where the starters are doing their jobs, a bullpen that's at least three men deep should not be a huge liability, and the Orioles pen is three deep (Rleal, Hawkins, Ray). So this is not John Halama's fault! We were never meant to see him four times in the the span of a week! Blame the starters that are forcing him to do all this work.

Good point. Our starters have been horrible. Rodrigo wasn't TOO bad tonight, except for that one inning where he suddenly lost it and gave up a couple runs. Every team should expect their starters to go 7 innings most of the time. And a team like ours with middle relief questions NEEDS the starters to go 7 innings, as often as possible. I believe you're right, we haven't done that since Bedard's last start, have we?

[keysersose]

I am not seeing much of a talent difference with the BJ's.

That's absurd. Catalanatoo, Wells, Glaus, Overbay and Hinske are better than Conine, Markakis, Mora, Millar and Lopez(DH).
Tejada and Roberts are better than Hill and Adams. Gibbons v. Johnson is difficult because one leads off and the other is a middle of the order guy.

[Sports Guy]

Good point. Our starters have been horrible. Rodrigo wasn't TOO bad tonight, except for that one inning where he suddenly lost it and gave up a couple runs. Every team should expect their starters to go 7 innings most of the time. And a team like ours with middle relief questions NEEDS the starters to go 7 innings, as often as possible. I believe you're right, we haven't done that since Bedard's last start, have we?

I would be surprised if any team has had its starters average 7 innings a start since the 5 man rotation started.

I think league average is around 5 2/3 IP but i am not 100% sure of that.

BTW, i thought LOpez looked great tonight but he was too wild in the strike zone for a few batters. But he had very good stuff tonight and was working the outside corner all night long.

Chen needs to get going and DC needs to get better consistency.

I am not that worried about the pitching staff at this point, as long as Halama and Brower are out the door soon.

[2632]

Lots of teams have bad middle relievers, but we have to rely on ours more often than we should, because most of our starters can't go the full 7 or 8.

You can't just blame the pitching though because the bottom 4 batters in the lineup went a combined 0-12 tonight. You can't even get away with that in the NL West, let alone AL East.

[Sports Guy]

That's absurd. Catalanatoo, Wells, Glaus, Overbay and Hinske are better than Conine, Markakis, Mora, Millar and Lopez(DH).
Tejada and Roberts are better than Hill and Adams. Gibbons v. Johnson is difficult because one leads off and the other is a middle of the order guy.

Mora and Glaus is very very close, probably an all around toss up(for this year).

Tejada and Roberts are way way ahead of Hill and Adams.

Hernandez is much better than Molina.

Markakis is more talented than any OFer they have except Wells, he just has to put it together.

Gibbons is better than any OFer they have other than Wells.

Obviusly Overbay is much better

Now, where they are better is the depth of their offense. Guys like Cat, Johnson, Hillenbrand, Rios, Zaun and Hinske are better than Javy, Conine, CPat and Chavez. Now, if we had Matos and Newhan back, it would be closer.

We are deeper in the rotation than they are BUT they are more top heavy than us....BP's are very similar.

They are more talented but it is not alot more.