Tim Kurkjian: Arrieta and Matusz looking good

[atomic]

You are just wrong, as usual.

What he did last year has nothing to do with tonight and if you want to compare it and say it is the same, it just shows how moronic that statement is because his stuff was CLEARLY better tonight...His velocity was 3-5 MPH better and his command/location was better.

He gave up 6 hits, 2 were IF hits, one was a bloop and 2 groundball singles.

He wasn't lit up...He wasn't getting hit hard. He didn't walk guys..didn't show poor command or poor control.

You really couldn't be more wrong.

Does he need to keep improving? Yes...Is he ahead of where he was at any point last year(post injury) than he is right now? Yes and that's obvious.

His pitches were awful. He was facing a weak line-up. A terrible team. He threw some pitches right down the middle. If he faced a better team they would have been knocked out of the park. I saw no sign of his curve ball that he had in 2010 that was effective for him back then. He did have bad control. He certainly didn't want to throw the pitches right down the middle when he did. With what he showed tonight he can't be a major league player. Sorry I was looking at what he was throwing not at what the players were doing. If he wants to be a decent pitcher he needs his curve and he needs great control of his pitches.

The team has problems Bad fielding at third, short, and left field. Hopefully we can get some decent pitching out of other players.

[The Rick]

His pitches were awful. He was facing a weak line-up. A terrible team. He threw some pitches right down the middle. If he faced a better team they would have been knocked out of the park. I saw no sign of his curve ball that he had in 2010 that was effective for him back then. He did have bad control. He certainly didn't want to throw the pitches right down the middle when he did. With what he showed tonight he can't be a major league player. Sorry I was looking at what he was throwing not at what the players were doing. If he wants to be a decent pitcher he needs his curve and he needs great control of his pitches.

I don't mean to pile on here, but I just want to point out that it's March 5th. All things considered, you don't put much stock into this one way or the other. He made a few poor pitches, but many other quality ones, and his velocity was strong. If I'm going to lean one way or the other based on a March 5th spring training game, it's going to be toward the positive side. But again, you can't put too much stock into it. He's still got all spring, and even if he pitches to an 8.50 ERA this spring, that will matter little to me provided that he's worked on things he's needed to work on. I guarantee you this, no matter how this spring goes, the O's won't be giving up on him. Neither should anyone else.

Look, I get it, I'm as apprehensive about Matusz as anyone, mainly because I still have such high hopes for him, but there's nothing wrong with admitting you were wrong every once in a while. This place really brings a wealth of knowledge, but it's all for naught if you're ego is too big to allow yourself to benefit from it. Have an open mind.

[Sports Guy]

His pitches were awful. He was facing a weak line-up. A terrible team. He threw some pitches right down the middle. If he faced a better team they would have been knocked out of the park. I saw no sign of his curve ball that he had in 2010 that was effective for him back then. He did have bad control. He certainly didn't want to throw the pitches right down the middle when he did. With what he showed tonight he can't be a major league player. Sorry I was looking at what he was throwing not at what the players were doing. If he wants to be a decent pitcher he needs his curve and he needs great control of his pitches.

The team has problems Bad fielding at third, short, and left field. Hopefully we can get some decent pitching out of other players.

So was I and I can confidently say you have no idea what you are talking about.

Ray Charles, dead or alive, could have given me better analysis of what he saw from BMat tonight.

And he barely threw his curve..and if you read what he said, that was in purpose. So, judging the 4 or 5 curve balls that he threw(a few of which went for strikes and one which was a ball but had the batter fooled) tonight is pretty poor.

He threw mostly fastballs and changeups. He wanted to establish his fastball and really, he threw one poor pitch tonight..the pitch that got hit for a double on an 0-2 count, that brought in Pitt's first run. That was an awful pitch..He tried to go in and left it out over the plate.

[atomic]

Funny people can say Matusz is great before he appears in a game due to what Wieters says but when he does poorly in a game it is too early to say anything. I know he didn't throw many curves. He needs to throw more to be effective.

I think this game was a rude awakening to how the team will be for some of you but no make excuses all you want. I wish the team would trade Reynolds, Hardy, Jones, and Reimhold and rebulid with defense in mind.

[The Rick]

Funny people can say Matusz is great before he appears in a game due to what Wieters says but when he does poorly in a game it is too early to say anything. I know he didn't throw many curves. He needs to throw more to be effective.

I think this game was a rude awakening to how the team will be for some of you but no make excuses all you want. I wish the team would trade Reynolds, Hardy, Jones, and Reimhold and rebulid with defense in mind.

Effectiveness is defined differently in ST than it is in the regular season; this is what you can't seem to comprehend.

[MrOrange82]

Funny people can say Matusz is great before he appears in a game due to what Wieters says but when he does poorly in a game it is too early to say anything. I know he didn't throw many curves. He needs to throw more to be effective.

I think this game was a rude awakening to how the team will be for some of you but no make excuses all you want. I wish the team would trade Reynolds, Hardy, Jones, and Reimhold and rebulid with defense in mind.

Who said Matusz was great, and would be great during the regular season, based on his ST bullpen sessions? And I don't suppose it's possible that he didn't throw many curves because...it's ST?

Lastly...nobody needs a "rude awakening." We all know the O's will be bad this year. You're not making much sense.

[malkusm]

If my opinion counts for anything (which I know it probably doesn't) - I thought Matusz looked better tonight. The velocity dipped in the second inning which was concerning. The first inning, he was the victim of bad luck plus one misplaced pitch. The majority of his fastballs were at the knees and on the outer third of the plate with 90+ MPH on them.

Of course we have to see what his off speed stuff looks like. But this is Spring Training - everyone is working on specific parts of their game, trying to improve, not necessarily trying to put a complete performance together.

[CA-ORIOLE]

So was I and I can confidently say you have no idea what you are talking about.

Ray Charles, dead or alive, could have given me better analysis of what he saw from BMat tonight.

And he barely threw his curve..and if you read what he said, that was in purpose. So, judging the 4 or 5 curve balls that he threw(a few of which went for strikes and one which was a ball but had the batter fooled) tonight is pretty poor.

He threw mostly fastballs and changeups. He wanted to establish his fastball and really, he threw one poor pitch tonight..the pitch that got hit for a double on an 0-2 count, that brought in Pitt's first run. That was an awful pitch..He tried to go in and left it out over the plate.

This is pretty much what I saw/expected. I think he threw a couple cutters that may have looked like changeups. I wasn't expecting too much of his offspeed stuff today. I thought his FB command in the first was pretty good and he seemed to be nailing the outside corner against he RH batters. Still, the dropoff in velocity from the first to the second was concerning imo.

[El Gordo]

Matusz was throwing 90-91. He threw at least one CH at 77, a good differential. His command was good he didn't walk anyone. He gave up two IF hits, a bloop, and a bunt, plus one well hit 2B and a solid single. IMO the IF would not have been drawn in during the regular season, and that GB RBI single would have resulted in an easy out. The only reall mistake was the 0-2 pitch that resulted in the 2B hit. It's the first day of ST, get a grip,

[CA-ORIOLE]

Matusz was throwing 90-91. He threw at least one CH at 77, a good differential. His command was good he didn't walk anyone. He gave up two IF hits, a bloop, and a bunt, plus one well hit 2B and a solid single. IMO the IF would not have been drawn in during the regular season, and that GB RBI single would have resulted in an easy out. The only reall mistake was the 0-2 pitch that resulted in the 2B hit. It's the first day of ST, get a grip,

If he hadn't established the record as the worst SP in ML history last year, there would probably be less concern.

[CA-ORIOLE]

If my opinion counts for anything (which I know it probably doesn't) - I thought Matusz looked better tonight. The velocity dipped in the second inning which was concerning. The first inning, he was the victim of bad luck plus one misplaced pitch. The majority of his fastballs were at the knees and on the outer third of the plate with 90+ MPH on them.

Of course we have to see what his off speed stuff looks like. But this is Spring Training - everyone is working on specific parts of their game, trying to improve, not necessarily trying to put a complete performance together.

Counts for me. This is pretty close to my assessment.

[gold21030]

Funny people can say Matusz is great before he appears in a game due to what Wieters says but when he does poorly in a game it is too early to say anything. I know he didn't throw many curves. He needs to throw more to be effective.

I think this game was a rude awakening to how the team will be for some of you but no make excuses all you want. I wish the team would trade Reynolds, Hardy, Jones, and Reimhold and rebulid with defense in mind.

1 game = how the season will go down. The Rays only got one hit through eight innings I guess their season is lost too huh?

[Sports Guy]

This is pretty much what I saw/expected. I think he threw a couple cutters that may have looked like changeups. I wasn't expecting too much of his offspeed stuff today. I thought his FB command in the first was pretty good and he seemed to be nailing the outside corner against he RH batters. Still, the dropoff in velocity from the first to the second was concerning imo.

Yea I just wonder if he was taking something off his fb on purpose...his last 2 fbs were 89 and 91.

[Yardball85]

Funny people can say Matusz is great before he appears in a game due to what Wieters says but when he does poorly in a game it is too early to say anything. I know he didn't throw many curves. He needs to throw more to be effective.

I think this game was a rude awakening to how the team will be for some of you but no make excuses all you want. I wish the team would trade Reynolds, Hardy, Jones, and Reimhold and rebulid with defense in mind.

First of all, it's REIMOLD. Really not that hard to spell players' names correctly.

Second, people are saying Matusz is great based on a lot more than just Wieters' comments. His collegiate career, his stuff, and his potential speak a lot more to people calling him great than simply his catcher's words.

[ccbird]

I will say this, it looked to me like Matusz may have been reaching back for a little extra to hit 90, 91 tonight. It just looked like he was straining a little. Knowing he didn't really have to pace himself and he was on a 40-50 pitch count would allow him to do that. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain that velocity as we continue with ST and when he knows he has to pace himself. Even if he was reaching back for a little tonight it doesn't necessarily mean he can't be smoothly and consistently hitting 90-91 in a month. Ideally, you are throwing a tick or two higher at the end of March compared to the beginning of it as you build up arm strength.