vs. WHITE SOX 8/29

[zweem]

Yes, we did. But they (the usually good defense that we had out there tonight) had a bad game.

Yep the defense allowed almost 2 hits per inning.

[OFFNY]

Hey folks. Just got home from school. Can one of you nice people give a single word adjective for how bad Saunders was?

Not quite as bad as his stats show. The normally sure-handed Hardy made 2 bad plays in the first inning, which opened it up for the 4 runs that they got. And then after Saunders seemed to have settled down, we made another error in the 5th inning, which added an unearned run. Some of the hits were hard, but quite a few were bloops and fining-the-hole hits, and we you have that combined with a bad defense behind you, it's a recipe for a HUGE game for the opponent. Hence, Chicago White Sox 8, Baltimore Orioles 1 in the final inning.

Saunders did throw a lot of balls, and walk 2 batters in 5.33 innings, though, so he's not exactly blameless.

A bad game by Saunders, not helped by the stomping on his nuts by the defense.

[Flosman]

Robin should be fined for that. WTF reason is there to not just let veal finish the game?

[Malike]

Did Ventura just swap pitchers for a matchup with a 7 run lead and 2 outs?

[Goober Noodles]

At least we don't have to wait long to put this one behind us. Get 'em tomorrow.

[RavNMadMan]

Not quite as bad as his stats show. The normally sure-handed Hardy made 2 bad plays in the first inning, which opened it up for the 4 runs that they got. And then after Saunders seemed to have settled down, we made another error in the 5th inning, which added an unearned run. Some of the hits were hard, but quite a few were bloops and fining-the-hole hits, and we you have that combined with a bad defense behind you, it's a recipe for a HUGE game for the opponent. Hence, Chicago White Sox 8, Baltimore Orioles 1 in the final inning.

Saunders did throw a lot of balls, and walk 2 batters in 5.33 innings, though, so he's not completely blameless.

A bad game by Saunders, not helped by the stomping on his nuts by the defense.

Thank you Man. I kinda figured it was a mix of stuff.

[RavNMadMan]

Did Ventura just swap pitchers for a matchup with a 7 run lead and 2 outs?

There's Manager of the Year candidate.

[OFFNY]

Yep the defense allowed almost 2 hits per inning.

Roll your eyes all you want, anyone who watched the game knows that we should have been out of the first inning with no runs instead of the 4 that we had. And Wieters dropping the ball allowed for the 2-out RBI double for the 5th run, which wouldn't have happened if he had caught the ball.

[OFFNY]

Thank you Man. I kinda figured it was a mix of stuff.

Anytime, Mad Man.

A bad game overall by the pitching, the defense, and the offense, which will happen occasionally over the course of the 6-month, 6 games-per week season ......... I just don't want it to happen a lot, like it used to in 2010 and the many years before that.

[OFFNY]

Did Ventura just swap pitchers for a matchup with a 7 run lead and 2 outs?

Yes, he did. 2 outs, and nobody on base. I have no idea why he'd want to do that, other then to possibly get under the Orioles' skin, and try to get them off of their game for tomorrow afternoon.

[LA2]

The Orioles already had someone to give up 6 earned and 10 hits in 5 and a third.

His name is Tommy Hunter.

There's a big difference in how they give up those runs; in one case the problem is rectifiable, in the other case not (unless you move back the fences).

[zweem]

The 2 groups with opposing views as to the merit of the Saunders trade really see this game differently. I really find Johnson's "burned" appearance in this game as the most frustrating aspect of the whole evening.

[LA2]

You havent seen other instances where they needlessly used Johnson in a mopup role when they couldve used him in a more impactful way. Ive said it before, I dont know why, but the Orioles

reward Steve Johnson for his excellent performances by jerking him all over the map. And the next move could be back to Norfolk to make room for Randy Wolf. Ridiculous if that happens.

The Orioles rewarded Steve Johnson's good (not great) performance in the minors with two starts and three relief appearances over a three-week period during which they were also trying to see if Zach Britton and Tommy Hunter could earn their spots in the rotation. Let us assume that the O's brain trust has more insight into pitching ability than most of us do; I'm willing to put faith in their judgement that this was the best way to squeeze the best results out of Johnson's particular skill set without falling prey to the type of illusions generated by the overachieving debuts of pitchers like Chris Waters, Travis Driscoll, Josh Towers et al. I'm sure Steve is grateful for the opportunities given by the O's and will show it by being as prepared as possible when the next ones come.

Let me speculate that the O's--having set their sights on sinking the Yankees in two intense series--have not projected SJ to match up well against the current Yankee lineup. Is this mere prejudice against the certain type of pitcher Johnson is (high-80s fastball, non-elite prospect, etc.)? Is that really something we could rationally suspect of a management that has thrown into crucial front-line roles Miguel Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, Weiyin Chen, Nat McLouth, Lew Ford, Omar Quintanilla, Steve Pearce, and Ryan Flaherty (needless to say, some have performed well and kept their assignments and others haven't)? Would "jerking [sJ] all over the map" for supercilious reasons be the expected conduct of a management that has won national recognition for defying predictions based on traditional statistics and scouting?