Alexi Casilla..

[crawjo]

I did overreact. Wont deny that. The way this team loses at times is just so frustrating. I never start a thread like this after a loss, but the way it ended combined with the offense today and it being against the Red Sox just made it that much worse. This team always seems to lose sloppy.

I wish that one of us could travel back in time to, say, the middle of the 2011 season, or maybe even that horrible start in 2010. We would go onto OH and tell everyone we were from the future. We would explain: I have some bad news, the Orioles will blow a game against the Red Sox in June of 2013 in which a baserunner will make a mistake in the bottom of the ninth and get doubled off first. The loss will drop us to just nine games over .500. Oh, and we made the playoffs in 2012.

Just to see how people would take that news.

[Crazysilver03]

Maybe. But he can't bunt. And now he can't pinch run. Not knowing how many outs there are is a big mental mistake.

Did he lose his legs?

[OrangeJerseys]

I wish that one of us could travel back in time to, say, the middle of the 2011 season, or maybe even that horrible start in 2010. We would go onto OH and tell everyone we were from the future. We would explain: I have some bad news, the Orioles will blow a game against the Red Sox in June of 2013 in which a baserunner will make a mistake in the bottom of the ninth and get doubled off first. The loss will drop us to just nine games over .500. Oh, and we made the playoffs in 2012.

Just to see how people would take that news.

Brilliant.

[Crazysilver03]

And this is why Casilla can't get playing time over Flaherty.

Casilla had been injured the last few days. Jammed his finger on Sunday and couldn't hold a bat. Only available for pinch running.

[LayzieDES]

I wish that one of us could travel back in time to, say, the middle of the 2011 season, or maybe even that horrible start in 2010. We would go onto OH and tell everyone we were from the future. We would explain: I have some bad news, the Orioles will blow a game against the Red Sox in June of 2013 in which a baserunner will make a mistake in the bottom of the ninth and get doubled off first. The loss will drop us to just nine games over .500. Oh, and we made the playoffs in 2012.

Just to see how people would take that news.

Hah! I often think the same thing when the OH loses it's collective mind. We indeed have things to legitimately complain about, but overall this is a pretty good group of players that get us into position to even complain about these things. In 2011 we were 32-37 at this point & on the way to having 8 wins that July. The O's are now at 39-30 & only 2.5 games out of first place. I understand these guys could be so much better but I'll still take them over any of the previous years duds any day.

[ShaneDawg85]

Odds are pretty good Casilla's mistake isn't either. The Ump's blown call in the fourth was more damaging.

That and Garcia's long ball pitching performance, aided of course by the abominable Jeff Nelson call.

[luismatos4prez]

I wish that one of us could travel back in time to, say, the middle of the 2011 season, or maybe even that horrible start in 2010. We would go onto OH and tell everyone we were from the future. We would explain: I have some bad news, the Orioles will blow a game against the Red Sox in June of 2013 in which a baserunner will make a mistake in the bottom of the ninth and get doubled off first. The loss will drop us to just nine games over .500. Oh, and we made the playoffs in 2012.

Just to see how people would take that news.

There's a definite demographic of fans who started actually rooting for the Orioles for the first time last year. They have no perspective and have no idea what rooting for a baseball team through the ups and downs of a season actually involves. Ten games of baseball has less of an impact on the end of year standings then one game in football. There's going to be some ugliness and some mistakes, but as long as you're churning out positive results in the long run, there's no reason to get up in arms over one bad game.

That being said, Casilla gets paid a lot of money to be able to judge that ball and figure out if the RF has a shot or not. It was a bad mistake.

[JohnD]

Odds are pretty good Casilla's mistake isn't either. The Ump's blown call in the fourth was more damaging.

Are you Hunter or Dempsey?

[Rene88]

Casilla play on Sportscenter, super.

I am so angry at our 2nd base options, everyone saw this coming and the fact it wasn't addressed in the offseason is sickening.

Can Flaherty play SS? If so, we can bring Navarro back up and at least have a bat off the bench. What does Casilla really do? He hardly plays. Buck clearly doesn't like him. Move on, Navarro would be a good bat to platoon with Flaherty.

[sfosfan]

Stupid signing in the first place.

Did the coach tell him to go? I thought Casilla believed it was going to be a double and took off without looking.

[MrDurden]

Casilla play on Sportscenter, super.

I am so angry at our 2nd base options, everyone saw this coming and the fact it wasn't addressed in the offseason is sickening.

Can Flaherty play SS? If so, we can bring Navarro back up and at least have a bat off the bench. What does Casilla really do? He hardly plays. Buck clearly doesn't like him. Move on, Navarro would be a good bat to platoon with Flaherty.

Uhhh.. what? Why have Flaherty move into any position at all? Literally EVERY other option is better.

[Lester Freamon]

Casilla play on Sportscenter, super.

I am so angry at our 2nd base options, everyone saw this coming and the fact it wasn't addressed in the offseason is sickening.

Can Flaherty play SS? If so, we can bring Navarro back up and at least have a bat off the bench. What does Casilla really do? He hardly plays. Buck clearly doesn't like him. Move on, Navarro would be a good bat to platoon with Flaherty.

IMHO, Casilla is a perfectly fine bench player. He made a bad mistake today. It was flukey. It happened and it sucks but I doubt it has ever happened to Casilla before and it probably won't ever happen again. And despite the fact that he blew a suicide squeeze earlier in the season, Casilla is a good bunter. Bad plays happen and yes, again, it sucks. This particular gaffe didn't cost us the game but it did cost us a chance to tie or win. Dickerson would have been up next with two outs and a man on first. Hopefully Casilla would have stolen second (which is a large reason why he is on the bench) and then..... who knows.

Overall, I think Casilla has done a fine job for us this season and I, personally, like having a guy like him on the bench who can come in late in the game to pinch run and who doesn't hurt us defensively - and actually when Roberts comes back he'll be a defensive upgrade for Roberts late in the game.

Also, as far as upgrading the 2B position this offseason, it would have had to have been done via trade and I don't know what was out there (we did acquire Casilla via trade). Remember free agency is a two way street. Baltimore may not have been an especially attractive destination for a free agent second basemen with designs on a starting gig, knowing that Brian Roberts is in the fold. As much as a Roberts injury always seems inevitable, it is still, if you're being honest, just speculation until it actually becomes fact.

[CA-ORIOLE]

IMHO, Casilla is a perfectly fine bench player. He made a bad mistake today. It was flukey. It happened and it sucks but I doubt it has ever happened to Casilla before and it probably won't ever happen again. And despite the fact that he blew a suicide squeeze earlier in the season, Casilla is a good bunter. Bad plays happen and yes, again, it sucks. This particular gaffe didn't cost us the game but it did cost us a chance to tie or win. Dickerson would have been up next with two outs and a man on first. Hopefully Casilla would have stolen second (which is a large reason why he is on the bench) and then..... who knows.

Overall, I think Casilla has done a fine job for us this season and I, personally, like having a guy like him on the bench who can come in late in the game to pinch run and who doesn't hurt us defensively - and actually when Roberts comes back he'll be a defensive upgrade for Roberts late in the game.

Also, as far as upgrading the 2B position this offseason, it would have had to have been done via trade and I don't know what was out there (we did acquire Casilla via trade). Remember free agency is a two way street. Baltimore may not have been an especially attractive destination for a free agent second basemen with designs on a starting gig, knowing that Brian Roberts is in the fold. As much as a Roberts injury always seems inevitable, it is still, if you're being honest, just speculation until it actually becomes fact.

A few things.

- Statistically he's not a good sac bunter. His success rate is below league average.

- He's made at least a couple poor plays (not counting physical errors) on defense (a run down, double pumping on a throw to home come to my mind.).

- He does have some baggage from Minnesota (mental errors and effort).

- That said, he's a decent bench player, and I actually think he should have been playing more.

-I get your point about FA's and Roberts, but we should have just had a better plan for second base this year. It was really my only complaint about the offseason. I actually like Flaherty, just thought he needed more work in AAA this year.

[Lester Freamon]

A few things.

- Statistically he's not a good sac bunter. His success rate is below league average.

- He's made at least a couple poor plays (not counting physical errors) on defense (a run down, double pumping on a throw to home come to my mind.).

- He does have some baggage from Minnesota (mental errors and effort).

- That said, he's a decent bench player, and I actually think he should have been playing more.

-I get your point about FA's and Roberts, but we should have just had a better plan for second base this year. It was really my only complaint about the offseason. I actually like Flaherty, just thought he needed more work in AAA this year.

Thanks for the info on sac bunting. Poor form on my part. A player with his speed and lack of power - bunting should be his bread and butter. Although, obviously, there is a distinction between sac bunting and bunting for a hit but I was ignoring that distinction. But yeah, we agree that he's a decent bench player and I especially like his speed, defensive capability (mistakes you mentioned aside) and SB success rate.

For the record, I like Flaherty too. I stated before the season started (so before Roberts actually injured himself) that I thought when Roberts went down with injury that Flaherty would take the position and not look back. I was very wrong about that too. However, I'm in awe of just how solidly solid he's been defensively.

[sfosfan]

All this talk about backup second baseman- I'm not sure whether to smile or cry. Smile because it means something must be going right that this is our biggest worry. Cry because our pitching is second worst in baseball. Leave it to Alex to at least make me forget about the team's era, at least for a day. Can't wait to see Gonzales tomorrow!