Tonight I have lost all hope.

[Yardball85]

This team is way too reliant on the bullpen. That's the problem. A good offense gives the bullpen a 2-3+ run lead, not only a 1 run lead.

A good offense just makes your bullpen look that much better because 1 run allowed isn't going to kill you.

I hate to break it to people but we do not have a good pitching staff - we never did. It's average which is why our offense has to be one of the best in baseball. Right now it isn't hence why we are losing games.

Fix the offense, you fix just about everything else.

Dude.... duuuuude....

[Dipper9]

Bookmarking this thread...

It's only one game man. Really. A bad loss and one that got away. And more trouble from the pen. They are in a serious funk. But one loss. The overreaction on this board is hilarious.

Cracks me up how every time we have a bad loss and people come here to vent, we get the "it's just one game" crowd. Well, I'm not sure if everyone gets this logic, but "just one game" here and there adds up to "a few games" and a few games can be the difference between October baseball and golfing in the Florida Panhandle.

[Dipper9]

Bottom line no matter how many freaking runs we score or don't when you give the lead to pen it's there job to close the door. We didn't do that 2 nights in a row.

Bin-go!

[Dipper9]

Can't only score 3 runs and expect to win.

Okay Trea, so just out of curiosity, what if the game was 15-14 Orioles going into the 9th and JJ blew the save then? Should the Orioles have given him a 3 run lead? Is it still on the offense?

The point is, it doesn't matter how many runs we score. IF we get to the 9th with the lead, Johnson's job is to get three outs before the other team ties the game. And he just ain't getting it done!

[Redskins Rick]

Okay Trea, so just out of curiosity, what if the game was 15-14 Orioles going into the 9th and JJ blew the save then? Should the Orioles have given him a 3 run lead? Is it still on the offense?

The point is, it doesn't matter how many runs we score. IF we get to the 9th with the lead, Johnson's job is to get three outs before the other team ties the game. And he just ain't getting it done!

Its easy to sit back and point out failures in a game.

But, it takes the entire team to win and lose. Granted some players can have a bigger hand in winning or losing, but ultimately, its a team loss.

[Dipper9]

Machado's OBP in the second half has been .268, so no he's not performing like that for the club right now. He's part of the problem.

We should send his ass back to Norfolk and play Flaherty at third.

I gotta say, I'm now 6 pages into this thread, and its been highly entertaining!

[Dipper9]

One does not have to be in lockstep with the GM and hitting coach to be a fan of this team or a poster on this board.

We all want to see the Orioles win, and it's OK to have different ideas on how to get there.

The Orioles made the playoffs last season. Now the goal was to get to the World Series and win it, or at least it should have been, however the same cast of players returned - some improved, some regressed, and the team is no better than it was last year while other teams like Kansas City, Cleveland and Boston did improve. Duquette tried to make up for his inaction by deadline moves, but the reinforcements he needs are much harder to come by and more expensive than they were in the offseason. At best the moves he made kept the Orioles from falling out of the race.

That doesn't mean the Orioles should just continue to do nothing however. Changes can be made that don't include firing the hitting coach as I've already listed.

The team is too close not to make every effort to go for it.

The "cast of characters" that returned was the team that had the best record in all of baseball in August and September last year. There was every indication that those players would keep the Orioles competitive this season, and they have.

I'm sure had you been around here, you would have been screaming for Hamilton. How's that working out for the Halos?

[Dipper9]

How many saves has JJ blown? Cut that number in half and we're sitting pretty.

I don't see us making the playoffs, never really did, but this is still frustrating as hell, when one guy has cost you so many games like this.

This times 1000. In all honesty, it has to be hard for JJ to sit in the clubhouse and look at his teammates in the face with the way he has performed this season. Its bad enough for a player to struggle offensively and feel like they're not contributing. But when you have a direct outcome on losing games like JJ has, well, I can't even imagine.

[Dipper9]

Just imagine where this team would be if Manny and Davis weren't all world in first half of season destroying opposing pitching each in their own way.

Looks like a 93 win team a year ago who lost a few pieces, didn't replace them and are destined to be a 85-88 win team this year. Imagine that.

I am sure this offseason, while we sit on our hands again while our owner is stashing money, the apologists will come out of the woodwork and tell us all how dumb we are for wanting to upgrade the team via FA. All overpaid, none worth it, build from within...blah blah blah. Heard it all before.

That might work in some other divisions but not the AL East. We are playing with the big boys, who will use every resource possible to put a winner on the field. Novel concept.

You mean like the Yanks and Angels?

[Dipper9]

Its easy to sit back and point out failures in a game.

But, it takes the entire team to win and lose. Granted some players can have a bigger hand in winning or losing, but ultimately, its a team loss.

Okay, are you Lee Evans or Billy Cundiff? Seriously. You gotta be one of those men right?

[Redskins Rick]

Okay, are you Lee Evans or Billy Cundiff? Seriously. You gotta be one of those men right?

Not even funny in the slightest.

[Dipper9]

Not even funny in the slightest.

Just proving my point. In that football game, its easy to sit back at the end and say, yeah, we made several mistakes throughout the game that could have made a difference. But at the end of the day, the Ravens were in position to win the game and go on to the SuperBowl, except that Lee Evans didn't do his job. Same as JJ didn't do his job last night.

So yes, to your point, its a team game and a team loss. But that doesn't mean that one player cannot be held responsible for losing the game.

[Redskins Rick]

Just proving my point. In that football game, its easy to sit back at the end and say, yeah, we made several mistakes throughout the game that could have made a difference. But at the end of the day, the Ravens were in position to win the game and go on to the SuperBowl, except that Lee Evans didn't do his job. Same as JJ didn't do his job last night.

So yes, to your point, its a team game and a team loss. But that doesn't mean that one player cannot be held responsible for losing the game.

So the fans going after Buckner long after the playoff game was over was right?

It's still just one play, and there was other mistakes before that final crucial one, but nobody remembers those.

Gibbs used to say, you want a big enough lead, where one bad ref call, or one bad mental mistake on your part, doesn't cost you the game.

[BMann]

So the fans going after Buckner long after the playoff game was over was right?

It's still just one play, and there was other mistakes before that final crucial one, but nobody remembers those.

Buckner got a raw deal because the Sux had already blown the lead that inning, before the ball went through his legs. No one knows who might've won that game had Buckner made the play and kept the game going into extras.

JJ doesn't get the same leeway: He gets 3 outs, O's win. End of story.

[Tx Oriole]

No its not a single game.. its a body of work. I'm with the OP on this one. I've been trying to hold out hope all year but I think we're going to squander a historic defensive year and a historic offensive season from Davis by missing the playoffs.[/quotee ]

Of course you are. Pessimistic folks on this board stand together. Geez losing two to Arizona doesn't mean the team is doomed. It is really too sad that the so called fans can't have a belief in the team when they hit a tough patch. The doom and

gloom bunch sell your team short. After all it is not like the team is under .500. I

am not looking through orange colored glasses. The team has a damn good shot

at the playoffs. IMO