Fat Lady is Beginning to Sing

[SeaBird]

O's are not playing well but look at our schedule compared to the Nats. So many weak teams in the NL. Nats play cupcake after cupcake.

What do the Nats have to do with the Orioles and the schedules? Are you complaining that the Nats have a better chance at postseason? If so, it still has nothing to do with the Orioles and their situation.

[Redskins Rick]

He's blown 1 more save then Rodney, and one more save then the Red Sox 9th inning combo of Bailey/Uehara. Rodney had one of the best statistical seasons in baseball history, if he had that again, blah, blah, blah. It's way more than Johnson. He's the goat, but the problem is the starting pitching.

Dude,

You are wasting your time, the haters don't listen to facts.

[Ommaculate]

He's blown 1 more save then Rodney, and one more save then the Red Sox 9th inning combo of Bailey/Uehara. Rodney had one of the best statistical seasons in baseball history, if he had that again, blah, blah, blah. It's way more than Johnson. He's the goat, but the problem is the starting pitching.

Tampa and Boston have the starting pitching to make up for the bad closer. The Orioles do not have that room for error unfortunately.

[Ommaculate]

Dude,

You are wasting your time, the haters don't listen to facts.

What facts are you talking about? Pretty sure I stated a statistical fact. Who cares about Boston and Tampa anyway? They are better and have more margin for error.

[Redskins Rick]

What facts are you talking about? Pretty sure I stated a statistical fact. Who cares about Boston and Tampa anyway? They are better and have more margin for error.

Johnson only has 1 more blown save than Rodney.

BTW, I suspect if you look at the entire season, there are probably more than 9 games where the starting pitchers pitched horribly and did not keep them in the game.

I suspect the rest of the pen had more than 9 games where they also cost the team victories.

So don't try and blame the whole thing on Johnson, is nearsighted and unfair to Johnson.

[Ommaculate]

Johnson only has 1 more blown save than Rodney.

BTW, I suspect if you look at the entire season, there are probably more than 9 games where the starting pitchers pitched horribly and did not keep them in the game.

I suspect the rest of the pen had more than 9 games where they also cost the team victories.

So don't try and blame the whole thing on Johnson, is nearsighted and unfair to Johnson.

Please answer me. Who cares about Rodney? We are talking about the Orioles. The Orioles could not survive the blown saves but Tampa could.

I am not putting it squarely on Johnson. I am simply stating if he had the same season as last year, it would be a different season. It's a fact, I am not flaming Johnson.

[Frobby]

Forget the core. Jim Johnson had 3 blown saves in 2012. If we had that again, we are battling for first place.

I get really tired of posts singling out JJ like he's the only guy on the team who didn't perform as well this year as last year and is solely responsible for putting the team out of the WC. The fact that he's had a down year is undeniable, but you can lose games in innings 1-8 just as easily as you lose them in the 9th. I could easily argue that the O's would be in WC position if Hammel had pitched like last year, or if Markakis or Wieters had hit like last year, or other things. Our starting pitchers and our bullpen (not just JJ) are worse than last year. And, if I may say do, the breaks haven't gone our way as often as last year. There's a dozen reasons why we're on pace to win 85-86 games instead of 93.

[Redskins Rick]

I get really tired of posts singling out JJ like he's the only guy on the team who didn't perform as well this year as last year and is solely responsible for putting the team out of the WC. The fact that he's had a down year is undeniable, but you can lose games in innings 1-8 just as easily as you lose them in the 9th. I could easily argue that the O's would be in WC position if Hammel had pitched like last year, or if Markakis or Wieters had hit like last year, or other things. Our starting put hers and our bullpen (not just JJ) are worse than last year. And, if I may say do, the breaks haven't gone our way as often as last year. There's a dozen reasons why we're on pace to win 85-86 games instead of 93.

Totally on board with you.

You can point out failures; some nights the bats were quiet, some nights the pen failed, some nights the starters were blown away.

In the end, it is what it is, and its a team game.

Hell, 85-86 is RESPECTABLE!

[waroriole]

I get really tired of posts singling out JJ like he's the only guy on the team who didn't perform as well this year as last year and is solely responsible for putting the team out of the WC. The fact that he's had a down year is undeniable, but you can lose games in innings 1-8 just as easily as you lose them in the 9th. I could easily argue that the O's would be in WC position if Hammel had pitched like last year, or if Markakis or Wieters had hit like last year, or other things. Our starting pitchers and our bullpen (not just JJ) are worse than last year. And, if I may say do, the breaks haven't gone our way as often as last year. There's a dozen reasons why we're on pace to win 85-86 games instead of 93.

Me too. I imagine they are so prevalent because it's easy to go "we were ahead going into the 9th and the only thing left to do is for JJ to get 3 outs." That's a lot easier to recall than some pitch Chen/Tillman/Gonzo whoever made that was poor and could have also cost us a game.

[Old#5fan]

The core of the team is essentially the same with the team that finished 2012, not started 2012. If you gave this core the luck that last year's team had, they could easily take first place.

I agree with you except for the "luck" part. I don't call what they did last year "luck" they played very well in one run games as their bullpen was stellar including their closer. This year they are lousy in one run games because their bullpen is far from stellar and their closer not very good.

Anyway, my response was to another poster who said this years team is ten times better than last years. That was a ridiculous statement.

[TonySoprano]

Please answer me. Who cares about Rodney? We are talking about the Orioles. The Orioles could not survive the blown saves but Tampa could.

The point about Rodney is valid and has been made a few times before. Why don't you ask yourself why couldn't the Orioles overcome the blown saves the way TB did? Maybe if you thought about it, you'd realize the answer is the problem is bigger than only one person in the bullpen. It's the entire bullpen, the rotation, the production from the DH slot and RF...and that's not the whole list.

[Redskins Rick]

The errors in 2012 was 106.

Errors in 2013 is 40.

They are on record to shatter the fewest amount of errors record in MLB history.

So defensively, this team is significantly better.

[Ommaculate]

The point about Rodney is valid and has been made a few times before. Why don't you ask yourself why couldn't the Orioles overcome the blown saves the way TB did? Maybe if you thought about it, you'd realize the answer is the problem is bigger than only one person in the bullpen. It's the entire bullpen, the rotation, the production from the DH slot and RF...and that's not the whole list.

I am putting blame on the front office. They should have 100 percent known there was no way Johnson would repeat that season. Could have been fixed by signing Koji or making other moves. But no, they stood pat thinking the magical season would duplicate when most fans could predict it wouldn't.

[SpinJr]

Didn't I see this same post a few days ago?

2.5 games out of a play off spot. With 4 games left against the Yankees and Rays, 6 with Boston.

Yankees play Boston 7 times and Rays 3 times

Rays play Boston 3 times.

There are games to be made up if we take care of our own business. It's NOT over yet, but we need a run quickly.

I think Roch said it pretty good this morning, why should we expect any run? We've only had one 5 game winning streak. Seems a little crazy to think about since we've hovered around 10+ games over .500 most of the year, but it's a telling fact about the two flaws the OP pointed out.

I'm of the argument that a winning record is, given our recent history, a sucessful season in terms of moving this franchise forward. I'm rooting for our boys but my focus is staring to get a purple pigment.

[SouthRider]

The errors in 2012 was 106.

Errors in 2013 is 40.

They are on record to shatter the fewest amount of errors record in MLB history.

So defensively, this team is significantly better.

They are close to setting records in HR's as well. What a waste on both fronts.