Offense Observations After Boston Series

[Old#5fan]

Here are a couple:

Melvin Mora needs a week off. No more, no less. His history has been he always goes on the DL and never plays a full season. He has not gone on the DL this year and he shows me that he has lost his stamina. Not only is his BA way low, now he cannot seem to hit with RISP like he was doing. Please, Trembley, see this and take him out for a week. I think he will come back stronger and maybe start producing again.

Lineup order. If Jones is going to bat second (which I do like) than Huff needs to hit third and Markakis dropped to fith. The problem is there is no cleanup hitter on the team. That is a problem. I suggest giving Scott a try and maybe he will break out of the funk he's been in. Markakis to me just doesn't seem to be as productive when he is hitting third, and if you can't produce as expected batting third there is no way you should hit fourth.

Why is Bynum ever in the lineup? Was Fahey sick or something. NOt only can't he hit, but his fielding is totally unreliable. Any ball hit his way I cringe, and that shouldn't be.

[Hallas]

Here are a couple:

Melvin Mora needs a week off. No more, no less. His history has been he always goes on the DL and never plays a full season. He has not gone on the DL this year and he shows me that he has lost his stamina. Not only is his BA way low, now he cannot seem to hit with RISP like he was doing. Please, Trembley, see this and take him out for a week. I think he will come back stronger and maybe start producing again.

Lineup order. If Jones is going to bat second (which I do like) than Huff needs to hit third and Markakis dropped to fith. The problem is there is no cleanup hitter on the team. That is a problem. I suggest giving Scott a try and maybe he will break out of the funk he's been in. Markakis to me just doesn't seem to be as productive when he is hitting third, and if you can't produce as expected batting third there is no way you should hit fourth.

Why is Bynum ever in the lineup? Was Fahey sick or something. NOt only can't he hit, but his fielding is totally unreliable. Any ball hit his way I cringe, and that shouldn't be.

I would absolutely never put our best hitter batting 5th. 3rd or 4th are both acceptable.

I don't really like Jones at 2, but that's okay. I think he should bat 5th, and we should have a lineup something like this...

Roberts

Markakis

Scott

Huff

Jones

[ChaosLex]

Why would you have our best hitter batting fifth?

[BRobinsonfan]

With his low on base percentage I'm not crazy about having Jones bat second. Ditto what others said about having our best hitter bat 5th.

[Old#5fan]

Why would you have our best hitter batting fifth?

I don't see him as the "best" hitter. Huff is. He has hit more homers and drove in more runs with a lower B.A. I also don't think Markakis handles pressure well and thus must be eliminated from hitting third or fourth. A perfect example was the nail biter yesterday where Roberts, Jones and Huff all came through in the clutch and what does Nick do? Swings at ball four on a pitch that wasn't even close to being a strike. I also think that moving Scott to fourth might help him snap out of his funk (which he is due to do anyway) and when he does he will start knocking in a slew of runs. It will also get Scott better pitches to hit batting in front of Markakis. However, this is just a theory.

[Sports Guy]

I don't see him as the "best" hitter. Huff is. He has hit more homers and drove in more runs with a lower B.A. I also don't think Markakis handles pressure well and thus must be eliminated from hitting third or fourth. A perfect example was the nail biter yesterday where Roberts, Jones and Huff all came through in the clutch and what does Nick do? Swings at ball four on a pitch that wasn't even close to being a strike. I also think that moving Scott to fourth might help him snap out of his funk (which he is due to do anyway) and when he does he will start knocking in a slew of runs. It will also get Scott better pitches to hit batting in front of Markakis. However, this is just a theory.

Wow...this is incredible.

[BRobinsonfan]

Also, with regard to Mora... after a horid June, he's actually heating up and having a solid July hitting .303 with a .390 OBP and an .814 OPS. He may finally be getting back on track.

With regard to situational hitting, he's hitting .355 with runners in scoring position and .406 with runners in scoring position with two outs. He's also hitting .313 with a .371 OBP in "close and late" situations... so... while he didn't get it done last night I don't know how you could ask for much more out of him.

I think the three day break will do him so good, however. I wouldn't need to see him sit beyond that unless he goes back into the "June swoon" he was in earlier.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I don't see him as the "best" hitter. Huff is. He has hit more homers and drove in more runs with a lower B.A. I also don't think Markakis handles pressure well and thus must be eliminated from hitting third or fourth. A perfect example was the nail biter yesterday where Roberts, Jones and Huff all came through in the clutch and what does Nick do? Swings at ball four on a pitch that wasn't even close to being a strike. I also think that moving Scott to fourth might help him snap out of his funk (which he is due to do anyway) and when he does he will start knocking in a slew of runs. It will also get Scott better pitches to hit batting in front of Markakis. However, this is just a theory.

After reading this, I need to head-over to the "best puking" thread and add another entry....:wedge:

[Old#5fan]

Wow...this is incredible.

What was particularly telling about Markakis was he had already walked I believe three times and when he most needed to get on base and Papelbon handed him a free pass he choked and swung at a ball I doubt any of the better Orioles hitters would have even had anything close to a check swing on. That ball was around his eyes and 6 inches off the plate!!!

[Old#5fan]

Also, with regard to Mora... after a horid June, he's actually heating up and having a solid July hitting .303 with a .390 OBP and an .814 OPS. He may finally be getting back on track.

With regard to situational hitting, he's hitting .355 with runners in scoring position and .406 with runners in scoring position with two outs... so... while he didn't get it done last night I don't know how you could ask for much more out of him.

I think the three day break will do him so good, however. I wouldn't need to see him sit beyond that unless he goes back into the "June swoon" he was in earlier.

He didn't get it done twice yesterday when he had the chance. I also think his fielding has been suffering as in the Toronto series where he effectively blew single handedly any chance Garrett Olson had at getting out of an inning he pitched well enough to get out of.

[Sports Guy]

What was particularly telling about Markakis was he had already walked I believe three times and when he most needed to get on base and Papelbon handed him a free pass he choked and swung at a ball I doubt any of the better Orioles hitters would have even had anything close to a check swing on. That ball was around his eyes and 6 inches off the plate!!!

LOL...Are you seriously going to bring up one moment where Nick expands the strike zone(something he almost never does) to prove your point?

This is completely ridiculous.

[Old#5fan]

Also, with regard to Mora... after a horid June, he's actually heating up and having a solid July hitting .303 with a .390 OBP and an .814 OPS. He may finally be getting back on track.

With regard to situational hitting, he's hitting .355 with runners in scoring position and .406 with runners in scoring position with two outs... so... while he didn't get it done last night I don't know how you could ask for much more out of him.

I think the three day break will do him so good, however. I wouldn't need to see him sit beyond that unless he goes back into the "June swoon" he was in earlier.

He didn't get it done twice yesterday when he had the chance. I also think his fielding has been suffering as in the Toronto series where he effectively blew single handedly any chance Garrett Olson had at getting out of an inning he pitched well enough to get out of. I think he needs rest. If I was DT I would give him another four days after the AS break on the bench to rejuvenate himself.

[Old#5fan]

LOL...Are you seriously going to bring up one moment where Nick expands the strike zone(something he almost never does) to prove your point?

This is completely ridiculous.

No, that was just a singular example, but even you had to admit, it came at the worst possible time when great players step it up. Markakis seems not to do so against the Red Sox and Yankees for some reason when the game is in the balance. He did make a wonderful throw earlier in the game which should have been an asset but the home crowd umpire missed the call.

[TonySoprano]

I don't see him as the "best" hitter. Huff is.

Wow...this is incredible.

Actually, it's not.

Since June 1st, Markakis OPS is .996; Huff's is 1.037. In that span, Nick has 5 HR and 25 RBI, Huff has 9 HR, 29 RBI. Huff currently has the hotter bat.

[Sports Guy]

Actually, it's not.

Since June 1st, Markakis OPS is .996; Huff's is 1.037. In that span, Nick has 5 HR and 25 RBI, Huff has 9 HR, 29 RBI. Huff currently has the hotter bat.

Markakis and Huff are worlds apart...Nick is a much better hitter, last few weeks notwithstanding.