Congrats to Bergesen!

[pattymac6]

the way he throws the ball can easily get elevated, but as long as he keeps it consistently (more or less) down like he did tonight, he's going to be fine

[crawdad]

I think you are amplifying something about his pitching that you didn't like.

If he ends up as a reliever, I don't think it will be because he wasn't good enough to start. Our rotation will have to be really good for him to be moved out of the rotation to start 2011.

I am probably the opposite end of the spectrum in that I like what I have seen from him.

Nah, I just think he is a guy who will have trouble getting through a lineup twice in a row. Like Jim Johnson has trouble with it.

[Frobby]

I was happy with what I saw. First of all, he's got a bit more zip on the ball than I realized. I saw him hit 94 mph once and 92 several times. Second, he had some nice tail on some of his fastballs. Third, he had the ability to vary his fastball velocity by 3-4 mph and throw high strikes (or balls out of the zone) just often enough to keep the hitters honest.

I'm not as expert as crawdad or Stotle, but I saw a few nice sliders, too. Not every one, but enough.

More than anything, I liked his approach of working fast and (for the most part) getting ahead of hitters. When he gets beat, he's going to make the other team earn it.

I'll take 29 more starts just like that one, thank you very much.

[Slappy]

Guys had him measured the second or third time around? Really? You guys sound like Buck Martinez. It sounds good but it just isn't true. Did Carlos Quentin have him measured? Jermain Dye hit a routine groundball to the hole at SS his 3rd time. Carlos Quentin grounded into a forceout his third time up. I hope they keep on measuring him like that next time.

Exactly. Only Konerko's was hit hard. I've seen a lot about his stuff and how it is subpar, but he's gotten people out at every level and deserves his shot in the rotation. Control and deception can go a long way.

[JTrea81]

Bergesen is all about tempo. If he works too fast he'll get the ball up and that's when he'll start getting hammered. If he works at a steady tempo and keeps the ball down in the zone, good things happen.

[Stotle]

Guys had him measured the second or third time around? Really? You guys sound like Buck Martinez. It sounds good but it just isn't true. Did Carlos Quentin have him measured? Jermain Dye hit a routine groundball to the hole at SS his 3rd time. Carlos Quentin grounded into a forceout his third time up. I hope they keep on measuring him like that next time.

Yeah, Dye's third at abat (as I said) was Bergesen's one true good set-up on his slider. Shrug -- I'm pretty confident with my read. I guess we'll see moving forward...

[bluedog]

He is going to have to expand upon two pitches. His slider is just not MLB quality. His second time through the order was somewhat difficult and I think it will get harder as he becomes more exposed. That said, he was placing his 4 and 2 seamers quite well. He has those two pitches down. They are not great, but his command of them is quite good.

He looks like a middle reliever to me in the long run. Hopefully, he can toil around in the starting rotation for the rest of the year and provide some relief.

I think the two stikeouts he got on sliders breaking away from right handers would probably disagree with that.

Wacky evaluation of what looked like the 2nd best start of the O's season to me. For a debut against a hot, great hitting ballclub in the White Sox, Berge was fantastic. When you start relegating a guy to the pen after his first career start that's just a bit to strange to me.

Except for a 13 pitch at bat with Quentin in the first, Berge probably gets into the 7th. He's exactly the kind of starting pitcher the O's need. Why in the world would we want to waste a guy that can give us 6 - 7 innings every time out to the pen? /boggle

[crawdad]

Guys had him measured the second or third time around? Really? You guys sound like Buck Martinez. It sounds good but it just isn't true. Did Carlos Quentin have him measured? Jermain Dye hit a routine groundball to the hole at SS his 3rd time. Carlos Quentin grounded into a forceout his third time up. I hope they keep on measuring him like that next time.

Eh, look at the at bats and not just the result.

[hoosiers]

Congrats to BB. Feels nice to see a homegrown kid pick up his first major league win. With clean innings from Ray and JJ, and a nice show from Nick.

Somewhere, Tony DeMacio is smiling.

[Stotle]

Exactly. Only Konerko's was hit hard. I've seen a lot about his stuff and how it is subpar, but he's gotten people out at every level and deserves his shot in the rotation. Control and deception can go a long way.

This certainly isn't true. Quentin squared-up on the E5, Ramirez hit two balls well to third and LF, Thome barely missed a HR (about an inch on the barrel off a 4S w/a 2S swing).

[threedaysrest]

Even with this microscopic analysis of Bergy, everyone texted "A" to 51862, right? :laughlol:

[mrbig1]

Good job by the Kid tonight. Everybody step up. Line up and bullpen.

[crawdad]

I think the two stikeouts he got on sliders breaking away from right handers would probably disagree with that.

Wacky evaluation of what looked like the 2nd best start of the O's season to me. For a debut against a hot, great hitting ballclub in the White Sox, Berge was fantastic. When you start relegating a guy to the pen after his first career start that's just a bit to strange to me.

Well . . . I actually had him pegged as a middle reliever as I have been following him through the minors. So his first start changed nothing in my mind. I think he did well.

[bluedog]

Yeah, Dye's third at abat (as I said) was Bergesen's one true good set-up on his slider. Shrug -- I'm pretty confident with my read. I guess we'll see moving forward...

He also got no close calls from the ump tonight and Wiggy blew a play behind him that would have erased two of the three runs he gave up. Even when the Sox had him "measured" as you say, they hit ground balls. So with the tight zone, an error behind him on a sure double play grounder and the White Sox hitters figuring him out, he still put up nearly 6 innings with 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 earned run. Not sure why we wouldn't want every team he faces to have him measured like that.

[crawdad]

Don't look at the result? Okay, I'll ignore the fact that not many guys hit the ball hard off of him and very few got the ball into the air. Yeah, that makes sense. They had great AB's against him though. Those foul tips and weak groundball fouls were pretty bad.

Did I miss some long foul home runs or something? How man line drives were hit right at our fielders? I must have missed a ton of those.

Not sure what more I can add. Rewatch the tape and go back through how the batters fared and how they zeroed in on pitches. I guess it is just one of those things that becomes apparent if you start to look. Like those sailboat pictures in the early 90s.