July 30th: O's vs. Royals

[SoBo]

570. Thanks boys.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Dang, Nick having some loud outs lately.

[vab]

Is Bergesen really this good? I mean I knew his name but I never paid much attention to him in the minors. I figured 5th starter at best with the lack of strikeouts but if he's anywhere near this good what a leg up that will be to getting this rotation where it needs to be.

[Don_Aase_Fan]

Let's go Luke, big spot here. Timely hitting please.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Is Bergesen really this good? I mean I knew his name but I never paid much attention to him in the minors. I figured 5th starter at best with the lack of strikeouts but if he's anywhere near this good what a leg up that will be to getting this rotation where it needs to be.

The way he pitches (keeps the ball down and has good action on the fastball) I don't know how important strikeouts really are. He works quick and when he's on his game he seems to miss the fat part of bats which induces lots of weak grounders.

[NCRaven]

Is Bergesen really this good? I mean I knew his name but I never paid much attention to him in the minors. I figured 5th starter at best with the lack of strikeouts but if he's anywhere near this good what a leg up that will be to getting this rotation where it needs to be.

His strikeouts actually went up pretty significantly in AAA. Then went back down to his minor league career averages when he was promoted. He's now at 4.6 K/9 which is much better than many here predicted based on his MiL numbers.

I'm a huge Bergesen pimp and have been since right after we drafted him, but I admit to being pleasantly surprised that he's become our most consistent - and very good - starting pitcher. Hernandez and Tillman both have better stuff, but his maturity and ability to command all of his pitches lets him give the team a chance to win game after game.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Luke's got nothing right now. Absolutely nothing. It's interesting to see a guy that crushes every pitch for a while and then now he can't drive anything.. Really weird.

[Mooreisbetter27]

So who do you guys think the next leaked steroid user will be? (If you hadn't heard, Manny and Ortiz were on the list)

Man it sucks when your tv's not working. I might just have to go feed my sister's cats now so I can watch over there.

[NCRaven]

Luke's got nothing right now. Absolutely nothing. It's interesting to see a guy that crushes every pitch for a while and then now he can't drive anything.. Really weird.

It's gotten to the point that I hate to even see him come to bat with men in scoring position because I absolutely know that it will be a wasted opportunity. He is the streakiest player that I have ever seen. Okay...the streakiest player I've seen lately.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

It's gotten to the point that I hate to even see him come to bat with men in scoring position because I absolutely know that it will be a wasted opportunity. He is the streakiest player that I have ever seen. Okay...the streakiest player I've seen lately.

I really wonder why it's such an intense difference for him.

[O-The-Memories]

I agree 100% with Luke being very very streaky. It's something that we're going to have to put up with. When he's on, he can carry a team. This is also why I was in favor of trading him if a decent deal came about, but no team is going to give up any real value for him.

BB looking good, walk to Gordon though, let's see if he can get Freel out.

[trk001]

So who do you guys think the next leaked steroid user will be? (If you hadn't heard, Manny and Ortiz were on the list)

Man it sucks when your tv's not working. I might just have to go feed my sister's cats now so I can watch over there.

Youkilis or Pujols would fit the trend of continuing to scratch people off my mental list of "Okay THOSE Guys Probably Did Steroids, But THESE Guys? No Way."

[adamwolff11]

It's gotten to the point that I hate to even see him come to bat with men in scoring position because I absolutely know that it will be a wasted opportunity. He is the streakiest player that I have ever seen. Okay...the streakiest player I've seen lately.

He might be the streakiest player I've EVER seen. Obviously it's fresh in my mind, but I just can't think of anyone else. Luke doesn't just get hot..he's AMAZING when he's on. Every pitch has a chance to be driven a long way. When he's cold, he's TERRIBLE. I could probably induce a weak pop up against Luke right now, and last time I checked, my fast ball tops out in the upper 50's.

[Fan4Life]

Luke and Huff's issues are systemic to me... not just slumps.. although those probably go hand-in-hand much of the time. Last year when Huff was raking, he stood more upright, almost straight up. he's got a severe bend in his knees this season.

[NCRaven]

It kills me when our offense puts a pitcher in a position where he has to be afraid to throw one bad pitch because that's all it takes to turn a one run game around. We finally have some decent starting pitching on this team and can't push across runners in scoring position. Ugh...