(16-43) Wow how bad can you be?

Checkin in from Honduras, I can't help but wonder if this O's team is the most pathetic team in history. The "Calvary" (Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, and Jake Arrieta) are all finally in Baltimore, but I thought it would be under better circumstances. The Orioles winning percentage (.271) is only slighltly higher than Cesar Izturis' slugging percentage (.245).

What's pathetic?

1. Garrett Atkins - the "slugging" 1st basemen barely plays anymore, and no wonder. He's batting .214 with 1 HR and a .290 SLG%. I would say release him, but it's not like there's anyone who would do much better in his place. Rhyne Hughes hit .213 in his 47 ABs before being sent back to AAA, where Michael Aubrey is batting .250 and Brandon Snyder .246. Top 3B prospect Josh Bell is hitting .270 but has 54 strikeouts compared to 12 walks. And the most recent callup, Scott Moore has managed to hit just .227 in 22 ABs. Take your pick.

2. Koji Uehara's inability to move without injury. He was effective while he lasted - 6 games, but isn't expected to return (and stick around) any time soon. Add Jim Johnson and Brian Roberts to that list. Mike Gonzalez might come back, but I don't know if we want that. The only two players who are making headway and appear to be desirable are Alfredo Simon and Felix Pie. They sound like angels when you comoare them to...

3. Matt Albers, Alberto Castillo, Corey Patterson, and Lou Montanez. Albers is getting lit up, with a 5.53 ERA and 17 walks to 17 strikeouts. Castillo, who seems to have a daily bus route between Norfolk and Baltimore, started strong, but opponents are batting .356 against him and in his last 10 outings he has surrendered 11 runs in 6 1/3 innings! Patterson also got off to a hot start, but is 4 for his last 30 with 10 strikeouts. Montanez, who somehow managed to remain on the team despite not playing in a single game for 15 days, is batting .148 in 54 ABs and all of his hits are singles.

4. The O's are hitting .245 as a team. Superstars Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are right on par at .246, and Nolan Reimold, who hit .205 before being demoted is now dominating AAA pitching at a .179 clip. Izturis makes a .219 contribution to round things off.

5. Will Ohman, after 25 perfect outings in a setup role, surrendered 7 runs in 3 innings in a failed attempt to be the closer. No worries - that title now belongs to failed starter David Hernandez. Speaking of failed starters, Brad Bergesen will now be seen in the bullpen, where the most dreaded telephone in the world resides.

Hope you're feeling optimistic :)

1/4 of the way through

I haven't been able to post much as I'm not exactly in the country, but I looked in and saw we're about a quarter of the way through. If things continue this is what the O's are on pace for:

1. Their record will be 53-109. My guess is they will just barely avoid 100 losses.

2. Ty Wigginton will hit 49 home runs. I'm going to cut that number in half.

3. Garrett Atkins will finish with 0 home runs and 24 RBIs in 446 ABs. I seriously hope the O's would be smart enough to find someone else to play first base if he keeps that pace up,

4. In 479 ABs, resurging Corey Patterson will have 147 hits, 37 of them home runs, and add 37 more stolen bases. He'll also strike out 111 times. Of all those numbers, I trust the 111 the most. He'll fade some naturally and move down in the lineup when Brian Roberts returns,

5. Will Ohman will retain his perfect ERA while appearing in 85 games. This guy is too good to be true, something's gotta give.

6. Kevin Milwood will pitch 250 innings of 3.64 ERA and be winless with a record of 0-16. I hope the poor guy has some luck, that's all he should need - you know a run or 2 every once in a while.

7. Alfredo Simon will save 36 games, striking out 71 in 71 innings while issuing 50 walks. Those numbers are a little extreme. Let's give him 20-25 saves and shrink those other numbers by 10 each.

8. Luke Scott will go back and forth from hitting .177 with 3 home runs in 24 games to hitting .455 with 6 home runs in 9 games. Absolutely true - which puts him at a .259 average and 37 HRs at the end of the season.

(9-23) After winning first 2, O's split series with Twins

The O's can't seem to put it all together. They either hit or pitch, but rarely both.

In the opener, pitching was enough. All Brad Bergesen needed to win his second straight game was a 2-run homer from Ty Wigginton, number 10 on the year. Other than that, his 6 2/3 scoreless innings and perfect relief from Will Ohman, returned from injury Koji Uehara, and Alfredo Simon's 3rd save carried Bergesen to a 2-0 victory. Wigginton also had a double and Miguel Tejada had 2 hits.

The O's even beat hot starter Francisco Liriano with a 2 hit, 3 RBI performance from Nick Markakis. Julio Lugo, taking over for struggling Adam Jones (who had 2 hits in this game) in the leadoff role, had 3 hits, temporarily raising his average to .244. Cesar Izturis scored 3 runs on 2 hits and Nolan Reimold scored twice on 1 hit. This made it fairly easy for Jeremy Guthrie to earn his 1st win of the season, 7-3.

The night game of the doubleheader ended diffrently. To be exact it was a 6-1 loss. Kevin Millwood (0-4), allowed 3 runs in a quality start of 7 innings, but the O's had just 4 hits, and 1 run off a homer by Luke Scott. The bullpen didn't help, as Mark Hendrickson and Matt Albers gave up another 3 runs in 1 combined inning.

The finale was a surprise 6-0 loss, as Brian Matusz (2-3) lost his 3rd straight start. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings, gave up all 6 runs, and didn't get any help. Matt Wieters had 2 of the O's 6 hits. On the bright side, Jason Berken (1.62), Cla Meredith (2.00), and Alfredo Simon (0.00) kept their ERAs low with 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

In other news, demoted reliever James Johnson has an elbow injury and will miss several weeks. Anyone got any good news? And I don't mean the rumor that Corey Patterson will be called up to replace Lou Montanez.