Tomorrow is Opening Day. The renewed hatred for the New York Yankees should be in full force tomorrow. Expect pictures of Teixiera chasing a $20 bill, A Rod taking something into his ass (it's not your first guess, it's actually steroids) and C.C. Sabathia fat jokes in my recap.
As for the O's themselves, let's take a look at some spring training stats:
Jolbert (awesome name) Cabrera led the regulars with hitting .457 in 46 AB
Markakis hit .407 in 59 AB with 8 doubles and 3 HR.
Izturis, Jones, Wieters, Montanez, and Moore all hit above .300
Quiroz hit .300
Luke Scott hit 5 doubles, 5 home runs, and bashed in a team-high 15 RBI.
Scott Moore led with 2 triples.
Aubrey Huff had a subpar spring training, but he knocked in 11 RBI despite a .237 average.
Hitting conclusions: Felix Pie needs some time to mature in the minors... MelMo quietly had a good spring, hitting .280 in limited AB... BRob did well in the WBC, not so much in spring training. Let's hope he returns to form tomorrow... If the O's flirt with a winning record, Markakis will be in consideration for MVP. BANK ON IT.
Instead of looking at pitching statistics, I'm going to scream, run around wildly, and flail my arms in the air. It was... pretty universally dreadful. Guthrie couldn't catch a break no matter who he pitched for. Uehara started off dominant, then the league started to catch up to him. Good thing he faced a lot of NL teams. There were, however, encouraging signs:
Chris Ray was lights out, compiling a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings.
Matusz and Arrieta allowed no runs in 5 2/3 innings as well. Prospects represent! They also allowed a combined 2 hits.
Tillman, the third part of the Holy Trinity of Prospects, had a 2.25 ERA in 4 IP. Not bad, guy.
Perez, Castillo, Albers, Bass and Simon all had ERAs of less than 3.00
Of the starters, Albers and Uehara looked the sharpest. Koji was a strikeout fiend, fanning 17 in only 14 2/3 innings of play. Bedard who?
Pitching conclusions: Brace yourself when the O's are on the mound. But don't expect such a consistent shellacking from our opponents this year. As long as the kids on the team maintain confidence, they could be the surprise staff of the season. It's what I have to believe at this point.
Right now, there's no prouder fanbase for me to be a part of than the Orioles' fanbase. We have seen amazing highs (like the Gr8est player to grace the game) and abominable lows (see: Peter Angelos era). But it's pared out the fairweather fans and hangers-on, who will stop rooting for the Ravens once they go 4-12. People who still talk Orioles are knowledgeable about the game, and enthusiastic and optimistic year in and year out with no reason to behave as such. In short, this next portion of the post is for everyone who's stuck with the team in the past decade:
Go O's
- Matt
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