O's at the window

[linkmaster]

From a gaming side, it says betting on the O's isn't a winning proposition right now. I thought I'd pass it along, anyway.

"The middle relief is a huge question mark as well, and unless Rodrigo Lopez, Bruce Chen or Daniel Cabrera can find some success, the bullpen will continue to be taxed. The offense has had some big outbursts in a few games, but only Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez are consistently producing at the plate...."

The rest of the article with the part about the O's at the bottom of the article is below

[SPORTS BETTING LINK REMOVED]

[joepepsi]

20 years ago I got a sports cable channel that was nothing but talking heads taking phone calls from fans while scores ran across the bottom. It was like watching sports radio.

One night I was watching this guy who took a call from a fan of some team. The caller was lamenting his team's lack of middle relief. The host of his show cut him off quickly. He said, in a nutshell, "people always complain about middle relief. Let me tell you something about this, if your team has bad middle relief, that's not the real problem. The problem with your team is bad starting pitching. If you have good starting pitching, then middle relief is irrelevant."

His point has stuck with me all these years because it may the only time I've heard anything insightful from a sports talk show host. :radio

[Chelle]

God, I wish like hell I had a lightbulb icon...or something.

For the past 8 years I've been complaining about our middle relief (well, about our pitching in general). I want to get that last statement tattooed on my er....

Anyway, I'm to the point where I want to scrap Lopez and Chen (I know, I know it's April) and bring up Loewen and maybe Liz or Hayen Penn. When I'm watching pitching changes in the 5th inning...it makes me cry like a girl. Well, like a little girl anyway.

[JohnGelnarFan]

You're very entertaining Chelle! :laugh

[J W]

I'm with joepepsi on this one--it's near impossible to field a team that has a good solid bullpen from top to bottom. Most teams focus on a closer, and either a RH or LH setup man, whichever fits... and often that really good setup man is a youngster that ends up closing for the team when their incumbent leaves for greener ($$$) pastures. Leaving them looking for another setup man.

And when a team signs a veteran with a track record (like say... Buddy Groom) you could get a good year or bad year from him--who knows :noidea Let's face it, the majority of really good relievers are making more money by closing games.

IMO we have an adequate if mediocre bullpen. We have some inning stuffers (Brower, Halama), some youngsters with potential (Rleal, Rodriguez, Britton), and a proven Latroy Hawkins, setting up Chris Ray who looks like a legit closer.

If our starters go 7 innings and give up 2 runs every game (like Cabrera did tonight), we'll win 100 of them. :D

[JohnGelnarFan]

I agree. Cabrera has an amazing arm,doesn't he? You never know what he'll give you but he sure is fun to watch!





I'm with joepepsi on this one--it's near impossible to field a team that has a good solid bullpen from top to bottom. Most teams focus on a closer, and either a RH or LH setup man, whichever fits... and often that really good setup man is a youngster that ends up closing for the team when their incumbent leaves for greener ($$$) pastures. Leaving them looking for another setup man.

And when a team signs a veteran with a track record (like say... Buddy Groom) you could get a good year or bad year from him--who knows :noidea Let's face it, the majority of really good relievers are making more money by closing games.

IMO we have an adequate if mediocre bullpen. We have some inning stuffers (Brower, Halama), some youngsters with potential (Rleal, Rodriguez, Britton), and a proven Latroy Hawkins, setting up Chris Ray who looks like a legit closer.

If our starters go 7 innings and give up 2 runs every game (like Cabrera did tonight), we'll win 100 of them. :D

[Brian McKenna]

starting pitching versus middle relief - its not a competition - they are on the same team - the problem is with ownership's inability to SIGN and DEVELOP a well-rounded 25-man roster - the 25-man roster that is presented to us in baltimore has a high likelyhood of failing - no pitcher on our staff prior to the beginning of the season was ranked among the top 100 at his craft - the problem lies not on the field nor with the coaching staff - it lies in the front office - the failure is there and only there - if you are handed chicken s*** in march, you are not going to miraculously have chicken salad during a long, hard 162-game schedule

[JohnGelnarFan]

I'd say today's game backs up everything stated above. Todd Williams is active and warming up. Hopefully he can contribute like he did last year.

[Chelle]

Well, I heard Hayden had an excellent game yesterday.....hopefully he'll be up around June. I know that doesn't really address the middle...but....

MAN!

And, he's just getting over the stomach flu too.