103 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

After being swept at home by New York, the 3-3 Baltimore Orioles begin their first road-trip of 2012 with a visit North of the border to face the 4-2 Toronto Blue Jays.

Projected Pitchers:

4/13: Hunter vs. Morrow (RHP)
4/14: Hammel vs. Alvarez (RHP)
4/15: Matusz vs. Drabek (RHP)

Morrow 2011: 11-11, 4.72 era, 179.1 ip, 162 hits, 21 hr's, 69 bb's, 203 k's, .705 OPS against, 0.59 G/F
Morrow 2012: 0-0, 0.00 era, 7 ip, 1 hit, 3 bb's, 3 k's

Pitch F/X:
http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/453344/

Alvarez 2011: 1-3, 3.53 era, 63.2 ip, 64 hits, 8 hr's, 8 bb's, 40 k's, .717 OPS against, 1.20 G/F
Alvarez 2012: 0-0, 1.50 era, 6 ip, 4 hits, 1 hr, 1 bb, 2 k's

Pitch F/X:
http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/506693/

Drabek 2011: 4-5, 6.06 era, 78.2 ip, 87 hits, 10 hr's, 55 bb's, 51 k's, .857 OPS against, 0.83 G/F
Drabek 2012: 1-0, 1.69 era, 5.1 ip, 3 hits, 3 bb's, 4 k's

Pitch F/X:
http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/475138/

Depth Chart:
C: Arenciba .720 OPS in '11, 23 hr's
1st: Lind .734 OPS in '11, 26 hr's
2nd: Johnson .304 OBP in '11 (545 ab's)
SS: Escobar .782 OPS in '11, 38 xbh's
3rd: Lawrie 21 xbh's in 150 ab's in '11
RF: Bautista Back-to-back years OPS at or above .995
CF: Rasmus .689 OPS in '11, 44 xbh's in 471 ab's
LF: Thames .769 OPS in '11, 41 xbh's in 362 ab's
DH: Encarnacion .787 OPS in '11, 17 hr's

Bench: Mathis, Vizquel, Francisco, Davis
Rotation: Romero, Morrow, Alvarez, Drabek, Laffey
Bullpen: Santos, Cordero, Oliver, Janssen, Frasor, Villanueva, Perez

Current Ranks:

Toronto
Runs: 9th
Batting Average: 26th
On Base: 28th
Slugging: 28th
ERA: 5th
Quality Starts: 13th
WHIP: 5th
BAA: 1st

Baltimore
Runs: 16th
Batting Average: 5th
On Base: 8th
Slugging: 5th
ERA: 8th
Quality Starts: 13th
WHIP: 15th
BAA: 12th

[Adam Wolff]

Most interesting thing for me in this series (and it will probably hold true for many others) is watching the starting pitching. Can Hunter and Hammel build on their very successful first starts? Can Matusz look like he belongs in the majors? I have questions, (hopefully) the Orioles have answers!

[Eric Radom]

I'm not sure you are going to like the answers Adam. It is only a matter of time before Hammel and Hunter show to be what they have been in the past, which is pitchers that give up plenty of baserunners and runs. I hope I'm wrong.

Matusz, who knows.

Here is the bigger question, can anybody explain how to read and use that pitching fx data from texas leaguers? Seems crazy that somebody or something is able to track all of that, and that it is being done on every pitch. But if it is accurate, I suppose I could use it if I knew what I was looking at.

[BSLChrisStoner]

O's
Nolan Reimold LF
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Markakis RF
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Wilson Betemit 3B
Mark Reynolds DH
Chris Davis 1B
Robert Andino 2B

Jays
Yunel Escobar SS
Kelly Johnson 2B
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind 1B
Edwin Encarnacion DH
Eric Thames LF
Brett Lawrie 3B
Colby Rasmus CF
J.P. Arencibia C

[tpjs1]

I kind of like giving Reynolds a chance to focus on his hitting...The Orioles are going to need his bat!

[BSLChrisStoner]

I kind of like giving Reynolds a chance to focus on his hitting...The Orioles are going to need his bat!

Yeah, I don't mind that. Getting his offense going might help him in the field as well.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Rogers Centre will always be Skydome to me. Remember when it opened in '89 (during the season sometime), it just seemed like the 8th wonder of the World.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Reimold is just built for this park.

Reimold smashes a drive opposite field off the wall for a double to lead off the game.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Hardy grounds out to Escobar, Reimold advances. 1 out.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Markakis fouls back 95 mph heat, falls behind 1-2. Need the run here.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Markakis flies out to LF for the sac-fly. 1-0 O's.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Plenty of good seats still available. If Toronto was a contender again, I wonder if they would draw? Amazing they used to draw 4M plus.

Jones singles into LCF, the throw goes behind Jones at 1st, there is no tag; but he is called out to end the inning.

1-0 O's.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Escobar flies out to Jones, 1 out.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Johnson homers to left, and the game is tied at 1.

[BSLChrisStoner]

After the HR to Johnson, Hunter walks Bautista on 4 pitches.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Hunter had 1 walk in 7ip against the Twins.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Lind grounds to Davis, who goes to 2nd for the force. Hardy was able to go back across the diamond to turn 2.

End of the 1st, O's 1 - Jays 1.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Wieters starts off the O's 2nd with a walk.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Betemit fooled a bit, pops out to Bautista. 1 out.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Nasty pitch from Morrow, k's Reynolds. 2 out.