This slump not exactly of biblical proportions...yet
Granted, the Orioles were plagued by walks and hit batsmen during that resounding three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays (and you can't get much more resounding than scoring in double figures three straight times for the first time in franchise history). Granted, the Orioles continue to struggle on Sunday. But I really didn't think of Dave Trembley as a particularly spiritual man until he waxed biblical after today's game.
"You reap what you sow,'' he said, when Jim Hunter and Jim Palmer were questioning him on the MASN postgame show about the outlook for some of the young pitchers who have been struggling to hold their places on the major league staff. "The opportunities you get, you'll be evaluated accordingly."
Now, I should have suspected Dave was a religious guy, since he says "Oh God!" whenever a ball is hit to Alex Cintron, but I hope he doesn't go all Pulp Fiction on somebody when he and Rick Kranitz meet with the pitching staff before tomorrow's game at Fenway Park.
"We're going to talk to the pitching staff, Rick and myself,'' Trembley said during the same postgame interview with Jimmy and Cakes. "I'd rather have them throw the fastball right over the plate and let them hit it than walk four guys and hit three or four guys."
That probably won't place Dave (left) alongside Knute Rockne (right) or Vince Lombardi in a compendium of great pep talks, but -- at this point -- what else is a manager to do?
It doesn't matter how many major league baseball games you've seen in your life, every game provides an opportunity to see something you've never seen before. The latest, for me, was provided by reliever Alberto Castillo (right) when he hit batters with back-to-back pitches to drive in a run. The two bases-loaded walks that came next were just gravy.
On paper, it certainly doesn't look like September is going to go well for the Orioles, who face another apparently mismatch today when Brian Burres faces Tampa's James Shields in the finale of the three-game series against the Rays, then head to Boston to open the month at Fenway Park.
When Ravens safety Ed Reed revealed that he's suffering from a "nerve impingement' in his neck that has affected his shoulder and could threaten his career, I had a nasty Orioles flashback.
He damaged the spinal accessory nerve in his neck during an exhibition at-bat in March of 1991, the severity of the problem only becoming apparent when the trapezius muscle in his right shoulder began to wither. He spent a couple of years trying to regain his powerful swing, but was never the same.
Today's featured comment comes from a wise guy named eric, who looked at this picture of Kevin Kennedy in one of my earlier posts and couldn't help himself:
Here's an excerpt: The loyalty factor is pretty good. But with the Redskins to the south and Eagles to the north, the Ravens geographically have a much smaller, boxed-in fan base than most NFL teams.
Jeremy Guthrie's uncharacteristic mound meltdown was just the beginning of an ugly evening that also has featured Melvin Mora limping off the field with a hamstring injury, Ramon Hernandez getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes and some apparent friction between reliever Fernando Cabrera and manager Dave Trembley.
Give me a break. I threw a question out earlier today asking whether Jeremy Guthrie is a legitimate AL East pitching ace or just a solid guy who stands out in very thin Orioles starting rotation. So what happens?
I was all set to talk about Jeremy Guthrie and how he might be the biggest steal since the Louisiana Purchase when John McCain's choice for vice president leaked out. Sadly, it's not Jeremy, who would do quite well in command and control situations, but he isn't old enough anyway.
John Harbaugh remained non-committal about the starting QB for the opener against the Bengals, but I don't think you have to be the reincarnation of Vince Lombardi to figure the thing out.