Actually Pete , regardless of what's said , the opposing batters will get a big poke against our pitchers :(

Pete -

You mentioned Ray as needing to improve his mechanics - understandable after being out for a year and recovering.

What is Guthrie's issue? He just does not appear to be the same pitcher as the past 2 years when he should be improving at this stage of his career. Is he a case of 'playing over his head' the past two seasons, and maybe Cleveland was right?

Hey pete tell the orioles to reduce guthrie's salary next year by 125,000.Nobody is going to tell me that he doesen't resent that happening and has been a mental funk ever since. This team looks absolutely terrible, but don't fear the orioles have a PLAN.

Guthrie's problem is he not really a quality starter...this in my opinion another feather in AM's cap - he did not sign Guthrie to a long-term deal. I personally think he is the biggest disappointment of the season. If Jones and Markakis stop hitting - they are bound to slow down - this team is really going to struggle. I still think we need to wait on the pitching however....but there some players on this team it will be good to see disappear. great article on the O's futer to day Peter!

Pete,

Between this blog, I watch the MLB Package and if it's the O's announcers on TV I always turn on the radio and the Joe Angel and Fred Manfra, you can;t beat those two guys. I don't know who does the hiring on the TV side but other than the Nationals the O's are bad!

Maybe it's just that the Orioles are by far the worst team in the American League. There won't be 500 people in the stands come September.

Worse than the back to back to back HR's from the Yankees 6-7-8 hitters is the walk that scored on Texeira's double.

Guthrie just absolutely seems to lose focus for complete innings at a time.

At least he doesnt have to worry about pitching with a big lead tonight.

You hit the nail on the head. They''ve been doing this all season to us. Jinx after jinx after jinx.

Pete, Funny you mention that. On the radio side of things Joe Angel and Fred Manfra were going on about how Swisher hadn't hit any homers at the new Yankee Stadium and how ridiculously easy it is to hit one out to right there. Then Swisher, right on cue, hit a dinger.

Guthrie was really "pitching to contact." (Hey, Jeremy, ever hear of the outside corner?) He's really struggling tonight. I hope he doesn't have any arm problems.

As for your previous post about which pitcher the Orioles should bring up, you mentioned Chris Tillman asa possible "go for broke" dark horse candidate. Now that got me thinking, Tillman is 21 years old. When Jim Palmer was his age he already had more than 20 major league wins, over 300 innings pitched, more than 200 strikeouts and, if all that wasn't enough, a World Series victory in which he outpitched Dodger legend Sandy Koufax in the latter's last major league game.

All this stuff about not bringing them up too quickly is fine for most pitching prospects, but supposedly Tillman isn't most pitching prospects. In fact, he's so good that some analysts say that eventually the trade that sent Erik Bedard to Seattle won't be considered the Adam Jones trade, but the Chris Tillman trade. If there is anything to that speculation, then the O's should waste no time in getting him to Baltimore.

One last thing here. In the top of the third in tonight's game Brian Roberts got caught in a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out with Nick Markakis at bat and Robert Andino at third. The announcers didn't say much about it except that B-Rob broke for second, but put on the brakes part of the way there.

I'm wondering what you saw. Apparently, Brian realized that he didn't get a good enough jump and had no chance but to get in a run down, which he did. What puzzles me is why he wasn't able to stay in the run down long enough for Andino to score. (That's one thing that Melvin Mora seems very good at doing--prolonging run downs. Roberts--not so much.)

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Pete's reply: It's a fair question, but I think Brian was already squeezed by the infielders to the point where he couldn't keep the rundown alive. It's tough on a stolen base attempt because the middle infielder is generally coming right at the runner when he takes the first throw.

Guess you are not at Yankee Stadium

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Pete's reply: No, I'm in Maryland.

I mentioned a while back that Palmer said Johnson hadn't given up a home run last year and then ... bamn!

Guthrie reminded me of DCAB last year......

Last year or so, I mentioned this jinx stuff Jim Palmer is famous for spouting and I was told by Jim Hunter that announcers cannot directly affect a game by saying something . I agree but.... over the years I have seen this happen hundreds of times. Why not watch what you say as it just pisses viewers off when it the inevitable occurs.

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Pete's reply: Of course there's no real logic to it. You just notice it only when it happens.

Holy crap, YES! I feel that way all the time to the point that I want to start asking Gary Thorne for the lottery numbers. It always seems to happen that way. "This batter has been in the majors for 16 years and has never hit a homerun...'CRACK'...Goodbye, Homerun!" Seems to happen everytime.

A better indicator that something bad is going to happen is a visit to the mound by the pitching coach. Right after the visit, something bad happens 82.6% of the time.