Hernandez in review
David Hernandez pitched a pretty good game and, obviously, should have been out of the sixth in spite of that fat pitch to Anderson Hernandez, but his inexperience and that of Matt Wieters was apparent at several junctures in the game.
Hernandez held the Nationals at bay largely because he was pitching to contact with his fastball and locating it well. When he got in trouble, it was because he could not locate his breaking ball and stubbornly kept trying in key situations.
There were at least three instances -- including Anderson Hernandez's "RBI" single in the sixth -- where Hernandez got ahead with his 94 mile-per-hour fastball and then tried to close the deal with the curveball. The first couple of times, that makes perfect sense, but after you hang that pitch repeatedly and get punished for it, you've got to stop going to the well. The Nats figured that out before Hernandez and Wieters, which cost the Orioles a big run.
That said, don't give up on this game just yet.
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Comments
I think Ray has run out of chances. You cannot give up runs every time you come out of the pen. Send him down at least through the all-star break and give someone else a shot, nothing to lose with that. Disappointing to see him like this I really had high hopes for him a few years back.
Posted by: Joe | June 28, 2009 3:23 PM
Don’t blame this horrible game to the worst team in MLB on Roberts and Mora being out of the lineup blame the Koji, Eaton, Hendrickson signings and the utter lack of assembling a pitching staff this season. Bergy is great and some of the guys in the minors are too but we really need to have some consistency in the rotation year to year. This revolving door is pathetic. O’s need to sign a realistic pitcher with little quirks for once.
PS go US soccer!!
Posted by: Ed | June 28, 2009 3:30 PM
I never have understood pulling a pitcher after a position player makes a mistake.AndI don't understand changing your lineup after you've got double digit hits out of the previously struggling offense,and 11 and 6 runs.If Weiters doesn't drop the ball,it's still 2-1,and if Luke Scott doesn't make a boneheaded play at 3rd.we'd probably have another run.No wonder why we don't win series finales,and Sunday's game.Trembley needs to go.1st batter in the seventh inning,you're down by 3 runs,and Luke Scott swings at the first pitch.Another defensive mistake,another baserunning mistake,and another managerial series of mistakes,Sunday Bloody Sunday.
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Pete's reply: Now Burt, you said you were going to be nice today. The only thing that is rankling me is Huff's baserunning error. Hernandez was at 100 pitches and he had pitched four innings four days ago, so he was on short rest.
Posted by: Burt from Essex | June 28, 2009 3:31 PM
More blunders on the base paths! Its a wonder this team has ever won a close ball game with such terrible baserunning as a team. I know there has been alot of talk about whether or not Trembley is the man to manage this team and I have been behind him for a long time but if he doesn't address these baserunning issues soon, maybe we need to find someone who will!
Posted by: thecharmcitysportsblog.blogspot.com | June 28, 2009 4:15 PM
This time last year, Georgie Sherill gave up a walkoff homer in the twelth to Ronnie Belliard, and the O's sat at 42-39.
After that, they went 26-54...gotta hope this year plays out better than that.
Posted by: shrimptrawler | June 28, 2009 4:30 PM
IMO Wieters needs more seasoning in the minors.All aspects of his game aren't up to par.His pitch calling which seemed good at first has fallen of lately. He ought to know his own arm by now throwing runners out. He's not getting the head of the bat on the ball at the plate and is being fooled on a lot of pitches. I said he was rushed when it happened and that's proving to be true. But nobody will question the great McPhail's judgement on anything.
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Pete's reply: Well, I'll give you this. You're the first fan complaining that Wieters is playing. MacPhail took two months of crap for not bringing him up sooner and now he has a bad game behind the plate and you want to send him back down? Remember Markakis the first month of his career?
Posted by: John | June 28, 2009 5:09 PM
Pete,
Mac didn’t bring Wieters up because the fans gave him crap. In fact if anything we wanted pitchers! It seems like instead of getting any experienced pitchers to strengthen the staff he promoted the rookie pitchers and Wieters to make them more comfortable because hes been pitching with them in the minors.
Posted by: Ron | June 28, 2009 6:34 PM
Pete,
There are several things in this world that bother me: 1) people who say he had 98 RBI versus RBI's! 2) Jim Palmer proclaiming on a close play that "a tie goes to the runner" this is in NO RULE BOOK and usually a sandlot rule where no umpires reside. 3) The term pitching to contact! It doesn't happen, maybe in birdland but then again look at our ERA! I know it seems to be the buzzword of the day but it just doesn't work like that, good pitchers DO NOT pitch to contact, good pitchers get ahead and get hitters to chase bad pitches out of the zone! URGH!
Posted by: Keith Rowe | June 28, 2009 7:24 PM
Sounds like everybody is getting a little frustrated.......the Birds are not going anywhere this year, so let the young players play......get some experience and figure out who the next manager will be.
The O's play dumb.......they are not well coached.....these are professional players.....they are not going to be super stars every day, but they can and should be hustling their butts off and they should play smart.....and some of the guys are not doing either.
Posted by: dennis Green | June 29, 2009 3:10 PM