The floodgates open (updated)
The Orioles are taking a short week's worth of frustration out on the hapless Washington Nationals right now. They scored eight times in the sixth inning and have run up an 11-1 lead to all but guarantee Brad Bergesen his fifth victory in seven decisions. The O's sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning, which tied the biggest of the year (May 9 vs. Yankees).
Melvin Mora, who was dropped to seventh in the batting order tonight because he had driven in just three runs in all of June, drove in three in a pair of at-bats in this inning and has four RBI in all tonight. Aubrey Huff had a two-run single in the inning and Adam Jones and Nick Markakis also drove in runs.
For one night at least, manager Dave Trembley comes out smelling like a rose for switching Reimold and Mora in the lineup. The 5-6-7 third of the batting order accounted for four runs, six hits and eight baserunners in the middle innings.
The O's also tied a season high with their fourth 16-hit performance in a nine-inning game.
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Comments
Must be the Hobgood Luck Charm. He's in the house, correct?
Real bad play on words, real bad.
Posted by: jim66 | June 26, 2009 9:25 PM
Pete,
Looks like Dave T got Melvin's attention! Never understood why he waited so long!
Posted by: Keith Rowe | June 26, 2009 9:45 PM
Oh, Floodgates, how we've missed you. It's been too long. Open 'em up. Let 'er rip! Why don't you stay a while?
Posted by: Basemonkey | June 26, 2009 10:07 PM
Cmon Pete....Trembley "smelling like a rose for this lineup change. It was simply the right move (as I and others have said for weeks). It's the right move even if Reimold were to go on an 0 for 15 run. I just can't see the big deal about doing this too late to get perhaps the 3 or 4 wins we could have had....
As Michael Scott says "I really should have used more hindsight"
Posted by: bill frederick | June 26, 2009 10:07 PM
Whew! I was really hoping they'd lay a beating on the Nats.
7th looks like a nice spot for Mora and yet another great outing from Bergesen, he's keeping my hopes alive. We've been looking for some leadership on this team, I think I have an idea where we might start looking for it next year.
Posted by: Roy | June 26, 2009 10:30 PM
I love the irony that Mora beat his production for the entire month in the 7th spot tonight.
Of course everyone is a genius for suggesting it a while now and completely ignoring what it would have done to the whole team if DT pulled the trigger on it too soon. You have a kid in Reimold who still needed to build confidence and you still have a highly paid (for this team anyway) Melvin Mora who you need to give every chance to perform before risking sending him into the tank mentally with a no-confidence vote. Make that move too soon and Reimold may struggle. If he struggles then he could just spiral his way out of left and DT would be responsible for breaking the ROY candidate.
Great win though and is there some kind of attendance record for 2 last place teams meeting in June?
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Pete's reply: I doubt it, but it was impressive. I guess union members and fireworks are, pardon the expression, a dynamite combination.
Posted by: James C | June 26, 2009 11:09 PM
Pete,
Did you notice that Mora has raised his BA in the last couple of weeks?
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Pete's reply: Yes, but he was not driving in runs, which is why Trembley shook up the lineup.
Posted by: OC | June 27, 2009 11:44 AM
While I applaud rembley for making a much ballyhooed move in dropping Melvin downon the order and moving Reimold up,it's something that has been asked for and debated on here for at least a month,by both Peter Schmuck himself,and the fans as well.I guess better late than never ,but only God knows what kind of effect it could have had on the Orioles earlier.And for the poster who said it would've wruined Reimolds confidence,you obviously haven't been watching the kid play since he got here.If there is something he has in spades,it's confidence.Consider this,in half of the at bats,he has more home runs than Mora,both ss's and Wigginton combined.Let's hope the lineup stays this way for a while.
Posted by: Burt from Essex | June 27, 2009 5:37 PM