How strong is Evan Longoria?
Evan Longoria got the green light on a 3-0 fastball from Brian Matusz and hit a towering fly ball that hit halfway up the center field fence for a double in the first inning. The scary thing is, he hit it near the end of the bat and didn't really square it up. It was just a high fly ball that almost didn't come down.
Matusz put himself in position to get hurt by both Longoria and Ben Zobrist, who followed with a solid double down the left field line to give the Rays the early lead. The Orioles highly-regarded rookie fell way behind Longoria with two outs and nobody on, and fell behind Zobrist 2-0 to put him into a couple of nice hitting counts.
Comments
fire trembley
Posted by: Anonymous | August 20, 2009 8:16 PM
really pete is there any way to stop anonymous from posting? It's really getting annoying.
Posted by: annoyed o's fan | August 20, 2009 8:48 PM
jj, not that Peter needs my help, but you are the proverbial horses a*ss. Do us all a favor and SHUT THE EFF UP!!!!!
And while you are at it, take anonymous with you. Neither of you is worth the paper you are printed on.
Posted by: ken | August 20, 2009 10:06 PM
Longoria is a difference-maker. That is exactly what the Orioles need.
It's nice the Orioles are stocking the farm system with more players. The trouble is the Orioles farm system hasn't developed a difference-maker since Mike Mussina, and most of that was just drafting him.
While it would be nice the Orioles sign a player who is a difference-maker -- and, yes, I was in favor of throwing legit money at Teixeira and Burnett (Sabathia hasn't done too badly either but to be fair, I was against going after him) -- the bigger issue may very well be is the Orioles need to go heavily after executives in other organizations who know how to hire and organize staffs that get the very best out of their players.
No one knows if MacPhail has the ability to scrutinize talent or hire a scouting department than can because it is still too hard to tell how much freedom he is allowed from the top. It is obvious Gillick had the knack but unfortunately he was vetoed when the Orioles were on the cusp of getting over the hump. (Wren, too, has proven himself since being kicked to the curb eleven months after being hired.)
It is with great pain to see a first round draft choice like Jayson Werth become a late bloomer when all of the compensation the Orioles got back was John Bale.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, different regime. But is it? As long as the Orioles stockpile pitchers in hopes of cornering the market on 3-2 wins, and they only show glimpses of what we all hope is potential, the problems will remain known but the root of those problems may never be known -- unless one just wants to say Peter Angelos.
While the excuses fly on why the O's didn't go after on-the-field difference-makers last off-season, and there may none to go after in the upcoming off-season, it would be nice if the Orioles really did something to bolster the farm end things beyond increasing numbers.
The Orioles had 37 pitchers in spring training, and "increasing the odds through shear volume" didn't do squat. The Orioles still needed a grand slam and a Weaver special to barely win by one run. (Each win does give our host a reprieve from owing me lunch, though.)
Posted by: waspman | August 21, 2009 11:58 AM
Longoria is better then the stats. His stats will catch up to him though he is going to be one of the top players in MLB in 2010
Posted by: Silver Springs Florist | August 21, 2009 2:01 PM