Having a manager might help in these situations

As usual, our offense fails to execute. A's have two sac flies for rbi - we have Wigginton flailing at a bad 2-1 pitch and popping it up, then Izturis strands the runner. We don't have good at-bats with RISP, and don't take advantage of errors and leadoff walks.

What has happened to Reimold since June? Not hitting, not walking much, no power - he's fitting right in with the lousy offense. Jones doesn't draw walks, Markakis is drawing fewer than last season. Other than Roberts, walks aren't valued by anyone, it seems. Swinging at balls only helps opposing pitchers. Bah.

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Pete's reply: Reimold is in the "adjust back" stage after the scouting reports caught up with him.

Lack of hustle + ineffective relievers + bad baserunning + always the wrong call at the wrong time = Bye bye Trembley bird!

"What has happened to Reimold since June? Not hitting, not walking much, no power "

While Reimold has only homered once since june 27th (124 ABs), his 0BP hit a low on July 12 at .332 which is the league average. since then he brought it up to .374 on july 31st. Since then it has slid some, but is still a healthy .363 His .272 batting average is pretty good for a rookie. He has the highest OBP on the team. Salazar would be first and Zaun would be third if they were still on the team.

So, while I would like to see mor HRs from Reimold, he is the least of our problems right now.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/8191/gamelog

When the story finally breaks on ESPN that trembley is fired it won’t be on the bottomline as breaking news because it’s such a forgone conclusion but the anchors will give a 2 second mention after competitive eating, bowling, and WNBA news.

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Pete's reply: If I was producing ESPN, competitive eating would come first every day.

I did not see a lack of hustle. I did see the same thing lack of clutch hitting. The A's simply outplayed the Orioles. I do not know what they were thinking on the bunt and the 88 mile per hour fastball and the slow curve from Hendrickson does not put fear in anyone. Getting the first strike over is critical when you have that kind of stuff.

Pete, I need your opinion here.
I try to look at this team objectively, and think with the talent, there is no way they should have a losing record. I think the problem is that no one expects them to win. (including themselves) At what point does rebuilding stop being an excuse for losing, and a culture of winning takes over?--Moreover, is DT the guy to make that transition?

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Pete's reply: I'm not sure what you're seeing. This team, on paper, has no chance to have a winning record, particularly in this division. Can the O's play better. Sure. But they were never going to be very competitive. I don't think self-esteem has anything to do with it. I'm pretty sure these guys have sealed Trembley's fate -- particularly the veterans with their many fundemental lapses -- so whether or not he's the right guys is kind fo moot now.

Salazar has been struggling with the Padres, though he had a few RBI hits as a pinch-hitter.

Sherrill has a 0.00 ERA thus far with the Dodgers (not that we need a closer)

Trembley just said in the postgame that Roberts is really beat up and having problems. Well why is he even playing then?!

Anothe pathetic performance. I was all prepared for a season of "growing pains," but this team is really difficult to watch. The A's were a good test with a relatively comparable roster of youngsters, and the Orioles failed misserably.

Why is Roberts still in there? Come on Ted your smarter than that and you know the answer. He is a gamer, and look at the league leaders in runs scored. Plus he made a really nice play even though at that point the Orioles were out of the game. Who are you going to lead off if Roberts is not in there?

Oakland is a team that is in the rebuilding mode even to a greater extent then the orioles but yet they come into our park and beat us 2 out of 3.With the line up they put on the field they should be lucky to beat a good American legion team yet they out played us. So tell me pete who still makes more mental mistakes Oakland or the orioles, Pete tell me who makes more base running mistakes Oakland or the orioles . This rebuilding plan is just excuse for being bad, just excuse for the players to lose something that a excuse is not needed for. Getting rid of the veterans and replacing them with rookies is not going to help because this organization doesn't have anybody on this team that knows how to win. It's a complete train wreck and will continue to be one. How this manager keeps is job is beyond belief.

OC Jay -

You really think that this team has the talent to win with Jeremy Guthrie (5.43 ERA) and Jason Berken (6.63) each taking the hill every fifth day? Oh, and to follow them in the rotation, you've got three rooks. Talented rooks who I expect to put up solid careers, but rooks nonetheless.

You really think that with that staff, this team shouldn't have a losing record?

Yep. All we need is one more bat and one more arm and we'll be right in there with the Yanks and Sox. Sure. No doubt about it. Absolutley. Yeah.

Hey roy you must be dylusional or are you on crack. Either case it must be nice to go through life without a clue and be tickled pink

I do believe Roy is joking.

To blancione and everyone else who says that the O's don't "know how to win":

SHUT UP!

Seriously.

Let's all take a test, forgetting the Orioles for a second...

Would you rather have:

A) a bunch of broken down vets and some utility guys from Championship teams who "know how to win"?

or

B) a solid group of talented young ballplayers who are good enough to win?

I don't know about you all, but I'm taking team B.

And here's an example of a Team B for you...

2000 Oakland A's. 1st place in AL West. Won because Ramon Hernandez, Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, Ben Grieve, Terrence Long, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito (all under 30) were really freaking good. 15 game winners Gil Heredia and Kevin Appier added some veteran support, but they came from Montreal and Kansas City, respectively, so I don't think they "knew how to win"

In short, there's no such thing as "knowing how to win". Good teams win. Bad teams lose. It's really as simple as that.

After reading it again i want to aplogise to Roy.Apogising and making excuses is something that this site is very good at.

Furthermore...

I think the "know how to win" crowd would agree that the 1997 Orioles knew how to win.

But hey! They lost in 1998! What happened?

Lenny Webster replaced Chris Hoiles and was just as good. Eric Davis replaced Jeffrey Hammonds and was much better. Harold Baines replaced Geronimo Berroa and was much better.

So what gives? Did they forget how to win?

No. The pitching stunk. Scott Kamieniecki was (predictably) horrible in '98. Jimmy Key was replaced by a past his prime Doug Drabek. Sidney Ponson was bad. Reliable Randy Myers was replaced by the human blown save known as Armando Benitez.

Case in point. Basically the same group of guys that "knew how to win", but a completely different season because of some changes in the pitching staff.

And futher furthermore.....

Look at last years Rays. Besides one or two vets, they had a whole squad of rookies and young players that obviously didn't "know how to win". They just played their butts off and earned themselves a trip to the WS.

I'd still rather keep Trembley and ditch half of you guys.

When your team is hitting .077 or whatever it is with RISP, then you need to try to grind some runs out. The radio guys said he made an Earl Weaver move letting Reimold swing away as opposed to just bunting. I thought Earl was God to you guys, so that should mean DT made a great decision there.

The pitchers were getting rocked throwing too many fastballs, so they throw more breaking balls/off-speed stuff and still got knocked around. Is he supposed to invent a new pitching style so the guys he has can try it too?

Oh, and what's BRob been hitting lately even with the bad bruise and all? Ya, take him out of there genius.

Even if DT doesn't get to work on another off-season MASN commercial this winter, we're still one sacrificial coach away I think. If they can get a guy who has a World Series ring that matches his suit for his interview, then go ahead. If not, it's all the same (next year at least anyway).

Are there any real free agent managers out there that can bring some rings to work every day (my lone unsarcastic question)?

Seventh inning, 2 on, inning ends with 2 strikeouts and a caught stealing. I think that sums up the offense--poor running decisions and no attempt at working pitchers when batting.

Make the pitchers work by fouling off and not swinging at every piece of garbage. And the running is just bad judgment all season.

Bad execution is one thing but boneheaded plays just suck the entire energy out of the game. Can't get angry any more. Just depressed. I'm on board for the long haul, but the spirit weakens on days like this.

cb coach,

If Roberts is hurt it does no good to keep playing him during a lost season. We have a lot invested in the guy.

Roberts just has bumps, cuts and bruises nothing serious. Believe me if it was ligament damage, muscle pull or tendinitis he would not play. Half the players are sore at this time

Hey Peter, thanks for pointing out the 7th inning. I was at the game today, (sorry late getting online) Roberts leads off the 7th inning with a walk, then Reimold pinch hits for Pie? At the time we were down one right? Why wouldn't Trembley have Pie bunt Roberts to second, and save Reimold's bat for later? Well we watch Reimold strikeout, then Markakis singles, not sure if Roberts would have scored from second but would have taken the chance. Well then we see the double steal and so on.

I've supported Trembley to date and think he should stay but think he over managed things today. The 7th inning was a good time to play some small ball to tie the game. Who knows after that.

Andy MacPhail owes the fans an apology for this miserable season. He should acknowledge that the PLAN is not working, or that there wasn't one to begin with. He should lay down the law and put the manager and the players on notice. And is those numbed morons do not take him seriously, release/trade/fire them.

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Pete's reply: Once again, Slugger, you advocate abandoning the plan....and for what? What's happening here is ridiculous, but it isn't proof the plan is not working. That comes later if things don't improve next year.

Andy MacPhail owes the fans an apology for this miserable season. He should acknowledge that the PLAN is not working, or that there wasn't one to begin with. He should lay down the law and put the manager and the players on notice. And is those numbed morons do not take him seriously, release/trade/fire them.

Posted by: Slugger | August 12, 2009 10:59 PM

Hey "slugger or anonymous or KyleProBoller whichever name you choose, MacPhail has been here, what? all of two years? Yet you want him to say the "Plan" is a failure...give me a break. Go back on your Ravens bandwagon and stay off the Orioles' wagon when they start winning, thanks to MacPhail. Two whole years of trying to revamp not just the major league club, but the entire minor league system and he should admit failure? You should admit your lack of baseball knowledge and apologize.

And what credentials do you have dear "Just the Facts Ma'am" dude-man? I am not delusional beyond reason like you are. How many more years does MacPhail need to at least start showing some progress. Don't even give me the crap about Marlins, Rays, Tigers or whatever. If his plan means they will win less than 60 games, he should come out and tell me to stay at home and not waste the money on the BS he is trying to sell me.

And don't act like you're some kind of die hard that follows the team through the good and the bad. The fact that I contribute on these posts and I tell it as I see it from my perspective makes me just as good or better fan than you are. We just happen to have different points of view.

Yes I'm a proud Baltimore Ravens fan, and not because they won last year. I've been a fan of them since they came to Baltimore, because they give me 100% of what they got every play, win or lose. They have an owner who cares, and a team that makes the fans proud. Something you know nothing about, because you'd rather live in your loser World and accept the bones the BS they force feed you.

I bet you're one of those fans who seeks sympathy for sticking with a bad team and constantly complaining that we can't compete with the Yankees and the Redsox.

Well, I hope there are enough of fans like me who can voice their discontent and force this organization to change their losing ways.

Just the facts!

Slugger -

What "BS" is MacPhail trying to sell?

When did he ever say this team would be good in 2009? When did he ever say this team would even be competitive in 2009?

When MacPhail came to Baltimore, he said it would take time to rebuild a broken franchise. So far, he's:

-locked up two great players who are also fan favorites
-traded a talented, but oft-injured starting pitcher for an 23yo All Star center fielder, a 21yo top pitching prospect and an All Star closer
-traded said All Star closer for two solid prospects
-traded the biggest contract on the team (Tejada) for some inventory. No stud prospects, but a solid bat in Scott, solid arms in Albers, Patton and Sarfate and a decent prospect in Costanzo. And what happened mere days after that trade? Miggy was named as a steroid user. Oh, and we found out that he's actually two years older than he said he was. Nice.
-went to the 11th hour with Scott Boras to sign Matt Wieters. You think Flanny and Beattie would have had the balls to do that?
-drafted and signed Brian Matusz, who's already in the bigs
-transformed the farm system from one of the worst in the game to one of the ten best (according to Keith Law, Baseball Prospectus, etc)

And MacPhail's done all of that in two years. If you can't respect that as huge organizational progress, you were just expecting too much.

Alright B,

Please stop. I've read the same thing you're cooking up here on chapter 3 page 55 of the Orange Propaganda book Angelos and MASN have been distributing to fans.

I get it. No denying that AM has taken steps to get better. I also know we have to be patient; HOWEVER, he did say he expects the club to be competitive while rebuilding. If winning less than 60 games is what he meant, well shame on me for misinterpreting it.

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Pete's reply: You're misrepresenting what he said. He said that he intended for the team to show noticeable progress by the end of this season. That has not happened yet, and it doesn't look like it will, but there's still a quarter of a season left.

Pete,

I don't even mind Markakis getting thrown out by a strong throwing catcher if it serves as a teaching point for the entire team. Everyone on the roster should learn from this play that they should:

a) Know the situation - you are not the tying run the runner ahead of you is and his attempt to position himself at third with one out takes precedence over you getting in scoring position.

b) Know who you are playing against - a catcher with a 50% success rate who is probably going to gun you because Roberts is perfect at stealing third.

c) Know that you don't have to follow the runner ahead of you unless you get the proper lead/jump.

d) Understand that executing this scenario correctly in the future can help you win a game.

While I think Nick understands these points based on his postgame comments, I hope someone is explaining this to our pinch runner Felix Pie and the rest of the players that struggle with the mental preparation required in baseball.

Slugger -

I live in New Mexico. I haven't watched a baseball game on MASN or heard a peep from Peter Angelos since September of 2007.

I do appreciate living outside of the sphere of influence of the Baltimore sports scene (aside from Schmucker's blog here). It helps me to see real progress and to build realistic expectations for this club and its prospects. Having another favorite team that has withstood numerous rebuilding/reloading operations (the A's) doesn't hurt either.