The silence of the bats
What's the old baseball adage? Good pitching beats good hitting every time?
Ever wonder how good pitching does against lousy hitting?
To find out, all you had to do was watch the Orioles the past two nights at Yankee Stadium, where they lost two straight games by identical 4-1 scores while not hitting a lick against quality pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.
Last night, a throwing error by pitcher Brian Matusz and Adam Jones' shaky decision to try for a diving catch on a line drive by Francisco Cervelli contributed to the carnage -- sloppy defense is becoming another trademark of this O's team.
But it's weak hitting that's really been killing this team all season, especially hitting in the clutch. No surprise, then, that the Orioles were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position last night.
Luke Scott went 0-for-4 to drop his batting average to .177. Adam Jones went 0-for-4 to lower his average to .225. Matt Wieters had been hitting well, but he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and hit into a double-play.
This is getting beyond ugly now, this hitting malaise.
And it doesn't get any easier for the O's tonight when they face the Yankees' Andy Pettitte to close out the series.
Pettite's only 3-0 with a 2.12 ERA this season.
So what does good pitching versus lousy hitting look like?
There's your answer: The Yankees are 18-8 and in second place in the AL East.
The Orioles are 7-20 and in last place.
It really is that simple.







Comments
How does Crowley still have his job? Someone needs to take the blame for this terrible hitting display and hes the hitting coach! .188 with RISP and 2 outs and .217 with RISP.
Posted by: Sachmo | May 5, 2010 9:45 AM
Every year its the same old thing. Guys like Reimold, Montanez and so many others hit at every level they play in the Orioles organization until they come here and the career .250 hitter Crowley gets to tweaking their swings. Who exactly does Crowley have pictures of in the warehouse that he is still here? Even Don Drysdale was a career .252 hitter. Crowley was a myth during his playing days and even more of an overblown myth now. Do the Orioles a favor Terry, fade off into the sunset and retire.
Posted by: John | May 5, 2010 9:47 AM
Remember how Davey Johnson had a strategy in place when going against the leagues best pitchers. Trembley & Crowley are just winging it
Posted by: Cereal Blogger | May 5, 2010 10:18 AM
I have an issue with Trembely. Here is the situation man on third and second, no outs and you have Luke Scott up to bat. As noted above Luke has been horrible of late. Here is my question, why didn't Trembley order Luke to bunt? In doing so we could have sent the man on third home? We would have been up 2-0. Next inning Tejada on third, why not bunt him in again? The score would have been 3-0. I don't get it. I use to be a strong supporter of Trembley, but his lack of decision making is only hurting this club.
Posted by: Tim | May 5, 2010 10:42 AM
I think Andy is doing a decent job with the rebuilding but he blew it last off-season when he did not "buy the bats" to use his expression. With that being said, the batters are pathetic and I think much of the blame has to go to Crowley.
I think a new batting coach is needed but who can you get at this time of year? How about Flanagan! Angelos always finds a job for him. He is awful in the boothe. It is horrible to lose all the time but to have to listen to Flanagn compounds the torture!
Posted by: Mike | May 5, 2010 10:44 AM
I know that Terry Crowley is an institution in Baltimore but when is he going to be held accountable? I know that he doesn't swing the bats but there have been too many bad decisions on when to take a pitch and when to swing away; all coachable elements which are not being taught well.
My fear is that guys like Matt Wieters will not develop under TC's old ways.
When will PA or AM do something to shake up this team?????
Posted by: David | May 5, 2010 11:07 AM
Ha ha. What a train wreck.
I finally give up on the Orioles. Today is my 31st birthday. I've been watching this since I was in high school. Its like I've been in a fog or something. I've wasted 12 years, going on 13, of my life, waiting for this to turn around. I was too young then for me to remember the 83 WS...all I have are recollections of decent years, and a good year right at the end, followed by this. Rooting for a loser for over a decade.
When I lived in NJ, I stayed true to the O's, but would catch Phillies games pretty often. I'm a Phillies fan. I really, finally give up.
This team is going to wallow like this for another 5 or 8 years, until attendance at OPACY is eclipsed by even the Marlins and Rays, and then finally fold up and be sold to another city. And all of you who watch until that point, will just be more depressed.
Go find a new team.
The Orioles are losers. No free agent in their right mind would come here. The "talent' in the minors has proven time and time again (Matusz being a very very rare exception) to be average, at best. Crowley is laughable as a hitting coach. Every guy in that dugout who came here via trade or FA is wondering what the hell they were thinking, moving to this dead city to play for this abysmal team. The baseball you're watching today is the baseball you're going to be watching until Angelos finally gives up and sells them to Las Vegas or where ever they end up.
Posted by: Justin | May 5, 2010 3:03 PM