Just when we thought things were starting to look up, the Orioles take a few more steps back. To put it simply, this past week was brutal for the team. Playing against Cleveland, Kansas City, Texas and Washington should have produced more than two wins, but unfortunately that’s all they could muster.
If that wasn’t enough, the news about Brian Roberts certainly didn’t help put us fans at ease. When the Guide spoke with Andy MacPhail last week, he mentioned that Roberts was just about ready to get out on the field—however the news about Roberts being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia made that seem unlikely. Hopefully B-Rob will get better soon and help the Orioles regain some respect.
The good news is that Luke Scott seems to have found his bat. (File photo)
The good news is Luke Scott seems to be out of his slump. For the week Scott was hitting .385 with two home runs and three RBI. Nick Markakis seems to be getting better after his slow start, as he hit .357 for the week. Adam Jones might be righting his ship as well. Jones hit .308 for the week with two home runs and five RBI for the O’s, which is a sight for sore eyes. Ty Wigginton didn’t hit particularly well for the week, but he did manage to drive in seven runs which was the team high for the week.
Alfredo Simon seemed to get it together after his blown save last week, earning a save and holding opposing hitters to a .143 average, but he pulled a hamstring covering first base against the Nationals and is out of action for now. The Orioles are recalling a couple of minor league pitchers to fill out the bullpen. David Hernandez picked up a much needed win and Jeremy Guthrie pitched well enough to earn a win, but alas, it was not in the cards.
As it stands right now, Baltimore with a horrendous record of 14-31, sits 18.5 games out of first place and 10 games behind the fourth-place Red Sox.
Not where you want to be, especially this early in the season. The O’s host the Oakland Athletics and then make a trip to Toronto this week.
Hopefully the team can start to string together some wins and at least make an attempt to get back into the AL East mix. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
—Andy Mindzak
