The Orioles seemed to have surprised the baseball world with their start to the year- but the cracks are showing…At the start of the year, people were predicting another horrible, struggle-with-.500 season for the Baltimore Orioles.
Now, with one red-hot April and an above-average May behind them, these Orioles are bona fide challengers to Yankee and Boston domination.
Pitching-wise, they were meant to have nothing. Sidney Ponson thumped a judge in Aruba and was meant to be thumped by his opponents in the regular season. Bruce Chen? He’s playing in Baltimore now?? I thought he was playing in [affix club here]. Eric Bedard? Who?! Daniel Cabrera? Nice fastball, no control. Rodrigo Lopez? Erm… And the bullpen? Don’t get me started on the bullpen!!
Think again. Erik Bedard (5-1, 2.08 ERA) has been a stud, already striking out over 50 hitters (he “only” struck out 121 last year), and is definitely the ace on the team. Chen, a journeyman pitcher who has now found a nest in Baltimore (`scuse the pun), is a surprising 5-2 with a relatively low 3.51 ERA. Ponson himself is 5-2, although his ERA’s climbing a little at 5.83. And the other five? Lopez is 2-2 with a 4.88 ERA and Cabrera, owner of a 100mph heater, is 3-3 with a 5.91 ERA.
But if the starters screw up, the Orioles can now rely on a set-up man/closer combination that have only blown one save opportunity in 14 and has an ERA that Mssrs Gordon and Rivera would kill for.
If you say “who the hell…” about the pitching, then don’t pretend you don’t know who Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, and Javier Lopez are.
And they’ve been playing like household names, too.
Tejada’s been, well Tejada, hitting .319 with 11 homers and 40 RBI. Javy Lopez has also done well, with 22 RBI and 7 homers and a batting average of .316. Sosa himself has contributed 4 homers and 14 RBIs in 28 games- not bad if you consider he’s coming off an injury and spent a good time on the DL recently with an abscess on this foot.
The brilliance, though, has come from Brian Roberts. This year he’s also had 11 taters, to go with his 33 RBI and simply filthy .378 batting average. Oh, and if you need a speed merchant on your team, he’s also thieved a career-high 13 bases. The team as a whole leads the league in batting average (.290), and is in the top five in every other category.
It’s a pity for the Orioles, that the cracks are showing both literally and metaphorically. Roberts’ heroics have landed him a knee injury that list him at day-to-day, with the prospect of spending time on the DL. Javier Lopez certainly will certainly spend time with his feet up, after breaking a bone in his hand against Seattle Tuesday. The starting pitching staff’s ERA is starting to climb, even if the bullpen is solid as a rock.
Whatever the outcome, though, Orioles fans can say it’s been one hell of start.