Mazzilli’s firing not good for the team

It was announced today two hours before the Baltimore Orioles’ game against Anaheim that manager Lee Mazzilli had been fired for the huge slump the team is in. Bench coach Sam Perlozzo has been promoted to interim manager for the remainder of the season.

It’s BS, that’s what it is. I don’t blame him for the team’s demise — you win together as a team, you lose together as a team.Mazzilli last a season and a half, that’s it. He put the O’s on the winning track last season as they had their best finish in seven seasons at 74-84, six games below .500. They were hot to start the season and held onto first place in the AL East, the closest division in the American League right now for 62 days before starting a downward spiral right before the All-Star break.

The break can be tough on teams or be just the very thing a team needs to get headed in the right direction. For two examples, look at the Washington Nationals and their slide in the NL East and the Oakland A’s and their jump into contention in the AL West. Obviously, Baltimore is another team on the negative side of the break, but firing Mazzilli is not the answer.

When I first saw that announcement another coach jumped into my mind, and while he isn’t a baseball coach, he was still let go before really settling in and that is former Notre Dame football coach Ty Willingham. He was let go after just three seasons and while that is a season and a half longer than Mazzilli had, he was let go before he really had a chance to turn the Irish around. The same is very true for the Orioles.

Yeah so the team is in a huge slump of losing their last 16 of 18 games, 10.5 games out of first in the East, and five games below .500, but getting rid of Mazzilli is not the solution. He can’t force the pitchers to pitch better — that’s the job of pitching coach Ray Miller — besides, lacks veteran experience, good veteran experience that is.

Erik Bedard is 27, but he is only in his second season as a MLB starter, spending his other four seasons in the Minors. While he did pitch very well at the start of the season, along with the rest of the rotation, his return from the disabled list has been less than good, going 0-3 in his last starts. Daniel Cabrera is 24 and also in only his second season as a starter, Bruce Chen is 28 and trying to get a hold of being the starter he began his career as with Atlanta. Since then, he’s platooned between the bullpen and the rotation, becoming a full-time starter when he came to Baltimore last season after bouncing around mostly the NL for the past seven years. Sidney Ponson is supposed to be the veteran ace on the rotation, but he’s not. He’s 28 and has had only one winning season as a pitcher in his seven years as a starter. His best season came in 2003 when he went 14-6 with a 3.77 ERA before being dealt to San Francisco in a late-season trade. He went 3-6 with a 3.71 ERA as a Giant before he returned to the O’s as a free agent at the end of the season. I will say though, he did compile a 12-12 record in 1999, but he has never had a season with an ERA under 4 with the exception of ’03. The fifth man, Rodrigo Lopez, is the oldest of the bunch at 29 and the best I think. He has five seasons of starting experience, including the current season, and has been very good. He came to the O’s from the Padres in 2002 and was mostly a starter, but did pitch some relief and finished with a 15-9 record. He did lose something the following season after finishing with a 7-10 record, but bounced back last season after spending a great deal of time in the pen and emerged as the O’s ace with a 14-9 record. He, Chen and Bedard all hold winning records, but the last two look to be in position to lose those.

These Oriole starters looked solid the first half of the season. Everyone was winning and pitching well, but after the break, they have lost something, confidence to sum it up into a single word. Miller can only do so much — they need to better themselves from the inside and regain that confidence. Lopez is only one looking like a confident pitcher every time he steps onto the mound. Cabrera has been looking like a rookie in his last few starts, making rookie mistakes and having some serious control issues. Bedard is simply lacking the confidence to pitch well. His trip the DL zapped him of it and he needs to re-find it immediately. Ponson needs more than confidence — he needs to work on his pitches. They aren’t very good but that can be attributed to his lack of conditioning. His weight is plaguing him and he needs to lose it. If he does that then he should bounce back and become the good pitcher I know he is. Chen, is a tough one to read. He has been a decent starter, but he has been on and off his last few starts. He does well one start but looks like a completely different pitcher the next.

This team looked very good at the start. Brian Roberts, the team’s All-Star second baseman, has really lost something after his return from the DL. His home runs have been few and far in between (anyone crying steroids at the beginning of the season when he eclipsed his previous career hig has since shut the hell up thankfully) and his average has been slowly dwindling while his strikeouts have been increasing. This obviously looks to me like he isn’t seeing the ball well anymore. Javy Lopez was doing all right before breaking his hand and has yet to return to form since his return, Sammy Sosa has been for the most part a non-factor this season, Jay Gibbons has the power but a low average, BJ Surhoff is a seasoned veteran but still has a few surprises left at the plate, David Newhan’s bouncing back and forth between Baltimore and Ottawa is not doing him any favors, Luis Matos has yet to prove his worth and yet to play a full season, Eric Byrnes has yet to make a difference. He is like Gibbons, good power but lacking in the average column. Miguel Tejada is still the man at short, but the man on his right, Melvin Mora, is facing the same predecament as Roberts. They both need to work on their timings and sight.

You want someone to blame for the O’s demise? I’d lay it on the front office. They made no trades when the deadline came. AJ Burnett slipped through fingers and they almost successfully dealt Ponson, again, for who? Phil Nevin, big whoop. Oh, he said he wasn’t right for him to leave or something like that and then he goes to Texas. The one thing the team needed to accumulate in the off-season was pitching and they didn’t do it. Carl Pavano ended up going to the Yankees, of course we all see where that ended up going, but hey, they got Sosa and we all see where that has ended up too.

Mazzilli did not get a fair shake in Baltimore. Other managers did worse than him and they lasted longer. Mike Hargrove lasted three seasons and Ray Miller at least made it to the end of his second, unlike Mazzilli. Another person to blame in all of this is Peter Angelos, the owner. Fans have never been a big fan of his and as long as he owns the team, the Orioles will never been able to get over the hump. He expects so much from so little. I’m surprised Mazzilli didn’t do a Lou Pinella on his way out the door. Just to note, as I was writing this, the O’s were holding onto a three-run lead 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth against the Angels. I hope people don’t all of sudden come out and say Mazzilli’s firing was obviously good for the team if they hold onto the lead and go onto win. It’s one game folks. Let’s wait until the end of the season hits before we start making judgments. Kansas City has done OK after Buddy Bell was promoted but the team still sucks and they are still in dead last if you want an example.