We’re back

After napping for most of the 2008 season, we’re re-loading and re-tooling for the 2009 campaign. Expect weekly musings, analysis, daydreaming, and a little bit of name calling too. Oh come on, it’s fun.

For Jay Gibbons, a reason to believe.

Each one of us have personally gone through trying times in our lives.  The times when you get knocked down and it’s not so easy to get up.  Sometimes we don’t want to get up.  Former Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons has endured such a time in the months following the Mitchell Report.  It is the nature of baseball fans and the public in general to not feel sorry for players like Jay Gibbons.  He is a millionaire with a beautiful wife who had a job that any of us envy – that of a Major League Baseball player.  Every day, we watched him live out our dreams on the field.  Then it was revealed that he used human growth hormone (HGH) to help him recover from nagging injuries.  The press was relentless: Gibbons was no longer the guy we all wanted to be, he was now a cheater.  He did not deserve our envy or cheers, or even our pity.  He did this to himself and deserved everything he got.  And no apology would ever repair what he did.

I think Gibbons did what any of us would do at first: hope he wouldn’t get caught.  When he did get caught he admitted it and apologized for what he did.  He accepted his suspension and then focused on getting ready for spring training with the Orioles.  Through bad timing though (the Orioles are rebuilding) he was released and found no takers.  His letter to the 29 remaining MLB clubs has been well documented.  He simply wanted another chance to play the game he loved.

Today it has been reported that Gibbons has gotten that second chance with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.  Hardly a baseball mecca but a second chance is a second chance and I am sure Gibbons is sleeping better at night.  I wish him the best of luck and hope he appears back in the Majors sometime soon.

Why would I root for a cheater?  Why wouldn’t I want to see him endure more sleepless nights, public embarrassment, and personal agony?  Doesn’t he deserve all that he gets for what he did?

I say no.  For those of you reading who don’t know Jay Gibbons as a person, let me tell you; this is the kind of guy you root for.  Now, I don’t know Gibbons personally but I know people who do.  This is what I’ve heard:  Jay Gibbons is a gym rat (just like me) who works out because he loves it.  Physical conditioning is very important to him and he works incredibly hard to stay in top shape.  Gibbons visits kids in the hospital; signing autographs, bringing memorabilia to give to the kids, and sticking around just to talk to them.  Gibbons was the Orioles union rep who spoke openly and intelligently about issues facing the game.  You could always expect something intelligent to come out of a Jay Gibbons interview.  Gibbons was one of the few lights during a very dark period for the Orioles.  He had fun playing the game.  He gave 100% which was why he was injured so much; whether that meant crashing into walls or diving headfirst for an extra base.  He always attended the Orioles fanfests and conversed with the fans.  He made the most of what he had as an athlete; like we all would if we were blessed with his God-given abilities.

Honestly, Jay Gibbons might have used HGH but I don’t think he’s a bad person.  If you’re a gym rat, like me, you’ve probably met someone who has used something illegal.  These aren’t bad people, they just feel like they need something more to get where they need to be.  Whatever.  I’d never use anything like that and don’t endorse it.  It just makes him the guy who felt like he needed to do something risky and misguided to get where he needed to be.

For me, Jay Gibbons is easy to root for because he’s a regular guy who just happens to be a ball player.  And he made a mistake.  Let’s take the high road and root for a good guy who took a misstep and has gotten a second chance.  Doing so gives us all a reason to believe that we can overcome our own darkest moments and the demons that keep us up at night.

One for the ages

A couple years ago I attended a Yankees/O’s game much like last night’s game.  Back and forth, crappy starting pitching, comebacks, blown leads, rain delays.  The difference between last night’s 9-8 O’s win and that game (5/26/04) is that the O’s managed to pull this one out.  It felt really good and you got the feeling that even though the Orioles will probably still have a top ten draft pick next year in the June draft, these players are playing as well as they can and leaving it all out of the field.  As a fan, you can’t ask for much else.

According to Dave Trembley, the players spent the rain delay in the batting cage taking swings and getting ready to go back out there and get the win.  To all of those who stuck around the yard or stayed up late enough to watch the end of the game, it was worth it.

Jim Palmer and Gary Thorne have made it no secret that the Yankees have some bullpen issues.  Do they really?  Clearly, anytime you lose a guy in your bullpen of the caliber of Joba Chamberlain it is going to leave a hole.  Especially when you replace him with LaTroy Hawkins.  Let’s take a look at the Yankees bullpen options, minus Mariano Rivera who is friggin’ superman:

To me, it looks like the two best guys are Ramirez and Albaladejo.  The rest?  Very stinky.  Albaladejo has given up more hits than innings pitched so even he has been shaky.  The point is that you need to get solid starting pitching, which is why Chamberlain is being moved.  You worry about the late innings once you’ve got a lead to protect.  If it’s 8-8 in the 7th, something has already gone horribly wrong.  So in short, I agree with Palmer and Thorne; the Yankees bullpen is a mess.  It is fixable and I am sure they will turn it around.  Hopefully not by tonight though as the O’s go for the sweep.

——

Jay Bruce made his MLB debut last night for the Reds.  Here’s the video.  Amazing

Orioles Magic Video

This video is unbelievable.

Hey Milwaukee – need a closer?

It’s been widely speculated that the Orioles are waiting for the July trading deadline to spin a few more trades that turn current players into more talented farmhands.  No trade chip is more valuable then that of George Sherrill.  Sherrill has saved 15 games already this season in 17 attempts, a result of the Orioles record in one-run games.  If I am Andy MacPhail, my imagination runs wild at what a dependable closer such as Sherrill could fetch at the deadline.

So who are teams in contention that might need a little bullpen help?  Well, aside from an injury here are some teams who have had shaky closer/bullpen issues:

- Milwaukee

- Chicago

- St. Louis

- New York (Mets)

- Cleveland

To name a few at least.  I would dub Milwaukee and Chicago most likely to step up the plate because they seem to have a lot of young talent that we covet while also being in the position to go for a win now.  Who knows.  Sherrill has put himself into this position by being so good as a closer and while we will miss him closing games for us, we do have a pretty good guy coming back next year in Chris Ray.  Remember what Ray was doing before his elbow became a problem?

—–

Another Red Sox/O’s game, another O’s victory.  JayPay delivered the kill blow with his 7th inning grand slam.  Brad Mills inexplicably brought in Hideki Okajima (a lefty) to face Payton (a righty) and the move worked out in the worst possible way for the Sox.  Who could have pictured this: bases loaded vs. Manny the day before = double play, base loaded vs. Payton = grand slam.  I love this game.  The O’s have an off day now before their annual battle of the beltway vs. those piping hot Washington Nationals.  They sit at 21 – 19 after 40 games and in third place.

PS – At 12 – 6, the Orioles have the 2nd best home record in the AL, 3rd best in the Majors (Atlanta is #1).

Welcome to the Trainwreck

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Toronto Blue Jays!

Take a curmudgeon manager, a stubborn GM, inexperienced pitchers, and a mish-mash of old hitters and this is what you get – last place in the AL East. This team is far too good to stay in last place all season but I’m not sure you’d trade your roster for this one straight up. Are there any exciting young players on this team? Alex Rios hardly counts and Aaron Hill has been in the league for four years. Vernon Wells and BJ Ryan are way overpaid. Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus has been a disaster so far and Matt Stairs and Gregg Zaun are on the wrong side of 35. Reed Johnson and Frank Thomas have both been given away in the past three months.

Wait – weren’t the Orioles supposed to have been the worst run team in the Majors? Yikes.

——

Last night the O’s stuck it to 38,000+ Red Sox fans and a couple hundred Oriole fans by handing the now second place Red Sox a 5 – 4 defeat. Coming up big was Luke Scott with a 3-run HR off of Josh Beckett and Jim Johnson pulling a rabbit out of the hat getting out of a bases loaded none-out situation. George Sherrill added to the fun by locking down a five out save that included a David Ortiz ejection.

I love this team. I love the fact that Trembley looks like William Shatner. I love that they didn’t give Adam Jones a take two on his team picture. I love that we ripped off two teams and are better without our 2nd and 3rd best players from 2007. I love the Orioles Magic song. Most importantly though is I love that we give a shit. Win or lose, it’s OK to be an Oriole fan again.

A Winning Roadtrip?

Sure would be nice. If Daniel Cabrera can guide the O’s to victory today, they will wrap up the seven game trip 4-3 which is very respectable given their struggles against the central and the west in past years. Then it’s back home for three against the red-hot Rays before heading out west for a three-city, ten-game road trip.

It’s not going to be an easy stretch for the Birds but it sure has been fun watching them surpass early expectations. A share of first the last week of April? I’ll take it.

Enjoy the game today, DCab vs. Javier Vasquez. Should be good – unless you listen/watch the White Sox broadcasts where all of their announcers are SO whiney. As soon as the White Sox are down they just get so lazy on the game calling. It’s like listening to crowd noise and two bored dudes just going through the motions. Come on guys, you win some you lose some; take a chill pill.

Welcome to Bizarro World

Here’s Daniel Cabrera’s line from last night vs. the Seattle Mariners:

Wait a second…no walks? Let me take another look…yup, no walks. I’ll say this, it’s far too early to get excited about Daniel Cabrera in the sense that he may have finally turned a corner. We’ve been there, done that. The new season gives us new hope though. Coupled with a new pitching coach and a new-ish manager however, we’ve got a few reasons to think that Cabrera might be in the environment now that is required for him to be as dominating as we all though he could be. We can only hope that this continues as Cabrera is just what we need to be competitive this year. That’s three straight quality starts…and counting.

Nick Markakis ended some personal frustration last night. Supposedly he had been pressing which led to a pre-game meeting with Dave Trembley. Trembley told him to take it easy and not to step outside of himself. Markakis then had a frustrating night at the plate and was almost ejected for arguing balls and strikes. When Ryan Rowand-Smith entered the game to face Markakis in the top of the 8th, Markakis had decided he was first pitch swinging. The result? The game-winning home run.

When men with hyphenated names get married, what happens to the name? Like if Ryan Rowand-Smith got married to Jane Doe, does she become Jane Rowand-Smith? What if she wants to keep her last name? Jane Doe-Rowand-Smith? Just wondering. Collect ‘em all!

David Steele had a great article in today’s Sun about Miguel Tejada and ESPN’s missed opportunity. Anyone who reads the blog knows that I have a beef with ESPN because they have become a tabloid of sorts for the world of sports. Check it out here. ESPN has become a must for sports fans. We can’t ignore it. It just irks me sometimes that they have no shame in their biases and their nature for making mountains out of stories where the facts come in molehills. This is not a story about Tejada lying, it’s a story about a culture of lying and the reasons why any of us would do the SAME thing if we were in that position. I suppose that is the trade off for being the “worldwide leader.”

Two out of three ain’t bad

I work with a pretty intense Yankees fan. Life’s been good for him the last ten years or so. He told me in passing that this past weekend’s O’s/yanks series would be an incredible mismatch leading to many Yankee HRs and easy blowout wins.

And of course, this is why they play the games.

The O’s dominated the Yankees through the first two games before dropping Sunday’s rain-soaked contest by the scores of 8-2, 6-0, and 1-7. The O’s outscored the Yanks 15 – 9 over the course of the series and now sit in second place in the AL East. There’s plenty of things to be excited about but mostly the starting pitching of Daniel Cabrera, Brian Burres, and Steve Trachsel. Even though Trachsel got the loss, he pitched great ball, mirroring Andy Pettitte through four innings and keeping the Birds in the game. Cabrera pitched out of trouble and Burres combined with Jim Johnson to shut the lights on the Yankees on Saturday. Other than Bradford giving up the bomb to Damon and Sherrill looking off in some mop up work Sunday, the arms really did their job. That is huge for this club as they enter a three-game set against Seattle and Chicago.

In other MLB news, the Jays released Frank Thomas. I’m not sure who’s going to pick up the Big Hurt but I think it will happen soon. I can think of a few teams who might have use for a high-upside DH. The Rays, Mariners, and Twins come to mind. I’m not sure what the Jays are thinking, in general. They do not have a championship caliber club and haven’t. They lack dominant starting pitching and a deep lineup. They continue to release fairly useful players in favor of AAA guys who aren’t regarded as impact players. I’m not MLB professional but for the life of me I don’t get why you drop a future hall of famer who is in a slump in favor of Robinzon Diaz. You’d have to think that when Frank is picked up by a team that he’s going to be very, very determined to prove the Jays were all wrong on him. From what I’ve seen in my life, you don’t bet against guys like him. They usually make you pay.

Adam Jones almost makes me forget about tacos. The Orioles one, not the guitar player for Tool.

I haven’t had the opportunity to watch my favorite team too much in the early-goings this season. Due to a tiff with Comcast I decided back in January to give them the Italian salute and let them sail off into the sunset without my $110 a month. I could talk about this for hours so I’ll stop now. Either way, no baseball, no Office, no Lost, no Dog Whisperer; F off Comcast.

As a result, I have to do what they did back in the 1930’s if they wanted to see a game: go to the actual game. That’s just what I did tonight and wow, what a treat. The O’s made Gavin Floyd look like Nolan Ryan the first five frames; whiffing at everything. Just awful. Jeremy Guthrie countered for the Birds. He started shaky but settled in later on. You can actually read about what happened here. I won’t replicate what’s already been said. Just be aware: Gavin Floyd looked OFFICIAL. Seriously, he had like four pitches working for him tonight. Adam Jones (tonight’s eventual hero) looked like a joke against him in the 3rd.

So what ends up happening? The O’s tie it up in the 9th off Bobby Jenks (who incidently looked like he had a slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth until I realized he just has a long goatee thing. How probable was it though that if ANY pitcher is going to go to the mound with a slice of pizza in his mouth that it would be Bobby Jenks? 98%??? The other 2% going to Ray King? Anyway…) and then win it off of Boone Logan in the 10th on an Adam Jones single, 6 – 5. Logan was as bad as Floyd was good. Other than the bomb Floyd gave up to Markakis in the 6th, he was incredible. If you’re in a deep mixed-league you might want to take a look at him. If I have to drop Ted Lilly I will seriously consider Floyd for the spot. What’s up with Ted Lilly anyway? Christ.

So the Birds sit at 9 – 7, ready for the Yankees to come to town with their 30,000 fans. It’s basically three away games where they go home to their actual house at night. We’re going to find out a lot about this team over the next three days. I can’t wait for the future.