Orioles fans’ grounds for optimism
For a dozen consecutive seasons, the Orioles have offered more of the same to a frustrated fan base: high-paid veterans and lightly regarded youngsters fighting and failing in the ultracompetitive American League East.
As the Orioles’ season opens today in St. Petersburg, Fla., and kicks off at home Friday at Camden Yards, most national prognosticators don’t give the club much chance to rise above fourth, which would be a step up from the fifth-place basement in 2009.
Yet in talking to fans, management and players, there’s a slightly different feeling this year – that the optimism that exists every spring has a little more merit. For the first time in recent memory, the Orioles have a young core with major league baseball experience.
“The years in the past, we’ve been waiting to get the guys up here. We’ve been mixing and matching guys here and there,” said Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis, 26. “I think we’re at the point now where it’s about winning.”
Click here to read the full article – By Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun
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O’s end season with four-game winning streak
Team closes book on tough 2009 campaign on high note, sweeping away Blue Jays
A walk-off win was the best possible way for the Orioles to end an otherwise disappointing 2009 season.
But in typical Orioles fashion, the circumstances made it hard to get overly excited about the victory. There was no game-ending home run or even a game-winning single. The Orioles’ 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday was achieved when reliever Brandon League made back-to-back throwing errors on sacrifice bunt attempts in the 11th inning.
“It was certainly a strange final day,” Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts said. “You don’t expect to play extra innings, and you certainly don’t expect to end it on back-to-back bunt throwing errors. It’s good for us to end with four wins, and to end on a positive note and let everybody kind of go out of here with a smile on their face.”
Click here to read the full article – By Jeff Zrebiec of Baltimoresun.com
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Orioles end losing streak, road trip
For about 15 seconds, Orioles manager Dave Trembley felt as if time were standing still. It had been far too long since he last experienced the feeling; there had been far too much heartache since he last witnessed his players gather for the handshake line.
It didn’t come easily, but nothing ever does for Trembley and the Orioles. When struggling closer Jim Johnson gloved Akinori Iwamura’s comebacker and threw to first baseman Michael Aubrey for the game’s final out, the Orioles had a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, and a 13-game losing streak and the most trying stretch of Trembley’s career had mercifully ended.
“Oh my, I can’t explain it to you. We’ve got the music on in the clubhouse and I’m drinking something other than a diet soda,” Trembley said. “I can tell you that right now. It’s unbelievable. I’m just glad this thing is over. I can’t think of anything [else] that has been as challenging.”
The 13-game skid, which demoralized the club and brought more attention to Trembley’s tenuous job security, was the longest in the major leagues this season and the third-longest in franchise history. It ended one game shy of the 14-game losing streak that the organization suffered through Aug. 11-25, 1954, and eight games behind the 21 consecutive contests the 1988 team lost to begin that year.
With the victory in their road finale this season, the Orioles escaped the first winless road trip of seven games or more in franchise history and kept alive their chances of avoiding another dubious distinction accomplished by the 1988 squad.
Click here to read the full article – By Jeff Zrebiec of Baltimoresun.com
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O’s slide grows to 12 games
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Dave Trembley was asked essentially the same question the previous night and the day before that, only it was far more difficult for him to answer Tuesday night.
So, the Orioles manager took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts and while staring at the wall in front of him, tried to sum up the misery of his team’s 12-game losing streak, secured by a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
“I can’t give you an answer. I’ve run out of things to say. I think I’ve been cordial, direct, upfront, dealt with it as best as we possibly can, but I really have no explanation, no excuse,” said Trembley whose team now owns the longest losing streak in baseball this season and needs to win three of its final five games to avoid the third 100-loss season in franchise history.
“Unless you’re on the other side, it’s very difficult for me to explain to you what it’s been like,” he said. “Coming here and talking to you guys every night and doing the TV every night and meeting with people beforehand, and being a spokesman for the club, making sure the guys got a little bounce in the step, it’s been a test that we’ve all endured far too long and I’m looking forward to winning tomorrow night.”
Click here to read the full article – By Jeff Zrebiec of Baltimoresun.com
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Markakis voted Orioles’ MVP for 2009
The Orioles have spoken, and they’ve chosen Nick Markakis as their Most Valuable Player in an informal but comprehensive polling of the clubhouse. More than 20 players and the team’s manager responded to a recent survey regarding the team’s MVP, and Markakis edged Brian Roberts by a single vote.
And if that wasn’t close enough, a closer inspection of the ballot makes the point even clearer. Six players opted to split their choice between Markakis and Roberts, and one even divvied his choice between those two and Adam Jones. Jones and Brad Bergesen were the only other players to receive a single vote.
Jeremy Guthrie, who opted to cut his ballot into thirds, explained why the polling was so close.
“Each of them have done so much for the team, and all of them are so important that losing them would have a dramatic effect,” he said. “We see that now with Jones sidelined. And they all play key positions for us. Start to finish, Nick’s had a very solid season defensively and offensively. Brian’s shown again why he’s so important to our team, setting the table for us all year and having a tremendous second half. Adam Jones has obviously had a breakout season and he’s showed a lot of the potential that everyone saw in him.”
Click here to read the full article – By Spencer Fordin of MLB.com
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Roberts hopes to double up on records
Brian Roberts broke his own record in the Orioles’ 10-5 win over the Rays on Tuesday, and he’ll have his eyes on bigger game Wednesday and for the rest of the season. Baltimore’s second baseman set a new franchise record with his 52nd double of the year, and he’s just three away from tying the alltime mark for doubles by a switch-htter.
That record was set by Lance Berkman in 2001, and Roberts is also within striking distance of the all-time record for doubles by a second baseman. That one — 60 by Charlie Gehringer in 1936 — may be a little harder to reach. And for Roberts, it seems like everywhere he goes he finds people talking about the same topic.
Click here to read the full article – By Spencer Fordin of MLB.com
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O’s to curtail workload of rookie pitchers
The Orioles announced the end of the road for some of their rookie pitchers on Tuesday. Andy MacPhail, the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, said that Brad Bergesen is done for the season and manager Dave Trembley announced a plan to curtail innings for both Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman.
Bergesen had been attempting to return from a bruised left shin and wasn’t progressing as quickly as the team would’ve liked. Bergesen, who went 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA in 19 starts for Baltimore, probably wouldn’t have been able to make it back until the last week of the season, prompting the team to end his year early.
Things are a little different for Tillman and Matusz, who have been healthy all season. The Orioles are determined to be careful with the youngsters and make sure they don’t overstrain their arms too early in the process.
Click here to read the full article – By Spencer Fordin of MLB.com
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