Late Innings

If the Orioles would end their seasons at the end of July, on paper they’d look like a solid baseball team. However they’re playing in September, and as usual they can’t find a way to win games. Until they find a way to win in this month, they’ll never be a championship ball club.

Currently, Baltimore is an abysmal 4-17 in September of 2008. I know that they have a tough schedule this month, playing mostly competitive teams in the AL East looking for playoff spots, however they haven’t won a series in two months. There was no excuse for them being swept by a reeling Oakland ball club at the beginning of the month in Baltimore.

Last night I honestly thought they were going to win. They took a lead into the eighth inning, only to watch Jamie Walker implode and open the floodgates, leading to another Orioles loss. That led to an evening of heavy drinking… after about a half of a case of Heineken, I conducted my own AL Rookie of the Year voting. These are my drunken results:

• T. Teagarden - TEX (6)
• A. Simon - BAL (1)
• J. Lowrie - BOS
• E. Longoria - TAM

I understand that Longoria has 26 homers and didn’t get a single first-place vote in my mock poll, but I was too drunk to care. I did manage to give a first place vote to Alfredo Simon however… (on an aside, I really think Teagarden is going to be an amazing catcher in the future.)

On an aside, I was listening to the game last night, and before throwing the radio out the window, I was happy to hear that Simon was pitching very well. After all he did something that most Orioles starters haven’t done recently, pitched past the seventh inning:

He was pitching in the 90s with great movement. As most people pointed out, his pitching last night looked like something very similar to a former Orioles ace: Rodrigo Lopez. Like Simon, Lopez was discovered while pitching in the Mexican League. He made his Orioles debut, and as a rookie won 15 games in 2002 (finishing second in the ROY voting.) He won 15 games in two of the next three years. However his ERA rose, and he ultimately went back to the Mexican League to pitch.

There aren’t too many Mexican League pitchers who’ve made it in the majors, however there are a few that should be noted. Grated there’s Lopez. There’s also Francisco Cordova, who’s best known for throwing a combined ten-inning no-hitter against the Astros with fellow-countryman Ricardo Rincon (he did this back when Jon Lieber was pitching for the Pirates.) If there’s any similarities between all these pitchers, it’s that they’ll give the clubs three or so solid years. After that they’re out of the majors.

Simon looked good last night, even against a Tampa Bay team bereft of its regulars. His start could help him be a dark-horse candidate to be in Baltimore’s rotation in 2009. After all, what are the options. Rahdames Liz has great stuff, and seemed to get it together after going back to Norfolk, and the same goes with Garrett Olsen. Chris Waters has been reliable, but only has fourth-starter ceiling. Jeremy Guthrie is the ace, and the team should non-tender Daniel Cabrera, even with them having him under control for two more years. Yes, Baltimore needs a veteran starter to stabilize this rotation mess, but I hope that they won’t spend in excess of 10MM per year on a veteran. And yes RotoWorld, this includes Jon Garland.