Did you know this about me?
I like to pick on sportswriters who say dumb things. Today’s gemlet comes from David Ginsburg, who wrote the AP recap of Tampa Bay’s 9-1 drubbing of Baltimore.
The Tampa Bay Rays have never been this good this early in the season—not even when they went to the World Series in 2008.
The Rays have six wins. The Rays have played the Orioles six times. Coincidence?
(Truth in criticism: the Rays have only beaten Baltimore five times; their sixth win came against the Yankees)
"This is what we have to do to get to where we want to go," [Tampa Bay starter David] Price said.
What, play a lot of games against the Orioles? It would work, sure, but I’m thinking you might want to play the Royals once or twice just for variety.
"We got to win games like this."
Agreed. That one game you lost to the Orioles was pretty sad.
"When we’ve got a chance for a sweep, whether it’s home or on the road, we’ve got to come out and take care of business."
Not a bad policy, to be sure. Also the case, though, that you may wish to go out and take care of business when you don’t have a chance for a sweep, too. Because those games? They count exactly the same, believe it or not. You don’t get extra sexy bonus points for sweeping above and beyond the points you get for just, like, winning those games.
The Orioles, in contrast, are 1-8 — their worst start since going 0-21 in 1988.
This is partly because the Orioles are bad. It is also because the Orioles have played six of their nine games against a very good team, and the other three against a Blue Jays team that’s playing way over its head right now. It is also because the Orioles have been a bit unlucky, and already have injuries to deal with.
Also, I forgot that they went 0-21 to start in 1988. Thanks for reminding me about that. Because it’s really, really funny.
"It’s not how you draw it up. You didn’t want to come in here and start like this," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "We certainly had a lot of opportunities to win our fair share of the games and we didn’t. Losing ought to say how frustrated and disappointed everybody is."
No, losing shows how bad everybody is. At pitching and hitting, you know?
Against Tampa Bay, the Orioles were plagued by poor situational hitting, untimely errors and shoddy relief pitching.
No, they were plagued by poor regular hitting. Situational don’t enter into it, Dave. As of right now, the Orioles are second-to-last in the league in runs scored per game, with an abysmal 3.25 (behind every team in the NL, too, by the way, except for the hysterically bad Houston Astros, who’ve only scored 1.86 runs per game). They are not getting on base (team OBP of .315) and they are not hitting for power (team SLG of .387). There’s nothing "situational" about their bad hitting unless you mean that they’re bad at hitting in situations when they’re at the plate. Which they are.
Except for Felix Pie! Current OPS+: 210! Go Pie go!
(Incidentally, the Orioles’ team ERA+ is 93 and their team WHIP is 1.444, because they’re bad at pitching too)
"We haven’t played well," Trembley acknowledged. "We expect that we’ll play better."
Dave Trembley gets paid to say that, keep in mind.
I’m being unfair. I also expect the Orioles to play better. They’re not going to win any World Serieses this year, but they’re not actually this bad. Sample size and all that. Also, they won’t play Tampa Bay every single day for the rest of the year.
You know. Unless David Price gets his way.
Orioles starter Brad Bergesen (0-1) gave up eight runs, five earned, in three-plus innings. After enjoying a promising rookie season in 2009, the right-hander has an 11.74 ERA after two starts.
Berg Bradersen has pitched 7.2 innings. Do I need to tell you why ERA is a dumb stat to use for evaluating a dude who’s pitched 7.2 innings? I don’t? Good. Here’s a better way of evaluating a dude who’s pitched 7.2 innings: he’s pitched 7.2 innings. In two starts. Average of 3.25 IP/GS. For a starting pitcher, that ain’t so hot.
Never mind that. There’s an even better way of evaluating a dude who’s ptched 7.2 innings: don’t. Seriously. There is no meaningful data you can gather from 7.2 IP.
"That was awesome. It’s good to see him just enjoying baseball the way he’s capable of," Pena said. "That ball’s just jumping off his bat and that’s exciting. And it’s just starting. I think we’re going to see a lot of B.J. Upton in the coming weeks and the rest of the year."
Sometimes I think Carlos Pena is a PR robot built by Mitsubishi. "Enjoying baseball the way he’s capable of?" I think you mean "hitting home runs," Carlos. That’s what he did that it’s great to see.
Also, yes, we will probably see quite a bit of The Hummer in the coming weeks. Since he’s your starting CF and all.
