Earl Weaver Rules

The Orioles have a little more then two months to go in yet another mediocre season but in my opinion, I think we really have something to build on here.  The Orioles rotation is coming around and it’s coming around in a big way and if there’s one spot where a team can show an immediate improvement, it’s with a good pitching staff.  So while these last couple of months of 2007 won’t mean much, Orioles fans might, just might have something to look forward to next year.

What about Erik Bedard.  He’s won his last five decisions and his last three starts have been nothing short of awesome.  He’s given up just one run with 36 strikeouts in 23 innings and if it weren’t for his mediocre win/loss record, he’d be in line for a Cy Young.  Still, he leads all of baseball with 167 strikeouts and Bedard’s coming out comes at a time when the Orioles might have a chance of popping their head above the .500 mark for the time in forever.

The rest of starters appear to be coming along and once again, it looks like Leo Mazzone is working his magic.  Jeremy Guthrie still has an ERA under three and and even Danny Cabrera looks like he might be coming around.  You still have that inconsistency, and he’s had a tough July but let’s wait and pass judgement at the end of the year.  Heck, the fact that Cabrera made it through the entire season looks like an accomplishment so I’m giving him these last two months to show something.  Even Brian Burress has been respectable.

The fact that the Orioles should be basically .500 based on their expected win/loss is also something to build on.  So the Orioles are playing liks a .500 team already.  The offense needs to be better though.  They’re scoring a half run less then the AL average and while they’re batting average of .268 isn’t bad, they’re slugging of .401 is below par.  One thing I am impressed with though, and it’s helped out the pitching, is how good the defense has been.  The Orioles are behind only the Athletics in defensive efficiency. 

So while the Orioles flounder in the standings, it really might be a case of waiting until next year.  Anyway, the Orioles kick off a three game series tonight against the Devil Rays.  Danny Cabrera gets the start against Scott Kazmir.  Bedard throws tomorrow.

It looks like another meaningless second half of baseball for Orioles fans.  At least sort of.  There’s the hollow goals, like staying out of last place and not losing 100 games but probably more then any other year, Orioles fans have to be disappointed with how things are going.  At eleven gaves below .500, the Orioles sit a distant 15 games back of first and they’re closer to the Devil Rays in last place then they are the Yankees in third.

Still, a strong second half would be something to build on for 2008.  And a nice trade or two would also go along way.  The Orioles should be sellers to a point, but you don’t want to lose your base that could be used to build on next year.

The pitching staff has been surprisingly good and that’s something you can never have too much of.  Erik Bedard, even without the awesome performance he had last weekend, has established himself as a bonafide ace and then guys like Jeremy Guthrie have gotten it done as well.  Danny Cabrera has been the biggest disappointment but even he still has that potential tag attached to him.

Nick Markakis, while not having an awesome year, has shown that his pedigree was legit.  He has a chance to drive in 100 and hit 20 homeruns, and while that’s not terribly impressive, for this team, it is.  Brian Roberts has also emerged as one of the better second basemen in the league.

The strange this is, the Orioles don’t have a ton of trade bait.  Their biggest chip, Miguel Tejada, is on the shelf and they don’t have many guys who will be free agents next year.  Erik Bedard has one more year of arbitration so he’s going nowhere (and he should get locked up long term if people are smart in the front office).  So we’ll see how active the Orioles are in late July.

The Orioles open up against the struggling White Sox beginning tomorrow.  Jeremy Guthrie gets the start and he’ll face Jon Garland.  The White Sox are in a similar situtation to the Orioles although they’re two years removed from winning a World Series so a lot of their fans are probably in denial right now.  And Orioles series win would probably knock that denial out of them.