Well, the O’s are back in the win column a little more often than not lately.  That sounds so positive as compared to how the team is truly doing.

I had my first week of finals, and this week brings another.  Hoping to be done everything by Wednesday.  Also was in Cleveland all this past weekend, including attending the Indians vs. Tigers game Friday night.  Caught 5 baseballs even without a glove, would have had 12+ with one because of how empty it was and how many I had to let drop so my hands wouldn’t break.

Instead of doing stat analysis, or game by game conversations, I am just going to look over a few topics shortly.  This week, I will be once again doing the game by game stuff with more topics thrown in weekly.

The bullpen has been good, the starting pitching has been mostly solid, and the hitting is more inconsistent than Kyle Boller.  Moves are coming soon.  Corey Patterson is hitting .370 in Norfolk, and will probably be up for Montanez soon.  By all the talk, that may not be all.  In terms of pitching, there won’t be any big moves that we can foresee coming since no pitcher is really too far out of it.  The hitting is the problem.

From the Orioles website (orioles.com):

.400
.298
.284
.283
.283
.247
.244
.237
.230
.226
.203
.186
.143
.114
.067
.000

Those are the averages of Orioles hitters.  Names aren’t even important.  Knowing the numbers of slugging and hitting with RISP aren’t important, either.  It has come down to guys needing to hit in general, not just in the clutch.  Markakis, Wigginton, and Wieters are all below .300.  Nobody is above .300 (except Felix Pie, whoopee).  Guys are below .200.  That’s just great…

Good bullpen news:

The O’s seem to have found a closer in Alfredo Simon.  And a new (maybe temporary but still for now) set-up guy in Uehara.  In 6 appearances, Simon is 3-3 in save opportunities, and in 6 IP, has only allowed 6 hits, 0 ER, and has 7 Ks and only 4 BBs.  Uehara, in his 2 IP in 2 appearances, has only allowed 1 H and 0 ER, along with 2 Ks.

Ohman, through 11 IP in 16 appearances, has still not earned a run.  Berken and Meredith are both also set in position so far, neither with an ERA over 2.  These 3 combined have the following stat line:

36.2 IP, 27 H, 5 ER, 26:11 K:BB ratio, and a stellar ERA of 1.23.

Pitching looks good.  Matusz had his first rocky start after 4 consecutive quality starts, but he should be back on track soon enough.  Especially with his T-shirt Tuesday being tomorrow night.

The Orioles homestand now looks like this:

3 games vs. Mariners
3 games vs. Indians
2 games vs. Royals

Even with 2 of those M’s games being against Lee and Hernandez, the O’s should be able to split this 8 game homestand, if not wint 5 or 6 at least.  That would be a huge boost.  We will have to wait and see what the club does in terms of roster moves to set this team straight.

Always remember to follow along with the sites I have listed under links.  They will always have the best O’s info available.

Keep up with http://baltimoresportsreport.com/  They have daily articles and write-ups about Baltimore sports and a lot about the Orioles.  Taking part in the discussions on the site is very interesting.  They also have lots of interesting stuff like contests and interviews with players and commentators.