Why I'm Not So Upset About The Orioles Three-Game Losing Streak

Normally I'd be devastated by a three-game losing streak like this. The O's had a four-game winning streak and a lot of momentum going for them, they are facing a couple of good teams in short series at home and it would have meant a lot to show those clubs that the O's are for real.

But it's April 26 and that's all B.S.

The O's have been "showing teams that they're for real" for the past few Aprils now. I didn't believe it until I looked it up, but the Orioles have finished April at or above .500 for the past four seasons. And where did it get them? Not once in those seasons did they finish within five games of the break-even point.

Image from baltimoresun.com

That's why early this month I told myself that I wasn't going to get worked up about what happens in April.

Lots of crap teams jump out of the gate hot and put up decent April records. The good teams get better as the season goes on.

And if you look at how the team has played, these guys should feel lucky to still be one game over .500.

Erik Bedard was supposed to be the ace of the staff, and he's putting up Bruce Chen-like numbers.

Melvin Mora seems to have dedicated his April to making a bloopers reel for his six kids.

Razor Ramon Hernandez, One of the best all-around catchers in the Majors, is hurt and has been replaced by Paul Bako, honestly one of the worst all-around catchers in the Majors.

Aubrey Huff in April has been in 2007 as Aubrey Huff in April has been throughout his career -- bad.

But those things will change. Huff will get hot, Hernandez will come back from his injury, Mora can't be this bad in the field forever (right?!?) and Bedard will return to form (he did have a 5.97 ERA on June 1 last year before basically dominating for the last three months of the season to get it down to 3.76).

It's fun to project out numbers less than 20 games into the season and say things like "Ian Kinsler is on pace for 64 homers" or "The Orioles are on pace for 96 wins," but then reality sets in. Because this is baseball, and the season is long.

Every team is going to have winning streaks and losing streaks and every player is going to have slumps and surges, but at the end of a 162-game season everything will end up where it should be. The best players will separate themselves from the flukes and the best teams will rise to the top of the standings.

So for now I'm just trying to sit back, enjoy the baseball and be pleased with how the O's have kept their heads above water despite the issues and injuries. ... But seriously this team better not be sucking like this in May or I'm going to flip.
 

So ... Is This How It's Going to Be in 2007?

Nice start to the baseball season, eh?

At 1:00 yesterday the Nationals kicked off their season, and by 1:30 it was obvious they were going to lose.

The Orioles started six hours later but it took about as long of actual game time for them to look like they were out of it, except then they teased us with a big inning and a lead that lasted, oh, maybe 45 seconds including the commercial break.

Marlins 9, Nationals 2.

Twins 7, Orioles 4.

The "aces," John Patterson and Erik Bedard looked awful. Chalk it up to opening day jitters, I hope.

I still don't think the Nationals lose 100 games, despite that it seems like the media has all but guaranteed it. ESPN's Buster Olney went as far as to say the Nats could lose 130 games, which is Youppi-level ridiculous.

Here's the thing: 71-91, which the Nats were in 2006, is a bad team. REAL bad. And it's easy to say "well that's only nine losses less than 100!" But a 71-91 team is 20 games under .500, playing .438 baseball. A 100-loss team is THIRTY-EIGHT games under .500, playing .383 ball. The difference is HUGE.

Are they looking at last place in the NL East? Probably. But it won't take 100 losses to get there.

In true Orioles fashion, key injuries have shown just how unprepared this team is for success. After an offseason thinking about what depth the Orioles might have with one of Jay Payton, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar, Jay Gibbons or Corey Patterson coming off the bench each night, two guys get hurt before opening day and whaddya know you're looking at a lineup with Paul Bako starting and Freddie Bynum pinch hitting in a key situation.

Freddie Bynum.

But it's OK because Bynum plays several positions so that makes him Brandon Fahey valuable.

What I'm most annoyed about, though, is that I went to Champps last night figuring I could catch the last half of the O's game and then watch the NCAA championship, but the O's game was nowhere to be found -- apparently there was some problem getting the channel to work. (I suspect they didn't realize that the game was locally blacked out on ESPN2 because it was on MASN, but if that's the case it's a pretty sad indictment of the state of the franchise that a sports bar in Columbia doesn't even know what channel the local team will play 162 of its 162 games on.) So the O's finally have a night opening game that I would be able to watch and I only get to see three and a half lousy innings. Aaugh.

Oh well. That's the beauty of baseball. You only have to stew on a loss for a workday and then you're greeted at home by another game! Unless you're the Cubs...