Sunday, April 12, 2009

Despite 4-2 Record, Pitching Remains Concern


The Orioles gave up eleven runs falling to an 11-3 loss to the Tampa Rays in the getaway game of a three game home series. Starter, Adam Eaton, fell apart in the fourth inning giving up four runs while reliever Kevin Bass poured gas on the fire for the second time this year putting the game out of reach of the Orioles hitting.

Despite lights out starting from Guthrie, Uehara, and Hendrickson, the Orioles pitching staff has already given up 36 runs in six games, averaging six runs a game made more alarming considering they shut out the Rays Saturday night. Conversely, the Orioles scored 33 runs, with two runs and three runs scored in their two losses. Any team that scores an average of 5 ½ runs a game should win lots of ballgames unless their pitching staff is a disaster.

Is the 2009 Orioles pitching staff a disaster? It’s too soon to tell. Kevin Bass has looked horrible so far. Chris Ray, a possible closer, has failed miserably so far but indicted he might have discovered a kink in his delivery which perhaps could be the answer. Dennis Safarti must control his pitches more effectively having looked horrible so far.

While the Orioles are running a scoring deficit to both their opponents so far, they’re two games plus in wins at 4-2 overall taking series against two of baseball’s top teams. This kind of success would be much easier to enjoy if the glaring weaknesses of the pitching staff when they have failed wasn’t so obvious.

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