The Good and Bad from the Orioles-Red Sox series (April 17-20)

Hard to imagine that we are about a week from the end of the first month of the season.  It feels like you wait forever for a season to start and before you know it, it just flies by.  So I'm requesting that Major League Baseball slow the season down so we can enjoy it more.  Before I even begin let me just say i mention Adam Jones now because he just keeps mashing the ball.  Adam Jones is on another level when it comes to hitting, so he gets honorable mention before I even begin my post.

GOOD: Jimmy Paredes
Jimmy Paredes made his season debut on Saturday coming off the disabled list and he looked great.  In 3 games, Paredes went 7 for 13 and scored 4 runs.  Paredes can be a nice little utility player filling in when needed, and if keeps hitting like this he'll find his way in the lineup more and more.  Now of course you cant expect Paredes to continue hitting at this pace but, for someone coming off the DL it's nice to see him making an impact immediately.

BAD: Alejandro De Aza
As refreshing as Paredes performance was, De Aza's was a little disappointing.  I might of jinxed De Aza, a few posts back I praised De Aza's strong start to the 2015 season.  Well, De Aza might be the happiest Oriole to be leaving Fenway Park.  De Aza played in 3 of the 4 games in the series and he went 0 for 11.  Not exactly what you want or expect from your lead off hitter.  I'll chalk this up to a minor slump and hopefully De Aza rebounds in Toronto.

GOOD: Ryan Flaherty
I may be one of this guy's biggest critics.  I'll put it bluntly, I'm not a fan of Ryan Flaherty, I believe he's an average hitter and fielder, not special at either.  However, when the guy plays well you have to give credit where credit is due.  Flaherty stepped in for the injured Jonathan Schoop and had at least 2 hits in every game.  Flaherty went 6 for 11 had 1 home run and 2 RBIs.  My biggest problem with Flaherty is consistency, now with Schoop out for the foreseeable future it will be interesting to see how Flaherty plays as the Orioles every day second baseman.

BAD: Orioles defense
Year after year the Orioles routinely have one of the best defenses in baseball.  In fact the last time the Orioles didn't have multiple gold glove winners was in 2010.  This weekend in Boston wasn't their best defensively.  Although most of the damage was done in one game.  Wei-Yin Chen gave up 5 runs in their rain shortened loss on Monday, all 5 were unearned due to 3 errors.  This is much more of an anomaly than anything ill ever post, but the Orioles did end the series with 5 errors in 4 games.  That's never good to have more errors than games played.

Orioles are now 7-6 after 13 games, all against AL East opponents and they make their first trip north of the border to tangle with the Blue Jays for the second time this season.

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Brett Lawrie vs. Kansas City Royals

What a very interesting and unfortunate weekend it was at Kaufman stadium over the weekend.  A lot of early season excitement for the defending American League Champions as they started the season 7-0.  Then this past weekend they played the team they beat in last year's wild card game to start their improbable run to the World Series.  What should have been a weekend series promoting great baseball between two very good squads, it was marred in injured players, throwing at hitters and bench clearing incidents.

It all started Friday night at second base.  There was a ground ball to third baseman Mike Moustakas and he flipped it to second for the out.  Brett Lawrie came in hard and took out Royals SS Alcides Escobar.  After watching the replay, Lawrie went in hard, really hard and he had his spikes up, it wasnt a good slide.  Even though I feel that it was a bad slide, I'm a little hesitant to call it dirty.  Calling a play or player dirty to me is kind of a slippery slope.  No doubt about it Lawrie showed poor technique on his slide, but I'm not convinced that it was done on purpose or that he had any malicious intent to injure Escobar, if he did then it would constitute a dirty play to me.  Lawrie seemed apologetic after the slide, realizing that he had hurt Escobar.  Needless to say Kansas City was none to pleased with the slide and it set into motion a chain of events that hung over the entire weekend series.

It was to no one's surprise that the very next day Kansas City would retaliate.  Even Lawrie himself had to expect to be hit at some point, it's part of the game whether you like it or not.  So Oakland was ahead 5-0 in the fourth inning and Yordano Ventura felt this was as good a time as any to retaliate, oh and Ventura can hit triple digits on the radar gun.  The most interesting part of this situation to me was the reactions after Ventura hit Lawrie.  Ventura seemed anxious for a fight, after he hit Lawrie he walked right up to Lawrie almost begging him to make a move so he could start a brawl, I found that odd.  It seemed like Ventura felt like he had to teach Lawrie a lesson for what he did, it was extremely childish.  Lawrie however kept his composure stared straight ahead and calmly walked to first base.  So most people would logically think it's over right? wrong.

The next night another Royals pitcher who flirts with triple digits on the radar gun felt Lawrie hadn't paid
enough for his sins.  Kelvin Herrera decided to throw a 100 MPH fastball behind Bret Lawrie causing an immediate ejection.  As Herrera was walking off the field he pointed to his head, indicating that's where the next pitch to Lawrie would be.  This is taking it a little too far.  Throwing a baseball that fast is dangerous if it's in the strike zone but trying to hit someone in the head, it's completely inexcusable.  Herrera should be suspended for those actions.  Royals players wanted to respond to their teammate getting injured and I understand that, but to me they lost focus and decided to head hunt Brett Lawrie.  There is no room in baseball for those type of actions.  Lawrie was just playing the game, and we could argue if the slide was dirty or not but it was still done in the flow of the game.  Kansas City pitchers made it a point to throw at Lawrie not once but twice with two of the hardest throwers in Major League Baseball.  The Royals in my opinion should be ashamed of how they acted this weekend and I'd be shocked if some suspensions weren't handed out because of this display.

These two teams don't meet again until June, however I seriously doubt either will forget this weekend.  It will make their next series one of the most anticipated matches but for all the wrong reasons.  Oh and if anyone cares Kansas City took 2 out of 3 in this series.

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The Good and Bad from the Orioles-Yankees Series (April 13-15)

I think we can officially say we are in the baseball season.  Three series under most teams belts, before you know the end of April will be here and we will start separating the contenders and pretenders.  The Orioles have had an OK start to the 2015 season, like I've said many times before, not getting too excited not getting too worried about anything happening on the field.  That being said let me overly dissect this past series where the Orioles took 2 out of 3 against the hated Yankees.

GOOD: Miguel Gonzalez

Wow, what else can you say about Miguel's performance on Tuesday night.  Miguel pitched 7 strong innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and struck out a career high 10.  Gonzalez always seems to perform well against the Bronx bombers and Tuesday was no different.  Gonzalez after just two starts has an ERA of 1.42.  It was also nice to see him get through seven innings, that needs to happen more form the Orioles pitching staff.

BAD: Tommy Hunter

Mr. Hunter did not have a very good series against the Yankees.  Hunter only pitched 2 innings in the series but in those 2 innings he gave up 5 hits and 6 earned runs.  In game 1 of the series he gave up a grand slam that proved to be the difference.  In game 3 he turned a Orioles 4 run lead into a 2 run lead, even the outs he was recording in game 3 were hit hard.  Again too early to panic but if Tommy Hunter wants to stay in the late inning role he's been a custom to, 6 earned runs in 2 innings wont cut it.

GOOD: Caleb Joseph

Let's give some love to the catcher for the Baltimore Orioles.  One of the main topic of discussions for Orioles fans is when is Matt Wieters coming back.  Well if Joseph keeps playing like he did against the Yankees, fans wont be so quick to rush Wieters back.  Caleb Joseph registered 7 hits in 11 at bats scored a run and drove in 2 in the 3 game set.  Now Joseph isn't as good at throwing guys out like Wieters is but, cant complain with how Joseph is holding his own while the all star backstop gets healthy.

BAD: Inconsistent Chris Davis

Oh Chris Davis what are we going to do with you.  Chris Davis for me might be turning into one of the most frustrating players on the ball club.  The first 2 games of the series Davis went 0 for 7 with 6 strike outs, and some of those strike outs he looked really, really bad.  Then Wednesday comes around and he drives in 3 runs including a huge 2 run double that gave the Orioles the cushion they needed for the win.  Even with the 2 hits and 3 RBIs last night, he still struck out 3 times.  I'm not asking for 2-3 hits every night from Davis but it would be nice to see him be a little more productive, you can still make an out and have it help your ball club, not much help can come from striking out 9 times in three games.

GOOD: Adam Jones staying hot

I mentioned Adam Jones in my last post about how he played in the Blue Jays series.  Well he continued hitting the ball extremely well hitting home runs in games 1 and 2 and having at least 1 hit in every game of the series.  It's tough to argue that anyone in baseball right now is seeing the ball better than Adam Jones.  Oh yea, and he's playing gold glove caliber defense as well, Tommy Hunter should thank him for Wednesday night.

Up next for the birds is a 4 game series in Boston against the Red Sox.

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The Good and Bad from the Orioles-Blue Jays series (April 10-12)

The Orioles start the season with 19 consecutive games against AL East opponents.  It's hard to say that the first 19 games are one of the most important stretches in the season, but it would also be nice as defending division champs to make a strong statement to start the 2015 campaign.  This past weekend the Toronto Blue Jays came to Oriole Park and showed that maybe just maybe, they might be able to make some noise in the east.

GOOD: Ubaldo Jimenez
After last season I never though i would say this, Ubaldo Jimenez looked great.  Ubaldo has been the target of a lot of criticism since he signed a 4 year $50 million deal, and then posted a 4.81 ERA his first season in Baltimore.  We kept hearing the Jimenez had a very good spring, sometimes you have to take that with a grain of salt because of some of the lineups you face in March.  Well, at least for start number 1, Ubaldo was great.  He pitched 7 innings only giving up 1 hit, 8 strikeouts and more importantly only 1 walk.  I don't expect Ubaldo to pitch like this every start, but if he can be more consistent it will be a huge boost for the pitching staff.

BAD: The Rest of the pitching staff
When you take away Ubaldo's performance and a couple relief appearances here and there, it wasn't a good weekend for Orioles pitchers.  Take away the 7 scoreless Ubaldo threw Saturday night, Orioles pitchers gave up 23 runs in 20 innings, that's not good.  Bud Norris might have had the most disappointing performance of all.  Norris only lasted 3 innings giving up 8 runs on seven hits on his Friday start.  Chris Tillman who looked so good opening day, couldn't get through 3 innings on Sunday.  Now it wasn't all bad, there was one point on Sunday where 12 straight Blue Jays were retired, but all in all a bad weekend for Orioles pitchers.

GOOD: Adam Jones
The only way to describe Adam Jones this weekend is impressive.  Jones was the Orioles main offensive weapon, he went 7 for 10 scored 5 runs, hit 2 home runs and drove in 5.  Adam has been a model of consistency during his entire time here in Baltimore, which is why I scratch my head when fans give him so much grief.  He's a multiple time all star and gold glove winner, and barring any kind of injury you can pencil him right now to bat .280, hit 25-35 home runs and drive in 85-100.  As much as we talk about other players, this Orioles team runs through Adam Jones, 2015 should not be any different.

BAD: Manny Machado
Manny is one of my favorite Orioles, but doesn't mean he is exempt from any criticism.  The start of the 2015 season has been a tough one for Machado.  He did go 1 for 4 in Sunday's loss and he even had a stolen base.  Unfortunately, that one hit on Sunday was so far his only of the season.  Manny has started the season 1 for 19, not very good.  There is one positive from Machado however, his defense seems as strong as ever.  Machado is a great young talent and while the 1 for 19 start is concerning, I'm willing to chalk this up as just an early season slump.

The Orioles tour around the AL east continues tonight when the last place New York Yankees (yes I know it's only 6 games, it just feels nice to say) travel to Baltimore to start a 3 game series.  Be sure to check out my good and bad from this series as well.

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The Good and Bad from the Orioles-Rays series (April 6-8)

Well it's finally here baseball is back, thankfully.  After a rather unique off season in Baltimore with players leaving and the General Manager wanting to get a job with another team in the division.  We can finally put that all aside and focus on whats important, the on the field play.  There were plenty of good and some bad things from the opening series in Tampa.  The great thing about baseball is there is plenty of time to fix whats ailing you, it's also way too early to panic about anything.

GOOD: Orioles win series
It might be the most simple, but it's the one thing you need the most.  Sweeps are nice and can really spring you into a long winning streak.  However, if you continue to take 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4, getting 90 wins for the season gets a whole lot easier.  Also, when it comes to playing teams like Tampa, winning series are a must.  The Rays are not expected to do a lot in the AL east this season so just about every time you play them, if you're the Orioles you should win the series.

BAD: Chris Davis goes hit less, strikes out 3 times
Again I cant say this enough, it is extremely early in the season but in the 2 games Davis played he was really quiet.  Davis has a lot of pressure on him to perform this season, after the down year in 2014 and the suspension Davis has a lot to prove.  He's got permission to take Adderall this season so it will be interesting to see what his numbers will be in 2015.  Hopefully for Orioles fans his first two games aren't going to be the norm this year.

GOOD: Steve Pearce
Steve Pearce came to play to start 2015.  He hit home runs in the first 2 games, last two Orioles to do that to start a season both led the league in home runs by the end of the season (Davis in 2013, Cruz in 2014).  I don't think Steve Pearce will lead the league in home runs, but I do think he'll have a really good year if he plays consistently.



BAD: Orioles Starters not going deeper
Before I start my analysis, I'll be the first to admit that I'm kind of nitpicking here.  However, Chris Tillman was the only starter to pitch more than 6 innings in the opening series.  Wei-Yin Chen only lasted 4 and a third, and even though Miguel Gonzalez only allowed 1 run, he couldn't get through the 6th.  The Orioles bullpen might be the strongest aspect of the club but, you cant use 3-5 pitchers from the bullpen every game and expect them to perform well all season.  I'm willing to give a slight pass because it's early in the season but it needs to get better.

GOOD: Travis Snider's first impression
As good as Steve Pearce was in the opening series, Travis Snider was better.  Just look at opening day alone.  Travis Snider drove in the first run of the season, made a diving catch in the outfield and threw out someone at the plate.  He followed that up with another RBI in game 2 and he was on base 4 times.  Travis Snider will very quickly endear himself to Orioles fans if he continues to play this hard.  I'm not saying he'll make us forget Nick Markakis, just make the break up hurt a little less.

The most important thing to realize is that baseball is not a sprint it's a marathon.  After three games for the Orioles there is nothing that is getting me overly excited, but there is also nothing that has me overly worried either.  The birds took 2 out of 3 and now head home for the first time this season to face the Blue Jays on Friday.  Did I mention I love baseball???

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Top 5 Moments from Division Series

It's been a  very exciting MLS postseason.  In the American League we have two teams that haven't been to a World Series in 30 years.  In the National League we have two teams that are making a habit of playing in the NLCS.  None of the division series went to a full 5 games.  The last time that happened was in 2009.  There were plenty of terrific, edge of your seat moments but for me there are 5 that stood out above the rest.

5) Clayton Kershaw loses Game 1 after being spotted a 6-1 lead

For most people who watched baseball this season there was no doubt who the best pitcher in baseball was.  Clayton Kershaw was outstanding, You could almost guarantee a win every time he took the mound this season for the Dodgers.  So when LA gave Kershaw a 6-1 lead in Game 1 of the NLDS, most figured the Dodgers would easily go up one game to none over St. Louis.  Then, the 7th inning happened.  The Cardinals exploded for 8 runs, 6 of which were attributed to Kershaw.  Matt Carpenter delivered the fatal blow with a bases clearing double and that 6-1 lead for the Dodgers turned into a 7-6 deficit.  St. Louis would win the game 10-9 and it seemed like the Dodger never could quite recover from the shocking game 1 defeat.

Cardinals 8 Run 8th Inning

4) Kansas City Royals extra inning magic

Not many people gave Kansas City much of a chance just to get past Oakland in the wild card game.  So once they did that there was no way they would beat the team with the best record in baseball, right.  Well not only did they beat the Angels they swept them.  In the first 2 games of the 3 game sweep the Royals needed extra innings to notch victories.  They also did it with the long ball, KC only hit 95 home runs in the regular season, but in the postseason they made it look easy.  Its those extra inning wins made America fall in love with this Kansas City squad.

Eric Hosmer 11th Inning HR

3) Yusmeiro Petit throws 6 scoreless in 18 inning marathon

This postseason gave us the longest game in postseason history and Petit's performance stole the headlines from Jordan Zimmerman who at one point retired 20 Giants in a row.  The Nats lost game 1 at home and desperately needed this game to not go down 0-2 heading to San Francisco.  Petit came into the game in the 12th inning and in his 6 innings of work he allowed just 1 hit walked 3 and struck out 7.  The Nats could not get anything going against him, and then in the top of the 18th Brandon Belt hit the deciding HR that basically ended the series.

Petit's Scoreless Relief

2) Matt Adams' 3 Run HR in Game 4

Sorry Dodger fans but one teams heartbreak is another teams great moment.  Game 4 the Dodgers sent Kershaw back to the mound in a must win game.  Game 4 really didn't go much differently than game 1.  Kershaw looked good early, the Dodgers gave him a lead, and he couldn't hold onto it.  Now you can debate whether or not Don Mattingly should've take him out in either game 1 or 4.  But lets be honest, is there a better pitcher in the bullpen that you would put in over a guy like Kershaw, probably not.  Well he didnt and maybe that's why the Dodgers aren't moving on.

Matt Adams go ahead HR

1) Delmon Young's bases clearing double

This could be looked at as extremely bias, but I don't care.  For most of Game 2 the Orioles were trailing the Detroit Tigers and it looked like the Tigers were about to tie the series up heading to Detroit.  Then, the Tigers bullpen made an appearance and it was all over for Detroit.  Steve Pearce singled in a run, then JJ Hardy walked to set the stage for Delmon Young.  Young had great postseason numbers and he didnt wait long to send Detroit fans into a deep depression.  With the crowds response and what the hit meant to the outcome of the series, Delmon Young's 3 run double was for me the top moment of the Division Series.

Delmon Young 3 run double

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NFL Week 4 Predictions

Just like some teams in the NFL, my predictions are an up and down fiasco.  After a rough week 2 going 7-9 I rebounded with an 11-5 week mark.  This is our first bye week of the season and six teams will be off in week number 4 including the impressive 3-0 Cincinnati Bengals.  Let's not waste any more time, here are my week 4 predictions.

Giants (1-2) @ Redskins (1-2)
Both team are in desperate need of a win with the way Philadelphia is playing.  Kirk Cousins played great last week putting up huge numbers.  Short weeks always favor the home side, should be the same here, Cousins could be gaining more steam as the Redskins QB.
PREDICTION: Redskins

Bills (2-1) @ Texans (2-1)
I wanted to believe in the Bills but last week at home they looked bad against the San Diego Chargers.  Houston is playing over their heads right now and though I believe they will win, I don't think Houston can keep this good start going.
PREDICTION: Texans

Packers (1-2) @ Bears (2-1)
Green Bay is one of the frustrating teams of the 2014 season.  How they only managed 7 points against the Lions is still head scratching.  Chicago has 2 wins but not sure how impressive they are yet.  Green Bay needs this more than Chicago, Rodgers gets it right this week.
PREDICTION: Packers

Lions (2-1) @ Jets (1-2)
The Jets are the Jets, they probably had a good chance to beat the Bears last week, but Geno Smith's ineffectiveness led to a loss.  Its feels weird believing in the Lions, but its more stable than the Jets.
PREDICTION: Lions

Titans (1-2) @ Colts (1-2)
After a nice week 1 win I thought Tennessee might have a decent season but back to back tough losses have them in a little tailspin.  The Colts got right by playing Jacksonville, but then again which team doesn't.  Could be another cake walk for Andrew Luck and the Colts.
PREDICTION: Colts

Dolphins (1-2) @ Raiders (0-3)
Miami is another squad who had an impressive week 1 win but has since cooled off.  The Raiders have not looked good but that's not surprising to anyone.  Miami should get back to .500.
PREDICTION: Dolphins

Buccaneers (0-3) @ Steelers (2-1)
Tampa is off to a horrendous start, which is a little surprising I thought Tampa would put up a little more fight.  Pittsburgh is coming off a demolition of the Carolina Panthers and this week shouldnt be any different.
PREDICTIONS: Steelers

Panthers (2-1) @ Ravens (2-1)
Steve Smith Sr. playing against his former team should be must see TV.  Especially since Smith is playing some really good football with the Ravens.  Friendly suggestion, if you have Steve Smith Sr. on your fantasy team you might want to play him this week.
PREDICTION: Ravens

Jaguars (0-3) @ Chargers (2-1)
Unfortunately, every week Jacksonville plays I'm going to predict a big win for the opposition.  No difference this week, San Diego big in this one.  Although I do like that Bortles will be the starter for the rest of the season.
PREDICTION: Chargers

Falcons (2-1) @ Vikings (1-2)
The Vikings have been all over the headlines but not because of football.  Teddy Bridewater is now the guy after Matt Cassel went down with an injury.  Atlanta destroyed Tampa 10 days ago, giving the Falcons extra time to prepare could be dangerous for Minnesota.
PREDICTION: Falcons

Eagles (3-0) @ 49ers (1-2)
San Francisco is in desperate need of a win after losing to the Cardinals last week.  Philly has been a pleasant surprise to start the season.  Philly however has had to overcome at least a 10 point deficit in every game, eventually that's going to catch up to them.  SF can't afford to start 0-2 in their brand new stadium.
PREDICTION: 49ers

Saints (1-2) @ Cowboys (2-1)
New Orleans is better than their 1-2 record and I don't think Dallas is as good as their 2-1 record.  I like to think that Drew Brees and the Saints offense will have a field day with Dallas' poor defense.
PREDICTION: Saints

Patriots (2-1) @ Chiefs (1-2)
So far it doesn't look like the same old Patriots despite the 2-1 start, and their struggles against Oakland last week raised some eyebrows.  KC got a much needed win over Miami last week who have given New England its only loss this season, so because of that, why not I like KC at home on Monday night.
PREDICTION: Chiefs

Week 3 Record: 11-5

Overall Season Record: 29-19

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