Oriole Post - A Baltimore Orioles Blog
From the good folks at the Baltimore Orioles...
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The Orioles are fortunate to be surrounded by dedicated military personnel throughout the region, and the organization is grateful for all of those who risk their lives each day for our country. In that spirit, as we approach Memorial Day, the club is proud to announce a variety of ticket programs that offer support for military members and their families.
ORIOLES MILITARY APPRECIATION PROGRAM
• TICKET DISCOUNTS AT EVERY GAME The Orioles extend a $3 discount off of all tickets for all military (active, retired and reserve) and their families, available at the Oriole Park Box Office. Even more significant discounts for military members can be arranged by contacting their ITT/Leisure Travel office.
• MILITARY SUNDAYS
For every non-prime Sunday home game, members of the military (active, retired and reserve) can purchase Buy One, Get One Free tickets in select seating sections through their ITT/Leisure Travel office.
• SUNDAY SUITE PROGRAM presented by Geico
Every Sunday home game, the Orioles, in partnership with Geico, will donate a catered private suite to wounded soldiers and other active military groups and their families. Guests will also be treated to a special player meet and greet before the game, recognition after the playing of "God Bless America" and will receive Orioles player t-shirts courtesy of Under Armour. Participating players include JAKE ARRIETA, ZACH BRITTON, TOMMY HUNTER, JIM JOHNSON, NICK MARKAKIS, BRIAN MATUSZ, MARK REYNOLDS and MATT WIETERS. A number of guests from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital have already attended several games this season.
• ACTIVE DUTY SPECIAL OFFER
All Active Duty Personnel are encouraged to show their active duty ID badge to receive a complimentary Orioles cap at the Fan Assistance Center in the Warehouse at any home game.
• WELCOME HOME SCOREBOARD MESSAGES
The Orioles are proud to offer free "Welcome Home" messages on Oriole Park's MASNvision scoreboard for all active military personal returning home from duty. To find out more information, or to reserve a message for an upcoming game, call 888-848-BIRD.
WELCOME BACK VETERANS
Major League Baseball and the Orioles support Welcome Back Veterans, a program that addresses the needs of returning American veterans and their families. The Orioles, along with all other MLB teams, will wear special camouflage logo hats for their games on Memorial Day (May 28), Independence Day (July 4) and Patriot Day (September 11) to raise awareness for this worthy program. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these hats will benefit Welcome Back Veterans.
For more information about any of these programs, fans should call 1-888-848-BIRD, visit www.orioles.com/military or contact their local ITT/Leisure Travel office.
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We are almost at the quarter-pole of the 2012 season, and the Orioles – yes – are still rolling.
This afternoon, the Orioles won their third game in a row, and swept the Royals, defeating them, 5-3, in amazing fashion.
They are now an astounding 25-14 so far this season and they have the best record in baseball. Once again, the Orioles found themselves in a hole; however, they dug themselves out of it.
I’m not sure how they are doing it, but they are playing all 27 outs and doing things the right way. The Orioles have been rebuilding for a long time, and it has taken a lot of patience on the part of us fans to see the rewards.
Baltimore fell behind 3-0 to Kansas City in the early part of the game, but they started to turn it on in the fourth inning. Adam Jones hit his 13th homer in that frame – a two-run shot; however, the Orioles killed it in the seventh inning as Chris Davis, who has been struggling big time, singled to center and advanced Wilson Betemit to second.
Kansas City’s Jarrod Dyson inexplicably misplayed Davis’ single – which was roped to him – and allowed the ball to get to the warning track. Betemit scored, and a few minutes later, J.J. Hardy came through with a two-run single to plate Davis and Xavier Avery.
Dyson’s play might have the Orioles the momentum they needed. Like all strong teams do, they took advantage and did not look back.
Baltimore would take a 5-3 lead and finish out the game. Jim Johnson would earn his 13th save and they would again take the American League East lead – this time by ½ a game as the Tampa Bay Rays were idle at the time.
Brian Matusz had a shaky third inning, but calmed down and earned this third win of the season.
He went six innings and allowed three runs – all earned. The bullpen came through again as Luis Ayala and Pedro Strop each served as a bridge to Johnson, as both men pitched a scoreless inning.
Luke Hochevar took the loss for Kansas City. He went six innings and gave up four runs.
Could this be the season the Orioles contend?
Seriously? If they just play .500 ball from here on out, they could be in the playoffs. Seriously, did anyone – I mean anyone – envision this team playing so well into May?
I would not make plans for playoff tickets yet; however, with the way Baltimore is playing, anything can happen.
Things around the sport of baseball seem to be changing, and the Orioles look to be part of that trend.
no commentsWell, it’s safe to assume that we are seeing the best of Adam Jones these days.
At this point, do the Orioles consider extending him now? Will it get to the point where fans are asking to “pay the man?”
I think Jones has now taken his game to another level. Last night showed it.
Anyhow, last night, Adam Jones’ solo shot in the 15th inning broke a 3-3 tie and sent the Baltimore to victory Thursday morning. He had struggled for much of night, and didn’t have a hit until that point.
He now has 12 homers on the season, and the decision to make him the cleanup and focal point of the offense is paying off big time for Baltimore.
Once again, the Orioles – when they looked down and out – clawed back into a game late and won. Ok, so it took a while. Honestly, I went to bed long before the game finished and woke up early this morning surprised at the result. Pleasantly so.
Now, it’s gotten to the point where we assume the Orioles can storm back and win instead of fold.
They came back after struggling most of the night against Royals starter Felipe Paulino, who just dominated the Orioles for seven innings; however, they started chipping their way back into the game as Nick Markakis plated in a run in the eighth, and the Orioles got two more runs in the ninth off a Wilson Betemit homer – his eighth – and J.J. Hardy’s RBI-single.
Kevin Gregg – who pitched two innings of relief – got his first win of the season and Jim Johnson earned his 13th save of the season.
If anything, the bullpen also served as heroes of the game too. Troy Patton gave up a crucial run in the eighth inning when the Orioles still trailed; however, the rest of the corps – Darren O’Day, Dana Eveland, Gregg and Johnson – kept the Royals off the board.
Tommy Hunter, who started on the mound for Baltimore, had one of his best outings of the season, but didn’t factor in the decision. He went seven innings, and didn’t give up anything until the fifth inning as Humberto Quintero plated in two runs.
The Orioles are now 24-14 and share first place in the American League East with the Tampa Bay Rays. Last season, if the Orioles split a series with the Royals, I’d be satisfied; however, now, they should sweep this brief two-game set. I’d be surprised if they didn’t.
Brian Matusz starts for the Orioles, and let’s hope he build on his good outing from last week.
He squares off against Luke Hochevar – who has been a bust as a starting pitcher for the Royals – this afternoon. The Orioles have a huge series with the Nationals this weekend in Washington.
Who would have thought that those two teams would be playing some meaningful baseball right now and be atop their respective divisions?
The Nationals are like the walking wounded with a good portion of their roster hurt; however, they have incredible pitching and they are 23-14 so far.
It gets tough - again - for the Birds on Friday into next week. Seriously, not that the Royals are pushovers, but...
Then they have to face the Red Sox next week at home, and then the Royals - again.
no commentsI wrote this for MASNSports.com last week.
As we are seven weeks into the 2012 season, the Orioles 
are flying high with a 19-11 record, and are a half-game out of first in the American League East.
Baltimore's fast start has given players like Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Chris Davis some national attention. However, one name that I don't see mentioned a lot happens to be right-fielder Nick Markakis. It's almost like he has become an afterthought at this point.
Now, Markakis did win a Gold Glove last season, and has always been the steady type when it comes to fielding. However, his work at the plate has left a lot of questions over the past few seasons.
As of this morning, he is batting .246 with a .326 on-base percentage, .733 OPS, with four home runs and 13 RBIs. These numbers are decent for the average ballplayer a month into the season; however, it seems that we all as fans seem to want more of Markakis.
Overall, Markakis is a .294 lifetime hitter with a .364 OBP, .815 OPS, with 108 homers and 508 RBIs.
Obviously, he has done fairly well throughout his career. Alas, what Markakis did in prior years in comparison to the last couple has left many wondering if the slugger will ever live up to the promise he showed as a young player.
Is he - gasp - perhaps regressing and not going forward?
no commentsIn the offseason, I questioned a lot of Dan Duquette’s moves – especially Wei-Yin Chen. Honestly, it was to be determined what Chen brought to the table with the Orioles and fans were intrigued what he could do in the majors, most notably against the beasts of the American League East.
So far, Chen is passing the test. In fact, he may be singularly well the best pickup that Duquette has had throughout the young season so far. Although he does not throw all that hard – from the high 80’s to very low 90’s – Chen locates so well and paints the ‘black’ so effectively on either side of the plate.
That being said, the Taiwanese southpaw earned his fourth win of the season and helped give the Baltimore Orioles the split over the Yankees in their brief two-game series. They defeated the Bronx Bombers, 5-2, in a masterful effort by Chen who allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings of work. Jim Johnson got the save, his 12th.
Chen's only mistake came in the seventh inning as he served up a two-run homer to Curtis Granderson -- well, it might have not been. Granderson opposite field shot seemed to be almost caught by left-fielder Xavier Avery; however, from my seats on the third base side - I did attend the game - it looked like a fan in Yankee gear interferred with the play. The Orioles didn't dispute it, and Avery had to jump in order to have a play on it; however, Granderson seeemed to have gotten some help with his 13th homer of the season.
Other than that, Chen was dealing to the Bombers. They were stymied by him and didn't have much of a chance.
The Orioles were significantly helped out by the double play – especially in the eighth and ninth innings against Pedro Strop in the 8th, and Johnson in the 9th, where the Yankees looked to possibly break things open.
The Orioles are 23-14 and share the American League East lead with the Rays. The offense broke through against southpaw C.C. Sabathia, who was off on the night, and left many pitches in zone. Sabathia’s offerings were hit hard and times; therefore, he was tagged for four runs in six innings of work.
Adam Jones hit his 11th homer of the season in the second inning, and J.J. Hardy – who has been red hot as of late – drove in two runs and had two hits. Steve Tolleson also has two hits. Jones also scored twice, including during the seventh inning as Yankee catcher Chris Stewart allowed a passed ball.
Finally, with Adam Jones’ start to the season, do you think now is the time to possibly extend him, or would it be best to wait to see what he does? I would say, the better he does – especially into the summer – the more expensive Jones will get. I know there’s an inherent risk in signing a player to a long term deal, especially in light of the Roberts’ injury and Markakis’ effort the past few years.
Should the Orioles take the risk on Jones?
no commentsThe Baltimore Orioles were hoping for a three-game sweep over the Rays; however, that would not happen on a wild Mother’s Day game at Camden Yards. They lost 9-8 to Tampa Bay and nearly came back twice but could not produce any magic.
The sweep of the Rays would not happen, but the Orioles fought back – again.
Baltimore rebounded from a shaky Jake Arrieta start and was almost buried with the score at 7-1 at the start of the sixth inning. He only lasted 3 2/3 innings and looked terrible on the afternoon.
However, the offense came alive and they came within a run of the lead, 7-6, after the seventh inning as Nick Markakis had two doubles in that period, and Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer.
They would nearly cough up the game in top of the eighth inning as reliever Troy Patton gave up homers to Elliott Johnson and Ben Zobrist to give Tampa a 9-6 advantage; however, the Orioles would get a run back after Nick Johnson homered for the second time this season.
The Orioles, who were down 9-7, to start the bottom of the ninth got a run back as Adam Jones scored on a Sean Rodriguez throwing error; however, they could not complete the comeback as Matt Wieters grounded out to end the contest.
Baltimore is 22-13 right now and lead the American League East by a game. I’m still surprised by the way the Orioles are playing, and came away impressed how they played all twenty-seven outs.
They are 8-5 in their last 13 games, and in that stretch are 7-2 against the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays – all rivals.
However, if they are going to stay in the hunt for a division title, the pitching must improve. Although the Orioles have been playing some decent baseball and have had timely hitting, but the starting pitching has been a problem recently.
I think pitching is 90% of the game along with the mental aspect of things. If a team can not get quality outings from their starters, they will be in trouble. Thankfully, the Oriole offense has been able to dig them out of holes, but that will not every game. At some point, the law of averages will catch with the team, and the trend of close wins may start to dissipate.
They will need consistent starts for every game if they can maintain this pace. Personally, I think Arrieta may have the best ‘stuff’ on the pitching staff; however, if he can not improve his command of his pitches and cannot get past the fifth or sixth inning, that greatly reduces the chances of Baltimore winning.
You can say that goes for every pitcher.
With the Yankees coming into town, the Orioles have another challenge on their hands. They know they have to be on and so do we.
An announced of 29,552 seemed very much into the game at certain points – especially towards the end – and it was a great thing. A lot of Orioles games over the past decade have felt like a golf or tennis tournament; therefore, it was awesome to feel a bit of passion from the home fans at Camden Yards.
Finally, Xavier Avery, who made his majot league debut went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Pitcher Jason Hammel, who missed a start due to a sore knee, will start on Monday night against the Yankees.
no commentsYet another day, another move for the Orioles. This time, they promote an outfielder, Xavier Avery, one of their better prospects to the majors. Not sure how long he will up in Baltimore, but should be starting today.
If Avery plays well, he might be up in the majors for a while.
no commentsOrioles select contract of outfielder Xavier Avery; Option RHP Stu Pomeranz to Triple-A Norfolk
The Orioles today announced that they have selected the contract of OF XAVIER AVERY and optioned RHP STU POMERANZ to Triple-A Norfolk.
Avery, 22, batted .273/.373/.469 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 33 games for the Tides. He hit safely in eight of his last nine games, including multi-hit games in each of his last four. Avery will wear uniform number 13.
Pomeranz has made two scoreless appearances (4.0IP, 4H, BB, 3K) for the Orioles since having his contract selected on May 7.
To make room for Avery on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated INF MATT ANTONELLI for assignment.
The Orioles have won eight of their last 12 games.
At the end of April Orioles fans were looking at this 15-game stretch and thought: "this is it, this is when it all comes crashing down." For many people just sneaking out five or six games would have been enough. The prospect of actually coming out ahead during this series, winning at least eight seemed alien and wrong.
We are Orioles fans, after April we were willing to think more positively but the thought of this team being legitimately good, well that was just silly. The The thought that the Baltimore Orioles would be on the tail end of this stretch of games more than 10 games over .500, in first place after playing the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers and Rays with only one day off and a string of nagging injuries; that was little more than the fevered dream of a madman.
And here we are. The Orioles have won eight games, they are guaranteed to finish this reality stretch with a better record then when they started. They have a very good shot of still being in first place at the end of the stretch. If the Orioles win today, then they will be guaranteed to finish this stretch at least 10 games over .500.
The Orioles have taken all comers, and despite getting roughed up a bit by the Texas Josh Hamiltons, they have met every challenge that they have faced.
Today the Orioles look to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays in Baltimore and open up a three-game lead in the AL East. The Yankees will come into town on Monday night as they look to get their scatter-shot season back on track.
The Orioles are playing great ball right now and it is beginning to translate in the stands. Last night the Orioles drew over 30 thousand to the yard and they were into the game. The energy was palpable. It was not a playoff level intensity but everyone in that stadium knew what was going on. A fanbase that has been burned so many times before, with memories of 2005 still seared into their minds, wants to believe in this team so badly. As I sat in traffic going home from the game, the crowd that was still leaving was walking past my car high-fiving me and the three other drivers behind - Orioles fans are a very happy bunch right now.
The Birds are wrapping up this reality stretch over the next three games and they have done fantastically well. If the Orioles can keep this up 2012 promises to be a very magical Summer in Baltimore.
This is reality, the Orioles are very good.
no commentsOrioles win second in a row, defeat Rays 5-3; Jones and Hall lead the way, Matusz solid on the mound
The Baltimore Orioles continue to roll as they are one-fifth through the season, and it is one great thing to see.
They won their second straight game and downed the Rays, 5-3, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in front of an announced 32,862 fans on a wonderful night for a ballgame. It’s good to see the fans come back to the park, as the Orioles got a huge walkup crowd for Saturday’s contest.
Baltimore is now 22-10 and lead the American League East by two games.
Well, the Rays made five errors, and the Orioles did what good teams do – took advantage of the situation.
Adam Jones drove in two runs, and Bill Hall – in his first game as an Oriole and in the majors this season – hit a home run which gave his team some breathing room in the eighth inning.
Brian Matsuz, who struggled in his last start, delivered on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings and gave up three runs – two earned. His control was much better, as were the pitches as well. He struck out five, walked one, and gave up seven hits.
His numbers could have looked better; however, Steve Tolleson’s error in the sixth inning allowed two Rays to score moments later as Luke Scott hit an up-the-middle single. Matusz is now 2-4 on the season.
The Oriole bullpen kept the Rays at bay at Luis Ayala pitched 1 1/3 innings, Pedro Strop was solid in the eighth, and Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth for his eleventh save.
It’s amazing how little attention Johnson is getting nationally in the closer role. Then again, if the Orioles keep it up, he will get his props from the media. He’s been dealing since the latter portion of last season, as he replaced Kevin Gregg in that role.
I do wonder what will happen with Gregg. He’s been a lot better as of late, but has not pitched much at all this season. Well, one should feel a little for Gregg; however, the Orioles and Showalter must go with what is working. The Orioles are winning, and nothing should change.
Over the past twelve games, the Orioles are 8-4.
If you take out the series with the Rangers, they are 7-1 against the American League East. Amazing.
If the Orioles keep this up against the division, it might be a wonderful summer in these parts for a change.
no commentsAh, it's another day; therefore, the Orioles made yet another move with their roster. Today, we learned that Mark Reynolds was placed on the disabled list as he pulled a muscle in his rib cage. It seems like the Orioles are nothing short of a walking M.A.S.H. unit right now.
BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles
Reynolds has a pulled muscle in his rib cage. He is batting .191 with two homers and nine RBIs.
The injury occurred during batting practice Friday, manager Buck Showalter said.
Reynolds said Saturday, "It's not too bad, but it's one of those things where if I push it it'll get worse."
Reynolds is the third player placed on the DL by the Orioles in a three-day span. Outfielder Endy Chavez
In his place, the Orioles have called up longtime veteran Bill Hall. I'm sure he will pay wherever is needed. Hall can play the infield and outfield. However, in order to make room for Hall on the 40-man roster, pitcher Brad Bergesen was DFA'ed.
It's weird seeing what happened to Bras Bergesen. Ever since Bergesen got injured by Billy Butler's line drive a couple seasons ago, he's never been the same, nor has seen the success of his rookie campaign.
From the good folks at the Baltimore Orioles...
no commentsThe Orioles today announced that they have selected the contract of INF BILL HALL from Triple-A Norfolk and placed INF MARK REYNOLDS on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique, retroactive to May 11.
Hall, 32, is batting .222/.269/.381 with two home runs and seven RBI in 15 games with the Tides after signing as a minor league free agent on April 25. He had a nine-game hitting streak, April 28-May 6. Hall set career-highs with 35 home runs and 85 RBI in 2006 with Milwaukee. He will wear uniform number 35.
Reynolds, 28, is batting .191/.324/.337 with two home runs and nine RBI in 27 games for the Orioles this season. He has hit safely in five of his last seven games, batting .348/.484/.739 with five extra-base hits in that time.
To make room for Hall on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated RHP BRAD BERGESEN for assignment.
