SB Nation User Blog: zknower

I'm totally gonna admit it. I cried.

zknower — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:21:12 -0000

Since I was on the Orioles.com video page, getting an, ahem, MILF screenshot for the Texas recap thread, I decided to watch the 2008 "Orioles Magic" video again. And it totally hit me hard this time. I mean, I got completely choked up.

Like, right around the time they showed Hagy and sang "there's a thundering roar from 34", I literally started blinking away tears. And then they cut to some footage of Eddie and some of the other 80s Orioles goofing around in the same way as these guys do.

I know we'll be out of contention in September. I know that half the team will be gone by then, and that there's more work to do.

But damn if I haven't loved this first half of baseball. This is the best July 4 weekend in many a year. I LOVE this team. I'm wearing my Oriole jacket with PRIDE in NYC again (well, not when it's this hot).

As usual, MLB shoots themselves in the foot by not giving an obvious direct link. But I think this link should work for you. If it doesn't, here's a link to the page the video is on.

Watch it again and try not to get a little verklempt.

Dear Awesome Mike Awesome,

zknower — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:59:00 -0000

In discussion of our bet earlier, at one point you said:

15.5 behind the Sox and 15.5 behind first place is the same thing.

Now, I'm a logic guy, and from this I infer that you're saying the Red Sox will be in first place at the end of the season.

But, being a logic guy, I can't help noticing that the Rays are actually in first place right now, 3.5 games ahead of Boston.

So here's the part I don't understand. If you're saying Boston will be in first place at the end of the season, doesn't that mean the Sox will have to figure out how to beat the Rays on the road at some point instead of being swept?

I'm confused.

The "Venditte Rule"

zknower — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:52:37 -0000

The "Venditte Rule"

Well, that didn't take long. See my earlier post for some context.

the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) released its official rules for dealing with ambidextrous pitchers on Wednesday....

At the heart of the new guidelines is the following provision:
The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.

Don't look now, but it appears Jay Payton is finally goin' FLAT BREEZY.

zknower — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:05:06 -0000

Don't look now, but it appears Jay Payton is finally goin' FLAT BREEZY.

Switch-pitcher switch-hitter awesomeness

zknower — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:13:11 -0000

Back in the beginning of April 6, there was a brief discussion started by Jonnypops about switch pitcher Pat Venditte, drafted by the Yankees this year. In the thread, punkrawka expressed a desire to see a switch-pitcher/switch-hitter matchup before his demise.

Punk, your wish is granted. Venditte made his professional debut for the Staten Island Yankees against the Brooklyn Cyclones on June 19. With the Cyclones trailing 7-2, Venditte came on to close the door in the ninth. He retired two batters, then gave up a hit. With two outs, and a possible comeback in the making, Ralph Enriquez, a switch-hitter, strode to the plate....

The video is hilarious. It starts with the previous batter, and then Enriquez steps in (off camera) at the :45 mark. Be forewarned the video is over 8 minutes long! Of special note is the 4:36 mark, where you can watch the whole sequence from the centerfield camera, which gives you a better idea of the cat-and-mouse game than the initial angles they show.

And here's the NY Times write-up on the incident from two days later.

Baltimore Orioles at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM EDT

zknower — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:09:38 -0000

Today's

Starters

ERA

WHIP

BAA

W-L

Garrett

Olson (LH)

54.1

4.80

1.47

.278

5-2

Manny

Parra (LH)

74.2

4.22

1.57

.280

6-2

Baltimore

1. BRob- 2B
2. Markickass!- RF

3. MelMo- 3B
4. Kevbo - 1B

5. No Flat Breezy - LF
6. Dr. Jones- CF

7. G. Quiroz - C
8. A. Cintron- SS
9. G. Olson - SP

Milwaukee

1. Rickie Weeks- 2B
2. JJ Hardy- SS
3. Ryan Braun- LF
4. Prince Fielder- 1B
5. Corey Hart- RF
6. Bill Hall- 3B
7. Gabe Kapler- CF
8. Jason Kendall- C
9. Manny. Parra- SP

Garrett Olson isn't going to win a Cy Young any time soon. But you know what? He's made a lot of improvement this year over last year. His ERA is down 3 whole runs, his WHIP is down 0.75 or so, and his BAA is 50 points lower. Now, that's 10 starts this year compared to 7 starts last year.

But isn't this exactly the kind of growth we were hoping for this year? Garrett Olson has done pretty much what we as Orioles fans (and one would guess what Andy MacPhail, Rick Kranitz and Dave Trembley) hoped for - get better at his craft while learning at the MLB level.

Think about how many the Orioles have tried this with before. We can revisit the list, but I'm guessing many of you just ate lunch, so I'll spare you the details. But Garrett Olson, and to a lesser degree, Brian Burres and Rad Liz, are showing signs they just may be MLB pitchers. And considering the state of the pitching staffs of many of our rivals - Dice-K is imploding for the PHN, the MFY can't keep a starter healthy - this isn't a bad place to be.

Garrett may win today, he may not. Breaking the 0-10 on Sundays since the first week of the season would be nice. But we will hopefully get to enjoy a 24-year-old left hander show he's learning something about being a MLB starter. And a bunch of other teams in the AL East wish they had one, let alone as their 3rd starter.

MILWAUKEE NOTES: Rickie Weeks has indeed been activated and is in the lineup. Perpetual grouch Bill Hall has apparently whined his way into a start at 3B. And I'm still disappointed Corey Hart never wore sunglasses during the last two games.

-duck (Yeah, it auto-posted at the right time!)

Baltimore Orioles at Milwaukee Brewers, 7:05 PM EDT

zknower — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:09:03 -0000

Today's

Starting

Pitchers

ERA

WHIP

BAA

W-L

Daniel Cabrera

- RH

15

97.0

4.45

1.36 .253

13

41

52 5-2

Seth McClung

- RH

5

48.0

3.94

1.25 .229

6

20

38 4-3

Baltimore

1. BRob- 2B
2. Markickass!- RF

3. Audrey- 3B
4. Kevbo - 1B

5. LUUKE- LF
6. Razor Ramon- C
7. Dr. Jones- CF
8. Boom Boom- SS
9. Good Danny - SP

Milwaukee

1. Craig Counsell- 2B
2. JJ Hardy- SS
3. Ryan Braun- LF
4. Prince Fielder- 1B
5. Corey Hart- RF
6. Russell Branyan- 3B
7. Gabe Kapler- CF
8. Jason Kendall- C
9. Seth McClung - SP

I'd never heard of McClung until I looked him up, and folks, we maybe running into a show stopper here. From Yahoo! Sports:

A former American Leaguer, Seth McClung (4-3, 3.94) starts against the Orioles for the sixth time in his career. In his first five starts - all with Tampa Bay - McClung went 3-2 with a 6.39 ERA, walking 24 in 25 1-3 innings.

The right-hander has pitched much better since moving from a long relief role into the rotation for Milwaukee, going 3-2 with a 4.23 ERA in five starts. He limited Minnesota to two runs and four hits over six innings Sunday in a 4-2 victory.

McClung has pitched six innings in each of his last three starts, giving up a total of five earned runs with 13 strikeouts against one walk.

If the Orioles can beat this kid, they've done something. This ain't no "Latest Rookie We Turn Into Cy Young" game here - this is a good pitcher who's put up Quality Starts in his last 3 outings.

One last note: With a crowd of about 30,000 today, 1 million fans will have seen the Orioles play this year. And most still think Terry Crowley needs to be replaced.

Let's Go O's!

-duck

Summer Nights

zknower — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:54:05 -0000

Danny!

Danny, what happened?

I told everyone that you'd be different this year. That the last couple of years were more about a disagreement in philosophy with your coach. About too-heavy expectations. I told them they'd see that with a little less pressure and the right instruction, you could flourish.

It was nice in the beginning Danny. You and I went bowling at the arcade. Then there was the time we went strolling, and drank lemonade. And you became the winningest pitcher on our team along the way. You even had a special sidebar in our little world dedicated to you.

But lately, Danny, something's different. It's like you've changed completely. You keep hanging out with those other guys. You keep leaving your fastball up with no movement. You're hitting people with your pitches again.

I asked what happened to the Danny Cabrera I met in April, and you said, "Well I do not know. Maybe there's two of us. Why don't you take out a missing persons ad? Or try the yellow pages, I don't know."

It hurt, Danny. It hurt bad. I'm going back to Australia soon, and I may never see you again.

But please, don't prove me wrong. Bring back the Danny I fell in love with. I don't want to wind up saying that you're a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you!

Baltimore Orioles (37-34) at Milwaukee Brewers (39-33), 8:05 PM EDT

zknower — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:08:31 -0000

	Today's Starting Pitchers	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	BAA	HR	BB	K	W-L
	Radhames Liz - LH	3	16.2	4.32	1.02	.197	2	5	12	1-0
	Jeff Suppan - RH	14	85.2	3.68	1.46	.272	9	37	47	4-4

Baltimore	Milwaukee
1. BRob- 2B 2. Markikass- RF 3. MelMo- 3B 4. Audrey- 1B 5. Razor Ramon- C 6. LUUKE- LF 7. Dr. Jones- CF 8. Boom Boom- SS 9. Radhames Liz - SP	1. Craig Counsell- 2B 2. JJ Hardy- SS 3. Ryan Braun- LF 4. Prince Fielder- 1B 5. Corey Hart- RF 6. Russell Branyan- 3B 7. Gabe Kapler- CF 8. Jason Kendall- C 9. Jeff Suppan - SP

The Orioles head to Milwaukee having wrapped up an extremely successful home stand, going 5-1 against the Pirates and the Astros. In fact, the historically awful interleague playing Orioles are 7-2 vs. the Senior Circuit this year. That record, of course, was earned against the dregs of the National League, and on this road trip they'll have to face the big boys of the NL Central, the Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.

Radhames Liz has been mildly impressive in his two starts this year, pitching progressively deeper into the game each time, and despite giving up two home runs, his last start was the best to date.

The Brewers are coming off of a 3 game sweep of the Blow Jays (it's ok to say that now that Cito's back, right?), and having won 7 of their last 10. Honestly, I don't pay enough attention to the National League to be very thorough here, but I heard a rumor that this Ryan Braun kid is pretty good. So we should probably watch out for him.

Go O's!

More Pre-Game Notes (courtesy Nawlins Oriole):

The Orioles and Brewers meet for the first time since 2003. In that series the O's took two of three from the Brew Crew.
The O's wrap up interleague play with a 10-day road trip that includes trips to Milwaukee, Chicago, and D.C. The O's are 7-2 so far in interleague play. Before this year the O's had posted a record of 79-114 against teams from the NL. One of the worst records in all of the American League
Alex Cintron's homerun was the first by an O's shortstop since September 21, 2007 when Miguel Tejada went deep off Luis Mendoza of the Texas Rangers.
Crazy Numbers: The O's are 32-11 when scoring four or more runs in a game. They have won 21 of the last 28 games in which they have scored four or more runs. The O's are only 5-23 when scoring three or fewer runs.

Countdown: BRob- 1,000 Hits: 8 Hits Away

Schilling to have season ending surgery

zknower — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:44:22 -0000

Schilling to have season ending surgery

The Curt Schilling saga may have come to an end. In his weekly interview on WEEI this morning, the Red Sox righthander announced he will have surgery on right shoulder, ending his 2008 season and likely his career.

"There's a pretty decent chance that I've thrown my last pitch forever," the 41-year-old righthander said. "I don't want it to end this way, but if this is the way it has to end, I'm OK with that. If it's over and my last pitch was in the 2007 World Series, I'm OK with that. I just can't stress enough where I am mentally with this. I have not a regret in the world.

Aww, gee. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.