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Playing Pepper 2010: Baltimore Orioles

Last year before the season began, I posed five questions to a blogger for each team, so as to get to know the rest of baseball.  I focus so heavily on the Cardinals that sometimes the rest of MLB can pass me by.  That went very well, so much so that it spawned not only a postseason edition but was part of the impetus for the formation of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

So this year, I've brought Playing Pepper back, with a little bit of a twist.  Instead of five questions, I posed 10 questions, and this year every team got the same set.  Plus, tapping into those BBA connections, I sent them to every blogger representing that team in the BBA.

We'll try to do two a day in a general alphabetical order, but things may change depending on responses.

Baltimore Orioles
2009 Finish: 64-98, fifth in the AL East

The Orioles have a tough lot in life, living as they do in the AL East.  It's been a long time since they've been able to say they were playing meaningful baseball down the stretch, much less October.  Now, they risk being overshadowed in their own backyard by the arrival of phenom/franchise savior Stephen Strasburg in Washington.

However, the Orioles are making strides, led by their own phenom, Matt Wieters.  I contacted Daniel of Camden Crazies and posed to him the Playing Pepper Ten.

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A Lost Cardinal Weekend

Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  Three games that the Cardinals played against AL foes.  Two of them with what portends to be close to the Opening Day lineup.  And the Cardinals couldn't win any of them.

None of them were blowouts and the Cards had a chance to win at least two of them, but still, running into this kind of streak after such a strong spring training is a little disappointing.  You'd hope that it's just one of those things, some strong opposition more than a struggling team, but the team has lost a total of five in a row, which doesn't completely coincide with the World Baseball Classic wrapping up and players returning to camp, but enough that you have to start wondering whether some of that early spring success was inflated due to the fact the Cards didn't have much depletion of their roster.

Let's take a quick look at the games.  Friday, they lost on the road to the Red Sox 11-8 in extra innings.  This one almost was a spectacular game, as the Cards scored four in the ninth to take the lead, only to cough it up in the bottom of the inning.  There were good things from the game, of course.  David Freese had a great game, going three for four with a home run and driving in two.  Khalil Greene and Albert Pujols both had two hits. Chris Perez threw an inning and struck out two.

The disturbing thing, though, was the outing of Kyle Lohse, who gave up 11 hits and six runs (five earned) in five innings.  The Sox hit him hard, but Lohse did dance out of trouble until the sixth, where it really came crashing down on him.  Dennys Reyes didn't really set the world on fire either, allowing three hits and a run in his inning of work.

Of course, days like that happen and if it wasn't in the middle of a five-game losing streak, maybe it gets shaken off.  But so often in spring we look for signs and portents in everything, so outings like that within a couple of weeks of the start of the season can raise some eyebrows.

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Doubling The Fun

Cards took both split-squad games from the Orioles yesterday.  Let's take a look at who had a hand in the victories.

The first game, Cards won 6-5.  It wouldn't have been quite that close but Chris Perez struggled in his outing, giving up two runs before recording the save.  Otherwise, on the pitching front, things weren't too bad.  Kyle McClellan gave up one in three innings, Brad Thompson allowed two in three, but the rest of the bullpen did their jobs well.

Offensively, Joe Thurston continued his post-Schumaker-story tear, going three for five (and getting the call to play in the second game after Brendan Ryan couldn't go, but more on that later), Jon Jay had the same mark and scored two runs.

Nice to see Khalil Greene get a mark in the HR category, tallying his first of the spring as part of a two-hit day.  Don't figure he'll hit .353 over the course of the season, but I think we can safely say that shortstop will be an offensive upgrade this year.

Keeping an eye on Colby, Rasmus went one for three.  There's a bit about his offseason routine up at the Post-Dispatch today.  Sounds like he went to a lot of effort to make sure he can last through the daily grind of the season.  I still am waiting to see him catch fire like he did last spring training, however.

In the second game, the Cards outscored the O's 3-1, with the only run for Baltimore coming off of Jason Motte in the ninth.  So apparently the closer situation didn't get any clearer yesterday.

Joel Pineiro started and kept his spring ERA at 0.00, allowing five hits in four innings but striking out four as well.  I'm not sure exactly when the bubble is going to burst on Pineiro.  The odds of him having made fundamental adjustments that have eluded him most of his career are long, but if something has changed, this pitching staff is going to be a lot of fun to watch.

As mentioned above, Joe Thurston played in this game as well, filling in as Ryan was sick.  However, playing in two games across two different towns might have been a bit much for him, as he went 0-3.  Those that did hit included Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick and Chris Duncan, who all had two hits each. 

It was most satifying to see Ludwick finally get his bat going, as even after those two hits his spring average is still at .179.  You have to wonder if Ludwick has heard a lot of the "fluke" talk and has put a little pressure on himself to make sure people realize it wasn't one.  That and the nagging injuries from this spring can't have him feeling all that great at the moment.

The talk of either game, though, was the fact that Skip Schumaker had a good day in the field in Game 1.  He even finally got a shot at turning a double play, which went well.  I don't think one day is going to make up for the misgivings that Tony La Russa and others were having this week, but it definitely helps, especially since almost everyone wants him to take the job to help free up the outfield situation.

Mark McGwire made one of his rare press appearances, talking about his new life as a hitting instructor.  I really never though of McGwire as a cerebral hitter that could teach--the large home run totals tend to lend to a stereotypical "grip it and rip it" idea--but it's pretty obvious that he can connect with some hitters, at least.  Schumaker really raved about his time with Big Mac last year.

To get you through the weekend, I'll wrap up with some links that I've stumbled across in various ways.  A couple are on the newly updated blog roll as well.

First, Riding the Pine is a new Cardinals blog that has requested membership in the United Cardinal Bloggers. Right now Eugene has up his top 10 Cardinal prospects, if you want to take a look.

Another blog that is just getting started is Birds In The Busch.  It's written by three friends and has a lot of different ways to interact, including the most involved use of Twitter I've seen.

On the minor league side of things, we have Chirp Chatter, which is focused on the Memphis Redbirds, and Koppers' Kaos, written by Cardinal farmhand David Kopp.  These will be good to keep close by as the minor league season gets underway.

I got an e-mail about a free to play web-based baseball game called Baseball Boss.  I took a quick look around and it looks pretty good.  I hope to get back over there and really get into it sometime this weekend.

Finally, I thought I'd mention that I will be writing a Cardinal highlight piece every month at Baseball Reflections, recapping the month that was, so to speak.  My first piece about the offseason and how things look for 2009, should be up Wednesday morning.

Playing Pepper 2009: Baltimore Orioles

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same.  I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posed them five questions.  This is the result.  You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

When I think of the Orioles, I often think of the line from George Will's masterpiece Men At Work.

"The jalopy that left St. Louis turned into a Rolls Royce."

There's no doubt that the Orioles have had much more success in Baltimore than they ever did being the Browns in St. Louis.  That said, it was 1997 the last time they made the playoffs and, in the increasingly difficult AL East, there's not necessarily a break in the clouds coming.

I posed some questions to Anthony from Oriole Post and this is what he had to say about the coming year and playing against the big boys.

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Thanksgiving, Cardinal Style

(First off, I want to acknowledge that Mike on the Cards got their CBA ballot up.  While it didn't change many things, it did break the Best Individual Blog tie in Fungoes favor.  I don't plan to edit the post save to change the chart because that one was starting to get wonky, but I wanted it noted for the record.)

Last year, I outlined what Cardinal fans should be thankful for as well as what some of those inside the game were appreciative of at this time of year.  Let's combine those two things this year.

A number of those topics from the first post of last year are gone this year.  Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Walt Jocketty are all in different organizations.  It'd be pushing it quite a bit (especially after his resounding win as Disappointing Player of the Year in the Cardinal Blogger Awards) to put Jason Isringhausen on the list this year.  I still believe that ownership, Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, John Mozeliak and the internet still stay on the thankful list.  But what can we add this year?

Kyle Lohse: I was one of those that really wasn't excited about the Lohse signing.  It became necessary as pitchers dropped in spring training, but I figured he'd be servicable at best.  Instead, he helped carry this team into contention.  Without Lohse, there's a good chance the Cards are battling the Pirates most of the year instead of working their way to the top of the division.  Whether he'll be good enough going forward to earn his contract is debatable, but from a fan point of view, it's nice to see a guy come in cheap, do well, and then stick around instead of going out for the highest bidder.

Troy Glaus: This time last year, Glaus was a guy that wanted out of Toronto.  This year, he's one of the heroes of St. Louis.  Amazing what some natural grass can do, huh?  I really hated the fact that Scott Rolen was shipped out and to some degree I still do.  But Glaus eased that pain quite a bit this year, even turning in a defensive year that Rolen could be proud of.  I'm still always going to be a Rolen fan, but I'm thankful that Mozeliak was able to get such a return for him.

The rookie relief corps: How much fun was it to watch guys like Kyle McClellan, Chris Perez and Jason Motte this past season?  Anytime young, fresh faces come into a team and contribute right away, it gives the fans a lot of joy.  McClellan started out from the get-go, getting out of a tough situation in his first outing.  I still have that image of Molina waiting for him to give him a hug after that initial appearance.  Then later in the year we got to see the flamethrowers Perez and Motte make their impact.  They all had their struggles, sure, but that's part of watching baseball, seeing when these guys improve and become key parts of the team.

The blogosphere: You can easily say I'm biased, since I'm part of it, but I think Redbird fans should be grateful for the increase in Cardinal blogs floating around the internet now.  You can get so many different views, different ideas, different stories now, plus it gives you plenty of Cardinal and baseball fodder for reading, especially during the winter when there's less and less baseball to be found.  I hope that the ranks continue to swell in the coming years!

Now, what are other people thankful for?

Troy Glaus: That St. Louis doesn't have artificial turf.

Kyle Lohse: That the deal with the Mets fell through.

Albert Pujols: That enough voters ignored his 2006 comments.

Yadier Molina: That Gold Glove voters believe in make-up awards.

Adam Wainwright: That the finger is better and hopefully he's gotten his weird injury quota for his career filled.

Kyle McClellan: That the season is over so he can rest his arm!

John Mozeliak: That the agents appear to be returning his calls this year.  Even if it takes forever to get a deal done.

Aaron Miles: That LaRussa is still in St. Louis, so he can keep his job.

Anthony Reyes: That LaRussa is still in St. Louis and he's not.

Cesar Izturis: That Baltimore still is a little iffy in the management department.

I know that, again this year, I'm thankful for the readers of this blog and those Cardinal bloggers who have worked with me on UCB projects this year.  It gets boring talking to yourself, so it's nice to know people are listening.  Have a great Thanksgiving and I'll return Monday!

Stress Free October

Thank you, Arizona!

It was great to start the stress-free playoffs this weekend. With Arizona sweeping the Cubs out of the way (look at what all that off-season spending did for them--three more wins than the '06 Cardinals and a first round exit. Spending money isn't the panacea some Cardinal fans think it is.), I could enjoy the finale of the Colorado/Philadelphia series without wondering which team could beat the Cubs. That was a thrilling game, and the Rockies are on a serious roll. That roll has to come to an end sometime, but hopefully not terribly soon, as it is VEB's adopted team for the post-season.

It was nice to watch the AL yesterday as well. I didn't see much of the Sox sweep, but their win really had my house rooting for the Indians last night. Of course, the wife would have been anyway, but we were both intrigued by the possibility of four sweeps in the first round, which would have been a record. Unfortunately, it didn't come to pass, but I did some digging on the number of playoff games.

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Also on the Network: √ The Hybrid: College Football Is Back, Fools [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ "It Didn't Look Like They Wanted To Come Out And Beat Us" [C70 At The Bat] √ Cardinals Keep Destroying Hope [C70 At The Bat] √ Jay Cutler Is Dating Kristin Cavallari: A Gratuitous Photo Gallery [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ White Sox Acquire Manny Ramirez: A Roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Cardinals Hit Rock Bottom, Break Out Jackhammers [C70 At The Bat] √ Another Lost Cardinal Weekend [C70 At The Bat] √ Glenn Beck, The Big Hurt, And Suh Killed A Guy: Your Extra Juicy Monday Roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential]