O's notes continued

The last post for some reason is messed up at the end so I have to write the rest here.

Continuing on pitching:

Ohman came in solid again with a scoreless inning, so until he messes up I don't have much to say.  He doesn't have incredible stuff that I need to tout, but hey, it's enough to get the job done I guess.

Meredith looked okay for the most part, except for the Longoria homerun he let up in the 8th.  Meredith has never been a high speed fastball pitcher, so the fastball Longoria hit was an easy one because it was located in the middle and not too fast.  I think along with his mixup of pitches and how he throws side-arm, he needs to work on velocity, otherwise it will hurt him in the long run.

Rays pitching was Matt Garza mostly.  8 IP.  At one point, Randy Choate (Rays lefty specialist) was warming up, but they sat him down most likely because they saw that Garza was still striking guys out and throwing in the mid-90s.  No reason to sit a guy who keeps up the stuff he was throwing in the first innings.  Soriano came in and, although let the one run go, held on in the clutch to get Wigginton and Roberts out.


Fielding:

Decided to add this section for any fielding notes I have.  No stat box to throw in though.

Miguel Tejada made some nice catches and rocket throws tonight.  Still hasn't had to make a huge extension or jump for one, but I'm impressed with his performance so far.  The most impressive one was when the Rays had men on 1st and 2nd in the 2nd with 1 out and Pat Burrell grounded to a deep Tejada; Tejada got it, charged to third to tag then threw an absolute beam to Atkins at first to end the inning.  This was one of the jams Guthrie got out of that I was talking about earlier.

Both Adam Jones and Carl Crawford made nice rundowns on fly balls that they were able to barely catch.  Twice, though, Reimold missed catches on the run that I believe Pie would easily get.  Both times he was close enough to get it.  The first he just missed with his glove and the second he just wasn't ready for it seemed.  Very dissappointed.  I have always said since last season that he isn't fit for left field.  I think soon enough he will move to 1st.  Especially when Atkins is gone, I think that spot should become Reimold's.

2 interesting plays in the field today.  In one of Guthrie's upcoming jams, the ball was a chopper up the 1st base line and when Guthrie got it, he ran at Crawford (I do believe it was him) with it.  Crawford jumped out of the line to avoid the tag and then when he ran past the bag, Roberts (who had run over) called for the ball and tagged first for the out since the runner never touched.

Thank you to my friend Andrew, who reminded me of the second one.  In the bottom of the 7th, with Brignac on 1st, Ohman (who had just entered the game, this was his first batter) had 2 strikes on Carl Crawford.  Crawford decided to check swing on the pitch (it ends up, after watching replays, that he did not go), and as Crawford, thinking he had drawn the walk on the 3-2 pitch, jogged to 1st, Wieters checked with 3rd base umpire Dana Demuth, who called Crawford out on swinging.  Crawford didn't realize until he got to 1st what had happened since he assumed he didn't go, and even the home plate umpire didn't think to check with Demuth since the swing truly was not enough to call it.  Either way, Brignac starting jogging to 2nd without thinking to check the call to make sure it was a walk and he saw Crawford go so he assumed to go to, and once Wieters got the strike 3 call, he gunned the ball to Izturis at 2nd who then tagged Brignac for the out!

Overall, the hitting was really the problem tonight.  Clutch hitting with RISP wasn't a problem, mainly since there were none of those RISP situations.  Noone really was able to hit much off of Garza to begin with.


For tomorrow:

-Matusz on the mound.  I like that we have taken the lead first in both games, but then again, that led to the depressing stat that we are 0-2 when scoring first.  I still say it's good to continue that trend, but keep it up.  Bring the later inning hits.

-Also with hitting; be more patient!  To Roberts mainly; he swung on the first pitch of his first at bat and his clutch at bat in the 9th when the O's needed a hit with Pie on 3rd to tie it, and both times he flew out.  Be more patiend.  If Roberts and others would take some more pitches instead of being anxious to swing, not only would more solid at-bats happen, but then we could have gotten Garza's pitch count up to bring on the bullpen.  Now, for tomorrow, their bullpen is completely ready since they didn't need to even touch it tonight.

-Matusz needs to continue the pitching trend with keeping the runs low, but I think he needs to find a way even moreso to keep the hits down.  Millwood and Guthrie are veterans and handle the pressure of baserunners well usually, but we don't want Matusz in situations where he feels nervous about the men on the bags; he needs to have a 1st start where he can focus on his pitching and nothing else.

-I think Lugo should start at 2nd.  Really, he should be our every day guy at SS I believe, but at least tomorrow at 2nd.  The O's need a win for now, and with the leadoff guy going 0-9 so far, we just need a temporary change tomorrow.

-I also hope Pie will be ready tomorrow.  If not, then okay, but I have a feeling that if it is Reimold again, we will let up some runs that wouldn't be let up if it weren't Reimold in charge of fielding some balls.


Overall, the O's need to come out and get the closing win so they can come home on a good note for the Oriole Park opener.