On Sunday, the Orioles were deftly handled by Jake Westbrook and the Cleveland Indians, 5-1.
As time has shown us fans again and again this season, the offense could not break through and Westbrook – who missed more than a season with an injury – pitched nine strong innings. He would have had a shutout if not for a late Luke Scott solo homer in the ninth inning.
In the end, Baltimore made Jake Westbrook look like a Cy Young candidate – literally.
The Orioles had nine hits on the afternoon; however, they stood no chance against the Tribe – who took the three game series winning two of them.
Baltimore’s Mark Hendrickson started in place of David Hernandez (who was schedule to start the game) because of a sore shoulder. He lasted five innings while giving up three runs.
Cleveland got the majority of their runs off homers both two-run shots – one from Matt LaPorta in the fifth and the other from Russell Branyan in the 9th inning.
The Orioles are 12-26 and have once again seemingly fallen back into their habits from April. One would think that facing Seattle, Cleveland and Kansas City in succession would turn the ship around for the Os’ – no?
It’s not looking to be the case.
The free agent pickups have not been working out (aside from Tejada – to an extent) and a team that showed promise in the preseason prognostications looks worse than they did at this point last year. Is the farm system better – yes; alas, the big league team is not. I’m sure fans were expecting pain from the Orioles, but not to this point?
Other than that, the Orioles just have to find way … any way to dig themselves out this hole they’ve created for themselves. Boy, I would I really dislike being Dave Trembley after his post game press-conferences facing the media.
Down Route 295, the Washington Nationals who were the symbol of futility for the past few seasons and are seemingly ahead of the Orioles in development and with the major league product.
Now, it looks like the team is giving Nolan Reimold a chance to play first base. Seriously, who didn’t think he would not wind up there with the emergence of Pie? At this point, the Orioles need the power at the position and Reimold could probably fill the need – if he can learn the position.
I think another change may be around the corner unless Atkins can find his career again.
