Last night, Kevin Millwood – much like the other times he’s appeared on the mound for Baltimore – perhaps pitched well enough for a better result; however, his offense could not get anything going at all. In the end, the Orioles lost for the 34th time in 49 chances, to the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0.
As much as everyone rails on Dave Trembley, the loss on Friday cannot be blamed on him unlike the previous night. Sadly, the Orioles do not have the players to compete right now even with the Toronto Blue Jays – a team most people picked to finish last in the American League East.
It’s not good.
The Orioles had a horrific first inning defensive as Scott Moore – who was at second – seemingly could not do anything right in the opening inning made several poor plays in the field that helped the Jays score three runs. Moore was not the only Oriole who was feeble in the field, but it doesn’t matter now — they were that awful in that frame. From there, the game was decided and the Orioles dug themselves a hole they could not get out of at all.
The fundamentals were not there on Friday night.
I don’t know if the team was tired, just out of it or what, but the mental mistakes in the first inning should have never been made by a professional team. Are the Orioles what they are?
Now, it seems to be the case. The pitching is fine. The Orioles can’t hit, they have a lot of injuries, and closing in on a 1/3 of the season fairly soon, this team is far worse (literally) than I ever thought. Wigginton, Millwood, Bergesen/Jones (as of late), Ohman, Berken, Markakis (to an extent, but he’s not driving in anyone) and Guthrie are keeping this unit afloat. The remainder of the team are going through the motions, sucking, just not good enough or just flat out not doing anything.
Shawn Marcum won his 5th game of the season, but a punch-less Orioles team managed to get eight hits. However, Baltimore could not score with runners in scoring position, and left seven on base.
The trip started on a bad note as Adam Jones got detained in a case if mistaken identity in the wee hours Friday morning and then ‘tweeted’ about it.
Furthermore, Cal Meredith was optioned to Norfolk after a series of lackluster relief outings.
I don’t know what to say. Maybe Saturday will bring the team better luck.
