Orioles Sweep Royals

Sure, it was only a two game series, but the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of the Kansas City Royals last night. Brian Matusz struggled early, but he settled down and improved to 3-4 on the season. The young left hander gave up 3 runs over 6 innings in the Oriole victory.  All three runs were given up in the 3rd inning. His recovery allowed Matusz to register a quality start which gets the Orioles pitching back on track with 3 straight quality starts.

The bullpen was once again lights out for the Orioles. They did not give up one run in the 5-3 victory. Luis Ayala pitched a scoreless inning, picking up his 4th hold on the year. Ayala is now pitching to an ERA of 1.77. My favorite non-Johnson bullpen arm, Pedro Strop, pitched a scoreless 8th for his 6th hold. Strop now has an ERA of 1.23. The incredible Jim Johnson picked up his 14th save. Johnson has an ERA of 0.48. He also has converted 14 straight saves this season and 20+ dating back to last season.

I'll let you guess who paced the offense. Did you guess? That is correct, it was Adam Jones. Jones hit another home run last night. The center fielder is up to 13 on the season. His average now stands at .296. Jones also drove in 2 and had a walk.

Two other Orioles had multiple hits and played great last night. Nick Markakis went 2 for 4 and scored a run. Chris Davis was great going 3 for 4 and also scoring a run. Davis raised his average to .296.

In other Orioles news, the two players that were placed on waivers found out where they were going today. Matt Antonelli who was taken off the roster to clear room for Xavier Avery on the 40 man. Unfortunately for him he did not stay in the organization. The Yankees needed him more than the O's, and he is now on the Yankee 40 man. Antonelli will likely be sent to the Yankee triple A affiliate. The other Oriole that was taken off the 40 man was Brad Bergessen. He cleared waivers and will be assigned to AAA Norfolk. It does not seem likely that Bergessen will regain his old form and be a solid major leaguer again. I would love to see it happen though.

-Noland

It Is Finally Good To Be An O's Fan

This team is just awesome. I just love to watch them right now. So much effort. Love the guys they are bringing in, especially the baby birds. Bill Hall comes up and in his first Orioles game goes yard. If you know anything about Bill Hall's track record, he is an animal on Mother's Day. Baltimore took down the Rays again tonight increasing their AL East lead to 2 games.

The Orioles had two more players get extra base hits in this game as well. My new favorite Oriole, Robert Andino, hit a double and so did Steve Tolleson. These roster moves that the Orioles have made lately have all turned to gold. This stuff is insane. The other Oriole that was a stud again was...Adam Jones. This is not really surprising as Adam Jones continues to tear the cover off of the ball. This guy needs to be an all-star starter. Absolute stud right now.

Brian Matusz solidified his role on this team with a solid performance tonight. Matusz went 5 2/3 innings and left with a 4-3 Oriole lead. He picked up the win, improving to 2-4 on the season. He appears to be in Baltimore for the time being. The biggest reason for his victory was the continued dominance by the bullpen tonight.

Luis Ayala took over for Matusz and got his third hold. Ayala pitched a scoreless inning plus and now has an ERA of 1.04. Following Ayala was the brilliant Pedro Strop. Strop got his ERA down to 1.35 while picking up his 4th hold. Finally, was the great Jim Johnson. Johnson finished off the scoreless bullpen effort with his 11th save. Great job by the Orioles pen.

To make room on the 40 man roster for Bill Hall, the Orioles designated Brad Bergesen for assignment. This would make it pretty clear that Bergesen is down the Oriole pecking order. The Orioles also need to make room for Xavier Avery on the 25 and 40 man rosters as Avery will be up for tomorrow's game. That move will not be officially announced until tomorrow, but I welcome Avery to Baltimore. I have said it makes little sense that he is not the guy up so they call up him and Bill Hall, which are both great moves. Mark Reynolds being on the DL does not bother me too much. I mean I hate to see the guy hurt, but this is a solid 25 man roster while Reimold is out. My wife and I are big Xavier Avery fans. Love having Bill Hall on board as well as I said earlier in this post. Should be a fun ride the rest of this year.

-Noland

Anyone Looking Good @ Norfolk?

With a few Orioles struggling, the question usually goes to who do we bring up? In order to look at that we have to look at how each person is doing at Norfolk. Unfortunately, the Tides look bad and are in last place, but that doesn't mean they are all bad.

Here is a look at some of the people we may be seeing in Baltimore this year.

Xavier Avery is hitting .276 with a .364 OBP. This certainly has to be encouraging for the Orioles with Avery showing some plate discipline. The odds of seeing him this year aren't too great with the money tied into Chavez, but it is a possibility. The outfield will probably stay as is though unless Reimold moves to DH if Johnson is sent out.

Everyone else is under a .250 average other than the catchers. Not much chance of seeing any of them with those kinds of stats. The two catchers aren't likely to come up either with what we got in the system.

Ryan Adams has been especially awful hitting .179. Many fans wanted to see him as our everyday second baseman so I am thrilled Buck didn't listen to the fans. Andino is proving Buck to be right and Adams is as well.

The pitchers have been much better other than perhaps the three most important ones. Brad Bergessen is 0-1 with a 8.33 ERA. Not good for someone that thought he was back in form. And the sad thing is Bergessen hasn't been the worst one.

Tsuyoshi Wada has been awful on his rehab assignment. Wada lost his start and has a 20.25 ERA. That is not a misprint, Wada's ERA actually is 20.25. Let's hope Wada gets a lot better before he heads up north.

Chris Tillman has been slightly better than the other two, but not good. Tillman is 1-2 with a 4.73 ERA. He has been the best from that group, but he is far from the best so far in Norfolk.

Pat Neshak who didn't give up a run in spring training, still hasn't given up a run. You have got to think Neshak heads north soon. I'd replace Kevin Gregg with Neshak today.

Miguel Gonzalez has also not given up a run. Heck, Gonzalez hasn't given up a hit. He seems to be a guy that came out of nowhere. Are the Orioles really ready for an M.Gonzalez though? If it gets rid of Kevin Gregg, I say heck yes!

Who replaces Matusz if he struggles tonight? Dana Eveland and Jason Berken look like solid choices. Berken hasn't given up a run yet in 9 innings, but has not really been stretched out enough to start in the big leagues. Considering his past success, Berken might be a likely candidate to take over for Gregg as well. Eveland is 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA and seems to be the guy to be next in line if Wada isn't ready.

What about Zach Phillips? Phillips has a 2.25 ERA and is still one of the next guys in line.

Here is where I think everyone stands.
Starter who replaces someone for ineffectiveness in order. If Matusz is bad tonight he's in AAA
Eveland
Wada
Tillman
S.Johnson
Berken

Bullpen replacements, hopefully for Gregg
Neshak
Berken
Phillips
Eveland
Gonzalez

I'd expect some type of move after this road trip.

-Noland