Chen Had A Historic Day Yesterday

Wei Yin Chen had an amazing game yesterday. A historic game. It was perhaps his most overpowering performance. It is unfortunate that he had walks and an error behind him and he had to leave a little early. However, let's put his game into perspective.

First, let's remember that Chen won the game. He has now improved to (9-6) on the year. Chen also lowered his ERA to 3.65 while not allowing a single earned run. There was also only 3 hits the whole game. Now, for the good parts. Chen had 12 strikeouts. Those 12 strikeouts are a record for a Taiwanese player in the majors. Pretty cool. As I said earlier though, Chen only got through 5 2/3 innings. That short outing made Chen the first Oriole EVER to record more than 10 strikeouts in fewer than 6 innings. It is absolutely amazing that Chen had strikeouts in less than 6 innings and those accomplishments show that. His 12 strikeouts are the most by an Orioles pitcher since Erik Bedard struck out 15 against the Rangers on July 7, 2007. I am as amazed as you that there is actually some good news against the Rangers.

This performance could not have come at a better time for the O's. It came against the Oakland A's who have been red hot and are currently lined up to take a wild card spot. If the playoffs started today, there would be 3 AL West teams going. The Orioles are 2 games back of the Angels for the second wild card spot. They are 2.5 behind Oakland for the 1st. The Tigers are only one game back, and the Rays are tied with the Orioles. It is an extremely tight race for these wild card spots, just like MLB wanted.

Chen was not the only remarkable player last night. Omar Quintanilla continues to impress me. Forget about the error. I know our defense has been horrible, but I will take the errors if he makes the spectacular plays he made in the Rays series. I will also take them if he continues to deliver with the bat the way he has. Yesterday, he finished with a triple short of the cycle. Quintanilla hit his 1st Oriole home run and is 11-25 hitting since he's been on the team. He is actually hitting .440 as an Oriole and his average for the year is now .423. Tell me you won't take that in this lineup. This guy needs to play if he is hitting like this. 2 errors are ok with this kind of play. The plays I've seen him make on defense are tremendous. There is something special about this guy.

Lew Ford also made his Oriole debut. Ford went 0-3 and had a walk. However, Ford had a huge outfield assist and he gave the team some energy. The crowd loved him as well.

Matt Wieters hit his 13th home run of the season. Wieters also drove in 3 big runs in the victory.

Pedro Strop also continues to be filthy. Strop pitched another scoreless inning and lowered his ERA to 1.37. If I had to pick an Oriole MVP, Strop would be near the top of the list. Great game all-around. Let's hope they duplicate that performance this week against the evil empire.

-Noland

Markakis Has Broken Bone in Wrist

The most dependable of Orioles is headed to the disabled list for the first time in his career. Right fielder Nick Markakis has a broken bone in his wrist and will have surgery to repair it tomorrow. He is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Markakis started all 50 games prior to last night (48 in RF, 2 @ DH). This is a big blow to the Orioles' playoff chances having Markakis out for 3+ weeks. It is also one that I am not sure the Orioles can overcome. Yes, he was having a down year by his standards, but he is a hitter pitchers fear. Without him in the lineup, it will be much more difficult for Adam Jones to get quality pitches to hit. Losing your #1 hitter and your #3 hitter kills any lineup. The new lineup will have to somehow account for the loses of Reimold and Markakis.

There is good news though because Brian Roberts should be back soon. He is scheduled to finish his rehab stint June 11. Zach Britton is scheduled to be back after his rehab start in the next day. Britton's return will help fortify a struggling rotation while Roberts return will help a weak lineup. We just better hope Roberts is something close to his old self with Markakis and Reimold out still.
Here is my proposed lineup until Roberts gets back.
2B Robert Andino
SS JJ Hardy
C Matt Wieters
CF Adam Jones
1B Chris Davis
DH Wilson Betemit
RF Markakis' replacement
3B Ryan Flaherty
LF Endy Chavez


Once Roberts is back
2B Brian Roberts
SS JJ Hardy
C Matt Wieters
CF Adam Jones
1B Chris Davis
DH Wilson Betemit
RF Replacement
LF Endy Chavez
3B Robert Andino

Wieters is the only guy that makes sense @ #3 in my opinion. Unless we are trying to have a good hitter behind Jones. If that is the case then we need to swap Davis and Wieters. However, I would have my best hitter hit 3rd and Wieters is a better hitter than Davis.

You will notice that Mark Reynolds is not in either lineup. I am not a fan. I would try to trade him asap and eat some salary. I'd do the same thing with Gregg. We have to get another OF with Cakes and Reimold out. We need to do it asap.

What are the internal options?
Xavier Avery could come back up. The only problem with that is many in the organization think he is getting into bad habits. He may be getting into bad habits, but he is better than Chavez. He's certainly better than no options. If we want to compete for the playoffs, we might have to call Avery back up.

Jai Miller is still in the organization, but he is not playing well. He strikes out about every other time to the plate. That can't cut it in the big leagues.

Lew Ford is also an option for the Orioles. Ford is hitting .370 with 2 homers this season in Norfolk. This is in only 12 games, but perhaps Ford is the best option. We don't have much OF depth in the minor leagues.

Sure would have been good to still have Matt Angle on the 40 man at this point huh? Good thing we kept Josh Bell and Jai Miller when we let Angle go. That to me was the worst move of the offseason. Letting Matt Angle go was a really poor decision. We need to get someone to the Orioles that will hit. If we pay a price it is ok, but we can't give up our first good season in years without a fight. It should be interesting.

-Noland