Too Many Crooked Numbers

I was one of the 22,276 fans at Oriole Park yesterday. I stayed until the bitter end. Actually, I stayed a lot longer than that. It was Kids Run the Bases Day and my daughter wasn't leaving til she touched home plate. Unfortunately, she didn't carry the tying run.

I've watched a lot of Orioles games this year. Yesterday was the first time, I got that disgusted feeling. The feeling that this team didn't have a chance. Six pitchers, most of which couldn't throw strikes. Errors in the field (of both the physical and mental variety). Stranded base runners. It just didn't seem like a very good effort.

And there I was with two outs in the ninth. Standing and clapping. Urging those that had stayed to do the same, because these guys deserved it. Down 11-5 in the eighth, they could have packed it in early and gotten an early start on the day off. But they didn't. They rallied. And they nearly came all the way back. There is no quit in this team. Even on a day when they didn't seem to have all the good qualities that have kept them over .500 into July, they didn't quit. You've got to give them credit for that.

A couple of other thoughts though....

Brian Roberts deserves to be on the All-Star team. But I don't think it happens. I doubt he finishes second in this voting. But help him out.

The bullpen which has been phenomenal all season, seems a bit creaky right now. Still I think the Birds have to show confidence in Lance Cormier and Fernando Cabrera right now. They've pitched well in the innings they've thrown. Now we need to see if they can step it up in Matt Albers absence.

There is no one on the horizon to help the starters. The only "prospect" who appears close to ready to at least throw in the major leagues is Hayden Penn. And he's having trouble getting guys out in AAA. All of this could lead to a very scary second half. Anybody have Victor Zambrano's number?