After the game, the former Yankee was asked about what it felt like to beat his former team. Unlike most players, who give the cliche “I played equally hard against opponent” answer, Dickerson confessed the truth.

“Yeah. Yeah, just the fact that I was — you know as soon as I saw the starting lineup I was already fired up,” He said. “But, that first one, that was huge I was pretty fired up for that one. You know, once I signed, you know it’s been a long way to get this opportunity to come back and do something like that against them. [I've] been waiting for four months — five months for that so it’s exciting.”

After his second home run, Jim Palmer briefly talked about some of the adjustments hitting coach Jim Presley has made to Dickerson’s stance since his arrival in Baltimore on April 9. I took a look at some of his early at-bats compared to those last night and noticed a few subtle changes.

The left side of the image shows Dickerson at the plate on April 11 in Boston against Alfredo Aceves. The right side was grabbed during his ten pitch at-bat against Phil Hughes last night.

While the changes are small, they are certainly noticeable. Earlier in the season Dickerson had more bend in his knees which caused him to slouch more in the box. His bat has some slight wiggle, but overall he’s holding it more straight up than he was in April.

Dickerson tucks his front shoulder in and leads with his hips when he swings through. I believe the higher angle of the bat gives him more explosiveness as shown during his two homer game last night.

It’s tough to argue against the numbers. He’s 9-for-22 with a pair of doubles and three homers in seven games in May after starting the season 1-for-8 with four strikeouts.

The best news about Dickerson’s changes in his batting stance is that they resulted in this:

The post Examining The Changes In Chris Dickerson’s Batting Stance appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

Image Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the tenth, Orioles skipper Buck Showalter turned to Jim Johnson, who had blown three consecutive save opportunities including one in Monday’s loss. The O’s closer worked fast and retired the side in order on just eight pitches.

Baltimore rejoiced and proclaimed that their beloved closer had put this recent slump behind him and was back to his 2012 form. I may have been the only person wearing an Orioles hat that watched and disagreed.

On the surface, Johnson’s five strikes in eight pitches to the Yankees’ six, seven and eight hitters looked great. But his fastball command still bothered me.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown.

Curtis Granderson

• Pitch 1: Matt Wieters setup for a four-seam fastball low and on the outer part of the plate, Johnson threw high and outside at 92 MPH for ball one.
• Pitch 2: Same setup for the changeup. Pitch thrown slightly higher, but in the zone to even the count.
• Pitch 3: Setup for a sinker knee high, inside corner. Pitch thrown high and inside for a 2-1 count.
• Pitch 4: Setup for a four-seam fastball low, outside corner. Thrown inside at 93 MPH, but fouled away for 2-2 count.
• Pitch 5: Setup for a sinker low, outside corner. The pitch ran in at 93 MPH for a line-out to second.

David Adams

• Pitch 1: Setup for a sinker low and outside. Johnson’s pitch crossed the middle of the plate letter high at 93 MPH. Adams flew out to deep centerfield.

The GIF above highlights my concern. Wieters is attempting to keep Johnson’s sinker down in the zone, but he releases too high and elevates the pitch. He got away with one here.

Jayson Nix

• Pitch 1: Setup for a four-seam fastball low and outside. Thrown high for ball one.
• Pitch 2: Setup for a sinker low and outside. Johnson’s pitch moves into the middle of the zone, but is popped up to second base.

Though it was just eight pitches, I thought Johnson continued to show the same problems he’s had in his previous three outings. He’s elevating the fastball and sinker and better hitters will make him pay for it. Granderson helped him out by fouling away a pitch outside of the zone to even the count. While Adams and Nixed missed on two mistake pitches in the middle of the zone.

In the end, Johnson got the job done and recorded the crucial three outs the Orioles needed. Maybe this outing boosts his confidence. I’m still concerned with what I’m seeing though.

The post Despite Results, Command Still A Concern In Jim Johnson’s Latest Outing appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

GIFs after the bump.

And of course, the slow motion shot.

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GIF after the bump.

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So yeah, it’s pretty much official.

Gausman isn’t on the Orioles 40 man roster, so they’ll likely wait until tomorrow to make the official announcement. They could place Taylor Teagarden on the 60 day disabled list or DFA one of their fringe players to make room for the 22 year old.

The righty heads to the big leagues after an outing in Trenton in which he struck out a career high ten batters over six innings. He leaves the Eastern League with a 3.11 ERA, .246 batting average against and (my personal favorite stat) 9.80 K/BB.

There’s tons of hype regarding Gausman, a lot of which comes from people who have never actually seen him pitch. If you’re looking for some solid information on the kid, I recently posted a reactionary piece on a FanGraphs’ column about Gausman being ready to face big league hitters.

For some more detailed information, definitely check out Zach Mortimer’s scouting report on Gausman over on Baseball Prospectus. Here’s what I took away from reading that.

• Gausman is a power pitcher who’s fastball velocity is between 96-99 MPH. Mortimer says Gausman’s command on the pitch is above average with “late heavy armside run.” He grades it at 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale.
• His slider is a work in progress. “Fringy,” according to Mortimer with “sharp late bite” between 82-85 MPH. A 45 pitch. This is the first season he’s used the slider as his primary breaking ball.
• But I’m most excited to see Gausman’s changeup, which he throws between 84-86 MPH. Mortimer writes that Gausman uses it on both sides of the plate and fools batters with good arm speed a sink.

The changeup is devastator with great life and great command. He is not afraid to back it up in any count either. Kevin Gausman brings the total package, three potential plus pitches with a near elite level fastball. The arsenal combined with the demeanor leads me to believe that Gausman is one of the rare minor leaguers that you can throw the no. 1 ceiling out on.

Everyone I’ve talked to about Gausman raves about his command. That’s evident in the K/BB. The Orioles had previously been working with Gausman on throwing more pitches out of the zone in pitcher’s counts because they thought he threw too many strikes. Certainly a good problem to have.

With 46 1/3 innings under his belt at Double-A, Gausman will likely throw 100-120 more this season. The Orioles have had three straight quality starts, but their rotation without Wei-Yin Chen and Miguel Gonzalez (prior to yesterday) was certainly exposed during their recent six-game losing streak.

It only makes sense for them to call on Gausman, even if it is before the Super Two cutoff.

The post Kevin Gausman Gets The Call, Here’s What You Should Expect appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

GIF after the bump.

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With one out in the top of the sixth inning, Freddy Garcia walked Brett Gardner. Matt Wieters threw down to first and caught Gardner off the base, but umpire Eric Cooper called Gardner safe. Here’s a screenshot of Chris Davis placing the tag on the Yankees outfielder.

Yeah, clearly out.

Garcia would walk Robinson Cano on four pitches and then get Travis Hafner to ground into an inning ending double play five pitches later.

In the bottom half of the inning, Wieters stepped into the box with a runner on first and no outs. The O’s catcher hit a slow roller down the third base line and beat out the throw from David Adams. Again, Cooper called it wrong, saying that Wieters failed to reach the base before the throw hit Lyle Overbay‘s glove.

This screenshot says otherwise.

Interesting note: I took that screenshot from the YES broadcast because MASN cameras didn’t show a clear enough replay. Yankees announcers Michael Kay and Ken Singleton agreed that Cooper made the wrong call.

Buck Showalter came out for a lengthy discussion, though he wasn’t ejected. The Orioles made the last two out of the inning on a Danny Valencia line out to third and Steve Pearce groundout. Maybe two on and no outs would have changed the momentum in their favor.

Maybe not, but we’ll never know.

The post Brett Gardner Was Out, Matt Wieters Was Safe: A Look At Last Night’s Blown Calls appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

Is that really the move?

I’m not sure Showalter has another choice. You’ve got to have confidence in the guy that had 51 saves last season. Johnson’s problems are clear, he’s keeping the sinker up and struggling to hit his target behind home plate. The only way to fix it is to hand him the ball.

Besides, who would you want to take the ball in a save situation?

Brian Matusz has been the Orioles most solid reliever, but I question his mental makeup in such a critical role. Tommy Hunter seems to have found consistency, but can sometimes lose his command just as Johnson has of late. I wouldn’t mess with Darren O’Day in the setup role and that pretty much just leaves Pedro Strop.

That’s not happening.

It’s the right move for Showalter to keep his faith in Johnson. Sure, he’s been responsible for three of the team’s six straight losses, but his track record is long enough to keep running him out there. At least for the time being.

The post Buck Showalter Will Go Back To Jim Johnson Tonight If There’s A Save Opportunity appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

Waddell hid behind Title IX concerns as the reason for his brash cuts, however his irresponsible spending is more likely the cause. Waddell came to Towson in 2010 and inherited a sports program with a surplus of $454,000, according to reports he left it with a $1.3 million deficit.

It must be nice to be terrible at a job and leave it for something better.

Now Martin O’Malley and the Maryland taxpayers are stuck mopping up Waddell’s mess. Towson’s baseball program will receive $300,000 under a supplemental budget set by the Governor that only guarantees that Towson will keep the program alive for two more years.

Good luck at Arkansas, Mike. Thanks for the memories.

The post Former Towson AD Mike Waddell Heads To Arkansas To Ruin The Razorbacks appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.

Down on the farm, Kevin Gausman continues to dominate Double-A hitters in the Eastern League. In his last outing, Gausman fanned a career high ten batters and on the season is averaging 9.5 per nine innings. He maintains a stellar 9.80 K/BB  and FanGraphs.com’s JD Sussman believes he’s ready for a promotion to Baltimore.

There is little Kevin Gausman can learn by remaining in the minor leagues. To nitpick, he could throw his slider with more consistent shape. At times, it was loose and broke early. But, the “good” slider was more frequently present. Also, he could also change hitters’ eye-levels better by working more effectively up in the zone with his fastball. He was content to work down in the zone a majority of the time.

It may not happen over night, but Gausman will develop into a front of the rotation arm.

Gausman’s command of his fastball and ability to bring his moving changeup down to 82-84 MPH have made many believe he’s ready for the big leagues. Sussman predicts that the Orioles will allow Gausman to throw between 100-120 more innings this season and is hopeful that most of them will be for the Orioles.

The post FanGraphs.com’s JD Sussman Thinks Kevin Gausman Is Major League Ready appeared first on Baltimore Sports Report.