Three up. Three down.
That’s the standard for Baltimore Orioles closer Jim Johnson these days. Tuesday in Arlington was no exception. Johnson relieved setup man Pedro Strop and recorded three straight outs on 15 pitches to earn his 38th save of the season.
With that save, Johnson tied Rays closer Fernando Rodney for the Major League lead. Rodney has blown two saves this year, Johnson has blown three.
JJ continues his quest for the Orioles club record in saves, 45, set by Randy Myers in 1996.
My best fantasy pick-up of the year!!!
And to think I had Johnson in my league, let him go and some genius picked him up.
Lets face it guys,,,,,,,,,,,the bullpen has the O’s in the hunt,,,,,,,,,,,,,without this great pen they would be well under .500 again this year………..the main body of this team is ordinary at best……………..
Palmer quoted Aristotle the other night by saying the “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” and it could never be any more true with this team right now. They don’t have any one player keeping them them in this hunt, but instead a combined effort by many.
Look at McClouth who has shored up left field. Quintanilla, who has taken over at second. Machado has been better than anyone else at third this year. Chen and Hammel who anchored the rotation until Hammel got hurt. What did the O’s do, they brought up Gonzalez and Tillman who have been excellent in their roles and they now have a decent trio of starters that can beat any team on any given night. Even Hunter has turned some heads over the last half dozen starts (except for the last against Texas). Buck inserted Markakis in the leadoff role which he has played his best baseball of the year in the number one spot.
As for hitting, this team needs some help, but each night, someone else steps up and that is purely the definition of team. Markakis has been the catalyst and it can be contagious. You never know, it could become contagious over the next few weeks just in time for a potential playoff push.
All in all, this team has been fun to watch. They may never have the same potential at the same time as they are now, but who cares, let ride out and let’s see where this thing takes us. Classic Baltimore fan, “my beer is half empty” instead of what you should be saying “fill’er up!”
Go O’s!
Dude…very nice analysis and I wholeheartedly agree.
Look back to 1983, you had a .220 hitting something catcher, Todd Cruz at 3rd base, a platoon of two guys in left, certainly far from an All Star at each position.
Thank you Sir! Good pull on that year, MGW.
1983, Tippy Martinez with 21 saves, Dennis with 16 losses, and 3 of their 8 relievers with an era above 5. Cruz, Dauer, Tito, Dwyer, T-bone, Roenicke, Nolan, Sakata, Ford, J-Lo, Singleton, Murray, Ripken, Bumbry and Dempsey to name a few of the killer hitting team they had.