By Zach Wilt, on May 19th, 2012 I’ve got to admit, when Nick Markakis hit a 383 foot bomb off of Nationals reliever Ryan Mattheus in the 11th inning, I went nuts.
So did the other Orioles fans in attendance at Nationals Park last night.
My eyes followed the ball as it traveled out of the park and hit the second the deck, but I was informed that Markakis might have watched the homer for a bit too long.
 Right off the bat Nick Markakis knew it was gone, but did he watch it just a bit too long? The next two Orioles batters, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters, didn’t receive any pitches to the ribs, but I have to wonder if Markakis will before this series is over. It just seems like the gritty Davey Johnson baseball we all fell in love with in Baltimore.
By Zach Wilt, on May 19th, 2012 
Nationals phenom Bryce Harper learned the hard way last night that you never run on Matt Wieters, the best catcher in baseball.
After drawing a walk in the bottom of the fourth inning, Harper decided to take off on Jake Arrieta. The result was Matt Wieters first runner caught stealing of the night.
The Orioles catcher gunned out Jesus Flores in the bottom of the fifth as well.
By Patrick Guthrie, on May 15th, 2012  Did everyone already know Kristen Wiig was this attractive? Am I late to the party? After a life ruining 3 hour 45 minute rain delay on Sunday resulted in a 12 hours of work, I got about two sentences deep into this column Sunday night before my face hit the keyboard. So one day late, with the guy sitting next to me eating a sandwich that smells unspeakably awful (like somebody slathered dirty socks in Sweet Baby Rays. How can he enjoy this? Is it a southern delicacy?), here’s what sports made my brain think.
Oriole Nightmares
If the Orioles were a boxer (and they’re going to be a boxer, because I like boxing), they’d be Cristobal Arreola. Let’s get past the doughy appearance here, and the awesome nickname “The Nightmare” (The only other nightmare who hasn’t eaten himself out of boxing is a Fin named Robert Helenius. Nightmare vs. Nightmare fight, do it before Christmas, Tim Burton special guest judge. It would promote itself if I wasn’t promoting it).
Anyways, Arreola fights don’t win beauty contests. Neither the man nor the team is light on their feet (Baltimore is dead last in the league in SB’s (10) and SB % (coin flip)). They’re not the embodiment of pugilistic precision (an exceedingly average average of .249, 13th in MLB), and just like Arreola in the Molina fight, the O’s are going to look bad at times because of how much and how hard they swing and miss (277 K’s – 3rd in the AL). Because of all these reasons, opponents can get confident and start racking up some nice numbers in the early going.
But just when the other guy starts to gather some confidence – KABOOM. The word “unloads” is apropos, as Arreola has a particular proclivity for caving in temples like Harrison Ford. When he swings, it actually looks like a guy trying to box with bowling balls glued to his palms. So unsurprisingly, when he hits, he hurts. The same can be said for the Orioles (5th in SLG %, 3rd in XBH, 1st in HR, 1st in Isolated Power). The offense for both is not a beautiful ebb and flow, but rather blunt force trauma. Like getting hit by a chunk of ice falling off of your house.
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By Zach Wilt, on May 7th, 2012  Twitter was a wonderful place to be during the Orioles six hour marathon win in Boston on Sunday. After Chris Davis struck out five times at the plate, then recorded two K’s on the bump and the win, some Twitterers were calling this the best game they’ve ever watched.
In this day in age where information and communication is instant, the best game every syndrome is very common. NFL writers are quick to conclude that the most recent Super Bowl was the best one ever for no real reason than the build up to the actual event. It’s like when you can’t wait for a movie and you tell yourself for months that’s going to be awesome and when you finally leave the theater after seeing it you’re so blinding by the hype that convince yourself no matter what that it’s the greatest movie ever.
This example does not apply to The Avengers. That movie in fact lived up to the hype and was amazing.
Over at CBSSports.com, Danny Knobler writes that the Orioles 17-inning defeat of the Red Sox was “not the best game ever,” but rather “the most incredible.”
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By Patrick Guthrie, on May 7th, 2012 O What a Week
 RIP Nathaniel Hornblower When I started writing this post four weeks ago, I figured I’d be writing “what a great week for the Orioles” about as many times as “That new Adam Sandler movie looks like a return to form” and “I really enjoy the taste of a good olive” (I f***ing hate olives). And yet here I sit, and really: wow. What a great week for the Orioles. On a road trip that would have been a success at 3-3, the Orioles will land at BWI with series wins over two of the better lineups in baseball, and the best record in the sport. In other news, the elevator in the warehouse has a newly installed stop at Cloud Nine.
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By Steve Giles, on May 4th, 2012  Fresh off taking two of three from the Yankees in the Bronx, the O’s look to continue their strong pitching when they head to Boston for a weekend series with the Red Sox. The O’s held the Yankees to three runs in three games including handing the Yanks their first shutout in the new Yankee Stadium. I know we are only 25 games into the season, but the O’s are starting to look more and more like they are going to be in the mix come September. If the starters can continue to go seven innings and the bullpen stays fresh, I don’t see why we can’t play competitive baseball all season, especially with the bats the O’s have. Of the 25 games the O’s have played, the starting pitchers have combined for 14 quality starts and have compiled a 2.83 ERA, which is third in the majors.
Who’s Hot
Chris Davis – The hot-hitting first baseman is batting .409 over his last seven games including two doubles, three homers and eight RBI. Davis is now hitting .316 on the season and has provided the O’s with some big hits lately. He has had two three-hit games over the past week, including a home run in each contest. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on May 3rd, 2012  Pitching coach Rick Adair walking along side catcher Matt Wieters Yes, THE Baltimore Orioles. The same Orioles who couldn’t string together much of any pitching last season are currently atop the American League in Team ERA with a 2.83 mark. Before last night, the Texas Rangers held the lead in this category in the AL, but after Toronto scored a whopping 11 runs off of them at the Rogers Centre, the Orioles have taken over.
The only two teams in all of baseball pitching better than the Orioles (in terms of ERA) are the Cardinals and the Nationals, both of which have stacked rotations full of star quality names like Stephen Strasburg, Edwin Jackson, Adam Wainwright, and Chris Carpenter.
The Orioles rotation made it through the month of April without any changes, and includes Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter, Wei-Yin Chen, Jason Hammel, and Brian Matusz. The worst of those guys in the ERA category is Matusz at 4.67, which isn’t terrible right now considering the 10.69 he posted in 2011 along with the fact that he has shown major progress in each start over the last month. Hammel leads the group with a 1.97 ERA. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on May 2nd, 2012 Buck Showalter asked for Jake Arrieta to step up and he answered with eight innings of shutout baseball in the Yankee Stadium.
Baltimore took two of three in the Bronx and kept the Bombers to just three runs the entire series. In contrast, the Orioles wracked up 13 of their own.
 Wieters bombs the bombers. Now for some nifty stats from MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko and our good pal Joe Papparotto:
- The Orioles are seven games above .500 for the first time since July 19, 2005.
- Baltimore took their first series in New York since September of 2010.
- The last time the Orioles held the Yankees to three runs in three games was 1965.
Feel it happen.
By Patrick Guthrie, on May 1st, 2012  I keep telling her "stop calling me at work". A west coast trip for the Nationals, and a car accident: What are the reasons this article is up a day late. Now that I have a rental car (almost) and my brain is slowly starting to re-fire after a good night’s sleep, let’s stare at the Scarlett Johansson picture for a few seconds and then dig in.
Preorder your World Series tickets:
My benchmark for the home stand was 4-2, and the O’s went ahead and upped it to 5-1. Now the real test starts with the brutal schedule I alluded to last week. For the next 6 games, the Orioles will be sampling the various chowders of the Northeast. They then return home to face Texas (currently at their Chuck Norris best), and the Rays (currently atop the division unbeknownst to the people of Tampa).
In numbers you already knew without me telling you, those are the top 4 teams in RBI’s in the American League. I’m not saying temper your expectations, because the Orioles are playing well and you should ride the wave until it flattens out. What I AM saying is, be realistic. There are going to nights that starting pitchers get lambasted because the margin for error will be miniscule and the degree of difficulty will be gigantic. Texas and Boston don’t DO pitching duels just like Earnie Shavers didn’t DO decisions.
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By Zach Wilt, on April 30th, 2012  Image Courtesy: Baltimore Orioles on Twitter Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th, I felt an unfamiliar feeling while watching the Orioles. It was a feeling that three outs was more than enough and a victory was easily within Baltimore’s grasp.
As everyone knows, Matt Wieters tied the game against the A’s at two with a mammoth two-run double and Wilson Betemit’s three-run walkoff homer sealed the 5-2 victory.
Oakland is still looking for that final out.
From Steve Melewski at MASNSports.com comes a nifty stat as to why I felt so confident. Melewski points out that the Orioles have five wins this season when trailing after 7 innings. There is only one other team in the American League with more than two and that’s the Tampa Bay Rays (3).
Of course the other team would be in the East.
Go get ‘em in New York.
By Weston Bruner, on April 28th, 2012  Don't smile. Whatever you do, don't smile. This is not funny... (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) While the city of Baltimore remains inexplicably allied to the Washington Capitals’ playoff run (Why?! I will never understand it. I wouldn’t root for the Wizards and the Redskins and Nats are not my #2 teams in football and baseball so why in god’s name would I root for the Caps? Go Flyers.), the NFL draft drones on (what is it now, three more weeks to go?), the Orioles continue to torment me with their success. Why torment? Because this team is so epically bad on paper, it is the team that truly looked like a rebuilding team, the kind of rebuilding that happens when you are building a sand castle at low tide. The kind of rebuilding that causes you to ditch the few assets with any value for a bunch of assets with even less value.
2011 looked like a team ready to make a leap based on what would turn out to be unfounded optimism. 2010 had a number of proven pieces that resembled a .500 team back in March. We know how those years turned out. Yet here we are about to turn the calendar to May and no matter what happens the Orioles will still be over .500 on May 1. So… what gives? READ MORE >>>
By Patrick Guthrie, on April 23rd, 2012 
With the Nationals on a 10 game home stand and MLB.tv blacking out Orioles games, I didn’t get to see too much of the O’s this week. From what I did see, Brian Matusz got a raw deal due to some predictably poor defense in Anaheim, Wei Yin Chen had yet another very strong outing, and the offense looked great in some spots (Jones and Wieters) and rough in others (Reynolds hasn’t had a hit in nearly a week). But despite not seeing much of Baltimore this week, there is one thing I do know.
Cam Cameron is ruining Joe Flacco. How the hell is Joe supposed to build a successful career with shoddy schematics? No one will ever know how good Flacco can be until Cam’s parking spot is empty, and his playbooks are halfway through the shredder. This is how Ravens fans introduce themselves around here, and Baltimore was in the AFC Championship game last year.
At the same time, O’s fans acknowledge that there’s some talent on the pitching staff. Tommy Hunter won 13 games with Texas, Jake Arrieta’s stuff is cough syrup nasty, and Brian Matusz was once considered good enough that people still wonder what’s wrong with him. If Baltimore fans had their way, Cam Cameron would have had an appointment with Ned Stark’s barber months ago. Which leaves me scratching my own head as to why Rick Adair’s is still under an Orioles cap.
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By BSR Staff, on April 13th, 2012  The MLB season is a week old, the Red Sox have slumped, the Orioles are .500 and the Miracle Mets have taken a small step back.
The guys break down the Orioles start to 2012 and talk about the story lines around the league. They also break down the Capitals postseason series against the Bruins and talk about the possibility of HBO’s Hard Knocks featuring the Ravens.
Join Zach, Patrick and Matt for this week’s edition of the best sports podcast in Baltimore, the BSR Podcast.
Here are some of the topics discussed on this week’s show:
Orioles Season… A Week Later
- Sweeping the Twins, swept by the Yankees. What does it say about the Orioles?
- With the exception of Brian Matusz, the Orioles saw some encouraging things the first time through the rotation. Can Jake Arrieta continue to lead the O’s at the top?
- Nick Markakis has demonstrated more power early on this season than last. How encouraging is that coming off Abdominal surgery and can that trend continue?
- Matt Wieters is a Gold Glove winner who’s offense could take the next step in 2012. The guys discuss that possibility.
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Podcast: Play in new window
By Steve Giles, on April 13th, 2012  Through the first six games of the season, we have seen the potential the O’s have at being a .500 team as well as what O’s fans like to call “the same old O’s.” They looked like world beaters in their first series, outscoring the Twins 15-5 on their way to three dominating victories. The starters in those games (Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter and Jason Hammel) only allowed one earned run between them, which came in the eighth inning of the third game. They hit well with runners in scoring position and the bullpen did their part as well.
The second series against the Yankees, however, was very much a different story. Brian Matusz left off where he did last season, allowing four runs in four innings and not having any command of his pitches. His “stuff” looked better and he did have some velocity behind his pitches, but he just couldn’t locate them. The next two games were extra inning heartbreakers as the O’s had bases loaded in the ninth in both games, but couldn’t seal the deal. It’s the same old story, though. The O’s don’t have the clutch hitter they need to get the job done in crucial situations (Prince Fielder would’ve been nice to have at the plate in those situations, but Peter Angelos won’t spend money to make his team better). Anyway, here are a few of the O’s that are hot along with a few that aren’t too hot.
Who’s Hot
Matt Wieters – Wieters leads the team in batting average (.364), home runs (2), RBI (4) and OPS (1.122). He carried his strong spring into the regular season and is looking to repeat the defensive presence he brought last season after winning the Gold Glove. It would be nice to see Wieters continue to hit for power especially with Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis struggling in that department in the early going. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on April 8th, 2012  I’d encourage everyone this morning to pop on over to MLB.com and click the “standings” tab. It feels pretty good right now.
With 160 games left in the baseball season, the Orioles are on top of the world, they’re walking on sunshine, dropping it like it’s hot and some other lyrics to bad pop songs.
Sure, we’re just two games into the 2012 season, but there’s plenty to brag about to your bandwagon Red Sox and Yankee fan friends. Here’s a nice little list of did you knows:
- Nick Markakis leads of all baseball in batting average (.714) among players with at least 7 at bats.
- Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter are the only American League pitchers with shutout wins from in over six innings of work.
- The Orioles are tied with the Tigers for lowest team ERA in the AL this season (1.00).
- This is the first time in Orioles history that two starters have given up no runs in the first two games of the season.
- The Orioles have the third highest team batting average in the AL (.306).
- Matt Wieters is tied for the lead in home runs by a catcher in the American League (1).
- Josh Beckett’s ERA is 13.50.
- Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis and Cody Ross are all hitless this season.
- Mark Teixeira is also searching for his first hit.
- The Red Sox and Yankees have the two highest team ERAs respectively in all of baseball (6.61, 7.16).
These stats can only mean one thing, World Series 2012!
I love April baseball.
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