balfan23

Dang ... 4 game skid and sweep at the hands of the Jays. Gotta start playing better ball.

It is the nature of bull pen work ... you're value is based on how well you handle the pressure. It is easy to pitch with a big lead ... no pressure, big margin for error. Slim lead, lots of pressure, no margin for error. It is also about how you handle adversity. For example, when Hunter should have been out of the inning on that miserable little grounder by Ellsbury, how did he respond? Answer: by giving up a grand slam to the next batter.

When are we getting Hardy back? It be nice to see him back in the lineup.

Much needed performance by Brach. Somebody other than O'Day has to put in some work in these close games in the 7th and 8th or his arm is going to fall off.

Here we go .. rolling into the late innings clinging to a lead. Who we gonna roll out there?

I've little faith in the majority of the pen, but going into this season, I really felt like a lot is riding on how Gausman develops. We're gonna need him to be rock solid and thus far he's been anything but. Unlike the rest of the cast, I still have faith in him and it is still only week 2 of the 4 month marathon. He needs to come around soon, because the options are very, very limited. For those wondering why Buck didn't go to Matusz vs. the NY lefties when Hunter coughed up the granny ... we may have gotten a glimpse of why last night.

Man ... broken record ... late innings bullpen ... late innings bullpen ... absolute disaster. O'Day and no one else.

Need to roll into the 7th and 8th with monster leads to survive. That's not a pathway to success. It just gets really tiresome seeing it over and over ... and it is only April 15.

Earl just squirmed a little in the grave on that 4th inning bunt with 1 out and men on 1st and 2nd.

Oh - I love them and while I wasn't in the stands in 1969 ... I was just learning the game watching the best in the business play it. What can you do? You can't fire the owner. I am in a holding pattern at the moment. If Petey went on the cheap this offseason after finally showing that we have the core of a contending team, only because he knows that he has to hold back on some contracts so that he can ultimately sign Manny and Matt, then OK ... I'll understand us letting the pen suffer this year. But if the time comes to step up to keep them and he lets them walk, that's it. That will prove he has no intention of ever making this team a winner. I'd have thought maybe he'd value his legacy at some point and try and go out with a winner, but perhaps he will be more than happy to go to his grave with more money in the bank and a legacy of having run a fine franchise into the dust. We shall see soon enough.

Yeah, I don't want to beat it to death, but the bullpen could well be our demise this season. I can't for the life of me understand why we didn't value our pen this offseason after watching the way the postseason played out. Our pen was better than DET (whose pen SUCKED) and they lost because of it, despite top shelf starters and a frightening middle of the order. Then we ran into the Royals, whose pen was from a higher league and they won because of it. Let Miller walk, add no one of value. Recipe for frustrating the crap out of your starters, who will pitch well enough to win and watch the pen blow it. Guess where they'll want to be when there contracts are up? Somewhere else. We escaped today ... but this is going to be a common theme. It was Gausman today ... who I have high hopes of taking his game up a notch, but hasn't yet. It is early, so I still think he is going to be one of our go to guys. We can't throw O'Day 5 times a week ... we'll burn him to a crisp. The rest of the group aside from Britton are just uninspiring.

It didn't take a clairvoyant to know this was going to happen. I just was hoping we wouldn't see the first instance of it in the very first game we faced the Yankees. This tilt was lost in the set-up phase of the game. I think we're going to see a lot more of that and a number of them will be at the hands of the Yankees. But I'm being told we cant afford to pay to retain the players we need to remain a contending team, so I guess I just have to get used to it or stop watching MLB like I did for about 15 years or so. I suppose we go back to considering not being an embarrassment is the best we can hope for.

Fine. I guess we'd have been better off not renting Miller for a few months and giving up a prospect, since we can't afford to keep who we trade for. We going to be able to afford Machado? Weiters? Great year last year, but I then get reminded why I lost my desire to bother with MLB. Until they introduce a cap (which of course will NEVER happen), the game will be what it has been for the past several decades. At this rate, O'Day will hit 100 innings in early Sept and his arm will fall off. But we'll still be losing games along the way watching Hunter get lit up.

There was no way to keep Cruz ... but Miller?

Watching Miller here is going to be tough to take. If he shuts us down ....

Another one bites the dust.

So, are we still feeling like the Baltimore market isn't ideal for a highly paid reliever? Late relief is going to be our demise.

I guess the one hope is, that if the teams that want to over pay him are teams that he's going to struggle to succeed with, he may think twice. Given he's likely just going to head somewhere on a 1 year deal, he wants to finish that 1 year on a positive note in order to get over paid on his next contract. With that, he might be willing to take less to be on a team with a good QB and a solid chance of contending. I don't know how many other teams are going after him that have those qualifications. I think the key is whether or not he will continue to show patience and wait for us to make a move. As reported, that wait could be until mid-May, to avoid having impact on compensatory picks.

I really feel like we have to add TE to that list.

I was really expecting that we'd sign a low level FA at both TE and WR before the end of the month, so that we'd not go into the draft with those needs. Looks like we might do neither as the pickings get slimmer.

Nice set up by O'Day. Now, is there anyone else we trust in a tight game in the 8th? I hope his arm doesn't fall off in Sept.

Zach looked dominating on my game cast ... Nice job!

Gausman has to get better at locating that heat. We are going to need him in a big way this year, I think.

With O'Day and Miller, we had a stellar set up crew. Now that we let Miller walk, who do we have that is reliable to get us to Britton? Brach? Hunter? I was cool with us letting Cruz go. While Nick was my favorite O, I understood the reasoning behind letting him walk. I cannot for the life of me get past the loss of Miller. Not only did we lose a great set-up guy, we let the Yanks get their closer at the same time. I am going to be on pins and needles all season waiting for the fact that "the Baltimore market isn't ideal for a highly paid reliever" is going to bite us in the butt. Thankfully, we got the run support today.

I'm glad we built a bit of a cushion. I'm afraid he 8th inning is going to be scary this year.