The Baseball Reporters Show Recap 6/4
Hall of Fame Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer joined Tony Massarotti on today's edition of the Baseball Reporters show to preview the upcoming 3-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.
The Baltimore Orioles are a wretched ball club. They are 15-39 and are on pace for a 45-117 record, which would put them right up there in the Hall of Fame of Baseball futility. In their last 18 games, the O's are 3-15 and have lost 8 in a row. During that stretch, the team batting average is a putrid .233 with a team ERA of 5.34.
Tony on the Orioles, "Can't pitch. Can't hit. I'm not sure if they can field but it really doesn't matter if you're giving up rockets all the time. It's a bad club. For the life of me I didn't think the Orioles were going to be this bad this year. But they are horrendous. If you're the Red Sox, you have to clean up on this team this weekend and sorry, I don't think 2 out of 3 is good enough."
Joel Sherman, a baseball columnist for the New York Post, theorized last year that in this division you have to beat up on the weaker opponents. The Orioles are .500 or worse vs. every team they have played this season except 1, the Red Sox. The Orioles are 4-2 vs. the Red Sox this season. Against the rest of the division? They are 1-8 vs. the Yankees, 1-5 vs. the Rays, and 0-6 vs. the Blue Jays.
The Red Sox play the Orioles 18 times a year. So if they expect to make a run at the postseason they have to beat up on the bad teams, Baltimore being one of them.
Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer joined the program today to talk about the Orioles. "It's a long process.You got to be patient. Especially when you're going to spend $70 -$80 million and try and compete in the American League East. It's tough to be good."
Clay Buchholz will open the 3-game series vs. the Orioles tonight. For Baltimore, RHP Chris Tillman gets the start.
