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I mentioned last night that Will Ohman and Mike Gonzalez were the only Orioles standing at their lockers after reporters entered the clubhouse. For the sake of accuracy, Ohman was sitting down.
The media flocked to Gonzalez, of course, since he blew the save. Nobody wants to talk to the guy who retired both batters he faced in the seventh inning.
Yawn.
I was smart enough to interview Ohman before the game, though it mostly was due to a running joke we shared throughout spring training. Ohman never wanted to discuss, on the record, his stellar numbers or how he was a virtual lock to make the club as a non-roster pitcher. He said it was clichéd and boring - which also happens to be the names of two really bad strippers.
I told Ohman that I'd wait until April 6, after the Orioles purchased his contract and took him to St. Petersburg for the opener. When he saw me walking toward him yesterday afternoon, he immediately said, "April 6!"
So, Will, way to bounce back from a 2009 season ruined by a shoulder injury and grab the lefty specialist job with both hands.
"Before I signed, I talked to Mr. MacPhail and he told me the opportunity was there, and my job was to come in and show that I was the guy that everybody had seen for the last few years, that I was healthy, and that if I performed, I was going to get an opportunity," Ohman said. "I felt like I performed and I got my opportunity, so I feel like the organization and Mr. MacPhail were very truthful and honest. I guess I did seize the opportunity.
"It's not that exciting."
He meant the quote, which suited me fine.
Ohman allowed one run and two hits in 8 2/3 innings this spring. He struck out 10 and held opponents to a .071 batting average.
It's nice when that shoulder stops barking at you and the ball starts going where it's intended.
"It was three years of fighting that nagging injury," said Ohman, who underwent surgery in late September to clean up the AC joint, where the clavicle meets the blade at the top of the shoulder.
"It was the only time I had spent time on the DL since 2003 and it just really stunk. It was no fun. I wasn't physically able to throw my pitches where I wanted to. I took a big hit in effectiveness because of that. I'm glad I finally feel like I can throw the ball where I want to.
"You usually don't see it so much until hindsight. When you're being truly competitive, you're like, 'I can do this, I can do this. I'm going to make it happen,' and you force the issue. And very rarely are the times when you actually sit back and say, 'I'm not physically up to par right now.' I'm going to keep pushing until somebody makes me stop, and I think that's what happened."
Ohman said he finally grew tired of banging his head against a wall and consented to the surgery after the Dodgers failed to include him on their expanded roster. It wasn't until the latter portion of spring training that he felt 100 percent.
"I felt healthy the whole time. I didn't feel any pain or any residual soreness or anything like that," he said. "But I felt like me, the competitor, with no hindrances, probably right around the last two weeks of spring training, where I really felt like,'This is my niche, this is where I'm supposed to be, this is what I can bring to the table as a player.' Everything up to that point is preparation."
Ohman was ready last night and he delivered. Too bad it went largely unnoticed after a one-run lead dissolved into a heart-wrenching 4-3 loss.
WOW! New digs for Roch, Is this working yet?
Wow, new site design. Looks nice; let's see if I can figure out how to use this comment section. And lets also hope this somehow curbs some of the idiots that like to ruin the blogs.
I miss Sherrill. I said it earlier, I dont like our pen this year.
Hope all the comments are imported to the new design.
Hope this site grows on me, are the comments working yet.
You said it best last night - brutal! That was yesterday - today is a new day! Let's Go O's!
This site is weird looking! This will take some getting used to. Watched the game last night and enjoyed it until the end obviously. Good to see Matt and Jones get some good cuts and start their seasons off on the right foot. Great job as always with the coverage Roch.
New site looks good. I hope I can learn to navigate it a little better than I have this morning.
Two times we had second and third with none out and we scored no runs. Gonzalez should have saved the game, but he was far from the only reason we lost. Lots of good things last night--Millwood, the home runs, Albers, Ohman and Johnson (very good to see the old JJ). We need to win games like last night, but it's one game. Long way to go. Big start for Guts tonight. Can he step it up now that it's for real?
Love the new site Roch!
As I mentioned yesterday, you cant expect players to all of a sudden up their game when the lights come on.
Lets look at a few of the off season acquisitions and how they performed:
Gonzalez - He pitched the same as he has all spring long, terrible! Somehow he didnt turn his game up when the lights came on...hmmmmmm
Tejada & Adkins- Our offseason power acquisitions had a wonderful night. They combined to go 1 for 9 wooo hooo!
Millwood - AKA Houdini He pitched out of trouble most of the night and escaped. 10 runners allowed in 5 innings is not going to cut it against the good teams.
This team left off right where they finished last year. The song is the same. The lyrics read runners left on, no timely hits, horrendous bullpen and most of all, the starters cannot make it past the 5th inning!
DT said "We said that when the season started and the lights went on, all our guys would come out stepping their game up, and I think you saw that from everybody"
HELLOOOOO DAVE ! What game were you watching! And the players who had a horrible spring training .....continued. They DID NOT step their game up like you think. Dont try and force feed the orange drink to us!
A long season my friends!
Who is excited about our chances tonight with Guthrie going on the hill?
91
Roch,
I am from Baltimore but live down in WV coaching football at a college and don't have the luxury of having the O's on TV EVER. Is there a free link somewhere to watch it online? Thanks Roch! Huge O's fan here and I miss watching them on TV!
Testing, Testing, i..2...3..
Roch, Disappointing result to the game but overall a pretty good effort. I agree with Trembley's post game comments. Too many opportunities missed and Gonzalez is a worry. Love the new site ! Will look for you on Friday,
idiot. You're going to try and burn Millwood's performance against one of the top 3 teams in the AL. Why don't you just stay on the old site.
Ohman seems to have the mental makeup going for him. Gonzalez is more of a finesse pitcher, which is hard for a long-term sense as a closer. I would love to see Ohman get a chance to close if Gonzalez continues to falter.
PS. I had no idea that this makeover was happening. Nice.
Am I still sleeping?
Great blog and great new site. Too bad we still can't get a "NEXT" and "PREVIOUS" button to navigate from on entry to another.
As for last night, too many missed opportunities with RISP, and a bad first impression from Gonzales. An opening night road win would've set the appropriate precedent for the season.
Site looks good. Much easier to navigate around. good job MASN.
Keep on Roch'ing in the free world!
BMS I will second that idiot comment, Paul you say Millwood's performance won't cut it against good teams so I guess you are saying TB is not a quality team. Put them in any other division and they would be the favorites to win that Division except for maybe the NL east due to the Phillies. Also, to rip Tejada performance, did you watch the game. He handle himself well at third and hit some very hard ball but just right at people, that happens in baseball and if you were a real fan you would know that. I like what BMS said, stay at the old site.
Hey Roch, tough way to open the season.
After watching Mike Gonzalez fold like a cheap tent under pressure last night, and with potentially $16 million being given to our newly annointed closer over the next 2 years, are we starting to regret McPhail's knee-jerk early signings of (wanna-be closer), Mike Gonzalez and our $5 million #8 hitter in Garrett (born again) Atkins?
Gonzo's going to have to wipe Trembley's sweat off the ball when Trembley hands it tho him in the 9th inning at Fenway or Yankee stadium. Welcome to the American League East Mr. Gonzalez our Newly Annointed Closer! I here the grounds crew is still cleaning up the turd you left on the mound last night.
Just a few things:
- Roch, love your blog, but what did they do to the website? Yuck.
- Didn't watch last night because I was shamefully watching American Idol, but I was keeping up with the score and for some reason thought we had the game won and stopped checking. Yea, I probably shouldn't have so much faith that the O's can hold a 1 or 2 run lead in the 9th. Perhaps we will have a backwards season where we are horrible in the beginning and burst out later in the season. : )
Oh well...... that was only 1 game.
PS - I hate Tejada..... send him back to the Astros
Roch, nice new design on the site. Kudos to the web geeks.
Tough loss last night. 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position was especially brutal. I think the omen was second and third, no outs and we get nothing. Atkins popup on the first pitch was the key at bat to me. I don't like the prospects of a win tonight with Homer Guthrie going against Garza but we can all hope.
Luke Scott looked like he was about to cry during his post game interview with Amber. I've yet to read any comments from any other players after the game. Hopefully they didn't run and hide.
MDP,
There is a 'next' and 'previous' now...it's at the end of the blog post, with the title of the next or previous entry.
Hi Roch , we are gonna be in Baltimore for opening day are you gonna be out and about in the stadium so we can say hello? Ed
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Yep. Give me a shout. - Roch
Ohman was a great sign by the O's..hope he keeps it up all year long...we need to get back on track tonight and take the series winning the next 2 games...
A fun game to watch last night!
A true nail biter to the end.
I hope the O's work on hitting with runners on a little better?
Too many times we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 0 or 1 out only to see them stranded. Gonzales looks terrible. And the same with Atkins!
Last night was our turn to hit some round trippers! Tonight will be TB with Guthrie on the mound.
Why is he our number 2 starter? You would think Matusz would be? Is it my imagination or has Tejada really slowed running the bases?
I'm not sure why anyone would expect any better from Gonzo. After all, he blew 7 of 17 (41%) save opportunities last year, I saw him pitch twice in Sarasota and he looked brutally bad, wild high the entire time.
Tejada deserves to be ripped. Without looking at the exact number, prior to his last at bat, he saw no more than 8 pitches combined over 4 at bats. There's no excuse for that, especially from someone hitting clean up. He was and is a rally killer and needs to be hitting 6th at this point.
Charles,
Yes I did watch the game. And what I saw from Millwood was base runners, base runners and more base runners! Tejada, a nice pick at third but when the box score is made official a HITLESS night!
Adtkins - a failed signing. Mark my words, that is how he will be remembered!
Ohman- he pitched like the version from 2008-9.
The Orioles stink when it comes to putting the game away. Same ole Same ole in birdland!
Cant wait for Matusz to pitch, atleast we have a chance that night!
91
Where there's a Will, there's a way new website design?
I'm just glad there isn't an off day today. Let's hope that Gonzo has a chance to redeem himself today, and we finish today 1-1.
Let's go Guthrie!
Guts going tonight, sounds like 0-2 to me
I agree that Millwood was not as great as some might be implying but, the Rays ARE one of the best teams in all of MLB.
Tejada hit the ball real hard a couple of times, a bit of poor luck.
I'm not crazy about Atkins either (not "Adkins" - second stupid mistake on your part which just further proves that you don't really know what you are talking about and are just here to be an ass)
Gonzalez' results were horrible and I'm very disappointed, but he did show some velocity that was not present during Spring Training.
Just overall horrible job hitting with RISP, capped by an awful performance by Gonzalez. Still, however, some positives to take away - Jones, Wieters, Albers, Johnson
Losses like this hurt that much more because of the lack of confidence I have in Guthrie right now. I hope he steps up and proves me wrong tonight. If the O's had pulled it out last night we would have had a real good chance at taking the series. Now, not so sure.
Cool site. Feels cleaner and more streamlined.
I definitely appreciate MASN helping O's fans feel like at least *something* has changed since last year!
Let's go, O's--we want a win tonight!
A really nice change. Congratulations to the people who did the work. But some of the same foolishness from Paul et.al. who have nothing to offer but I think are very angry and this blog makes them feel important.
It was a great baseball game last night. One that shows what a great game baseball is and when you consider you have the next 6 months to enjoy it you have to feel good about life.
Holy new site Batman! Love it - love the 'next' link.
Swanky new web design to start the new season. I will not be able to emotionally handle another 161 games like last nights'. We need more than solo homeruns and tight leads going into the 9th.
I'm blaming this loss on Atkins who popped out on the FIRST pitch he saw with runners at 2nd and 3rd and no outs. You need to make that pitcher sweat a little and just hit the ball to the right side. It should never have been a 1 run game in the 9th. I really hope Atkins is on a short leash.
Good rewrite of the site as I mentioned, it's to bad that they didn't incorporate a "thumbs up/thumbs down" option in the comments section however.
I do like the reply option, here's hoping the programmers aren't done tweaking it.
I like the new site. Only complaint is that Jack made it through the conversion. Too bad he wasn't misplaced on the internets.
Tough game last night. I should have known when I switched back from watching "Lost" that, well... it's just too easy.
A lot of bright spots though, including Ohman (I always think of the guy from Office Space who makes the "Oh-face" when I see his name; he kinda looks like that guy too).
If he keeps it up perhaps Ohman would have some trade value, especially if Perez gets his time in a AAA and can make the jump to be the lefty specialist (or is it too early to say, closer?:).
I hope Guthrie puts together a quality start tonight and ends all of that ST talk. Got to get the bats going when it counts. Put Gonzo back out there; he'll be fine.
GO O'S!
Thanks for the sleepless night Mr. Gonzo.
Any thoughts on your new mug shot Roch? Theyre getting better and better, no?
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It's actually an old one. Publicity photos the day that I started at MASN. - Roch
Leave it up to Trembley to screw things up. Gonzales was having a bad spring. He needs a 2-run lead to gain confidence. I would have left Johnson in for the 9th and use Gonzalez only if needed to get a lefty out. I realize it was a lefty that got a hit off him,but the circumstances could have been different.
If Trembley continues to micro-manage the games instead of using baseball flow of the game instincts, then he may not last until the end of April.
Hey Roch
This website ROCHS!
Yesterday 105.7 had a discussion about the O during the Anthem. Do you think it is disrespectful?
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Don't know what usually happens on the air during that time. - Roch
Can we all please go back to ritually ignoring Paul et al?
He's here for a reason: to get a rise out of people. He isn't here to talk baseball. He isn't here to engage in conversation with anyone. He's here for one reason, and one reason only. Why give it to him?
Enough already. Just ignore him. He writes the same thing every post anyway. He's a rodent in a hamster wheel. Let it be.
Paul, I assume the 91 is you counting down from the 92 losses you predicted. Why even bother? Why watch? You clearly have nothing but negative things to say, and are 100% pessimistic about the team.
I understand that last night looked like last year again. Terrible situational hitting, 5 innings from a starter and blowing a lead.
How about AJ having one of the best at bats of his career and then going deep opposite field, markakis throwing someone out, Albers getting out of trouble with a much needed DP ball. Last year that would have been a blowout when albers came it, and it would have never made it to the 9th. Also our starter (though only 5 innings) would not have pitched out of trouble inning after inning. He may have not had his best stuff, but that was some serious battling by millwood. Sucks that gonzo couldn't seal the deal, but atleast we were in a poistion to win late in the game. We didn't play well and had a chance to win, something that was not very common in years past.
Playoff team? probably not.
Chance at .500 and a step in the right direction? its about time.
Best opening day squad in 13 years, and I'm excited to watch this team this year. Tough loss, still got 161 games left
Roch-
Love the new site. Very snappy. lol.
Anyway, my favorite comment of the night was the guy who said "I just plain out HATE this team".
I almost died. Its 1 game, but, I know exactly what he means, sort of. I don't hate them, but they do disappoint us like crazy. Ha.
I look at it like this. They know they are not going to the playoffs. The best thing about this team, and I know its a team sport and a team thing, but its going to be watching individual performance for another season. The front office can say its now about wins and losses, but, we know thats not the case.
I still want to win as many as possible.
Do you think it might have been a bad thing that the first series was down there? Like, it still will feel like spring training until they make the trip back home? It didn't seem like there was much intensity.
While Gonzo's effort was pathetic (he did throw harder than in ST but it was perfectly straight and right down the middle), it never should have been a 1 run lead in the 9th. The LOB number is more of a concern. They can always replace Atkins, who looked pretty bad at the plate, with Wiggy (then we'd have Miggy and Wiggy on the corners) but they will need to hit better with men on base or it will be a longer season than we all hoped for.
Roch, nice new digs! I would question why MASN decided to do this the day after opening day and not the day before opening day (new look, new season, etc.), but that would just be nitpicking. It’s a good thing for the change. I saw in some of yesterday’s comments where, evidently because of the loss of the first game of the season, the O’s will now lose 100 games and Brian Roberts should’ve been traded some time in the past. All right, time to retool!
Rough way to lose that game. Perhaps the O’s should’ve scored more runs throughout the game, but it comes down to Gonzalez at the end who was brought in to protect a one-run lead (his job, no matter what happens before in the game), and he blew it. Trembley is just following the formula of most modern-day managers—get about six innings out of your starter, then go to the guys in their designated slotted innings. This might work for teams like Boston and New York, who have better talent filling these roles. For teams like the O’s, though, the more you go to the bullpen, the more likely you’ll get a pitcher who lays an egg because the talent level isn’t as good.
If Gonzalez lasts the season as closer, he’ll probably end up like many closers—25 to 30 saves, with maybe 6to 9 blown saves (I would’ve said this before last night’s game). If you had the stomach for it and found such numbers acceptable, it seems like you could almost put anyone in this position and have them be your closer. There aren’t many elite closers like Rivera, Papelbon, Nathan (before his injury), and Hoffman out there, guys who are lights out just about every time they come in.
I still don’t fault the signing of Gonzalez. The club needed a veteran reliever. I fault the conventional wisdom that someone like Gonzalez—an overall decent reliever but middle of the road closer—being the guy automatically called upon to close out a game.
Funny how everyone is bashing Gonzalez,Tejada,Atkins today because we lost. If we would have won, Gonzalez would have been a "great signing", Tejada would have "had some tough outs", and Atkins would have gotten "hey, it's his first game". But now, Gonzalez is a bust, Tejada and Atkins are washed up and worthless.
Gotta look at this game as progress! We found a way to stay in the game despite missing alot of opportunities. Last year, we would have gotten frustrated, pitching would have given up more runs, and we would have lost 6-3.
Paul,
I have to agree that the box score still shows it was a hitless night but you can't call that a bad signing after one game, you just can't. If Tejada hit .290, 15 HRS, 80 Rbi's then I think you will have to give Andy some credit for a good deal. All the while Bell is getting ready in Triple A. So I cannot agree with you that Tejada is a bad deal.
Atkins on the other hand the jury is still out, I am not willing to agree with you that is it a bad deal yet but time will tell. I cannot write a guy off like you can after one game. I can tell you I am not as optimistic about what his production will but I am still hopefully he will have a descent year but again only time will tell.
Watching the game this morning it looked like Trembely left Millwood in too long. He really labored to get through the 5th and Albers should have been bought in to start the inning. He was out of gas when he gave up that booming shot to longoria. Boy,Roberts left a lot of runners stranded. He doesn't look real loose swinging to me.
Thanks Ellis...
Paul, the more you write the less credibilty you have. You said:
"Millwood - AKA Houdini He pitched out of trouble most of the night and escaped. 10 runners allowed in 5 innings is not going to cut it against the good teams"
Hello!...that WAS against a good team, and it DID cut it. He left w/ a win. That's his job to hold the other team to less runs than your team. I personally thouhgt he pitched like a pro. Please just go away. Tired of reading your same old stupid stuff.
Paul | April 7, 2010 9:44 AM | Reply
As I mentioned yesterday, you cant expect players to all of a sudden up their game when the lights come on.
Lets look at a few of the off season acquisitions and how they performed:
Gonzalez - He pitched the same as he has all spring long, terrible! Somehow he didnt turn his game up when the lights came on...hmmmmmm
Tejada & Adkins- Our offseason power acquisitions had a wonderful night. They combined to go 1 for 9 wooo hooo!
Millwood - AKA Houdini He pitched out of trouble most of the night and escaped. 10 runners allowed in 5 innings is not going to cut it against the good teams.
This team left off right where they finished last year. The song is the same. The lyrics read runners left on, no timely hits, horrendous bullpen and most of all, the starters cannot make it past the 5th inning!
DT said "We said that when the season started and the lights went on, all our guys would come out stepping their game up, and I think you saw that from everybody"
HELLOOOOO DAVE ! What game were you watching! And the players who had a horrible spring training .....continued. They DID NOT step their game up like you think. Dont try and force feed the orange drink to us!
A long season my friends!
Who is excited about our chances tonight with Guthrie going on the hill?
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And as I mentioned yesterday, you can tell your lies over and over but they don't magically turn unto the truth. You persist in knowingly, maliciously and intentionally telling lies. No one characterized Atkins or Tejada as power hitters so no matter how many times you lie for the sole purpose of character assassination, you are still just a liar. The FACT of the matter is that most here agreed that MIggy would bring average but not the power he once showed. Next, the Rays are as good as anyone and we had them beaten until the end, long after Millwood was out of the game, so another of your characterizations we can throw out the window. And to put your obsession in perspective, you ignored the three homers, ignored outstanding (not horrendous as you call the bullpen) performances by Johnson and Ohman, ignored Tejada handling chances cleanly at a new position. Yet you ignored all of this because you are so emotionally invested in the failure of this team that you would rather tell outright lies than admit that anything good happened in a balanced presentation of the facts.
Right on the money.
Charles replied to comment from Paul | April 7, 2010 11:18 AM | Reply
Paul,
I have to agree that the box score still shows it was a hitless night but you can't call that a bad signing after one game, you just can't. If Tejada hit .290, 15 HRS, 80 Rbi's then I think you will have to give Andy some credit for a good deal. All the while Bell is getting ready in Triple A. So I cannot agree with you that Tejada is a bad deal.
Atkins on the other hand the jury is still out, I am not willing to agree with you that is it a bad deal yet but time will tell. I cannot write a guy off like you can after one game. I can tell you I am not as optimistic about what his production will but I am still hopefully he will have a descent year but again only time will tell.
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Charles, you obviously havent been around here very long. Of course he can call the Miggy signing a bad signing after one outing. It is the pattern with the group who pretend to be fans but prefer to see ONLY the bad and never acknowledge anything good that happens. Brummie didnt have to ever see Hobgood pitch before calling him a "wasted pick". Jack didnt have to let Hobgood even sign a contract before calling him a bust. Someone last night called the minor leaguers we got for Sherrill a bag of balls and I would guess they have never seen Bell or Johnson play. These posters emotionally invested in the failure of the team do not need to be honest, balanced, reasonable or accountable.Sucks but get used to it..
Hey Paul,
The Rays are a good team. Many outlets are predicting that they will either win the AL East, or snag the wild card, bumping either the Sox or Yanks out of the playoffs. The fact that Millwood held them to 2 runs on 10 baserunners is a credit to his pitching.
Wow!, this new site is going to take some getting use to...
Had a heck of time trying to find the link the MASN Fantasy Baseball...
And some links don' work...
Got to see my first MASN broadcast via the web last night. Streaming was a little choppy near the end of the game. Miggy really ripped the ball on the last at bat -- too bad it was right at the left fielder. The blown opportunity by the team earlier in the game (men at 2nd/3rd with no outs) did not help either. Really need to get some hits when men are in scoring position.
Go Orioles!
Josh,
I haven't found a free site, but i would recommend mlb.tv it is 100 for the year and you can get 20 off if you do the sports illustrated offer(just remember to cancel before your free subscription runs out) I used it all last year and if you are an O's addict and can't stand missing the games, it is worth the money.