Steve Melewski

Post-game notes: O's win Fenway finale

April 25, 2010, 2:53pm

Orioles

Not made of clay: Cla Meredith picked up his first career save after 271 Major League appearances as the O's beat Boston 7-6 Sunday in ten innings. Meredith got the final two outs to strand runners at first and second. The O's trailed 4-1 after six but scored three in the 7th to tie it and three in the top of the tenth for the lead. The O's improve to 3-16 with the win and end the road trip at 2-8. They also snapped a ten-game losing streak with Boston posting their first win over the...

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Meredith and the O's hang on to win

April 25, 2010, 1:24pm

Orioles

The O's hung on for a 7-6 win Sunday at Boston. Cla Meredith got the final two outs to record the save after 271 career appearances without a save. Cla Meredith talks with Mark Viviano about his first career save I would use him in a save situation on Tuesday. Not kidding, he did the job for one day and with this bullpen right now that qualifies him to get a second day. On the upside, the O's offense has started to hit. The offense produced 13 runs on 31 hits the past two games. The...

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Arrieta: "I think I'm ready"

April 25, 2010, 11:01am

Orioles

After a dominant outing for Triple-A Norfolk Saturday night vs. Charlotte, Jake Arrieta is certainly doing his part to prove he is ready for a shot at the Major Leagues. His 2-0, 0.36 start has sure created buzz around Birdland, where we'll take all the pitching help we can get. Saturday, Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. He has now made 21 starts at Triple-A level counting last year and his time could be at hand. "The learning experience that he got last year...

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Arrieta and Avery lead the way in the minors

April 25, 2010, 6:31am

Orioles

Arrieta and Avery lead the way in the minors

Jake Arrieta and Xavier Avery continued their recent success in the O's minors on Saturday. Arrieta pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit ball as Norfolk topped Charlotte 4-2. The right-hander is now 2-0, 0.36 on the year. He has allowed just 1 ER in 25 innings this year to lead the International League in ERA. Last night, he walked one and fanned a career-high 11 batters. The Tides have won three of four games and are 7-10. Norfolk has hit eight homers over its last four games but...

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Saturday night meltdown, pen gives it up again

April 24, 2010, 7:41pm

Orioles

Saturday night meltdown, pen gives it up again

Here are some postgame notes from the O's latest loss on Saturday. The raw numbers: The Orioles fall to 2-16 with Saturday's 7-6 loss to Boston. They are 1-8 on a road trip that now has one game remaining. The Orioles have lost ten in a row vs. Boston and are 2-21 vs. the Sox since 9-1-08. The Orioles have lost 15 of their last 16 games at Fenway Park. The Orioles fall to 1-6 in one-run games and are 1-9 on the year in games decided by two runs or less. He deserved much better: Brian...

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My kingdom for a bullpen

April 24, 2010, 6:24pm

Orioles

As we watched the Orioles bullpen implode again tonight, wasting Brian Matusz's outstanding start at Fenway Park, the question now becomes what can be done to help this bullpen? Maybe the only current alternative is to switch around some roles among the pen pitchers. Dave Trembley has switched the lineup, maybe now he has to do it here. Maybe Alberto Castillo and Mark Hendrickson, maybe even Will Ohman, pitch in more late-inning roles. The fans want Jason Berken in some key spots late. ...

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No lead is safe (updated)

April 24, 2010, 5:26pm

Orioles

What is left to say? The Orioles bullpen is the worst in baseball. Matt Albers just gave up a three-run homer to Marco Scutaro as Boston takes a 4-3 lead in the seventh. It costs Brian Matusz a possible win and he sure deserved better than that. For Matusz this year, more of his runs score after he leaves the game than when he is in the ballgame. The O's are getting good starting pitching this year. The problem is, at some point, they have to turn to the bullpen. Last night, the pen...

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That was pretty cool (updated)

April 24, 2010, 3:39pm

Orioles

I think it's time we start a Rhyne Hughes fan club. In his first at bat ever in the Major Leagues tonight, Hughes ripped a groundball RBI single to right to give the O's a 2-0 lead. He came up in the second inning with no outs and runners on first and third. He drove the first pitch into right field. He got his first big league hit off John Lackey. In his first at bat he did something most O's hitters have not done well this year - drive home a runner that was in scoring position. He...

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O's build a winning feeling with Matusz on the mound

April 24, 2010, 1:09pm

Orioles

O's build a winning feeling with Matusz on the mound

The Orioles are 2-1 in games started by Brian Matusz this year and 0-14 when anyone else is the starting pitcher. That is not a knock on the other starters, who have mostly done a solid job. But the team seems to be developing that winning feeling and confidence when the 23-year-old lefty is on the mound. Matusz is 7-2, 4.55 in 11 career Major League starts. Of course, the real test for any O's pitcher is how do they stack up vs. the AL East, baseball's best division. Not only does the...

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Did Darnell McDonald save Boston's season?

April 24, 2010, 8:06am

Orioles

Did Darnell McDonald save Boston's season?

Is it a stretch to say that it's been such a tough start for the Orioles that now former O's first-round picks long since forgotten are now helping O's division rivals out of their doldrums? That is exactly what happened with Darnell McDonald and the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. Boston entered Tuesday's game with Texas at 4-9 and with five losses in a row. The Sox trailed 6-2 after five innings. But McDonald, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, hit a pinch-hit, game-tying,...

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Did the O's callup Rhyne Hughes?

April 23, 2010, 9:54pm

According to his Facebook page, Rhyne Hughes said he has been called up to the Majors by the Orioles. Hughes wrote on his page late Friday night "got the CALL! Thanking God for this blessing and opportunity! See you in Boston!!" I saw this first posted on the Camden Chat website. Hughes went 0 for 3 Friday night for Norfolk vs. Charlotte. He began this year with an 11-game batting streak and in 15 games with the Tides was hitting .353-3-11 with an OPS of 1.088. The 26-year-old lefty...

Some stats, facts and commentary after a loss at Boston

April 23, 2010, 8:57pm

Orioles

Some stats, facts and commentary after a loss at Boston

They fall at Fenway: Boston's run against the O's bullpen in the 8th Friday gave the Sox a 4-3 win over the Orioles. The game starts a stretch of 12 straight vs. the Red Sox and Yankees. The Birds fall to 2-15 on the year with four losses in a row. They are 1-7 with two games left on the road trip. The Orioles, who went 2-16 last year vs. Boston, are 1-14 in their last 15 games at Fenway Park. They have lost nine in a row vs. Boston since a win on 7-26-09. Boston is 20-2 vs. the...

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Frustration at Fenway

April 23, 2010, 6:49pm

Orioles

If it's the late innings we have come to expect the Orioles bullpen to fail to get the job done this year. It happened again Friday night at Boston. J.D. Drew led off the 8th in a 3-3 tie with a single off Matt Albers. Two ground balls later, he was on third with two outs. Will Ohman came on and walked Victor Martinez and David Ortiz to load the bases. He fell behind Martinez 2-0 and then issued an intentional walk. Jim Johnson came on to face Adrian Beltre and threw strike one. Then...

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O's tie it, 3-3 in 8th (w-updates)

April 23, 2010, 4:11pm

Orioles

The O's trailed the Red Sox 2-0 after three frames at Fenway. In the Boston second, David Ortiz, hitting .146 with no homers, hit a homer out to left center on a Jeremy Guthrie 2-1 pitch. Guthrie had retired the first five batters. In the Sox third, Guthrie walked number eight hitter Jeremy Hermida to lead the inning and he reached third before scoring on a J.D Drew sac fly. After throwing just 12 pitches in the first, Guthrie threw 19 in the second and 29 in the third for 60 on the...

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Some Orioles do hit Lester

April 23, 2010, 3:07pm

Orioles

While tonight's Red Sox starter, Jon Lester, is 10-0, 2.39 in 12 career starts vs. the Orioles, some Birds in tonight's lineup have good stats vs. Lester. Here is how tonight's lineup fares vs. Lester: Montanez: 1-2 Jones: 5-19 Markakis: 7-35 Tejada: 4-9 Wigginton: 6-13 Wieters: 5-9 Reimold: 3-6 Atkins: 0-0 Izturis: 2-6 If you add that up you get 33 for 99, an average of .333. Maybe the slumping O's can get to Lester tonight. Lester has an ERA of 8.44 on the year and has given...

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Tejada returns and Lou stays at the top

April 23, 2010, 11:45am

Orioles

Dave Trembley was just on the Scott Garceau show on MASN and O's flagship station, 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore and said that Miguel Tejada will return to the lineup tonight after missing four games with a hip injury. Tejada last played last Saturday at Oakland when he went 3 for 3. He is batting .239-2-7 on the year. He is 3 for 11 on the road trip. Lou Montanez batted leadoff Wednesday night at Seattle and went 2 for 4. Trembley said he would bat leadoff tonight at Fenway Park. The...

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When will some O's hit to their track record? (w/minors roster move)

April 23, 2010, 10:05am

Orioles

When will some O's hit to their track record? (w/minors roster move)

Coming off a series where they scored four total runs, hit .184 as a team and went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, the Orioles begin a series at Fenway Park in Boston tonight. Maybe in a park famous for offense the Orioles will find some. Some fans have said of the O's offense that they are just this bad and no one should be surprised. I don't buy that for a second. While no one, me included, expected huge numbers from the offense, it would just be nice to see some of the...

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Surprisingly bad Red Sox stats

April 22, 2010, 8:03pm

Orioles

When the Red Sox lost 3-0 to Texas on Thursday night, the Sox fell to 6-10 on the year and 2-5 on their current ten-game homestand. The Sox are off to their worst 16-game start since the 1996 team was 3-13. Here is an amazingly bad Red Sox stat. Their catchers have combined to throw out one runner all year in 37 attempts. That is not wrong, I checked it three times. Victor Martinez has thrown out just 1 of 26 base stealers and Jason Varitek is 0 for 11. (Matt Wieters has thrown out 5 of...

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Mike Griffin talks about working with Bergesen and Arrieta

April 22, 2010, 11:25am

Orioles

Mike Griffin talks about working with Bergesen and Arrieta

After going 0-2, 12.19 in his first three starts this year for the Orioles, pitcher Brad Bergesen was sent to Triple-A Norfolk to work out his issues and try to get his sinker back. There he will be reunited with pitching coach Mike Griffin. In 2008, Bergesen went 15-6, 3.22 at Bowie with Griffin as pitching coach. Bergesen was expected to arrive in Norfolk today and Griffin will be waiting. "First of all, he and I will sit down and talk and find out exactly what he feels and thinks. ...

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Norfolk pitching coach talks about Chris Tillman

April 22, 2010, 6:01am

Orioles

Norfolk pitching coach talks about Chris Tillman

Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin said he is not concerned about Tides pitcher Chris Tillman, who is 0-3, 8.38 on the year through three starts. The leading candidate to be the Orioles fifth starter in March, Tillman has allowed 17 hits in 9 2/3 on the year and got knocked out when he gave up four runs in the first inning of his last start on Sunday. "Right now he is working on some things from spring training. That is what we are concentrating on with his side days," Griffin said. ...