The End Of The Adam Eaton Error

I am rolling with posts today, so I figure I'll keep up the momentum with some O's stuff.

Last night, the Orioles were taken to the woodshed one more time by the New York Yankees, to the tune of a 7-4 loss. In the three game series, the Yankees hammered O's pitchers for 27 runs in three games. Should we call this the Great New York Orange and Blackout of 2009? The game last night was notable because it will likely mark the end of pitcher Adam Eaton's time with the O's.

In all my years watching the Orioles, I must say, I have yet to come across someone as bad at his job as Eaton. Sure, in this decade-plus of futility, the O's have had lots of shitty pitchers: Mike DeJean, Mike Fetters, Daniel Cabrera, Sidney Ponson, Jorge Julio, the list could go on. But Eaton was as awful as I have seen anyone who has ever put on an Orioles uniform. I mean, look at this stat line:

2009 BAL 8 8 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 41.0 56 39 39 9 19 28 8.56 1.83 .322

The key stats in that line? How about an 8.56 ERA, a 1.83 WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched)and a .322 batting average against. For those that do not know much about baseball, that is god awful. To really put it in perspective how shitty Eaton is, look at the numbers 39 and 41. 39 is his earned runs allowed and 41 is his innings pitched. That means Eaton gave up almost one earned run for every inning pitched! Last night pretty much summed up the entire Eaton experience. He gave up doubles to the first three Yankees he faced and was down 6-0 before the end of the 2nd inning. How is a young team not supposed to be demoralized by that? The worst part is, everybody except Andy McPhail and Dave Trembley knew Eaton was going to get raked by the red-hot Yanks.

But enough words. I'm going to let someone else do the talking. Here's a classic rant by legendary Chicago Blackhawks announcer Pat Foley on one-time Hawks defenceman Alexander Karpovtsev, who at that time, had just been traded to the New York Islanders. Now, as you are listening to this, just sub in the name "Adam Eaton" for "Alexander Karpovtsev" and "Baltimore Orioles" for "Chicago Blackhawks." Foley's end quote sums up exactly how every O's fan feels about Eaton: "Good riddance."

Red Sox 6 Orioles 4

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party on last night's Orioles game but I was in Ocean City without access to my laptop. I was with a buddy of mine and a bunch of his work colleagues. Fortunately, the place we had dinner at had a TV in the bar, and even better, I had a clear view of it from my seat. Since we were dining at a pricey Italian restaurant, the food took forever so I did get to watch the whole game. I love multi-tasking.

Before I get into the recap, while I'm on the topic of Ocean City, Maryland, allow me to go on a quick tangent about the place we ended up, an enormous bar called Seacrets. Most of you that have been to or lived in the Mid-Atlantic and visited Ocean City have heard of it. Quite frankly, it's lame. La-la-la-lame. But at the same time, it's one of the most ridiculous places on Earth. They have this very restrictive dress code (they wouldn't let one member of our party enter because he had a visable white undershirt) and they put you through a metal detector as you go in. As if the terrorists are going to target some beach bar in Ocean City, Maryland. Guys, I think they have better alternatives out there.

Then there are the people. Oh, the people. 95% of the guys look like they are auditioning for the newest season of "Tool Academy." Lots of bright colored polo shirts, Baby Gap size T-shirts, gelled up hair and Jersey Shore meathead swagger. The girls are all in halter tops and some of them seem to have a competition going to see who can look the most like a prostitute. We saw this one gal in hotpants that rode up all the way to her ass cheeks. It was an outfit that screamed "Slip me a Roofie!!!" As if that were not enough, the place has a bouncing dance floor, a lot of bands who cover "Laid" by James and these TV screens showing girls dancing in shadow, which generally resembles an iPod commercial. It truly is like the poor man's Sodom and Gomorrah with plenty of overpriced drinks and faux tough-guy bouncers to make it a pleasant experience for the whole family.

Ok, with that said, here were some notes I took from Saturday's game.

- Last night made it abundantly clear what the difference is between the Red Sox and the Orioles. When it comes to the lineups, the O's are right there with Boston. But when it comes to pitching, the O's are as far from Beantown as Istanbul is. Adam Eaton got the start and was awful. Again. And when the O's did get to Sox starter Josh Beckett, the Boston bullpen was able to slam the door. Baseball is all about pitching, pitching, pitching and the Boston pitching is just miles ahead of the O's at this stage of the game. They can go to an ex-World Series MVP like Beckett, while we have Eaton, who helped the Phillies win the World Series last year by not pitching for them.

- That said, Brian Bass looked much, much better than in his last relief appearance. Chris Ray, Jamie Walker and Jim Johnson also looked good. That trio can form the basis of a very good relief corps, if only the starters could give them a lead to protect.

- The O's lineup, as good as its been at the beginning of the season, is ridiculously weak in the 7-8-9 holes. Last night's trio in those spots (Gregg Zaun, Felix Pie and Cesar Izturis) went a combined 2 for 12, left 7 men on base and are all hitting under .200.

-Can't say the O's didn't get some chances. They left a whopping 17 runners on base. Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton, batting in the 4 & 5 spots respectively, left a combined 6 men on base. You need better than that from guys in prime RBI spots to beat a good team like Boston.

- Can I repeat again how awful Eaton was last night? The numbers tell it all: 4 innings, 9 hits, 2 walks and 6 earned runs. His ERA in two starts is over 11. I hope Eaton decided to rent and not buy in Baltimore. Actually, I hope he didn't rent either. For his sake, I hope he bought a timeshare because his next game of 6 earned runs might be his last.

So that's all for my commentary of last night's game. This afternoon's game just ended so I will be right back with a post on that one. For now, get used to seeing Otto von Bismarck today.


"Schiesse"

Red Sox 10 Orioles 8

Two games: 29 runs against the Orioles pitching staff. 19 of them earned. 19 earned runs in two games. I'll repeat one more time, 19 earned runs in two games. I don't know what is a more disturbing number, the 19 earned runs or the 10 unearned runs. The shame of it is, the O's offense has scored 14 runs in 2 games and LOST! That is unacceptable.

Up 7-0, having a conga line around the bases with your supposed "ace" on the hill, tonight should have been an easy time for the Orioles tonight against the Boston Red Sox. But with the O's pitching staff, nothing is easy. And that 7-0 lead evaporated faster than Lindsay Lohan's career (horrible Rick Reilly pop culture reference of the night). After two solid outings to start the season, Jeremy Guthrie reverted back to the very hittable pitcher he was in spring training and the World Baseball Classic. Guthrie walked four and was shelled for 8 hits in 4 and 2/3 innings. Yes, he should have gotten out of the 5th inning, if not for Aubrey Huff's fielding error. To quote George Steinbrenner, Huff "looked like a monkey trying to fuck a football" on that one. By that point though, Guthrie had already unraveled after the O's had staked him to that 7-0 lead. He gave up four runs in the bottom half of the second and let the Sox creep further back after a solo homer by J.D. Drew. Once Brad Penny, who spent his three innings of work walking the ballpark and giving up a grand slam to Nick Markakis in the process, was removed and the excellent Red Sox 'pen entered the picture, the O's offense couldn't keep pace.

Then again, your pitching staff shouldn't be so horrid that a seven run lead is not enough. Now, over the course of a baseball season, games like this happen sometimes. But with the O's staff, you get the eerie feeling that this isn't an isolated incident. This staff is that bad. Usually, when Guthrie or Koji Uehara pitches the team has a chance, but Guthrie didn't have it tonight. There's no way to look at tomorrow's matchup of Adam Eaton against Josh Beckett and not have a certain sense of dread. After all, the O's offense could score 6 runs against Beckett and still lose by 10. That's how bad this staff is. The worst part is, I know it will not be the last time I will write a blog post like this.

So, that's two straight losses for the Birds, both of them bad. Hopefully Beckett tomorrow looks as awful as Penny was tonight and Eaton somehow manages to channel Jim Palmer and the O's can get back on a winning track. Until next time, take it away Otto von Bismarck of the German Empire...

"Scheisse"

Rays 11 Orioles 3

Say this about the 2009 Baltimore Orioles, at least early on: When they lose, they lose spectacularly. In two losses this season, the O's have been whipped to the tune of 22-5. At least they aren't losing nailbiters.

Here at the Hangar, we don't do a lot of fancy statistical work. Hell, we just shoot from the lip and give our amateur opinions about things. Some may say, what the Hangar does is why mainstream media guys hate bloggers: just some asshole sitting in his mom's basement spewing garbage about things he doesn't understand.

Well, maybe that's true. But I don't need a press pass or a background in sabermetrics to know that Adam Eaton is not going to cut it as the O's 5th starter. He allows too many baserunners and doesn't have overpowering stuff. Eaton got himself into trouble right off the bat. He managed to get out of danger in the first inning but after loading the bases in the 2nd, the potent Rays lineup struck with a 3-run triple by Carl Crawford. All told, Eaton allowed 10 baserunners (8 hits and 2 walks) in 4 innings of work, leaving the game down 4-0. Again, I'm just some dipstick on a blog but I get the sense that's not good.

If Eaton was bad, Brian Bass was worse. Like, "I Know Who Killed Me" bad. Bass was filleted (how you like that Rick Reilly-style pun, eh?) for seven runs on eight hits, including four home runs. The only good thing you could say about Bass's outing was that he went 3 1/3 innings, saving the rest of the bullpen. But surely there has to be somebody in Norfolk or Bowie better than Bass? The guy has been flat-out lit up in two outings this year.

Oh well, the good thing about baseball is that you have another game tomorrow and after a bad outing, you can just do this...

...but it is troubling that the pitching staff looks as bad as advertised, especially in the 4th and 5th starter spots. Despite Mark Hendrickson's strong outing on Friday, it looks like Guthrie and Koji and pray for rain. Are you sure there's no way we can coax Pedro Martinez to pitch here? After all, I'd rather see Pedro get lit up for 5 runs than a guy like Eaton. Even though his fastball has lost some serious juice, you at least know Pedro is a professional who will be around the plate. Or if we can't do him, how about Chris Tillman or Jake Arrieta?

So the O's will now hit the road and travel to that place where ERAs go to blow up: Texas. I get the feeling we're going to see quite a few crooked numbers up on the scoreboard during this three game set with the Rangers. But for now, we'll close the book on a successful homestand with a bad ending. What do you think about it former Chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck?

"Scheisse"