Said it before and I'll say it again...

[obibyn]

Fuck Brian Matusz...he is a piece of shit. Please....I dont want to hear any excuses for this asshole...all he does is give up big runs in tight games.

 

[Youngfan9886]

There was plenty of blame to go around....a lot of our pitchers either couldn't throw strikes or hung a bunch of pitches. And you have to give some credit to the royals.....for a team that doesn't hit hrs, they are on some tear. I think the O's are more talented but that doesn't really matter in a series sometimes.

 

[Elginbaylor]

-O'day cannot get lefties out anymore. He's back to being the 2013 O'day with .922 OPS vs Left.
5 of last 9 hits given up by O'day have been HRs. That's 5 HRs in 11 innings.
The last 5 hits given up by O'day to lefties have been HR, HR HR, Double, HR.

-The three big Royal lefty hitters have hit 6 HRs in 5 postseason games. So Buck needs to find a solution fast.

-Zack Britton was probably tired from his newborn and flying cross-country, or he didn't have the time to do his workouts. Nice job with the family planning.

-If Royals go with Vargas(L) and Guthrie(R) in games 3 and 4, then Orioles will have the advantage in starting pitching. I know Buck doesn't want Delmon Young in left with Chen pitching. But he needs to think hard because the game 3 starter will be the game 7 starter.

 

[tedman2012]

the homeplate ump put on a great show he was terrible . reason again you track the balls and a machine calls balls and strike he cost us runs . davis would have made that play at first that later cost us 3 runs . it is a joke when joe west is the crew cheif . on to game 2 but then again they worked ab and we swung at balls and aj is no where to be found .

 

[jeffro151]

the homeplate ump put on a great show he was terrible . reason again you track the balls and a machine calls balls and strike he cost us runs . davis would have made that play at first that later cost us 3 runs . it is a joke when joe west is the crew cheif . on to game 2 but then again they worked ab and we swung at balls and aj is no where to be found .

Yep that umpire was terrible last night. KC definitely was the benefactor of the expanding strike zone through the first 6 innings. O's finally started getting some calls towards the end of the game.

 

[kcvet]

Yep that umpire was terrible last night. KC definitely was the benefactor of the expanding strike zone through the first 6 innings. O's finally started getting some calls towards the end of the game.

With that logic, one could say that the O's got shut down too since they didnt have any HR's.

 

[jeffro151]

Shitty troll is shitty. ^

 

[kcvet]

Shitty troll is shitty. ^

shitty troll started it to

 

[kcvet]

 

[jeffro151]

shitty troll started it to

Show me where I was on the KC board? Go ahead, I'll wait.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Fuck Brian Matusz...he is a piece of shit. Please....I dont want to hear any excuses for this asshole...all he does is give up big runs in tight games.

If Tillman didn't become a mental midget after that first homerun last night, we probably wouldn't have even seen Matusz in the game. Reminded me too much of Daniel Cabrera in that aspect. Allow a baserunner and then the wheels come off. This is why we need to sign one of these Ace starters in the offseason, first round pick be damned. Tillman is NOT an ace, no matter how much the media and the Orioles organization wants to make us believe it.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Two thoughts:

1. Let's not forget that even aces can get shelled in the postseason. (Just look at what happened to Kershaw this year.) As much as I agree that the rotation still needs an upgrade, I still think it would be a better idea to minimize the effect of random variable by having above-average starters across the board as opposed to one ace plus four league-average guys.

2. Besides, there's another way to improve your chances in the postseason besides getting an ace: Just rearrange your rotation order.

But at least knowing you have a guy that can go at least 7 innings is better than having a bunch of guys that can't even get through the 5th.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

This probably qualifies as "overreaction of the day"... but part of me wonders if there are adjustments that Buck could try for the rest of the series. Unfortunately, I don't see many options:

* The first thing that comes to my mind is giving O'Day and Britton a break-- it seems to me that they're on a cold streak (for an analogy, consider Pedro Strop in 2012 and Jim Johnson in 2013). One option might be making Miller the closer, but someone still needs to pitch in the 6th through 8th innings.

* What about the option of having someone warm up in the bullpen throughout the game so that a quick hook could be applied at any time? Possible, but this tactic isn't really sustainable beyond a game or two... and there's no guarantee that you would actually give up fewer runs.

* Maybe Buck could try juggling the lineup? Until today, Jones hadn't been hitting well this postseason so far (0.465 OPS as of 10/10), and the same can be said of Pearce (0.431 OPS as of today). If you really wanted to, starting Lough in CF instead of Jones for one game might be an option, but is there a way to sit Pearce for one game? That would require putting Markakis at 1B, which means shifting De Aza to RF and Cruz to LF... but that would downgrade the defense.

Bottom line: I'm really running out of ideas...

 

[Youngfan9886]

There is no doubt in my mind, that the O's are the better team. But KC just looks like they have the baseball gods on their side. They are getting lucky bloop hits whenever they need it or they have their #9 hitter that was in the minors this year looking like Babe Ruth. And even with having an idiot of a manager, they are winning despite him. Obviously, the O's still have a slim shot but it looks real slim if KC continues to slug way above their season numbers. This almost reminds me of the Rockies a couple years ago. If we can just break their momentum, I could see them collapsing. But the only thing that broke the Rockies momentum was the break in between the NLCS and world series...Hopefully we can beat Guthrie and put the pressure on.

 

[jeffro151]

I'm not worried one bit. The O's have shown throughout the year that they can battle back against just about anything.

 

[tedman2012]

I'm not worried one bit. The O's have shown throughout the year that they can battle back against just about anything.

yep but when these umps can't call pitches both ways ! we are done our team isn't going to work the pitchers . btw pearce is lost at the plate and i think his wrist are killing him .

 

[hattersgonnahate]

I'm not worried one bit. The O's have shown throughout the year that they can battle back against just about anything.

yep but when these umps can't call pitches both ways ! we are done our team isn't going to work the pitchers . btw pearce is lost at the plate and i think his wrist are killing him .

The Orioles do need to win the next two games to have a fighting chance, though. It wouldn't be easy, but I could see it happening for the following reasons:

* Chen should be able to do better in a pitcher's park against a starting lineup that includes 4 lefties.
* Gonzalez ended the regular season on a high note (1.69 ERA / 1.09 WHIP in September). In fact, you could argue that he's the "real" ace of this team as opposed to Tillman from the standpoint of full-season and post-all star ERA.

 

[Elginbaylor]

O'day served up another bomb in game 2 to their catcher, but he was lucky it went foul.
O'day was also lucky vs Tigers when Torre Hunter lined into the double play before Miguel Cabrera's home run.
That's 3 bombs in 3 innings. He just has trouble locating his pitches.

 

[skinz2winz]

We really need tonight's game to get some momentum back. We have been out pitched, out hit and out played defensively. We are really missing our 3 stars right now. The way KC is swinging the bat, it's obvious how confident they are. Our glaring weakness is starting pitching as we trot out a bunch of 3-4-5 guys which is really all we have. I would like to see Gonzales get a start.

 

[kcvet]

We really need tonight's game to get some momentum back. We have been out pitched, out hit and out played defensively. We are really missing our 3 stars right now. The way KC is swinging the bat, it's obvious how confident they are. Our glaring weakness is starting pitching as we trot out a bunch of 3-4-5 guys which is really all we have. I would like to see Gonzales get a start.

may not be a game tonite. weather forcast looking bad