What they're saying about the Orioles
Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:
• For a profile of Orioles left fielder Luke Scott, ESPN’s Amy K. Nelson spoke with Scott in spring training about his offseason comments about President Barack Obama not being born in the United States.
During a three-hour drive from a spring training game to the home in De Leon Springs, Fla., just north of Orlando, Scott talks about politics, race and religion. His tone is professorial, but the new mandate has had an effect: Scott says he can't talk about anybody by name, that he doesn't want to cause a distraction to his team.
Still, he talks.
"I felt tremendous about what I said, and I was proud of it," Scott says of the Obama comments. "If I could rewind and turn back the clock and go do it again, I'd say the exact same thing. I'd go home and put my head on the pillow and feel wonderful about myself. But certain things were taken and twisted."
Scott says that his overall message about accountability was missed, and it's all quite simple: He lives his life by certain principles, and chief among those is accountability. He believes in people working hard for their lot in life; he was raised very poor with little means. His family worked hard for its money, living off the land and not accepting any government assistance.
"Our forefathers got it; they got it, man," Scott says. "They took godly principles and they put them into action, and they developed our Constitution -- the land of freedom where each man is accountable and responsible for his actions. By the sweat of his brow and the effort he makes he can mark out his future, regardless of opportunity.”
• NESN’s Tony Lee says the recent struggles of the Orioles’ rotation were expected.
Nobody expected the O's pitching staff to keep up its early pace. Baltimore allowed one run in each of its first four games of the season and then had a shutout against high-powered Texas last weekend. Since then, opponents are averaging seven runs a game and the young arms that impressed so early have become hittable.
The bloom came off the rose when Jake Arrieta gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings two Saturdays ago. Chris Tillman was then rocked in a start in Yankee Stadium that lasted just 1 2/3 innings. The promising Zack Britton had his first non-quality start Friday at Cleveland, one day before Jeremy Guthrie, the one veteran in the rotation, had his first of that variety, as well.
Overall, a team that has had pitching problems for over a decade has seen its ERA soar to 4.63. That's saying something, considering where that mark was a week into the year.
There's promise in this group, but there will be some growing pains along the way, and all those that had the Orioles tabbed for 90-plus wins after their extremely fast start should expect some bumps in the road.
• PressBox’s Stan Charles writes that the Orioles could save money by extending Jeremy Guthrie now.
Talk about a yin and yang start to a season for Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie.During one four-day period, No. 46 went from pitching perhaps the best game of his big-league career to being hospitalized with pneumonia. And when he got out of the hospital, Guthrie didn't skip a beat.
On April 10, Guthrie threw six innings and allowed just a solo home run to Adrian Beltre, even though the Orioles lost to Texas, 3-0. During his first two starts of 2011, Guthrie pitched 14 innings, allowed one run, struck out seven and walked just two batters. He pitched to an ERA of only 0.64, and batters have hit just a paltry .143 against him.
What gets me about Guthrie is that no matter how he seems to perform and comport himself, the team just doesn't seem inclined to want to make sure he is around for the long haul. Call him the black and orange Joe Flacco -- who just this month went public with his unhappiness about the Ravens not initiating a long-term deal while the game is shut down, and he has two years left on his current deal.
You won't hear a peep out of Guthrie, however. He lets confidence in his performance speak volumes and also raises the ante for his first foray into arbitration eligibility after this season.
• ESPN’s Jayson Stark thinks the Orioles will be "one of the most active teams" at the trading deadline.
One AL exec says he expects the Orioles to be "one of the most active teams" at the trading deadline -- but probably not the way you think. If their hot start doesn't last, they could be the most popular sellers in either league. By loading up on players in the last year of their contracts, they could potentially dangle Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, J.J. Hardy, Luke Scott, Koji Uehara, Mike Gonzalez and possibly Jeremy Guthrie. "If they decide to sell," the exec says, "they've got a lot of attractive pieces."
• Josh Land of The Carroll County Times writes that Orioles catcher Matt Wieters isn’t a bust yet.
Granted, his offense is slow-developing, but just as [Baseball Prospectus writer Steven] Goldman pointed out, Wieters is less than a month into his age-25 season. He's a veteran of just 236 major-league games and in only his second full year in the bigs.
The talent is there. It's seen every time he crushes the ball with minimal effort. Wieters was expected to do that with more frequency and to be past the rare-glimpses-of-high-end-talent stage by now. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been branded the switch-hitting Jesus by teammates who marveled at his ability.
He's coming along at a molasses-like pace at the plate, but writing him off now would be a mistake.
Just look at how far he has come on the other side of the ball. Wieters' defense and game-calling draws raves. Baltimore manager Buck Showalter praised Wieters' handling of the pitchers during the first homestand.
[Compiled by Matt Vensel]
Comments
Blancione from Towson has never seen Nick M look as bad as he has so far this year.I bet he has left over 10 men in scoring position in this series alone.But i expect to hear from all the fans that have a Man crush with nick and tell me just how great not good but great a ball player he is.
Posted by: blancione | April 21, 2011 8:37 PM
I want Luke Scott traded.
If the Orioles aren't going to win anyway, at least I don't have to see his face in the uniform.
It's not possible to be a patriot and be so disrespectful to your Commander in Chief. There's a principle here and I'd like to see Peter Angelos take a stand. The O's let the best announcer in baseball go for lesser reasons. They have fired managers who never had the talent to compete. But this birther in black and orange is acceptable? Not to me.
Posted by: section 34 | April 21, 2011 8:51 PM
blancione from Towson wants to know how can buck not pitch hit FOX for scott in the 8th who also is stinking up the field. Have to settle for a split against a team that doesn't have delmon young, mauer, morneou playing. The hitting is atrocious on this team.
Posted by: blancione | April 21, 2011 9:40 PM
Not only is Scott an embarrassment to the team he cant hit at all and should not be playing.
What is he contributing so far this year a big nothing
Posted by: bruce hoffman | April 21, 2011 10:28 PM
Hey section 34...
I would hope the O's do live by a principle, it's called "freedom of speech".
Gimme a break, crybaby.
Posted by: rjh9er | April 21, 2011 10:59 PM
Wow, how did we get so many Obama apologists in here?
When did we try to discourage guys from speaking their minds? Especially when they say things so many other people think, but don't say?
It's not like he said anything that was racist, derogatory or "unheard of". If you disagree, that's fine, but he's hardly a disgrace.
Posted by: Christopher | April 21, 2011 11:11 PM
He's a moron. And its freedom of choice to not want [him] on the team.
Posted by: vmoore | April 22, 2011 5:35 AM
Scott is stinking up the field right now..so it is the WRONG time to look to trade him. Just 3 questions for some posters here and on the other Sun boards..WHY does ANYONE care what a bASEBALL PLAYERS' political position is? Why to we pay somuch attention to airhead celebs? Lastly, isn't it a little silly to try and roast Scott for his off-base comments when for 8 years every celeb-type who could grab a microphone spewed forth such hatred for the previous President? When a MLB player talks about the game, we should pay attention. When they enter politics, we should ignore them...
Posted by: oriole1952 | April 22, 2011 7:15 AM
Right or wrong, Obama will probably go down as one of the worst President's of all time. Luke is just stating the obvious. Obama can run and hide his original birth certificate for as long as he can but he will have to show it someday. Looks like MANY states are soon passing laws that require Presidential candidates to show the long form. Let the issue go to rest already. Why is he spending millions of dollars in legal fees to avoid the issue? Why did his Grandmother say he was born in Kenya and the rest of his family couldn't agree on the name of the hospital he was born in? Many red flags are out there. It could literally take 5 minutes for Obama to silence the critics. Why won't he do it already? What's he hiding? What's the big deal. Just wait for Trump to run for President and we will know the truth soon enough. At least Trump will spend his own money to find out the truth. If it turns out he was not born here, that would go down as the biggest scam in American history.
Posted by: Jack Daniels | April 22, 2011 7:16 AM
Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. Luke Scott can support Al Qaeda all he wants by ignorantly refusing to accept our President. But that doesn't give him a guaranteed continued right to do so in orange and black.
Posted by: section 34 | April 22, 2011 9:44 AM
OK Luke you're all over accountability.
Then, if by the end of April you are still hitting below 200- I expect you to tell Buck you want the bench so that someone else can have a try.
Live your words Luke- or just be a crazy politcal nut.
Which is it?
Posted by: oregon-o | April 22, 2011 1:20 PM