Baltimore Orioles: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The 2009 Baltimore Orioles are already off to an up-and-down start to their young season. Through 15 games, their record stands at 7-8, which is respectable considering the pre-season predictions. It's lackluster, at best, to a fan-base that has been waiting patiently for 11 seasons to sniff .500 baseball.

After a hot start (4-2 against the Yankees and Rays to start the season), the team has cooled off, going just 3-6 in their last nine games, including a four-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. Today, we're going to take a look at the highs and lows of the Orioles' young season in a piece I like to call, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

The Good

The Orioles sport a talented offense with a number of future and current All-Stars. Their one-two-three punch may be the best in baseball in Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis. This trio is hitting .390, .340, and .397, respectively, with a combined 47 runs scored. The offense, as a whole, is hitting .272 and averaging 5.5 runs a game. They are on pace to score 885 runs this season. You'd think, simply based on the offense, that this team would be as competitive as any in the game today. I guess that's why they say that pitching wins ballgames.

The Bad

The lowest ERA of any Oriole starter with a minimum of 15 innings pitched belongs to Jeremy Guthrie, which isn't a surprise considering he is the so-called "ace" of the staff. The surprise here is that his ERA is 5.16. The bullpen has six pitchers with an ERA above five, the highest belonging to Radhames Liz at a ridiculous 67.50. It would be seven pitchers if not for Danys Baez squeaking just under at 4.91. This bullpen has also surrendered 12 home runs in just 15 games.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the bullpen designed to do just the opposite? The team ERA, as a whole, is 6.25, which ranks 28th in the league.

The Ugly

The Orioles have given up 10 runs or more five times already this season. At that rate, they will give up that many runs 54 times this season. Some would say the low point was the 19-6 shellacking at the hands of the Rangers last week. The lowest point, however, was the very next night, when the team blew a 7-0 lead and lost to the Red Sox 10-8, preceding the aforementioned four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox. The bottom line here is that the pitching has been downright atrocious at worst, and mediocre at best.

Outlook

The Baltimore Orioles show a lot of promise, but they are most definitely a work in progress. A team that averages 5.5 runs a game should win more than it loses, but not when its ERA is 6.25.  This is evidenced by the Orioles sub-.500 record of 7-8. Look for the first half of the season to be very ugly at times, and don't be surprised to see a record of ten games below .500 or worse by the All-Star break. With that being said, the second half of the season should show significant progress with the expected call-ups of Matt Wieters, Chris Tillman, and Troy Patton to replace Greg Zaun, Mark Hendrickson and Adam Eaton. This team should finish the season with 78-82 wins and provide hope and optimism for 2011 and beyond.