Ramon Hernandez Is To Blame for the Orioles' Pitching Woes

Last night I was watching the Red Sox beat up on the Orioles in a 14-1 ballgame, and because of where I live, I had to watch the O's broadcasters. Throughout the game, they were talking about their pitching woes and how their staff gives up way too many walks.

They blamed the staff's inexperience and the pitcher's inability to trust their stuff. As the game went on though, I watched Ramon Hernandez closely, and it came to me that maybe he is the reason why their pitching is god awful.

Before reading the rest of the article, I am going to tell you that I am writing this with very little stats and being completely subjective. This is just my personal opinion of watching Ramon Hernandez catch.

First though, I will give you a stat: Of the 16 catchers in Major Leagues Baseball that have been catching, day in and day out for their team throughout the season, Ramon Hernandez has the worst catcher's ERA.

It is 4.97, which is completely awful. You could say that most of that has to do with the ineptitude of the Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff, or you could say that it has to do with Ramon Hernandez's awful handling of the staff.

Then you can look at how many walks the Orioles average per game, 4.1, which makes Baltimore the only team in the American League above four walks. This can directly be lead to Ramon Hernandez.

If you have ever seen him catch, he has to be the worst at framing or the mechanics of catching. Every pitch that is thrown, Ramon pulls it back to the strike zone. This does not make friends with the umpires.

Think about it. If the umpire knows it is a ball before Ramon moves it into the strike zone, then the umpire is then the only one.

Once Ramon pulls it in the strike zone and holds it, he shows to everyone in the stadium and on both teams that it is a strike. Then the umpire gets blamed, booed, and argued with by everyone.

It also seems like he just doesn't want to be there. The guy is getting paid through the roof, which is another mistake by Orioles' ownership, and he doesn't play hard at all. He is an awful catcher and no more than a No. 5 or No. 6 hitter.

He goes through the motions behind the plate and gives no help to the pitcher and takes no blame for the pitching woes. You can agree with this or not, but I am gonna tell you: I AM A RAMON HERNANDEZ HATER!