Baltimore Orioles Soundoff

Every single day I check the Orioles lineup card during the pre-game, and almost every single day its like my birthday--only when I see my surprise, it makes me want to vomit.

The Orioles opening day lineup was beautiful. Roberts, Mora, Tejada, Sosa, Palmeiro, Lopez, Gibbons, Matos, Bigbie. What is wrong with that lineup?

The answer, my friends, is nothing. However, Lee "Matchups" Mazzilli feels the need to shake up the lineup almost daily, never keeping continuity for too long. I nickname Mazzilli "Matchups" because it seems that he will compromise some of his best hitters in favor of favorable pitching matchups. For example, sitting Rafael Palmeiro, Jay Gibbons or the former Oriole Larry Bigbie and playing Chris Gomez because the pitcher happens to be a lefty. Nothing against Gomez but Palmeiro, Gibbons and Bigbie are all better hitters, period. So why sit a better hitter just because the matchup is less favorable by the numbers? I believe that the best hitter should hit. Always. If you are going to give a guy a night off, that is one thing. But strictly adhering to lefty righty matchups is ridiculous in my opinion.

Another qualm I have with our boy "Matchups" is his penchant for playing musical chairs with the lineup. Roberts is always leadoff. After Roberts, your guess is as good as mine. Roughly, Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and Javy Lopez are all somewhere near each other in the order, but come on! Sometimes Mora bats second, sometimes third. Sometimes Tejada bats third, sometimes fourth. Palmeiro started the year batting fifth but has also batted fourth and sixth. Sosa, who moves around a lot to find his best suited spot in the order but it seems sucks anywhere you put him, has batted second, fourth, fifth and sixth. Lopez has also hit in many different positions, batting fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

The bottom of the order is a whole other story. The combinations of David Newhan, Luis Matos, BJ Surhoff, Larry Bigbie, Jay Gibbons, Chris Gomez and Sal Fasano have moved around so much they feel like military children. Mazzilli has even gone so far as to bat Bigbie, Matos and Newhan in the two hole from time to time.

I know why the O's offense has struggled so much lately! The Orioles hitters have traveled the lineup so much they have jetlag. So please Lee, for the good of the team, keep it simple stupid. Let the best hitters hit, every day. Keep the lineup solid, when the offense knows the job it has to perform day in and day out, it can better perform its duties.

So here is my perfect lineup. Lee take a lesson from me and stick with this!




Brian Roberts, 2B
Melvin Mora, 3B
Miguel Tejada, SS
Rafael Palmeiro, 1B
Javy Lopez, C
Sammy Sosa, RF
Jay Gibbons, DH
Eric Byrnes, LF
Luis Matos, RF

Tonight's Game Recap:
Anaheim Angels 10, Baltimore Orioles 1
Box Score


Well the O's certainly had a performance worthy of this last blog. They managed 13 hits and only scored one run. ONE RUN! Vladimir Guerrero went deep twice for the Angels who dominated every pitcher the O's threw at them. Sidney Ponson is at least consistent. Consistently bad. He continued his losing ways by giving up 8 runs in just over 5 innings pitched.

O's Record: 51-55
9.5 games out of first

This only begs the question: Will the Orioles ever win again? Stay Tuned! Next Game: @LAA 10:05

# posted by Jeff Lippman @ 9:42 PM