Baltimore Orioles Soundoff

By: Jeff Lippman

Orioles SoundOff

And then God said to Miguel Tejada, "It is thee who must lead thine Orioles out of darkness and into light."

And then Miguel Tejada said, "But, God, for I cannot see clearly. There is cloud in my vision hindering me from making thunderous contact with my mighty lightning rod."

Could it be? Does Miguel Tejada need glasses? Probably not. But then what is wrong with him?

His average isn't exactly plummeting--like that of Brian Roberts--but where is the power? Where are the timely homeruns? Where did the RBI machine go?

If you watch every at bat of every game, like I do, than you might be able to notice something different about Miggy lately. Earlier in the year, last year, he didn't miss pitches. Now, more and more, he lets the perfect pitch go by and ends up swinging at something in the dirt when he gets two strikes on him.

Many times he ends up looking foolish by swinging at a pitch far away from anything that could even resemble a strike.

During a time when the Orioles need their leader more than ever, far too often he is slamming his bat down in disgust of himself. Not often enough do you seem him rounding the bases pointing to the dugout in triumph.

Far too often is he grounding out to shortstop or second base. Not often enough is he drilling doubles into the gap or the left-field corner.

He doesn't pull the ball as much anymore, when he does make good contact it is usually to centerfield or right-center. To me, that is a sign that he isn't seeing the ball well.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Miguel Tejada is one of the game's great players. But, this could happen to anyone. He still makes contact, he still fights off most pitches, he can still drill a ball out of the ballpark to left. Just not as often.

It can be said that all of the Orioles are slumping. Why pick on Tejada?

Brian Roberts is definitely in a slump, and that hurts the Orioles almost as much as Tejada slumping. But Roberts is still making good contact. His timing may be a little off so he flies out to center instead of doubling to right, but he still hits the ball solid on most occasions.

Sammy Sosa just isn't very good anymore, is he? Honestly, he can hit the ball a mile if you serve him up a beach ball right over the inside corner of the plate. Other than that, he can't hit his way out of a paper bag.

Tejada, who had such a promising start to the season, who seemed to get a big hit every time he saw someone in scoring position, who seemingly got an RBI at every possible chance, is struggling to do just that. Badly.

His homeruns are down, his RBI's are down, his hits are down. And to me, his plate presence is down. When he swings--and misses--at a pitch so far outside and in the dirt that it is almost a passed ball, there is something wrong. I don't remember Tejada swinging and missing very much at all, let alone at a ball that far out of the strike zone.

So I say, listen to me Miguel, and listen to God. Go see a optometrist, if he tells you that you have perfect vision, great! But there may be a need to make a change, for the better.

The Orioles need you to be your RBI-machine self, Miggy. It is worth a shot.