Rekrutierungen » After months of offseason chatter and weeks of Grapefruit

League exhibition games Dellin Betances Jersey , we finally have 8.5 innings of real baseball to discuss!"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastCommentary & AnalysisTakeaways from the Orioles’ Opening Day lossNew,20commentsAfter months of offseason chatter and weeks of Grapefruit League exhibition games, we finally have 8.5 innings of real baseball to discuss! EDTShareTweetShareShareTakeaways from the Orioles’ Opening Day lossBrad Penner-USA TODAY SportsThe 2019 season began yesterday with a 7-2 loss to the Yankees in the Bronx. It didn’t take long for things to go south this season, as New York took a 3-0 with on out in the bottom of the first. But after a long winter, we finally got to see the next era of Orioles baseball begin.What follows are a few points that stuck out to me while listening to Opening Day. As you’d expect after a team that is severely lacking talent loses, most of these are negative. That isn’t to say that yesterday was without positives. Trey Mancini and Jonathan Villar combined for five hits. David Hess threw two scoreless innings. Nobody got injured. But it wasn’t a good day for the Orioles and the following are some takeaways.Chris Davis is on pace for 486 strikeoutsComing off one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball history, Chris Davis vowed (again) to change things up. He “switched up his offseason workouts, consulted coaches who knew him as a younger player, and spoken to sports psychologists.” Combine that with the fresh start he gets from a new manager and front office and there was reason to at least give Davis a chance in 2019. Unfortunately, his spring training numbers were disappointing. Despite hitting three home runs and posting an OPS of .751 (over 200 points higher than last season!), he struck out in 19 out of 37 at bats (44 plate appearances). Today was not a step in the right direction; he struck out in all three trips to the plate. He showed signs of being the tentative, unconfident hitter he was last season. In his first at bat, he got ahead 3-0 before looking at two strikes and missing the third. He occasionally quibbled with the umpire over the strike zone. By the grace of God, Brandon Hyde pinch hit for Davis in the ninth instead of allowing him to bat against Aroldis Chapman. We know how that would have ended. We can’t judge Davis on three plate appearances, but the Orioles’ highest paid player will be under the microscope all season. I was ready to release him after his second strikeout. We will frequently discuss how much rope Mike Elias gives him.Defensive miscuesBrandon Hyde spent the offseason and spring training stressing the importance of defense and fundamentals. After the poor defensive performance we saw from the 2018 Orioles, this was a welcome proclamation. There were some good signs today: Joey Rickard made an impressive diving catch today and the infield turned two double plays. But the Orioles also exhibited some troubling signs in the field. Aaron Judge’s third inning infield hit, a chopper just beyond the mound, nearly forced Jonathan Villar and Richie Martin to collide. Mike Bordick said that Villar should have yielded to Martin; either way Matt Holliday Jersey , it is clear that there was a miscommunication. Jesus Sucre, known for his defense, dropped a pop up in the seventh inning and and also allowed a passed ball. After hearing the manager preach the importance of defense, seeing these types of miscues is alarming.Alarming disparity in walksThe Yankees have a fantastic lineup that led the majors in home runs last season and may do so again. It is littered with All Stars, top young talent, and every spot in the order is a threat to go deep. The Orioles... do not have a fantastic lineup. The average baseball fan may not have heard of half of yesterday’s starting lineup. The disparity in walks yesterday perpetuated the difference in talent between the two offenses. The Orioles worked one walk while the Yankees got eight free passes in addition to being hit by a pitch. This continues the trend of 2018, when the Orioles drew the fewest walks in the majors and gave up the sixth most. The O’s simply are not good enough to overcome that deficit in free passes. Hyde needs to instill a culture of working the count and being selective at the plate while preaching throwing strikes to his pitchers.More is needed from CashnerAndrew Cashner got the start on Opening Day by default. His 5.29 ERA last season certainly didn’t earn it. But he is one of the few veterans on the team and that comes with a responsibility, which he didn’t meet yesterday. A player with as much experience as Cashner needs to understand the situation. Despite having the day off tomorrow, Saturday’s game will feature an opener and figures to tax the bullpen. That is followed by another game against the powerful Yankees. The Orioles needed more than four innings from the veteran. Luckily David Hess picked up two scoreless innings and the O’s didn’t need to pitch anyone in the ninth. But Hess was a candidate to start on Monday and Hyde’s need to go to the bullpen early may cause some early season rotation turmoil. Cashner could have done a favor to his manager and team by getting deeper into the game.Paul Fry’s reverse splits continuePaul Fry came into the game in the 8th inning and quickly got ahead of Greg Bird in the count 0-2. He then hung a slider that Bird deposited into the right field seats. The Yankees were already in command of the game so the run was fairly meaningless. But it continued an interested trend from last season. The southpaw Fry was more effective against righties than lefties by a wide margin (OPS against of .556 vs .702). If Fry wants to impress his new general manager and manager and become a reliever who can be counted on to retire tough left-handed hitters, those splits are something he needs to work on this season. Yesterday was not a good start. Joe Angel will be missedBecause I opted to take a day off next week to attend Thursday’s home opener at Camden Yards, I had to work yesterday and was listening on the radio. (Work interferes with baseball too often.) What caught my attention more than anything happening on the field was just how much I am going to miss Joe Angel calling games on the Orioles Radio Network. We know that it’s going to be a long season and what happened in yesterday’s game confirmed that. But Angel had a way of making even the worst games funny and interesting. No disrespect intended to Jim Hunter or Mike Bordick, but Angel’s humor and wit will be missed this season. I hope you’re enjoying your retirement, Joe, but we sure could use you. The Orioles will be playing real baseball in two weeks, and fake baseball on TV today."Hello, friends.There are 14 days remaining until the next Orioles game that counts. Opening Day is just two weeks away! It’ll be here before we know it. As of yesterday, we know who will be the starting pitcher for Opening Day. It’s Alex Cobb. Let there be much rejoicing across Birdland. (Yay.)The Orioles are now 10-8-2 in their Grapefruit League schedule. On Wednesday, they added to their win total with a comeback 6-4 victory over the Blue Jays. The bad news is they needed the comeback because Andrew Cashner gave up three runs in 3.2 innings. The O’s have yet to have a starter finish four innings this spring. Mark Trumbo made his spring debut and went 0-2. Joey Rickard drove in two runs. Tanner Scott walked two batters in one inning of work.The team still has 13 spring games left to play before they head north to begin the season. That includes this afternoon Austin Romine Jersey , when they take on the Twins in a 1:05 contest. MASN will actually be carrying the game, so if your professional life allows it, you’ll be able to tune in and watch the action. Dylan Bundy is the scheduled starter, with Pedro Araujo, Paul Fry, Branden Kline, and Jimmy Yacabonis expected to pitch as well.We’re close enough to Opening Day where it would be nice if some of these struggling guys start pitching or hitting well. Bundy and Cashner haven’t had great spring results. Neither have a number of the fifth starter candidates, including Yefry Ramirez, who gave up a run in 2.1 innings yesterday. Jonathan Villar, Trey Mancini, Cedric Mullins, and Renato Nunez haven’t hit much yet. Neither has Chris Davis, who’s in his own category while giving quotes like what he told Orioles reporters after Tuesday’s game, as relayed by MASN’s Steve Melewski:Weird things happen in spring training, so I don’t know, maybe Davis came out of Tuesday’s game because the bottom of the fourth inning went on for too long. But it’s not hard to read that above segment and come away with the impression that Davis may be in denial. Keep in mind that he gave the above answer after missing over a week of games due to his sore hip! We’re two weeks away from starting to find out what he’s going to look like when every pitcher he faces is MLB caliber and the games start to count. Maybe something will happen that, based on what I might have assumed from last year’s performance, seems miraculous. Or maybe what’s going to happen is exactly what everyone “knows” is going to happen http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , only some people receive paychecks for jobs that require them to try to pretend otherwise.Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 51 days ago. The Orioles have not yet announced any plans to retire his jersey number or add his statue to Camden Yards.Around the blogO’sphereCobb relishes Opening Day assignment (School of Roch)The amusing part of this story to me is that it seems like several of the pitchers, including Alex Cobb himself, had figured out from the pitching charts that Cobb would be the Opening Day starter long before the announcement.Trumbo has encouraging return to lineup (Orioles.com)The encouraging part is apparently that he didn’t just strike out so he was able to test his knee out by running to first base. Really.O’s top prospects reflect on time in big league camp as minor league schedule begins (Baltimore Sun)Seems like everybody feels good about what they were able to accomplish in big league camp before getting optioned or reassigned.After walk-off homer, Branden Kline came back strong (Steve Melewski)Everywhere you look, players are full of praise for the new coaching staff.Seven hopefully not-terrible spring trade ideas (Fangraphs)Two of Dan Szymborski’s seven trade ideas touch on Orioles players. I can’t say whether the proposed trades are fair or not, but I can say that either one would bum me out if they ended up happening.Birthdays and anniversariesThere are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2013-14 pitcher Josh Stinson, 2008 reliever Randor Bierd, and 1995 starter Kevin Brown, no relation to this writer.Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: baroque painter Giuseppi Crespi (1665), Italian uniter Victor Emmanuel II (1820), physicist Albert Einstein (1879), actor Billy Crystal (1948), Ben & Jerry’s Jerry Greenfeld (1951), Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov (1956), basketballer Stephen Curry (1988), and gold medal gymnast Simone Biles (1997).On this day in history...In 44 BC, two of the soon-to-be assassins of Julius Caesar, Cassius and Casca Bernie Williams Jersey , were talked out of also assassinating Marc Antony by Brutus. This turned out to be a poor decision for those gentlemen, as Marc Antony whipped up public support and seized power in a speech famously dramatized by William Shakespeare. Antony defeated Cassius, Casca, and Brutus in the ensuing civil war, after which all three plotters committed suicide.In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin.In 1900,the Gold Standard Act was signed into law by President William McKinley, which ended the previous bimetallism system under which both silver and gold backed currency.In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces regained control of Seoul for the second time in the war. The North did not recapture the city again.In 1964, Jack Ruby was found guilty by a Dallas jury in the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald. On appeal, Ruby was granted a new trial, but he died of a pulmonary embolism before the second trial date was set.**And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 14 - or at least, until something happens later in Florida. Have a safe Thursday.