O's-Yankees, Slump Busting

This game had a couple of O's who had gotten on rough times recently. Garrett Olson, after starting the year very well, had been giving up a lot of hits; culminating in the 6 runs and 8 hits (in 2.2 IP) he gave up against the Yankees in his last start. Boy did he ever turn that around, going 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K against that very same New York team. Learning from his mistakes and making adjustments like that indicate that Olson has a good chance of being a solid major leaguer (especially on this team).

The second player is the often mentioned Nick Markakis. Well, Kakes busted out in a big way, going 3-4 with a homer and a double, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. He also didn't strike out. Aubrey Huff added a three-run bomb of his own as the O's got back in the win-column with the 6-1 victory.

Jamie Walker continued his struggles, giving up a run on two hits in the ninth inning. His struggles as the lefty set-up man could mean that Adam Loewen may find himself in the pen when he gets back from his injury (whenever that may be). I think putting him back there to work out his issues while bringing in Matt Albers to take Steve Trachsel's spot (he can't be allowed to pitch again right? right?) in the rotation (now that JJ has stepped up and Sarfate is back there with Bradford, Albers isn't really needed in the pen - especially if Loewen is there to be the potential long-man) is a fine idea.

Anyway, the win stops the O's skid at five games (Joe Posnanski, a Royals beat writer, has a recent post about losing streaks - which he classifies as 8+ games.

"8+ losing streaks since 2002

1. Kansas City, 11
2. Baltimore, 10
3. Colorado, 9
(tie) Detroit, 9 (six of those in 2003)
5. Tampa 8.

8+ losing streaks since 2004

1. Kansas City, 9
2. Colorado, 6
(tie) Tampa, 6
Baltimore, 5
Pittsburgh, 4...

It’s just a bloggy thought. But I think you look at the teams that routinely fall into losing streaks, you see Kansas City and Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Colorado (until last year) and Tampa (until this year), where the losses have made many fans apathetic, where the intensity of media coverage is down, where the reaction to another losing streak is not necessarily to boo but to turn away."

It's an interesting theory. I think those teams have just been very bad, so if their best couple players are in a slump then the whole team can go south quickly.)

and Baltimore gets back to .500.