Orioles & MASN

Just finished watching most of the Orioles' starters play 6-7 innings against the Dodgers and boy are my eyes tired. They committed four errors in the first two innings, and could have been credited with two more if the official scorer hadn't been in his "happy place". Miggy had two, both on plays where he passively backed up on a ground ball and let it play him. When he finally made a play, the fans in Fort Lauderdale serenaded him with a Bronx cheer in appreciation of his efforts. Offensively, it seemed like deja vu all over again as they struggled to muster any threat against a left-handed starter, in this case Randy Wolf.

For the spring, the Orioles are 12-11 in the 18 team Grapefruit League. They rank above only Florida in runs scored with 92, or exactly 4 runs a game. In the 2006 regular season, Tampa Bay ranked last in the majors in that category, averaging 4.253 runs per game. Perhaps the Florida winds have played a part or maybe they have faced an inordinate number of lefties, but the offensive talent should be good enough to compete. In fact, the run scoring offense has ranked between 8th and 17th over the last 3 years, and the additions of Aubrey Huff & Jay Payton should only improve the lineup flexibility and potency. On the plus side, the team ranks 2nd in MLB in ERA this spring at 3.18. That's more than 2 runs less per game than they surrendered last year while ranking next to last in the majors. If the pitching carries over to the regular season, it would mark the first season this millennium when the team ranked above the bottom 10 in ERA.

A good product on the field would be made more enjoyable if MASN can improve its game production. The announcing teams are solid, but sometimes we have to take their word on the action. Today, Juan Pierre of the Dodgers stole 2nd base, but I only was aware of it from Jim Hunter's commentary and Ramon Hernandez's body language as the camera lingered a little long on the catcher's follow-through. There were a few other times when the camera people had trouble following the ball. In fact, I am still not sure the game is over. Rumor has it that the Orioles final batter lined out to Dodgers third baseman Andy LaRoche, but I can neither confirm nor deny that. I can only tell you that left fielder Matt Kemp really looked like he was about to dive for a ball that never came.