Archive for Buck Showalter

Jul
16

Picking a bone with baseball

by Jeff Wolfson

I’m not one to usually complain about things that happen in sports. Generally, if a team is bad, it’s about the personnel, not the umpires or referees. However, the discipline handed down from Major League Baseball to the Orioles is ridiculous only because it wasn’t equal to the discipline to the Red Sox.

Kevin Gregg, Mike Gonzalez and Buck Showalter all received suspensions of varying lengths and Jim Johnson received a fine for his actions in the brawl last weekend. If that’s fair discipline, which it is, why didn’t Boston get the same reaction from MLB.
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0 Categories : MLB
Mar
1

Is Tuesday’s power outburst a look in to the O’s future?

by Jeff Wolfson

Yes, it’s spring training and yes, the games mean nothing, but the Orioles put on quite the power display Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the area where the Birds struggled most last season, they’ve succeeded two games in to the spring training Grapefruit League schedule.

Facing their division rival, and a pitcher they are likely to see a lot in Andy Sonnanstine, the O’s showed off their muscle blasting five home runs in the first two innings of the game. Two of the more encouraging home runs came from right fielder Nick Markakis, who was more satisfied knocking the ball to left field than hitting a home run last season.
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0 Categories : MLB
Aug
24

The O’s with Showalter at the 20 game mark

by Jeff Wolfson

Buck Showalter officially took over the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 3. The team had 32 wins at the time and appeared to be spinning its wheels towards another lost season.

This season is another lost season, but Showalter has the Orioles at 12-8, a .600 clip, since he began running the show.

The starting pitching has improved, with a few bad outings sprinkled in, the rotation has gone deeper in to games and given up fewer runs than at any point this season. Also, the bullpen has improved because the pitchers seem to know their roles better than at any time this year, except the closer’s role.
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0 Categories : MLB
Aug
10

O’s continue roll under Showalter, but still have work to do

by Jeff Wolfson

A week in to the Buck Showalter era and the Baltimore Orioles appear to be a vastly different squad than they were before he officially took over last Tuesday. However, they aren’t very different, except for some of their injured players have returned from the disabled list.

Although the team is 6-1, there are still issues that need to be dealt with going in to the 2011 season. I’ve noticed that there have been some base running errors and some fundamental mistakes. During Sunday’s game, although shortstop Cesar Izturis had a solid game, he made a bad base running mistake. He hit a leadoff double and Josh Bell did right by hitting a fly ball to the right fielder, instead of advancing, however, Izturis went halfway between second and third and had to retreat to second base. Luckily, there was a pass ball and Izturis wound up on third base anyway.
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0 Categories : MLB
Aug
5

Showalter successful two games in, but questions still remain

by Jeff Wolfson

Buck Showalter took over as manager of the Baltimore Orioles August 2, and managed his first game August 3. After a game that was one of the best played all season on Tuesday night, the Birds struggled to win their game Wednesday night.

Brian Matusz was fine for the first six innings, allowing just one run. Rain delayed the ball game for a little while and Matt Albers was brought in to a 9-1 game. That’s where things got interesting. Albers allowed four earned runs in just one-third of an inning.
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0 Categories : MLB
Aug
1

Showalter brought in; Tejada, Ohman shipped out

by Jeff Wolfson

The end of July and beginning of August have signaled a new era for the Baltimore Orioles. These changes, at least on the surface, appear to be for the better.

Thursday afternoon, news leaked that the Birds hired former Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers manager Buck Showalter. Showalter is a proven winner, rejuvenating the Yankees franchise, building Arizona from the ground up and giving a new attitude to the Rangers. Showalter is 882-833 as a Major League manager.
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0 Categories : MLB
Jul
15

What’s ahead for the O’s in the second half?

by Jeff Wolfson

For much of their first 88 games, the Baltimore Orioles were nothing short of terrible. They’re not a very good defensive team, as Andy MacPhail admitted earlier this season. The offense hasn’t been good situationally, although they’ve gotten slightly better lately. Baltimore’s pitching, although better than in years past, has still been suspect. All of this raises the question: What do the Orioles need to do to improve, not only in their last 74 games, but for 2011?

First, the Orioles must hire a proven manager. Although this isn’t an indictment of Juan Samuel, he has been in Baltimore the past four seasons and the team has been losing so he just shouldn’t stick around. Samuel has shown he knows how to manage and the decisiveness that Major League managers need is definitely there, but Baltimore can’t take a risk having a rookie manager as they have done for their last three managers (Lee Mazzilli, Sam Perlozzo and Dave Trembley).
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0 Categories : MLB