The Orioles brought down the curtain on 2006 with a game fittingly representative of their season: a sloppy, soggy, embarrassing, often-unwatchable mess. In a contest that lasted only five innings, the O’s still managed to lose by nine runs, thanks to one last Hayden Penn disaster and an uninterested offense that was no-hit by a rookie making his second major-league start. It seemed the Orioles-- echoing the sentiments of most of their fans-- couldn’t wait to bring this interminable, arduous campaign to a halt. The 9-0 loss to the Red Sox closed the book on the Birds’ 70-92 season, the eighth-worst in team history.
So, the day is finally here. Time to bid the 2006 Orioles a fond farewell-- and forgive me if I add, “And don’t come back.” Not that I don’t want the Orioles to come back-- just not this current version. This year’s team was a unqualified flop from day one (well, okay, they won their first two games-- so let’s say “day three”), falling under .500 for good in early May. Well, at least they didn’t tease us like in 2005 by getting off to a hot start and then collapsing in the second half. No, there were no false pretenses this time around. The O’s made their atrociousness known definitively from the outset.
Today’s game was a perfect microcosm of the season as a whole, as the Orioles proved hapless in every aspect of the game. Hayden Penn, who was forced out of his previous start with a back strain, recovered in time to make his final appearance of the season. He…probably wished he hadn’t. It was another lost outing for Penn, who got absolutely torched for the fourth time in his six big-league starts. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs. Mike Lowell tagged him for a three-run homer in the first (giving Lowell a 20-homer season), and Penn came completely unglued in the third, issuing a bases-loaded walk to Carlos Pena followed by a Gabe Kapler three-run double.
Penn finishes the season without a big-league win, carrying an unsightly 15.10 ERA. Ouch. Between this and his appendicitis, 2006 hasn’t been a great year for Hayden. Let’s just call a mulligan on this one and hope he comes back strong next year, okay? Penn still has superb potential, and let’s not forget he’s only 21 years old.
In the battle of the rookies, Boston’s Devern Hansack fared a bit better. Actually, that’s an understatement-- the guy pitched a NO-HITTER, for Pete’s sake. It won’t go into the history books because it only lasted five innings, but Hansack kept the Birds hitless, with a second-inning walk providing the team’s only baserunner. Granted, several O’s regulars didn’t play-- Nick Markakis, Jay Gibbons, Ramon Hernandez, and Kevin Millar, to name a few-- but there’s no excuse for letting a guy no-hit you in his second major-league start (the last pitcher to do so was Wilson Alvarez in 1991, against-- who else?-- the Orioles).
While the O’s were turning Devern Hansack into Cy Young-- or “going to hell in a Hansack,” to quote a Hangouter-- they let the Sox build on their lead. Mark Loretta launched a solo homer off Julio Manon in the fourth (his fifth), and Eric Hinske went deep against Russ Ortiz in the fifth (#13). All of this occurred in the middle of a torrential downpour, which had delayed the start of the game for more than three hours. Just after the bottom of the fifth, the umpires decided conditions were too harsh to continue, and the rest of the game was called off after a brief delay.
Some teams end their seasons on a positive note, full of hope and optimism for next season or with reflection on the solid year gone by. The Orioles’ season ended with Russ Ortiz pitching in a driving rainstorm. I can’t think of anything more appropriate.
And with that waterlogged, abbreviated 9-0 loss, the Orioles concluded their 70-92 season. Hansack notched his first major-league win, he’s 1-1. Penn dropped to 0-4. ESPN Box Score
I guess I should offer some sort of season analysis, huh? Okay, I’ll try to make it quick.
When the 2006 season opened, many fans were cautiously optimistic that the Birds would take a big step forward this year, poised to snap their eight-year run of losing seasons and put themselves in prime position for contention in 2007. An 80-win season didn’t seem like too much of a stretch. Yet here we sit, six months later, with the team having regressed to its worst record since 2002. So how did it all go so horribly wrong?
Well…where do we start? The biggest disappointment had to be the pitching staff. We all knew the staff had its question marks when the season began, but the addition of Hall-of-Fame worthy pitching coach Leo Mazzone gave many fans hope that better days were on the horizon. That…didn’t exactly pan out. In fact, the Orioles ranked 13th out of 14 AL teams in ERA (at 5.31), ahead of only the lowly Royals. Both the starters and relievers were second-worst in the league.
The biggest culprits, clearly, were Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen. Last year’s staff leaders in wins and ERA, respectively, crashed and burned this time around. Rodrigo, the Opening Day starter, got off to a 1-7 start, eventually was banished to the bullpen, and finished with 18 losses and a 5.90 ERA. Chen was even worse, if possible, compiling a 6.93 ERA and failing to win even once. And the two combined for nearly 300 innings.
In addition, young hurlers like Daniel Cabrera and Hayden Penn failed to make the leap forward, instead taking two steps back. Then there was a patchwork bullpen that proved entirely unreliable, with a collection of washed-up veterans and not-ready-for-prime-time youngsters conspiring to blow too many late leads. The O’s didn’t help matters by adding the likes of Russ Ortiz, Jim Brower, and John Halama to their conflagration of horror.
Still, it wasn’t all bad news. Erik Bedard continued his emergence into a top-of-the-line starter, and Adam Loewen popped up from the minors and displayed remarkably quick on-the-job training, cementing himself into next season’s rotation. Chris Ray didn’t miss a beat in his first season as a closer, nailing down 33 of 38 save attempts with a 2.73 ERA. Rookies like Chris Britton, Kurt Birkins, and Brian Burres made their statement for inclusion in next year’s bullpen.
The O’s offense, thought to be the strong point of the team when the season began, came up short of expectations. Melvin Mora suffered a precipitous decline practically moments after signing a three-year extension, clocking in with a disappointing .735 OPS as his power and on-base ability seemingly vanished. The O’s may already be regretting their decision to lock him up through 2009. The team again had a black hole at many key offensive spots, including left field, first base, and DH-- which, theoretically, should be the easiest positions at which to find a decent hitter. When the club is reduced to playing Brandon Fahey, Fernando Tatis, and Ed Rogers in left field, you know you’ve got a serious depth problem. The front office, though, did little to fix it.
In the “silver lining,” category, though, the arrival of Nick Markakis had to be the season’s biggest success. After a miserable start to the season, Markakis improved with each passing month and soon became a force to be reckoned with. By August, he had moved into the number three slot in the lineup, and he finished the year hitting .291 with a .799 OPS. The sky’s the limit for the Birds’ fantastic rookie, who only figures to get better. Meanwhile, Miguel Tejada put up his usual productive season, breaking the single-season O’s hits record and winning Most Valuable Oriole while driving in 100 runs even.
As we’ve seen, this is not a team without talent. So, again, how did it all go so horribly wrong? Well, it seems to me that the O’s just have an uncanny knack for losing games in the most ridiculous ways possible. Whether it’s making the final out at the plate when you’re not even the tying run, or giving up a go-ahead single on an intentional walk, or giving up a ninth-inning grand slam to a guy who hasn’t homered in two years, or a manager ordering his best hitters to sacrifice bunt-- we’ve just about seen it all from this team. It’s a deadly combination of poor fundamentals, ill-conceived decision-making, unfocused personnel, bad luck, and whatever else. And the standings reflect as much.
The Orioles’ front office clearly has its work cut out for it this winter. This roster is in dire need of a severe overhaul. Sure, there’s a solid, young core to build around-- Bedard, Markakis, Loewen, Ray, Tejada, Brian Roberts, etc.-- but there’s too much dead weight that needs to be discarded. We’re sick and tired of the Ortizes of the world. Send guys like Lopez and Chen packing. Get creative. Sign low-priced hitters who can be part of an effective platoon. Swing a few trades to add bullpen pieces. And if there’s a big-name free agent you want (Alfonso Soriano? Barry Zito?), go after him early and aggressively-- no more “waiting for the market to set itself” and then insulting the guy with a low-ball offer. Of course, that all depends on owner Peter Angelos finally opening up the checkbook and showing a willingness to spend. If he doesn’t, we’re back to square one.
Make a statement. Sitting around doing nothing won’t lead this team out of its nine-year malaise. The front office added a few key pieces last winter-- free agent signee Ramon Hernandez was a godsend at catcher; Corey Patterson finally resembled the highly touted prospect he once was; Kris Benson was a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter. So we know the O’s are capable of adding good players. They just need to find the right mix.
And that’s all I have to say about that. See you next year!
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