2013 Baltimore Orioles Lineup Projection

The Baltimore are coming in to 2013 with high hopes from the fans of Baltimore as well as the players and organization. The team looks to build on a 2012 playoff season with another strong season. I have high hopes personally for Brian Roberts as well as Brian Matusz if he makes the starting rotation. Matusz pitched great out of the bullpen but this guy has the ability to be a 15-18 game winner. If that is not with us maybe we should look for a trade partner. Come opening day on April 2nd 2013 against the Tampa Bay Rays here is the lineup I would go with.

1. Nick Markakis (RF)
2. Brian Roberts (2B)
3. Adam Jones (CF)
4. Chris Davis (1B)
5. Matt Wieters (C)
6. Nolan Reimold (DH)
7. Manny Machado (3B)
8. J.J Hardy (SS)
9. Nate McLouth (LF)

Now this lineup doesn't give you the prototypical leadoff hitter but Markakis at the top of the lineup gives you one of your best hitters the chance more at bats. In the leadoff role Markakis will look to drive the ball in the gaps as well as being able to not worry about driving in runs. This will allow him to focus on hitting. Brian Roberts could be swapped to the bottom of the lineup but the double tandem if Roberts is healthy at the top of the lineup allows a big run producing opportunity for Adam Jones and Chris Davis.

O's pitchers and catchers report to spring training!

The Baltimore Orioles pitchers and catchers reported to spring training early this week with the rest of the team expected by end of the week. The only problem with that is majority of the club has been here working out and are ready to go.

With the excitement building the idea of the Orioles not adding that big bad via free agency has had fans up set around the Baltimore area. Not me though as the possibility of having a healthy Nolan Reimold for the entire season as well as a bounce back season from Brian Roberts. The offense will be a big jump from last season as the O's look to win more games by more then 1 run.

My projected lineup looks a lot different then many:

1. Nick Markakis
2. Brian Roberts
3. Nolan Reimold
4. Adam Jones
5. Chris Davis
6. Matt Wieters
7. Manny Machado
8. J.J. Hardy
9. Nate Mclouth

Now as you look at that lineup you see some power but the idea of having speed through out the lineup gives me something to smile about. Now Roberts could go to the bottom of the lineup or possible lead off but with how Markakis handled the leadoff spot and the real idea that the leadoff hitter only leads off guaranteed in the first this will give him more at bats. If Markakis is hitting doubles this gives the O's a great bunter in Roberts as well as a contact hitter to get him moved over for the middle of the lineup. Giving more chances for the 3,4 and 5 hitters to drive in runs.

A Big Thank You To the Orioles!

As a die hard O's fan I want to take the time out to say Thank YOU to all the Baltimore Orioles, Buck Showalter and the rest of the O's staff. I have only experienced this excitement a few times as 7 year old with the WHY Not O's of 1989 and the O's teams of 96,97.

The team played every game and didn't let what the media had to say get in front of their goals. They played as a team if one guy wasn't playing well the next man stepped up. No major superstar not taking anything away from Adam Jones. Jones is a great ball player but Super Stars focus on me me me and Jones played as part of this team. From the shaving cream pies to the bubble gum bubbles in the outfield. 

Lets Go O's in 2013! Can't wait for free agency and spring training to start!

Manny Machado called up as Steve Johnson gets his first win!

The Baltimore Orioles had a lot of things to be happy about at the end of the day on August 8th. The team just swept the Seattle Mariners with a strong outing from Steve Johnson and big production from Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters. After the game O's nation found out that O's have called up Manny Machado the organizations top prospect to make his Major League Debut on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals. We also learned that Dylan Bundy will be moved up to double A Bowie Baysox. Steve Johnson's first win in his first Major League start is the big news around Baltimore as 23 years ago on August 8th, 1989 his father Dave Johnson won his first big league game for the same Baltimore Orioles. Steve was brilliant in the Win while striking out 9 batters in 6 innings. The O's would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first and add 2 more in the third inning and 3 in the fourth. That would be plenty of run support for Johnson to pick up his first Win. O's got home-runs off the bat of Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds while Matt Wieters collected 5 Rbi's in the win. Adam Jones also added 3 of the 14 hits for the Birds who have won 5 straight games. After the game we learn that the O's top prospect Manny Machado was being called up to start at the third base for the O's in the opening game of a 4 game series against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night. Machado was batting .266 for the Bowie Baysox but has been hot since the all-star break. The O's are hoping Machado can get off to a hot start while helping the team such as other big name rookies Mike Trout and Bryce Harper has done for the teams they are playing for. The O's nation will be all eyes on the T.V. set with many more fans deciding to head down to Camden Yards to watch the game live! Wait so fast that is not all the O's did on Wednesday as the O's decided to move Dylan Bundy up to the Baysox where he will make his debut August 14th. As a O's fan we all have a lot of things to be happy for! Let's Go O's!

O's fall to Yank's look to bounce back against the Rays!

The Baltimore Orioles were unable to complete the sweet against the Yankees on Wednesday as Zach Britton gave up 7 runs in 2.2 innings. The O's would end up losing 12-3 but still took the series in New York.

Now the O's will travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays for 3 games. Tommy Hunter will take on Matt Moore in the first game of the series. The O's will need Nick Markakis to thrive in the leadoff spot.

The O's and Rays are tied at the moment with a 55-50 record. In game 2 the O's will have Wei-Yin Chen oppose Jeremy Hellickson. The O's will have Miguel Gonzalez versus the Rays ace David Price.

The O's need to jump on both starts for games 1 and 2 to avoid having to win a game against Price for a series win. This is a big series for the O's as a playoff spot is still up for grabs for the Birds!

The Orioles look for sweep against Yanks!

The Baltimore Orioles have rode a up and down roller coaster all season. They play really well for a stretch lose a couple games and then find ways to win games. The same thing happened on Tuesday Night in New York as Chris Tillman gave up 5 runs in the first inning. The O's bounced back in the top of the second to score 7 with the big blast coming on Chris Davis first career grand slam. The O's would go on to add 4 more runs and win the game 11-5. O's got 3 hit games from Nick Markakis & Wilson Betemit in the win.

The O's & Yankees will wrap up a 3 game series today at 1:05 pm in New York. Zach Britton will throw for the Birds while Phil Hughes will throw for the Pin strippers. The O's have picked up 2 games in the standings and now trail the Yankees by 5 1/2 games.

O's do it again after trailing by 5!

The Baltimore Orioles are on a 3 game winning streak after back to back games wins over the Nationals in which they were down by 6 runs and 5 runs today. Baltimore's starter Brad Bergesen went 4 innings while allowing 5 runs before leaving with the team behind 5-1. The next inning the O's would put 4 runs on the board all coming off 4 hits and a single to tie the game at 5. The O's would take the lead in the bottom of the 7th as Washington's relief pitcher threw a wild pitch that let Luke Scott score the go ahead run. Alfredo Simon would work the 9th for his 8 save of the season.

The O's at the plate were lead by Matt Wieters went 3 for 4 with 2 rbi's, Miguel Tejada went 3 for 5 with a rbi, Nick Markakis went 2 for 4 with 1 rbi and Adam Jones added his 7th home-run of the month of June. While the O's bullpen threw another 5 solid innings of relief to allow the Orioles to stay in the game!

The O's will look for the sweep on sunday verse the Washington Nationals!

O's fight back for the walk of Win!

Looked like another losing night in Baltimore as the Orioles would get behind early. The Washington Nationals would get 1 run in the first, 2 in the third and 3 in the fourth all off of young Jake Arrieta but that is all they would get as the bullpen came in and shut the door while the O's hitter found ways to get on base and score. Much of that came from the Nationals who committed 4 errors on the night that lead to 4 unearned runs to cross the plate the biggest one of them coming in the bottom of the 9th. The Nationals attempted to turn a double play that would have ended the inning turned in to being a throwing error by Christian Guzman that would allow Jake Fox to score from second base. This gave the Orioles back to back wins for the first time since they won 3 straight from May 12th to the 14th.

The Orioles as a team picked up another double digits in the hit column with 13. Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson each picked up 3 hits while Scott Moore and Cesar Izturis had 2 hits a piece. Moore pinched hit for Atkins in the 8th and would hit a 2 run home-run that would help the O's come back to even the score at 6.

The Orioles moved there record to 21-52 on the Season.

Markakis hits O's to victory!

The Baltimore Orioles can now look for the future and put the ten game skid behind them thanks to Nick Markakis base hit in the 10th to win it for the O's. O's had another solid start from there starting pitching when Brian Matusz went 5 2/3 innings allowing 2 runs while striking out 7.

Juan Samuel picked up win number 1 as the O's skipper and looks to keep the momentum going.

The O's will kick off a three game series with the New York Yankees on Tuesday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

O's can't get it going against Blue Jays!

Dave Trembley has tried it all to get the team going including a lineup that had Miguel Tejada batting cleanup, Ty Wigginton in the third hole and called up Chris Tillman to start. The musical chairs still resulted in the same outcome, another loss in the L column. Tillman who threw 5 2/3 innings allowing two runs pitched good enough to win but with not enough run support followed by two more home-runs allowed by the bullpen it is hard to pick up the win! The Orioles scored on back to back hits off the bat of Julio Lugo and Nick Markakis in the 6th but that would be all. Give a lot of credit to Brett Cecil who threw 8 solid innings with 7 strike-outs before giving way to the closer.

The O's are riding a 4 game losing streak and are on verge of being swept by Toronto on Sunday. They will be looking to Jeremy Guthrie who has won 3 of his last 4 starts to end the streak. Ricky Romero will stand in the way.

Nick Markakis swinging hot bat, while hitting in last 8!

Nick Markakis keeps picking up hits while extending his hit streak to 8 following tuesday nights 2-2 night with 2 walks. Markakis is hitting .400 in those 8 games with 12 hits while also adding 9 base on balls. Markakis who connected for his 3rd home-run of the season tuesday night continues to get on base through walks and hits. He is 3rd in the AL with a .417 on base percentage and also 3rd in the AL in walks with 32.

Up next for Markakis is Trevor Cahill who he has 6 plate appearances against with 4 hits in the at bats.

O's find ways to score runs, beat A's 5-1!

The Baltimore Orioles have struggled this season scoring runs but Tuesday was a different pattern. The Orioles scored there first 3 runs with out recording a hit to get it done. The first run came on a throwing error while the second and third runs came on sac flys in the 6th inning. The O's would also get a solo shot off Nick Markakis bat and a rbi double from Matt Wieters to move the score to 5-1. Thats all Guthrie and the bullpen would need to hold of the A's.

A's would lose Dallas Braden left after the fourth due to an ankle injury he has been dealing with. In the 4 innings he allowed only the 1 unearned run while striking out 4 and walking 2.

Up next in the Series tonight is Brian Matusz taking on Trevor Cahill.

O's looking to break 2 game slide tonight against Dallas Braden, A's!

The Baltimore Orioles head back to Oriole Park tonight to take on the Oakland A's after losing the series to the Washington Nationals. The O's have lost back to back games are looking for Jeremy Guthrie to put a win up on the board. Guthrie has allowed only 1 earned run in each of his last two starts. But standing in there way is Dallas Braden a very good lefty who just pitched a perfect game a few starts ago.

The Orioles are hitting .261 against lefties this season with 8 home-runs & 41 rbi's. Nick Markakis is one Oriole killing lefties this season batting .364 against them with 6 doubles, 1 triple and 1 home-run. He also has 20 total hits against them in 55 at bats. Other O's hitters doing well against lefties include Miguel Tejada and Julio Lugo. Lugo though only has 21 at bats verse them but has 8 hits. Tejada is batting .310 against them with 2 home-runs and 3 doubles.

The O's will need solid pitching and deep outings from there starters to win this series. Game 2 Brian Matusz will throw against Tervor Cahill while in game 3 David Hernandez will go against Gio Gonzalez. The birds starters have some work cut out for them as both starters for the A's have pitched solid and have under 4 era's meaning the O's may have trouble putting runs up on the board.

Markakis wins it for birds!

The game had the same make up of many of the O's games this year. O's losing with very few runs allowed and even fewer runs scored by them. The only difference is that tonight the O's were tied going in to there last at bat and thats all they would need. Luke Scott homered twice off of last years CY Young Zack Greinke and Corey Patterson tied it up with a solo shot off of Blake Wood. This allowed Millwood from picking up another loss in an outing which he pitched solid and another win squashed for Greinke. The O's would come up in the bottom of the 9th and again load the bases similar to last night. The difference is tonight Nick Markakis singled home the game winner and the O's came back to win 4-3!

O's leave em full, Fall to Royals 4-3!

The Orioles struggled to get runs against the Royals on Monday evening. Though the three runs they did score all came from the speedy leadoff man Corey Patterson. Patterson lead off the game with a drag bunt for a base hit. Than stole second base and was moved over on a fly ball of the bat of Markakis and would score on a infield single of the bat of Miguel Tejada. Patterson did almost the same thing in the 5th as he lead off with a walk, stole second and advanced on the throw as it sailed in to center field. He would score on Ty Wigginton's ground out. Than in the 8th Patterson was hit by a pitch and went first to third on a hit and run that was perfectly executed off the bat of Nick Markakis. He than would score off a ground out off the bat of Ty Wigginton. The O's cut it to 4-3 but that is how it would end as the O's would get a walk, a bunt single a sac bunt and than a intentionally walk to load the bases with one down. Wigginton would strike-out and Tejada didn't get enough of the ball for a hit and grounded out. Bergesen takes the loss and falls to 3-3 on the season.

They look to bounce back tonight with the ball in Kevin Millwood's hand against the always tough Zack Greinke.

O's, Royals kick off 2 game series tonight!

The battle of bad records will kick off a two game series in Camden Yards tonight as the Orioles who host the worse record in baseball will take on the Royals who has the third worse record in baseball. Both teams have had trouble scoring runs compared to the runs they have given up. So lets take a look at the series in a quick glance!

Pitching Match-Ups:

Game 1: Brad Bergesen(3-2) vs Kyle Davies(2-2)

Bergesen has pitched well since being re-called from the Norfolk Tides winning his last 3 decisions while only allowing 5 runs in the 3 starts. His pitch command has improved and showed the same stuff as he did last year when he pitched solid for the Orioles. Davies pitched well in his last outing but the Royals struggled to score for him while the outing before that he was touched up for 9 runs in 4 innings of work. The outcome looks solid for Baltimore in game 1 with Bergesen throwing another solid start.

Game 2: Kevin Millwood(0-4) vs Zack Greinke(1-4)

Millwood has pitched solid for the O's this season with his last outing being the worse start for him on the season giving up 5 earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched. The Orioles have managed to scored 22 runs for him in his 8 starts while he has an era of 3.69. Though it won't get any easier for the O's against Greinke as though his record makes him look a lot worse than he actually has pitched. Zack has gotten the same kinda run support that Millwood has received on the season. This could be a pitchers gem for both teams as both teams struggle to hit. The outcome goes to whoever's team decides to hit for them.  Greinke who was 1-0 against the Orioles last year while Millwood was 0-1 against the Royals though he did pitch solid. As eventually one of the two teams has to score at least 1 run. 

Birds at the Plate

Luke Scott and Ty Wigginton have been swinging the bats well for the O's over the last couple of games. Wigginton has hit in the last 7 games with multi hits game in each of the past 4 games. He also added a pair of home-runs saturday to move his team lead up to 12. Wigginton also leads the O's in batting average, runs, rbi's, and ops. Scott who struggled early has started swinging the bat solid of late and raised his batting average to .245 on the season. He has also managed to hit 5 home-runs in his last 10 games. Players needing to get hot Matt Wieters who is 0 for his last 8 at the plate, Tejada 3 for 12 in the Indians series & Markakis 2 for 11 in the Indians series. These are the big three and if the O's wanna start putting wins on the board they need them to hit. Plus they need some numbers from the first base position as Hughes & Atkins went for 1 for 12 with 4 strike-outs verse the Indians.

Royals at the Plate

The Royals have been getting production out of most of the guys at the plate but like the Orioles they have struggled to outscore there opponents. Billy Butler, Mike Aviles, & Jose Guillen all had more than 4 hits in the series against the White Sox. Players struggling Podsednik 3 for 12 out of the lead-off spot, David DeJesus 2 for 10, Mitch Maier 2 for 12 and Yuniesky Betancourt 1 for 10. In order for the Royals to win some games they need Podsednik to get on base as with his speed he can turn base hits and walks in to doubles coming the stolen bases. 

Luke Scott player of series vs Seattle Mariners!

The Orioles managed to get a series win against the Seattle Mariners. The O's were able to come back in game 3 after Feliz Hernanadez left the game as Corey Patterson hit a solo home-run and Luke Scott a few batters later connected for a grand slam that put the O's up by one. Simon would come on and pick up the save as the O's won back to back games at home.

Luke Scott had the night off on Tuesday but still had a solid series as he was 4 for 8 with 1 double, 2 home-runs and 5 rbi's. Luke's grand slam also help cap a 5 run inning that lead to a comeback win for the team. Given them numbers he is the player of the series!

Other key performances in the series was Corey Patterson 3 for 9 with 1 home-run, 1 double, 2 runs scored and 1 outfield assist. Brad Bergesen pitched 7.2 innings given up 1 run while striking out 3 in route to his 3 straight win. Nick Markakis had 4 hits in 11 at bats in the series while Ty Wigginton added 4 hits in 11 at bats also. While Alfredo Simon picked up back to back saves to put his total on the season to 5.

Wigginton helps O's strike first!

King Felix was cruising along till the fourth inning when he walked Nick Markakis. After a wild pitch that moved Nick up to second base Miguel Tejada dribbled a ball back to Felix but managed to move Markakis to third base. Ty Wigginton didn't get much of the ball but enough to find a hole in front of the right fielder for a base hit and a rbi to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Millwood has also cruised along through the first 4 allowing just one hit while striking out 3.