Get excited, Baltimore! Today is Jake Arrieta day in Bird Land!
AP Photo
So yeah, there’s that…
With Arrieta’s arrival, the third and final of the original three “Cavalry” that was supposed to help save Baltimore baseball is finally here at the “Major League” (the Orioles can barely call themselves that these days) level.
How are the other 2 members of the Cavalry doing? Do we have to go there?
Chris Tillman: 0-2, 5.54 ERA, 13.0 IP, 19 H, 6 K, 7 BB
Brian Matusz: 2-6, 5.10, 67.0, 79, 57, 27
Um..yay?
To be (more than) fair, Tillman had a decent start last night against the Yankees, pitched out of some jams, and kept the team in the game. However, he still walks too many, doesn’t strike out enough, and some MLB scouts have greatly soured on just how good the kid can be. It’s worth mentioning, he’s still just 22 years old.
Matusz has shown flashes of brilliance in 2010, but too often gets undone by 1 or 2 bad-to-awful innings that have been killing his ERA. The 2-6 record is definitely more of a reflection on a team that can’t hit it’s collective way out of a wet paper bag than on Matusz’s performances to date. Brian Matusz will be just fine.
Of course, back when we were anxiously awaiting some decent pitching to grace B’More with it’s presence, things were a bit different. Yeah, that was back in the “good ol’ days” when the team could actually score some runs. In the doom and gloom Oriole-dom era of 2010, pitching isn’t the problem. The aforementioned lack of bats is what has the team in the MLB basement, not the arms. So, no offense to Mr. Arrieta, but there might be a little more fanfare for his arrival were he a power hitting first baseman.
Arrieta at AAA Norfolk this season:
6-2, 1.85 ERA, 73 IP, 48 H, 3 HR, 64 K, 34 BB, 1.12 WHIP
