Rodrigo, Where’ve You Been All Year?!

Rodrigo Lopez led the O’s to a 2-0 win last night over the Seattle Mariners as he pitched seven-and-two-thirds innings, striking out five and walking none in what was arguably his best performance of the 2006 season. He probably could have gone the distance; his 82 pitches are proof he was simply “on” last night and the fact he threw three-quarters of his pitches for strikes showed his command was impeccable.

And my prediction from yesterday (“Tonight may very well be a game you may not want to watch.”) was obviously wrong since the pitcher’s duel that was last night’s game was very exciting to see, especially coming from the O’s. So yeah, my bad guys.

At any rate, Jamie Moyer wasn’t helped by his offense whatsoever as the M’s only managed to get on base four times the whole game. In fact, since this series started, hit-machine Ichiro Suzuki has gone 0-for-8 and committed his second error of 2006 by mishandling a ball in the first inning, allowing Brian Roberts to extend a routine single in to a double. So aside from the bullpen’s implosion from last night, the O’s have pretty much had Seattle’s number since yesterday’s first pitch.

Aside from Lopez’s great performance, the other guy who really shined last night — and has been since July 1 — was rookie Nick Markakis, who, by all means, is definitely not playing like a rookie. Kakes hit an RBI ground-rule double last night, a hit that would have netted him two RBI if it wasn’t for the fact that it bounced in the stands and forced Fernando Tatis to stay at third. And speaking of Tatis, he’s been hitting very well since joining the Orioles about a week ago; he’s hitting .375 (3-for-8) and barely missed a homer last night as the ball hit literally six or seven inches below the top of the left-field wall….

….but back to Markakis. If this kid doesn’t win player of the month honors, or at least rookie of the month, a major injustice will have occurred. In the month of July, Markakis hit .403 (31-for-77) with two homers, 10 RBI, six doubles, and six walks while only striking out nine times. He raised his season average 27 points and increased his slugging percentage by 44. Frankly, I think this is a sign of things to come and Nick will be one of the best players on the entire team within the next two years.

Anyways, it was nice to see a solid, fundamentally sound game last night from the Birds. This kind of game doesn’t happen very often but when it does, we can see our team has many bright spots that need to be complimented by players who will no doubt be on the market in the winter. Getting them is a matter of finishing this season strong and going in to the winter meetings with a set plan as to what types of players we need to acquire to put the icing on the cake.

Now, there’s something I would like to address, and that is the subject of post-trade deadline waiver moves. I don’t think the media — an entity that completely bashed the O’s inactivity during the trade deadline and put all the blame on Peter Angelos — really paid much attention to the fact that the waiver period was approaching and most of the expendable players we have didn’t command much value on the market to begin with.

I think the O’s will make some key moves in the coming days/weeks, starting with that grumpy old man, Javy Lopez. You know, for a guy who really hasn’t done anything more than complain and hurt his back all season, you’d think he’d be happy to have a role on an MLB team. It seems like after every game he catches, he’s hurt. Yet he says he should be the starting catcher for someone….but obviously, no one came calling. But now that Jason Varitek is out with a torn knee cartilage, it looks like Javy would be a perfect fit as a rental for the Sox’ pennant race since Tek is likely out for the remainder of the regular season. I wouldn’t mind the O’s working out a deal with the Sox to send Javy to Boston in exchange for a pitching prospect, someone like Abe Alvarez.

Maybe we can even send them Todd Williams, too….just as long as they include a box of sunflower seeds.

Anyways, aside from Javy and, yes, Todd Williams, there are a few more guys who could be gone this month. Kevin Millar and/or Jeff Conine would both be viable options at DH or first base for a team in need of that type of player. LaTroy Hawkins would also command decent value on the waiver wire market. Even Bruce Chen and/or Rodrigo Lopez would be decent options for teams looking for starting pitching….and that looks like pretty much every team in the race minus the Tigers.

So cross your fingers and hope the front office can pull something off. Because after the completely inactive deadline period, I think it would only make perfect sense to do something….

Moving along, let’s talk about today’s game; it looks like this afternoon’s match-up will be another pitching duel. Youngster Felix Hernandez will take on Erik Bedard in a battle of who can out-duel the other. Both are having phenomenal years. Bedard has finally broken out as the O’s clear-cut ace and Felix, at age 20, is showing the baseball world that he’s going to be around for a looong time. His massive frame (6’3″, 235lbs.) and his uncanny stamina, especially at his very young age, allow him to eat up innings and his “stuff” provides him with the ammunition to strike batters out and avoid walks, something very rare (see: extremely rare, as in pretty much never happens) among pitchers his age.

I’m going to avoid bringing in numbers and stats for this one. Come 3:00, just tune in to this game and prepare to watch two of the best young pitchers battle it out as two solid hitting teams attempt to drive in some runs on guys who generally hold teams to only two to four runs a game.

By the way, how about Mel Gibson? What a jerk-off! If you don’t know, he was arrested for DUI and was spouting off anti-Semitic slurs to the arresting officers and carrying on like a crazed, drunken, Jew-hating madman. To be honest with you, I think the man is bat-s**t crazy. I kind of feel bad for him….but still, a person in his position of influence and celebrity who directed and produced the Passion of the Christ (and, not to mention, lost his right from Disney to make a Holocaust-related film) saying things like that? The only conclusion I can come to is that he’s messed up in the head and need serious help.

But I digress….this is an Orioles blog! Let’s stick to the bat and ball business and leave the Gibson Gossip to Gawker or something….

More later. That is, more baseball later!