team2pass

The Daniel Cabrera that pitched today showed some of that stuff that makes me think "Cy" Young.  At one point, he looked un-touchable on the mound and baffeled every hitter he faced.  He did give up a home run, but I think he was tired at that point.  He came trotting out in the 5th inning and just seemed to be out of gas while warming up.

I do not know the pitch count, around 45-50 I would guess.  I would say more than two thirds of his pitches were stikes.  He did not work counts, got on top of the hitters.  He showed three solid pitches.  You could see his fastball and he was cutting them.  He has a 11-5 working for him right now; I always thought it was a 12-6.  BUT...HE THREW EFFECTIVE CHANGE UPS.

He looked the part of an Ace of a staff.  BTW, rumors were floating in the stands that Adam Loewen threw today and felt great in a side session.  These two have 20 game winners written on them, just somehow neither really knows it yet.  If DC could throw what I saw today, he has 25 game winner in neon signs above his head.

The only problem is every good start is followed by two bad outings.

Introducing my choice for starting shortstop for the 2008 Orioles: Blake Davis

He was a 2006 draft pick out of Cal State Fullerton.  At the time he was drafted, scouts considered him a plus defender with a good glove and arm.  He was projected to be a super ultility infielder, due to his athletism.  He was a poor mans Khali Greene.  Scouts thought that he could hit for average, but due to his size that was about it from the offensive standpoint.

He was a fourth round pick by the Orioles and shipped off to Delmarva shorebirds.  He was sporadic at the plate, but showed the ability to move up the ranks soley on defense alone.  Last season, he was moved up to high A Frederick.  He was on a tear with almost .300 average and 20% of his hits were doubles.  This leads me to believe that he could end up a 10 to 15 homerun guy once he fully gets a graps on pitch recognition.  He has wheels and could be a 15-20 SB total as well.

I have read over him this spring and there has not been much about him at all.  He is stuck behind Brandon Fayhe and Luis Hernandez (can not see why after his performance yesterday).  He is hitting in spring training and his glove and range is the best out of the trio.  He has added some bulk and looks to be in the 175-180 range, a far site better than the frail frame of 165.  After watching him up close, he will not make the 25 man roster, but I think he will go to AA Bowie.  He is not on the 40 man roster, so it is wishful thinking that he ends up in Baltimore in April.  Hey, if Bynum is done for the season and Luis chokes himself out of the lineup by the end of April, he could be an early season call-up.  He has the glove, has the average, still lacks pop.  I think MacPhail is going to bring him along slowly, even if he might be the best option at short.  I think I can see why Miguel Tejada was shipped out.  Between him and Tyler Henson, a more athletic option at shortstop is on the horizon.

Well, just barely.  They still leave runners stranded with less than two outs.  That is sad to see and I wonder if this is going to be a common theme throughout the year.

Nick Markakis rip a nice shot for a triple and it scored both Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora.  Brian Roberts is showing all scouts why he maybe one of the most under rated leadoff men in the game.  He drew a tough walk and stole two bases off Dodgers backup catcher Lucus May.  It was more related to the great jump off IMO a slow movement to the plate by Eric Stults.  I would not give too much credit to the Orioles run as this is still a pup pitcher that most likely will be in AAA this season.

Alot of the games are late run producing games with slow starts.  The Orioles could be simply slow starters or they are roughing up the relief pitching.  Lets see the last two weeks of this season when the rosters are reduced.  It will give a better idea of things to come in 2008.

He has the makings of the clown prince of baseball.  Anyone that annoits him as the next shortstop has to be smoking something fairly strong.  He made an error in the first inning in which he bobbled the ball as if it were a hot coal.  Next thing you know, the dugout is moving around trying not to get hit by his errant throw to first base.  By the way, the error lead to an un-earned run with a two base error.  At the plate, he dropped below the mendoza line today as he was apart of a double play.  This is not a good two weeks for him and if not for Freddie Bynum going down with an injury...he may have already been packing for minor league camp.

I want to see Scott Moore, when healthy, be given a shot a SS. 

We made Chan Ho Park seem to be the re-incarnation of Don Drysdale today.  Either Park relearned the "Shuto" pitch or the Orioles failed to put good wood on the ball as they got under alot of his pitches with fly-ball outs.  My hope is that it is early to recongnize the pitches and given a month or two those balls become line drives.  This team is going to go through a number of tough times this year and I would not be surprised one bit to see a 10-15 losing streak this season.

It is going to be long from the first impression.