Our pitching staff has put together an amazing streak of four straight starts allowing only one run. The starters, led by ace pitcher, Jeremy Guthrie, have been nothing short of amazing. There have been a few setbacks with the rotation, led by the injury to number two starter, Brian Matusz. The prognosis on Matusz is that he will miss somewhere between 4-6 weeks. As the news hit after Opening Day, it was decided that stud pitching prospect Zach Britton would get the call to the majors.
That call-up causes Britton to be under the Orioles control for one less year. They now maintain control of him only through 2016 instead of 2017. During spring training Britton looked ready for Major League camp, as he posted the best numbers of the starters. The club brass believed in his skills and rewarded him with this opportunity. Britton certainly lived up to these expectations as he pitched 6 innings, allowing 1 run, and walked 3, with 6 strikeouts.
The latest news out of Baltimore was that Jeremy Guthrie was diagnosed with pneumonia and according to Buck Showalter, he will miss 5-7 games. To fill that void, Brad Bergesen will be called upon to start in the place of Guthrie.
Even with our pieced together rotation, the Orioles are having a fantastic start to the 2011 baseball season. For those of you wondering, I did not forget Chris Tillman's 6 inning no-hit bid or Jake Arrieta's great home opener. Tillman was nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately, he did not get the win since he left in a scoreless game because of a high pitch count. The bullpen kept the Orioles in the game and lead them to victory.
Our offense hasn't come out firing on all cylinders like many have hoped, but we have been getting timely hits. Brian Roberts has supplied all the power thus far, leading the club in HR's with 2. The saying is that during the first few weeks of the season, the pitching is ahead of the hitting anyway, so I am not worried. The hitting will produce, just give it time.
The defense has been great. Nick Markakis had a great catch, Felix Pie cut down a runner at home plate throwing a bullet from LF to Matt Wieters and the new left side of our infield looks good early on.
Overall, as a lifelong Orioles fan, I am quite excited about the potential and early returns on this season. Baltimore's fan base longs for a return to the glory days of this franchise. By all accounts, that may not be so far away. Keep it up Orioles!
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