Baltimore Orioles Information
2010 will be the 110th season for the Orioles in Major League Baseball and the franchise is hoping to make a return to the Playoffs not seen since the 1998 season. After finishing with the worst record in the American League last season, season ticket holders were looking for changes to the team. The franchise didn't go after any "clean-up hitters" but focused on a closing pitcher and the infield. Departing players include RHP Chris Ray, LHP Sean Henn, RHP Radames Liz, RHP Danys Baez, RHP Brian Bass, 3b Melvin Mora and OF Jeff Fiorentino. Coming to the Orioles are LHP Mike Gonzalez, RHP Kevin Millwood, RHP Armando Gabino, C Michael Hernandez, C Craig Tatum, 3b Garrett Atkins and 3B Miguel Tejada.
The pitching rotation is projected to be RHP Kevin Millwood, RHP Jeremy Guthrie, LHP Brian Matusz, RHP Brad Bergesen and RHP Chris Tillman with a Bullpen of LHP Mike Gonzalez (closer), RHP Jim Johnson, RHP Koji Uehara, RHP Cla Meredith, RHP Dennis Sarate, LHP Mark Hendrickson and LHP Will Ohman.
Which
of the following two statements is true: The Baltimore Orioles have won three World Series championships in their franchise history
or The Baltimore Orioles have only made four playoff appearances
in the last 30 years. Actually, they’re both true (sorry
if you feel slightly cheated). These two statements wouldn’t
seem to fit together, but they both are true in the case of the
Baltimore Orioles, a team known more for their sputtering play
of late than of the fluid play of their World Series teams of the
late 1960s.
Previous Seasons:
Lee Mazzilli is ready to lead the Baltimore Orioles in 2004, even though it will
be his first career experience as a manager. Mazzilli played 14 seasons of professional
baseball and followed that up with four seasons as the New York Yankees first
base and outfield coach. In each of those seasons, Mazzilli’s Yankees won
the American League East and the Orioles finished fourth. Mazzilli has proven
he’s a winner, and the Orioles hope it will transfer over into their organization.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards was opened in 1992, and played host to the all-star
game the following year. It was in that year’s home run derby that Ken
Griffey Jr hit the first and only ball to make contact with the warehouse located
beyond the right field bleachers, a shot estimated at 530 feet. The field itself
is also asymmetrical with a 410 measurement to dead center. The stadium took
33 months to build and only cost the city $110 million, a fraction of what it
would cost today.
The Orioles made many moves in the off-season with possibly none bigger than
the addition of all-star shortstop Miguel Tejada from the Oakland Athletics.
Tejada, like Jason Giambi the year before him, was simply asking for more money
than the organization was able to pay him, so he made the jump to the Orioles.
Another move the O’s made was the acquisition of all-star catcher Javy
Lopez from the Braves. Lopez had a career year last season, hitting 43 homers
and batting in 109 runs in 129 games while still keeping a .328 average. Adding
Tejada and Lopez to a young lineup with players like Melvin Mora and Jay Gibbons
means that the Orioles should be a fun team to watch through the summer.
The Oriole starting rotation will be younger than usual in 2004 (average age
of less than 26 years old), but they’ll still have Sidney Ponson to lead
them this season. Ponson led the staff with 14 wins last season, but was traded
to the San Francisco Giants late in the year to help their playoff push. In the
off-season, Ponson resigned with the Orioles. Daniel Cabrera, Eric DuBose, Erik
Bedard, and Kurt Ainsworth are the expected starting pitchers to fill out the
staff in 2004. Closer Jorge Julio will finish ball games for the O’s, who
expect to be contending with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox in the later
months of the season.