The Baltimore Orioles Make Big Moves To Try And Unseat Yankees
by: Heather Maxwell
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 Time: 2:33 PM
The New York Yankees climbed to glory once again and have set the bar in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles struggled a bit last season and have made some moves to once again compete for the division. While they will have to have a few players put up some career numbers, it is not out of the question that they sneak in for the wild card in 2010.
Over the last two seasons, the teams that went the deepest into the playoffs had lights out bullpens. While the Orioles have improved their starting pitching, their bullpen will be the key to their success. Luckily for them, it would appear that this is indeed the strongpoint of their ballclub.
To say that Baltimore has the best bullpen in baseball is not stretching the truth. They are going to have players that get cut from the major league club that will fill in holes for just about every other team in the league. This is a great problem to have and one that will ensure that they keep only the best. It may just be the secret to their early success.
Starting pitching always seems to struggle when the season first starts. Pitchers are trying to work themselves back into shape and it can take awhile before they are ready to put in 7 or 8 innings every time they take the ball. With this bullpen, Baltimore has a great shot of pitching lights out from the 5th or 6th inning on.
The Orioles are going to be given every chance to get off to a hot start too as they open the season against Tampa Bay, Toronto and then swing out West before coming home to face the Red Sox. They have 16 games in 16 days against opponents that they should beat. If they can get momentum into that first meeting with Boston, look out.
The bolster the starting rotation, Baltimore signed Kevin Millwood. He is coming off a very nice year and looks to be back to the form that had Philadelphia drooling over him years ago. With him taking over the role of the number one starter, every pitcher in this rotation will benefit and should see better matchups.
If Baltimore Orioles fans wanted a reason to get excited and get back to the ballpark, they have it. Millwood is ready to go and will put up plenty of wins and the rest of the team should feed off of that. The Yankees are going to be in town on April 27th and it will be the hottest ticket of this very young season.
About the Author
Written by Heather Maxwell, article sponsored by Stub.com. Stub.com sells Baltimore Orioles Tickets, MLB Tickets, Sports Tickets and more to just about any event in the world.
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