2005 Overview:

Before the All Star break the Baltimore Orioles were playing as if they were for one of those dream seasons. On June 21, Baltimore had a lead of two games over the division rival Boston Red Sox and had assembled an impressive record of 42-28. The Orioles have also been just 24 days away from celebrating Rafael Palmeiro 3,000 career has been affected and 4th of the American League with a batting average of .278 team. But after a dream season in June 22nd Baltimore quickly faded. The Orioles would lose their next six games and winning only 32 of their final 92 games (just under 35%). Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for steroids Aug. 2, and second-year manager Lee Mazzilli was fired two days after the suspension of Palmeiro.

The three bright spots in 2005 were offensive shortstop Miguel Tejada (.304 36 98) 3rd base of Melvin Mora (.283 27 88) and outfielder Jay Gibbons (.277 26 79). On the downside, the first goal of Rafael Palmeiro (.266 18 60) appeared in only 100 games and off-season acquisition of Sammy Sosa (14 45 0.221) proved to be a waste of Gamble. Regarding pitch, starter Rodrigo Lopez (15-12 4.90), Bruce Chen (13-10 3.83) and BJ Ryan (36 saves in 41 opportunities) has proven. The Orioles ended their season with a disappointing 74-88 record, 21 games behind the division leading Yankees and Red Sox.

Off Season Moves:

After Free Agent Closer BJ Ryan signed with the division rival Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore traded Steve Kline to quickly Giants RHP LaTroy Hawkins (2-8 3.83 6 records in 2005, 25 cases in 2004 for the Chicago Cubs). The Orioles also added Free agent catcher Ramon Hernandez (.290 in December 1958) and 1 Base / outfielder Jeff Conine (.304 3 33) and former Red Sox Kevin Millar (.272 in September 1950) in the hope of complete loss of Rafael Palmeiro as an offensive force in the lineup everyday. Baltimore has also sold SS Nate Spears and LHP Carlos Perez for the Cubs Corey Patterson (.215 13 34) in order to boost their offensive output in 2006. To cope with their problems pitching from the Orioles trade with the Mets for RHP Kris Benson (10-8 4.13) in exchange for relief pitcher Jorge Julio.

2006 Analysis:

Expect the offensive addition to better protect Tejada and Mora. The newly acquired Millar and Conine likely split time between 1B, outfield and DH. The starting five seem to point to Lopez, Erik Bedard (6-8 4.00), Daniel Cabrera (10-13 4.52), Chen and John Maine (2-3 6.30) as well as newcomers Kris Benson Chen is expected to bump or Maine to the bullpen. Although the addition of Benson will help the starting rotation is not quite offer seriously enough to fight against Toronto, Boston and New York. Leaving lefty BJ Ryan will obviously be missed. The Orioles are keeping their fingers crossed that LaTroy Hawkins can once more to close games as he did in 2004. Relievers Eric DuBose (2-3 5.52), Chris Ray (1-3 2.66), Tim Byrdak (0-1 4.05) and Todd Williams (5-5 3.30) completes the Oriole bullpen. Javy Lopez DH's most likely this year with the acquisition of Free Agent catcher Ramon Hernandez joins the club.

About the Author

Jack Scrafford recommends PlatinumTickets to buy Baltimore Orioles tickets. See http://www.platinumtickets.com/mlb/baltimore_orioles_tickets.html for more information.