A Fan’s Worst Nightmare: Walks!

How frustrating is it to watch walks? I can’t be the only fan who hates them. I can’t imagine how a manager or even fielders must feel watching your pitcher give up the game because of walks.

Sunday’s game was a mess with Jake Arrieta walking five and hitting one batter. Although he only gave up two hits, his inaccuracy (and that is putting it mildly) caused the Orioles to blow an early lead and fall to the Dodgers 7-4. He pitched 91 pitches and only lasted four innings. This early call to the bullpen came at an inopportune time in the Orioles schedule as they were at the early part of a 20-straight game stretch with no days off.

That would explain why the next day, Arrieta got send back down to Triple A for a bullpen pitcher. Obviously, the Orioles will need to bring another starter up soon to replace Arrieta in the rotation, but right now the need is for long relievers.

Arrieta walked a total of 16 batters and hit two in his 19 innings in the big leagues. The 16 base on balls leads the entire MLB; not a category you want to be number one in. Dating back to 2010, his rookie season, Arrieta has 158 walks in 353.1 innings pitched. That is an average of about four walks in a nine inning game- too much. This lack of control is not a new problem for Jake. Even though he says that he will be back in the majors in no time, I do not think the Orioles should stick with him. He is proven to be an inconsistent pitcher at best. We do not need a repeat of the Daniel Cabrera fiasco!

In better news, how about that walk off win vs. Toronto? Markakis was clutch!

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Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.