This week the Ravens are stammering,

The Texans just gave them a hammering.

You knew they were done,

When they threw out the run.

And now fans want to fire Cam Cameron

The Tigers had visions of grandeur,

And threw out an ace in Verlander.

But for being the best,

Maybe had too much rest.

And in Game 1 got beat by a Panda

There once was a QB named Cam,

Who wanted to be Superman.

But when things don’t work out,

He always starts to pout.

So now people are calling him Sham.

The Bounty-Gate thing was malicious,

Inspiring hits that were vicious.

But the players suspended,

Had their punishments ended.

And now have beef with two commishes.

There once was a Jag named Maurice,

Who called the Bears quarterback weak.

He should laugh at himself,

Because he’s now on the shelf.

With a little foot that he just tweaked.

In an attempt to preface my Baseball Plays of the Day, let me begin by saying I have placed bets on baseball games only a handful of times in my life. Most of the instances occured at the Hard Rock Cafe Sports Book last year in Punta Cana, which was an awesome time, by the way. I hung out with John Rocker, who, at the time, informed me of his belief that he could be an effective asset to the Orioles bullpen.  While I am sure it was the Budweiser talking, he came across like an okay guy to me.   As tempting as it was, I fought hard to stay away from the only relevant topic anyone wants to talk to him about; his racist/homophobic/sexist comments in regards to playing in NYC. After all, the guy, being on vacation like myself, was there to enjoy himself.

Anyway, here are my Inaugural MLB Plays of the Day for Tuesday:

Cleveland Indians/Detroit Tigers OVER  9  (BEST BET)

To say that the Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez has been a disappointment in 2012 would be an understatement. Acquired at last year’s trade deadline from from the Colorado Rockies, the 28-year-old is rarely clocked at over 95 mph on the radar gun these days. In addition to his loss in velocity, he leads the AL in walks and sports a hideous 5.48 walks per nine innings. Jimenez’s July has been more atrocious as he boasts an ugly 7.48 ERA, surrendering 18 earned runs in just four starts.

Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera will be licking their lips when the Tigers roll into town Tuesday and should have no problem teeing off on Jimenez.  However, their teammate and Detroit starter tonight Doug Fister has also been up and down this season. Fister has won his last three starts after losing his previous three starts. Cleveland, winners against Baltimore last night to avoid a sweep, is batting .311 (84-for-270) against fastballs from pitchers like Fister since last season. The lone bright spot in the lineup is Shin-Soo Choo, who homered in two of the last three games.

I expect Detroit to put up roughly 7-8 runs in this contest.   Cleveland should manage at least three.

New York Mets to win ML (-108)

The Mets have certainly been free-falling as of late.  Losers of their last 10 of 11, their starting pitching has compiled a 6.41 ERA during that span.  Not to mention the devastating news that pitchers Johan Santana and Dillon Gee have hit the DL. Their sole victory during those 11 games was last Thursday when R.A. Dickey got the best of the Nats’ Gio Gonzalez. Dickey will go for his 12th consecutive winning decision in the rematch tonight.

Gonzalez hasn’t looked anything like an All-Star over his last five starts. The southpaw surrendered six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched during last week’s matchup against the Mets, ballooning his ERA to 5.75 in July. To make matters worse, Dickey is a perfect 6-0 at home and should make scoring runs very difficult for the Nationals offense.

Dickey certainly has not been lights out either, but expect him to get enough support led by David Wright and a red hot Daniel Murphy to even this three game series at 1-1.

ORIOLES vs RAYS PREVIEW: July 24th, 2012

Wei-Yin Chen takes the mound for the Orioles tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays as the O’s try to rebound after failing to sweep Cleveland last night. The last time the Rays faced the Orioles with Chen on the mound, Rays’ starter David Price overshadowed him with a complete game shutout. Tonight, the Rays are not as fortunate to match Price against Chen once again, as they send Jeremy Hellickson to the mound. The Rays have lost all of Hellickson’s last five starts and his road ERA stands at 4.08. Chen, on the other hand, has an ERA a full point lower at home.  Taking three of four in Cleveland and winning their last five of six overall has given the O’s some much needed swagger after a slow start post All Star Break. The travel from Cleveland to Baltimore will not fatigue them very much either, so jet lag will not be a problem.   All signs point to Baltimore starting this three game set successfully with a win, thus further distancing themselves from the bottom three in the AL East.

It was definitely a good and bad weekend for the Orioles. The Birds signed their #1 draft pick right before the deadline and won one of the most exciting games of the year. On the down side they dropped two of three to the Detroit Tigers and lost their best starting pitcher to a knee injury to start the second half of the season. This weekend showed a lot of things. The Orioles are definitely going in the right direction for their future, they are still contenders, but ultimately aren’t ready to run with the big boys. Here’s why summed up with my top three events of the weekend.

#3

Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Tigers showed the Orioles everything that they covet to be a contender in the American League. The Tigers may trail the Orioles in the Wildcard hunt but they are much more prepared to make a run down the stretch. It all starts with the guy that made the start for Detroit on Sunday. Justin Verlander was everything that a #1 starter was supposed to be. He walked out to the mound on Sunday and dominated the Oriole line-up. He not only dominated but he went deep into the game, pitching eight shut-out innings to get the Tigers to their closer and give their bullpen a much need rest after Saturday’s 13 inning marathon. The Tigers started the game with another big weapon, their lead-off hitter. Austin Jackson hit Miguel Gonzalez’s second pitch of the game out of the park to give the Tigers a lead they never relinquished. Until the Orioles find a legitimate lead-off hitter their offense will continue to struggle. Nick Markakis may be the best option right now, but in the long run he is not the answer.

#2

For the second straight year the Orioles signed their top right handed starting pitcher #1 pick right before the signing deadline.

This year’s #1 pick Kevin Gausman signed on the dotted line just minutes before the 5 pm deadline on Friday afternoon.  Oriole fans can gleam hope from the fact that Dylan Bundy and Gausman could be anchoring the rotation in the next couple of years. Gausman is a lanky right hander that has a great fastball and change-up. He has already pitched a lot this year so don’t expect much from him for the rest of this season. It will be interesting to see where he starts the year next year. There was speculation that Gausman would go back to LSU after the Tigers lost to Stony Brook in the College World Series. Former Orioles Pitcher Ben McDonald is close to Gausman and he told us on our show last week that he expected Gausman to sign and he was correct. Although the decision was not a slam dunk for Gausman, “It was a difficult decision, said Gausman. “I love LSU. I think I always will. Baton Rouge will always be a second home to me.” Kevin was 11-1 with a 2.72 ERA for the Tigers with 128 strikeouts in 115 2/3 innings. Gausman was drafted by the Dodgers in 2010 and turned down the Dodgers to go to LSU.

Justin Verlander clearly has a set opinion about what he thinks the MLB All-Star Game is about, and it isn’t about galavanting off with Kate Upton, instead to him it is nothing but a glorified exhibition.

Ever since baseball established the idea the All-Star game should determine home-field advantage in the World Series, the two leagues have played some pretty fascinating games. Tuesday’s game was anything but interesting and was a snooze-fest almost as soon as it started. Of course, the major guy to blame for it was Verlander himself.

In the first inning, Verlander gave up five runs to the National League, was wild and, despite not getting much help from Jose Bautista in right field, could not keep the ball even remotely close to the infield. His performance was out of character and made many wonder what was up with last year’s Cy Young and MVP winner. Later in the evening, Verlander would explain the rough outing and poor command with a quietly alarming opinion.

“I know nobody wants to see me throw 90 mph” Verlander said, via MLive.com. “They like to see the 100 mph fastball. So, hey, I gave them that.”

Clearly to Verlander then, the game isn’t about winning and getting home-field advantage, it is instead about trying to put on a show. It is no secret, casual fans may like to see the high-heat and silly curves he throws, but not the hardcore ones. And what if his preseason favorite Detroit Tigers find themselves in the World Series? Suddenly I imagine he might wish he had painted those corners a little more.

Although, if you know Verlander, he might just want more opportunities to get his first career major league hit this year.

Verlander’s comments may not earn him another All-Star Game start, nor should it, but it does begin to beg the question about how much the players really care about the game. Sure, there was the video of Chipper Jones telling the NL he didn’t want to go out with a loss. If other players are like Verlander though, I doubt his speech stuck in any of their hearts.

In one slip of the tongue, Verlander seems to have unraveled baseball’s marketing line from the last few years of “this time it counts.” Since, if it doesn’t count to the players, who ultimately might have to play in the World Series, who does it really matter to then? If the opinion Verlander offered up is wildly held by baseball players, chances are the whole making it count idea is nothing but a marketing ruse by Bud Selig and the MLB to sell ads and seats.

Sure, people will always tune into the game. It isn’t hard to imagine though, that a few more fans have watched the last few years after seeing the return of close games after 2006 and the NL’s now three-game winning streak. It will be interesting to see if people will think of the game the same way next year, knowing what they know now.

If Verlander’s comments stick around, you have to think many are going to think of the game as just a way to watch players they don’t normally see demonstrate what are essentially the equivalent of cheap baseball tricks. The game should be known for fun competitive baseball, but if it isn’t anymore, then we are back to square-one, with it being meaningless.