The Bird of Prey

When the Baltimore Orioles reached a deal at the trade deadline and acquired the well known Francisco Rodriguez, the argument could have been made that they had the best bullpen in the American League East.

You take the gas guzzling veteran in K Rod, who just reached the 300 save plateau this summer, and stick him in the eight inning between Darren O' Day (45.2 IP/ 2.17 ERA/ 1.029 WHIP)  and Jack Johnson, who is currently leading the AL with 36 saves, and you have a bullpen that's set to take you into fall baseball in October. Right?


Not so fast...

In his only four appearances for the Orioles since the trade deadline, K Rod has given up a total of four Home Runs. The leadoff hitter has homered in three of his four appearances. Put it this way, the only thing Francisco Rodriguez is setting up for is an Oriole loss. He may not have factored into a decision on the score sheet, but three of the four appearances have resulted in Oriole losses.

K Rod gives up a long home run to Bobby Butler in his first Oriole appearance