If you listen to Koons Ford Presents the Sports Maven this morning , you might not think the show was taped on Wednesday. But it was. In discussing the O’s with my guest co-host Donald Saiontz, I predicted that the O’s were due for a batting slump and that the bullpen could be our ruination. It’s now getting out of hand. OK–the bats were due to cool off. That’s not the worry, They will return. But Johnson just looked awful last night. Buck continues to put him in games and then refuses to take him out even when it’s obvious there are problems. Johnson now has has 6 of the Orioles 17 blown saves, the worst in the AL. Obviously Buck believes there is no one to turn to because Johnson was terrible but he left him in. I wonder what happens today if the O’s have a 1 run lead going into the bottom of the 9th. A loss on Saturday could actually drop the O’s into a tie for 3rd.
Steve Melewski pointed out some key stats that could lead to Johnson being temporarily removed from the closer’s role in his blog last night:
“For the immediate future, I think the Orioles need to make a change with their closer’s role.
I never thought I’d feel this way – not after seeing how good he was last year and most of this year too – but I don’t think the O’s should use Jim Johnson if there is a save situation on Saturday.
I am not saying Johnson should lose the job for good, but just for now.
He is struggling to throw strikes and keep the ball down in the zone. Until he gets that back it is just costing this team too many games right now.
The Orioles have now lost seven games when leading after eight innings. They are 40-7 this year when leading after eight. The rest of the AL East is a combined 154-6. There are 10 AL teams with two or fewer losses when leading after eight.”
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