It's a three-game sample, but the media up here are like, "Welp, the Red Sox still suck."

1) They are going to be better than last year, maybe even a .500 team...but they aren't going to be good.

2) The team went 15-for-94, with a slash line of .160/.214/.234 over the weekend. Outside of JD Martinez, they went 9-for-82, with one double among those 8 hits. 24 Ks, 6 BBs. If you hit like that, you will go 0-3.

Most of the pitching was actually pretty good - Houck and Eovaldi were effective, and most of the bullpen was very good, especially Whitlock, who probably got the most "watch this guy!" coverage in Spring Training.

But, yes, if you hit .160, you will lose almost all your games.

Yeah, we talked about it in the SoxTherapy thread (top notch writers there!). The frustrating part of the weekend is how a lot of the things we were worried about (particularly the defense) were problematic. It's a .500 team give or take. It was frustrating as hell though because they could have been 2-1 with a play here and a hit there.

No one suggesting the Orioles are better than was thought? Harsh, but probably correct.

"Synergy"? Really? Using a corporate buzzword bingo term to describe your team's feelings is kind of odd.

No one suggesting the Orioles are better than was thought? Harsh, but probably correct.

Well three games doesn't really say much, but I'd make that argument. They were forecast as a 66 win team, but I would say they could maybe be a 72-75 win true talent team. Their worst facet is starting pitching, but the first three games were really promising. Means looked amazing*, Matt Harvey looked decent, and the Zimmerman rookie looked like he could stick around.

The lineup has no stars, but several solid players, and this year they're fielding above replacement players at all positions (i.e. not Chris Davis). The bullpen is fine. If they get reasonable 4.50-5.00 ERA starting from several of the question marks like Harvey then they could have a perfectly non-embarrassing season.

*Means really was locked in. I was watching the game closely and he was hitting the glove and hitting paint on almost every pitch. Alternating 92FB 82CU and everything perfectly placed. I really can't fault any lineup for getting shut out.