Kevin Millwood doesn't deserve to be 0-7, but try getting him to complain about his tough luck and crappy run support.
Just try. I did.
That didn't work, so I tried to get him to bite on a question about the possibility of being traded to a team with a little more to offer in the competitiveness department, and do you want to know what he said?
"If they get an offer that's going to make them better down the road, that's part of helping the team," Millwood said Friday night. "If that happens, we'll look at that down the road."
Now, you're probably wondering if this guy is for real, but he definitely is. He's the same guy right now that he was when spring training still held some promise. Same solid guy. Same guy sitting among the Orioles young starters just in case they need some advice or comfort. Except that it's Millwood who needs some comfort and who's going to give it to him?
No big deal, he says through his aw-shucks demeanor, and goes on preparing for Sunday's matchup against the New York Mets, which might be an audition or (Kool-Aid alert!) might be the corner he and the O's have been waiting to turn all year. Or, more likely, it might be another game where he pitches well enough to win and the Orioles score one run for him and he turns into the best 0-8 pitcher in baseball.
Let's look at the actual numbers. The Orioles have scored a total of 40 runs in Millwood's 13 starts, or almost exactly three runs per game, but — as meager as that run-support looks — it only tells half the story. The struggling Orioles offense has scored just 21 runs while Millwood has actually been in those games, or an average of 1.6 runs per start, and he has never failed to get through the fifth inning.
When you look at it that way, it's a testament to his solid performance that the Orioles ended up winning four of his 13 starts, even if Millwood didn't.
He's got to be terribly frustrated, but he hasn't shown it, which is just one more way he's mentoring all the young pitchers scattered around him.
"I feel bad for the guys out there as I do for myself," Millwood said. "It's not any worse because it's me out there."
Now, you're probably wondering if this guy is for real. Who could possibly remain this unselfish and this upbeat under these conditions? But I'm guessing that's exactly why the Orioles went out and got him during the offseason and were willing to pick up $9 million of his salary.
Andy MacPhail was looking for somebody that Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta and Brad Bergesen could look up to and learn from. Somebody who would go out every fifth day and fight to stay in the game when he got tired or things got rough. Somebody to lead by both performance and example.
Nobody expected the season to turn south as quickly and as discouragingly as it has, but that's even more reason why Millwood was the right guy to locker a few feet from Matusz, who has given up three earned runs of fewer in nine of his 13 starts and has just two victories to show for that.
If Millwood doesn't seem outwardly discouraged about his inability to get into the win column, however, there is room to wonder if the frustration is manifesting itself in some other way. He has given up six earned runs in each of his last two starts and admits that he does feel that he feels pressure to do more to get the Orioles out of their season-long funk.
"I think at some point, it's easy to press and try to do too much," he said. "I think that's what I've been doing lately, is just trying to do too much. At times, you can let that leak into your next start. That's a bad way to be. You can't go out and pitch that way."
He'll never say it, but there's probably some additional pressure to pitch well in mid-June because of the possibility that other clubs — contending clubs looking to improve for the second half of the season — might be watching.
"That's one of those things you don't have any control over," Millwood said. "If something happens, it happens. If it doesn't, that's fine, too."
Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) on Fridays and Saturdays at noon and with Brett Hollander on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6. Also, check out his blog, "The Schmuck Stops Here" at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.