Good morning Birdland,
This Orioles team is just not fun to watch right now. They lost again on Tuesday night, a 4-1 defeat to the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays. At 21-28, the O’s are back in the division cellar, among the absolute worst teams in the entire sport.
Once again, the offense was basically a no-show. Taylor Ward opened the game with a homer, and then the team went 3-for-28 with two walks and nine strikeouts for the remainder of the evening. The 4-8 spots in the order went completely hitless.
Yuck.
There was better news on the pitching side of things. Kyle Bradish continues to look much better. He allowed two runs over 5.1 innings, mostly taken out by his own pitch count. The bullpen was then solid (one run over the next 2.2 innings). That did include a run charged to Rico Garcia, only the second such occurrence this season. He’s still pretty good though!
The thing that I find the most frustrating about this team is their inability to maintain momentum of any sort. If they score a run in the top half of an inning, you can almost guarantee they will be allowing a run (or more) in the bottom half of that inning. That’s what happened in the first inning on Tuesday.
That lack of a shutdown inning has to sap any sort of positive vibes that might poke their head out of the Orioles dugout. Why get excited? You know that lead is going to disappear anyway?
There is still time for this team to figure it out, especially in such a poor American League. They are only 2.5 games back of the the final wild card spot with 113 games left on the schedule. The math is doable. But even that avenue will disappear if they don’t start scoring more runs. Right now, there is nothing to indicate that will happen.
It’s gonna be another hot one in the Baltimore area today. Hopefully you can stay inside and catch the conclusion to this series, either on TV or the radio. 1:05 is the scheduled first pitch from St. Pete.
Links
Ward’s leadoff homer all O’s bats can muster as offensive issues continue | MLB.com
This article includes a sentence that starts with “The Orioles generally played well enough to win on Tuesday…” I’m sorry, what? They scored one run. The defense didn’t make the key play of the game. This is a major league game. Those are the moments where you need to come through, and far too often this team fails.
More from the mailbag before today’s game | Roch Kubatko
Answers to many questions, including the latest on a few injuries. No real news though. Trey Mancini gets mentioned too! But that’s more of a “Hey, look at what this guy is doing!” Maninci is with the Angels Triple-A team, nearly three full years removed from his last big league game. Hopefully he beats the odds and gets back to the top level of the sport.
Orioles Select Albert Suarez, Designate Maverick Handley | MLB Trade Rumors
It really is a luxury for the Orioles to keep a guy like Suárez around. He has done exactly what they have asked of him for three years now, though he missed most of last with an injury. Still, to have someone in the organization that you can yank back and forth between the majors and minors that is willing to step into whatever role you want is pretty great. It’s unfortunate that the Orioles have needed a swingman SO much in that timeframe, but let’s stay positive.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Ramón Hernández turns 50 today. He was the Orioles catcher for three seasons from 2006 through ‘08. That included a career-best season in ‘06 that saw him hit .275/.343/.479 with 23 home runs and 91 RBI.
- Gordon Dillard is 62 years old. He pitched in two games for the Orioles in 1988.
- David Wells is 63. The southpaw’s 21 seasons of Major League Baseball included spending the 1996 campaign in Baltimore.
This day in O’s history
2014 – Chris Davis homers three times as part of the Orioles 9-2 win over the Pirates. That doubles his season total of long balls to six.
