Yesterday stank, plain and simple.
Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! Although if you’re still thinking about yesterday’s loss, it might not be a very happy day at all.
I attended yesterday’s game, and it got off to a good start. It was a beautiful day, if a bit chilly in the upper deck. Cade Povich had his ups and downs, but held his own. I was disappointed when he came out of the game after just 4.2 innings. Seeing Ryan Mountcastle smack his first home run of the year over the new left field wall was a lot of fun, and so was Tyler O’Neill’s line drive home run.
We all had a good laugh over the Jays’ defense in the sixth inning, but the happiness died quickly as the wheels fell off in the eighth. The air was sucked out of the ballpark and as confident as I felt earlier in the game, that’s how negative I felt as the Orioles failed to come back after their lead was erased.
The starting pitching has been suspect so far this year, while the bullpen has been more solid. But the flaws of both were on display yesterday. For the third straight game, the starting pitcher hasn’t been able to complete five innings. In 15 games, the starter has completed six innings just four times. Three of those were by Zach Eflin, who is on the injured list with no timeline for return. A team just can’t win like that.
As for the bullpen, it’s not anyone’s fault that Félix Bautista needs to be brought back slowly. It’s good sense and I support it. But when the starters can’t make it out of the fifth inning and the closer isn’t available because he pitched yesterday, things will get dicey. You have to make the other relief pitchers stretch more than maybe they should be.
Gregory Soto has been good this year, until yesterday. Yennier Cano as well. Keegan Akin has been decent. All three struggled yesterday. All three pitched on Friday. No offense to Matt Bowman, but he’s not the guy you want to bring into the game to hold the tie in extra innings.
But who else was there? Bryan Baker and Seranthony Domínguez had already pitched in the game. Cionel Pérez has been awful and probably shouldn’t be on the team. Colin Selby is probably surprised he’s still on the roster as well. (Admit it, you forgot about Colin Selby.)
The Orioles are off today. Tomorrow Charlie Morton will pitch on extra rest thanks to the off day last week and the rainout on Friday. If he can pitch beyond the fifth inning, it will be the first time he’s done so all year. It would be really great if he could figure a few things out, because this is no way to be a winning team.
Links
Orioles lose in extra innings as bullpen allows 5 runs – The Baltimore Banner
To quote Jordan Westburg, “It sucks losing.” Also, Jeff Hoffman seems like kind of a baby. Blowing a kiss to the Orioles dugout because they were the second team to find his physical troubling?
Baltimore Orioles Top 50 Prospects | FanGraphs Baseball
This is a few days old, but in case you missed it last week. FanGraphs is weirdly high on Austin Overn.
3 challenges facing O’s following tough finale – MLB
Some of the team’s broader issues were on display in yesterday’s extra-innings loss.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have a whopping eight Orioles birthday buddies. They are:
- Jeff Fiorentino (42), who appeared in 58 games with the Orioles from 2005-09
- Gregg Zaun (54), nephew of Rick Dempsey
- Brad Pennington (56), who somehow appeared in three seasons with the Orioles despite an ERA over 7
- Mike Trombley (58), a longtime Minnesota Twin before pitching for the Orioles in 2000 and 2001
- Greg Myers (59), a catcher with the Orioles also in 2000 and 2001. Do you think he and Trombley shared a cake?
- Jay Aldrich (64), a 1990 seven-gamer with the Orioles, who had 62 MLB games overall.
- Frank Bertaina (b. 1944, d. 2010), who started his career with the Orioles in 1964, and
- Kal Segrist (b. 1931, d. 2015), another seven-gamer. But his time with the Orioles came in 1955
On this day in 1990, Cal Ripken started a streak of 95 errorless games with 431 chances, which is a record for shortstops.
In 2017, the Orioles traded international bonus money to the Mariners for pitcher Paul Fry. Fry went on to appear in 187 games out of the bullpen from 2018-22.
And one year ago today, the Orioles defeated the Brewers, 6-4. Corbin Burnes struggled a bit against his former team, giving up three runs in five innings. The Orioles trailed by a run going into the bottom of the seventh when they scored two runs to go ahead, and another in the eighth. Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins, and Ryan O’Hearn homered in the game. Craig Kimbrel picked up his third save.