***Official 2018 Baltimore Orioles Thread*** Pitching Can’t Get Any Worse (2 Viewers)

[The_Man]

Love seeing Chris Davis having success.I hated to see him leave Texas, but the change of scenery is doing him well.

1.071 OPS for September, topping that so far in October with HRs in both games!He's been a revelation for this team. Still only 26.O's now 74-0 when leading after 7, 29-9 in one-run games. Extra-inning win streak holding steady at 16 because they haven't actually played extras for a while now.

 

[JZilla]

You guys needed help from the wrong ####### team

 

[Raider Nation]

You guys needed help from the wrong ####### team

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Red Sox are an embarrassment to the game.

 

[dutch]

There's still hope. . .

 

[dutch]

If they win their next 21 and don't tie for 1st with the Yankees, they will still host the Wild Card - either Oakland wins the next 2 to win the West and Texas falls behind the Orioles, or Oakland loses 1 or 2 and falls behind the Orioles.

fixed

 

[Marvelous]

I just read that Jason Hamel's simulated game went well and he is cleared to pitch in the post season. If he pitches on regular rest, he would pitch on Saturday. I think the best rotation for the playoffs is Hammel, Saunders, Gonzalez, and Tillman. But Chen has been the one constant in the rotation all year long, so I don't know if they would leave him out. Chen also gives the rotation two lefties, which could be desirable, depending on the opponent.

 

[The_Man]

Huge game tonight, a win guarantees the O's at least a home game in the Wild Card vs. the loser of Texas-Oakland. Tillman has been the O's best pitcher and I am kind of hoping that TB packs it in a little tonight - they gave a great effort last night, but now it's the last game of the season and I'm hoping they have their eye on the exit. Plus, maybe subconsciously, they're happy to throw the Orioles a bone for knocking out the Red Sox in Game 162 last year?

I don't think it will happen, but what if the East ends in a tie - does Steve Johnson really get the start tomorrow? He has been pitching great, and was even pitching great in his last outing until he got hit by the ball and went off the rails. If you could get 5 out of him, then you could go deep in the bullpen. Even if the O's would lose the tie-breaker, they're allowed to set up their 25-man roster for the Wild Card game anyway they like. So Buck could leave all the starting pitchers off the roster and load it up with 13 relievers and they'd still be covered in the 'pen for Friday even if they use a lot of pitchers behind Johnson on Thursday.

I'm assuming the O's end up hosting the Wild Card game on Friday (they and Yankees both win tonight). If that happens, it does really raise a question of whether you stick with Chen or not. Part of Buck's genius this year has been his consistency, so I feel like he'd stick with that and go with Chen. Of course Buck's only failing this year has been his tendency to stick with Chen too late in games when he's out of gas.

I have to give the Yankees a lot of credit - after blowing the big lead, they're 16-6 following the last series with Baltimore and showing a lot of heart.

 

[The_Man]

I just went back through and read this entire thread. I know this is self-indulgent, but I clipped some of my past posts and put them together below. For me, it was a fun snapshot of the last couple of years.

2010

What a bunch of crap this team is.

This season has total debacle written all over it.

Buck Arrives!

O's went 16-11 in August (16-10 under Buck Showalter) MIN had the best August record in MLB at 17-10.

Pretty amazing what this team has done under a new manager. Hopefully, Buck is getting a good look at the possibilities for next year's team.

Now 21-13 under Buck, with back-to-back wins over Tampa and the Yankees.Starting to see some hope for the future with the young pitchers finally starting to progress. Still need to sign a legit power-hitting first baseman though.

Because the Orioles are so bad, I don't think many people have noticed how amazing the turnaround under Showalter has been. They went from playing .300 baseball (32-73) to better than .600 (29-18). That's a pretty shocking indictment of Trembley as manager as well as the players' lack of professionalism.

2011

Opening Day yesterday was the best time I've had at Camden Yards since 1997. Baltimore is so starved for a winner and could be such a great baseball town again. Atmosphere downtown was incredible - didn't hurt that the weather was perfect - and it was fun to imagine just for a day that maybe Opening Day wouldn't be the only day baseball matters in town.

Every time I think the Orioles have hit a new low point during the last 14 years of losing seasons, something new comes along to remind me they've gone even lower. But this might be getting pretty close.

Free agency has begun, and the team has no GM. This, despite knowing for months that MacPhail wasn't coming back. They dragged their feet on their first choice, so he went to LA. And their second choice decided to remain an Assistant GM in Toronto instead of work for Angelos.

Now they're nowhere. A leading contender is the Director of their own Player Development system. This system is known for producing no position players, and for pitchers that show dramatic regression in the minors year after year.

This franchise is a pathetic joke.

to be continued....

 

[The_Man]

2012

Early season

This is fun while it lasts but I think it's pretty unsustainable. … There is a gaping void at 3B, offensively and defensively.

On the upside, Davis is looking like a legit big-leaguer. Though I worry that his swing is still full of holes and that the league will begin to figure him out when he goes around again. Markakis is going to heat up, Wieters is a star, and Hardy will hit more too.

I think the bullpen is pretty legit. Relievers vary so much from year to year, and it looks like most of their guys (other than Gregg, who is done) are on a good year. Lindstrom, Strop, Ayala, and Johnson are all legitimate good pitchers. So if the starting pitching can just go 5 or 6 quality innings, the Orioles will be in a lot of games. And so far the bullpen hasn't been getting burned up.

All of that being said, I'm starting to think they might have a shot at .500 because the bullpen looks really great. But the offense is going to be so sporadic that it's going to be a season full of tight, low-scoring games.

Was just looking at some stats for the bullpen: Johnson, Lindstrom, Ayala and O'Day have combined to give up one earned run in 43 Innings Pitched - an 0.20 ERA. Add Strop in there and you're up to 56 IP with 4 ERs - 0.64 ERA. Only Patton and Gregg have been getting hit.

Mid-season swoon

This is about to get ugly in Baltimore. They have weak starting pitching, backed by some of the worst defense in recent MLB history. Their line-up is full of Triple-A quality sluggers, who strike out way too much, walk rarely, and homer even less frequently. Maybe getting Markakis back will help, but he wasn't doing much when he was healthy.

Adam Jones is going to start getting less and less and less to hit. Why let him beat you when he's the only good hitter the Orioles have? Jones has not shown a lot of plate discipline and I fear he will start chasing as he tries to make something happen, rather than talk the walks.

The bullpen has been masterful and Showalter has done an incredible job to get the team to this point. They've been outscored by 36 runs - the third-worst run differential in the AL, ahead of only KC and Minnesota.

It's been fun, and I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we've seen the high-water mark for baseball in Baltimore this year.

This season is going down the tubes even faster than I thought. Going 35-37 to finish at .500 looking very out of reach right now. 1-4 since the Break with Hammel and Andino now on the shelf

Late Season Rally

McClouth hits 2-run HR in 8th to turn 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win, the O's 13th straight win in 1-run games.

70-57 with a -45 run differential

SUCK IT, PYTHAGORAS!

It's 3:20 a.m. Anyone else watching the top of the 17th from Seattle?

So in the 4th inning, Jones leads off with a grounder to SS, busts his ### running down to 1B and is safe by an inch when the throw makes the first baseman jump off the bag to catch a high throw. Then Davis hits a HR, and the O's win by 1 run. If Jones isn't on base it might be a whole different game.

That being said, Davis is so locked in right now it's scary. I'm literally a little surprised when he doesn't hit a HR.

 

[Tuco]

Not sure I agree with pitching Tillman tonight. I would much rather have him in an elimination game rather than at an attempt to get a home wild card game. Saunders (or Johnson if he's healthy) appears to be the guy going in the WC game. TEX has owned him (3-7 6.48), although he has pretty good stats against OAK (13-6, 6-2 2.70 in Oakland).

 

[The_Man]

Not sure I agree with pitching Tillman tonight. I would much rather have him in an elimination game rather than at an attempt to get a home wild card game. Saunders (or Johnson if he's healthy) appears to be the guy going in the WC game. TEX has owned him (3-7 6.48), although he has pretty good stats against OAK (13-6, 6-2 2.70 in Oakland).

Johnson would only be on 3 days rest today. Buck has kept things on an even keel all year, and I think keeping his rotation intact for 2 more non-elimination games (today and tomorrow) no matter how important those games makes sense. Plus the only option besides Tillman tonight is Britton - and that's like telling your team to go ahead and get ready for the road Wild Card game.I heard Britton might have gotten the start tonight, but once Johnson's bullpen session went well, Buck went with Tillman, meaning Johnson is probably the man for tomorrow. Amazing! Of course, there probably isn't going to be a tomorrow anyway.And Saunders has been slotted as the guy for Friday for more than a week now. I like his chances, especially in Oakland. Thrilled to see the A's getting beat down, we wanted no part of the Rangers.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

Red Sox are an embarrassment to the game.

If I had a vote I'd pick Buck for manager of the year. Helluva job he's done with that team. I really have no idea how you guys have won so many games but you keep on picking up the victories.

 

[Marvelous]

Not sure I agree with pitching Tillman tonight. I would much rather have him in an elimination game rather than at an attempt to get a home wild card game. Saunders (or Johnson if he's healthy) appears to be the guy going in the WC game. TEX has owned him (3-7 6.48), although he has pretty good stats against OAK (13-6, 6-2 2.70 in Oakland).

Johnson would only be on 3 days rest today. Buck has kept things on an even keel all year, and I think keeping his rotation intact for 2 more non-elimination games (today and tomorrow) no matter how important those games makes sense. Plus the only option besides Tillman tonight is Britton - and that's like telling your team to go ahead and get ready for the road Wild Card game.I heard Britton might have gotten the start tonight, but once Johnson's bullpen session went well, Buck went with Tillman, meaning Johnson is probably the man for tomorrow. Amazing! Of course, there probably isn't going to be a tomorrow anyway.And Saunders has been slotted as the guy for Friday for more than a week now. I like his chances, especially in Oakland. Thrilled to see the A's getting beat down, we wanted no part of the Rangers.

A's are up 8-5 in the bottom of the 6th. If the Rangers lose, they would have lost 7 out of their last 8. They are limping into the playoffs. They don't look that formidable right now. Oakland is hot and is probably the scarier team to face in the wildcard game.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Well, we'll see. I was originally petrified of Texas, but I think Marv is onto something. The Rangers have to be shellshocked.

I haven't checked the MLB main thread yet and maybe it's explained their, but why is the scheduling in the Division Series the way it is? The first two at the lower seed and then three at the higher seed?

 

[TobiasFunke]

Well, we'll see. I was originally petrified of Texas, but I think Marv is onto something. The Rangers have to be shellshocked. I haven't checked the MLB main thread yet and maybe it's explained their, but why is the scheduling in the Division Series the way it is? The first two at the lower seed and then three at the higher seed?

They added the second wild card and the WC game in the spring. They'd already scheduled the World Series to potentially run until November 1. They didn't want to push them back another day, so they had to eliminate one of the travel days in the postseason schedule, and the went with one of the NLDS games.Not to Monday morning quarterback it too much, but I thought it was an odd decision to pitch Chris Tillman yesterday. I consider Tillman their best starter right now, and they had to know that even if he won they faced long odds just to get to a one game playoff for the AL East, with the Yankees at home and facing a terrible starter and a 90 loss team. Wouldn't they have been better off saving Tillman for the WC game or at least the potential one game playoff? Or do they not consider Tillman their best option right now? Because he looks like a stud to me.

 

[Marvelous]

Well, we'll see. I was originally petrified of Texas, but I think Marv is onto something. The Rangers have to be shellshocked. I haven't checked the MLB main thread yet and maybe it's explained their, but why is the scheduling in the Division Series the way it is? The first two at the lower seed and then three at the higher seed?

They added the second wild card and the WC game in the spring. They'd already scheduled the World Series to potentially run until November 1. They didn't want to push them back another day, so they had to eliminate one of the travel days in the postseason schedule, and the went with one of the NLDS games.Not to Monday morning quarterback it too much, but I thought it was an odd decision to pitch Chris Tillman yesterday. I consider Tillman their best starter right now, and they had to know that even if he won they faced long odds just to get to a one game playoff for the AL East, with the Yankees at home and facing a terrible starter and a 90 loss team. Wouldn't they have been better off saving Tillman for the WC game or at least the potential one game playoff? Or do they not consider Tillman their best option right now? Because he looks like a stud to me.

I have been trying to figure out the Orioles rotation and it is hard. It looks like it was Tillman's turn in the rotation. Bringing another starter back on short rest wasn't an option, so the only alternative would be to give the start to someone not in the current rotation (Arrieta, Matatz, Hunter). It looks like Steve Johnson would have pitched today if there was a game 163 with the Yankees. He will most likely be skipped. Saunders is in line to pitch Friday. Sunday is most likely Hammel, but could be Gonzalez. Monday can be Hammel/Gonzalez or Tillman. The off/travel days create a lot more possibilities, especially when the Orioles don't really have their pitchers slotted as numbers 1 thorugh 5.

 

[The_Man]

It's set up to be Saunders on Friday, though I'm hearing little whispers that Steve Johnson could maybe get the nod. That would be pretty bold, but Saunders' numbers in Texas are just horrible.

Having Hammel go in Game One does open up tons of options. Starting to think that with off-days for the ALDS they could probably go with Hammel, Tillman and Gonzalez and skip Chen. But Buck seems to love Chen, so it could be a bunch of TBA.

 

[The_Man]

It's set up to be Saunders on Friday, though I'm hearing little whispers that Steve Johnson could maybe get the nod. That would be pretty bold, but Saunders' numbers in Texas are just horrible.Having Hammel go in Game One does open up tons of options. Starting to think that with off-days for the ALDS they could probably go with Hammel, Tillman and Gonzalez and skip Chen. But Buck seems to love Chen, so it could be a bunch of TBA.

Buck just said they can't trust Johnson's knee and it's Saunders starting tomorrow. So there you go.

 

[Marvelous]

Below is the Orioles playoff rosters for the one game wildcard series. Pretty interesting when you only need to have one starting pitcher.

ORIOLES ROSTER PITCHERS (11): Jake Arrieta, Luis Ayala, Zach Britton, Tommy Hunter, Jim Johnson, Steve Johnson, Brian Matusz, Darren O’Day, Troy Patton, Joe Saunders, Pedro Strop CATCHERS (2): Taylor Teagarden, Matt Wieters INFIELDERS: Robert Andino, Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy, Manny Machado, Mark Reynolds, Omar Quintanilla OUTFIELDERS/DH: Endy Chavez, Adam Jones, Nate McLouth, Chris Davis, Jim Thome, Lew Ford

 

[The_Man]

Rangers load the lineup with 8 right-handed hitters vs. Saunders. Wouldn't surprise me to see Buck go to Steve Johnson early.

Don't have a great deal of optimism for this one - Darvish vs. Saunders is about the worst match-up you could have picked for the Orioles. Oh well - maybe it's just time for another miracle.

 

[Tuco]

Don't have a great deal of optimism for this one - Darvish vs. Saunders is about the worst match-up you could have picked for the Orioles. Oh well - maybe it's just time for another miracle.

I'm with you. Every stat they pull out about Saunders vs the Rangers is God awful. With the way the O's offense looked in Tampa, I'm worried how they'll do against Darvish. Especially since they have never faced him before and tend to make pitchers look like Cy Young the first time they see them.

 

[Marvelous]

Rangers load the lineup with 8 right-handed hitters vs. Saunders. Wouldn't surprise me to see Buck go to Steve Johnson early.Don't have a great deal of optimism for this one - Darvish vs. Saunders is about the worst match-up you could have picked for the Orioles. Oh well - maybe it's just time for another miracle.

It is so strange to set a roster for a 1 game series. Part of me thinks Steve Johnson will come in early to get righty-righty matchups or make Texas go through their bench early.

 

[Bogart]

Good luck tonight guys.

 

[dutch]

Don't have a great deal of optimism for this one - Darvish vs. Saunders is about the worst match-up you could have picked for the Orioles. Oh well - maybe it's just time for another miracle.

I'm with you. Every stat they pull out about Saunders vs the Rangers is God awful. With the way the O's offense looked in Tampa, I'm worried how they'll do against Darvish. Especially since they have never faced him before and tend to make pitchers look like Cy Young the first time they see them.

This is all true unfortunately. Color me concerned.

 

[dutch]

It's go time! Play Ball!!

 

[dutch]

okay only one run. Saunders better settle down or this can turn out as bad as we thought all along.

 

[dutch]

Saunders is giving me indigestion big time. All that pitching "around" the plate to a .198 hitter makes me want to pitch my foot through the tv.

 

[dutch]

That's more like it. trike three looking on Hamilton to close out the inning. 3 down, 6 to go.

 

[Raider Nation]

Beyond impressive outing by Saunders so far. I thought he would have given up 8 earned by now.

I hope they don't push their luck too much though. Be happy if he gives you 5 strong.

 

[raidergil]

Beyond impressive outing by Saunders so far. I thought he would have given up 8 earned by now.I hope they don't push their luck too much though. Be happy if he gives you 5 strong.

I was happy to get 3 outta him. Last 2 been a bonus. Nail biting to watch tho as Darvish rips thru the Os.

 

[dutch]

yeah, 5 is good. He got out of a few jams and overall pitched well enough. Now lets see if the pen is as strog as it' been all season.

 

[dutch]

Here we go. 5-2/3 strong inning from Saunders and now the parade begins.

 

[raidergil]

Here we go. 5-2/3 strong inning from Saunders and now the parade begins.

Thrilled with the effort outta Saunders. Glad it's a Friday cause last 3 are gonna take a while.

 

[dutch]

Here we go. 5-2/3 strong inning from Saunders and now the parade begins.

Thrilled with the effort outta Saunders. Glad it's a Friday cause last 3 are gonna take a while.

yup. Getting an insurance run here would really help...

 

[Raider Nation]

McClutch.

 

[dutch]

Yeah baby! That's what we're looking for!!

 

[dutch]

McClutch.

Another one of Duquette's gems found while dumpster diving.

 

[dutch]

oof, that was brutal. Uehara taking out a little revenge. Alrighty, 6 more outs to go.

 

[dutch]

I was surprised how early O'Day came into the game but I'm even more surprised that he;s still out there. And as I type this Kinsler gets on again. I hate that little spit.

 

[raidergil]

Dam woulda been the DP ball there.

 

[dutch]

Good work by O'day, my hats off to him. That bad pickoff throw kinda sucked but he pitched very well tonight. 4 ore outs to go

I'm getting jittery, I've forgotten what home team playoff baseball is all about.

 

[bushdocda]

Big.

 

[dutch]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dutch]

Big.

Huge even.

 

[raidergil]

Helluva job by O'day. Woulda been outta inning if not for little kindler bloop. And seeing Hamilton AB woulda been nice to have that 1st out in 9th to rely on.

 

[dutch]

Helluva job by O'day. Woulda been outta inning if not for little kindler bloop. And seeing Hamilton AB woulda been nice to have that 1st out in 9th to rely on.

That's alright, I'd rather not face Hamilton in the ninth with Beltre, Cruz, Young, and Napoli coming up also.

 

[Raider Nation]

They should let Reynolds have 4 strikes every time up to make it more fair.

 

[dutch]

They should let Reynolds have 4 strikes every time up to make it more fair.

He gives new meaning to "hack away"

 

[dutch]

Manny-Manny-Manny