Baltimore Orioles: Is it time to freak out?

To answer the question I posed in the title regarding the Baltimore Orioles, NO. Teams go through funks over 162 games. Often more than one. Unfortunately this afternoon, today’s “victim of the funk” was starter Dean Kremer, who you could argue shouldn’t have even given up a run. Kremer’s line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R (1 earned), 1 BB, 7 K.

Again, teams go through funks. You can look at every recent World Series champion and see that truth. And in a sport like baseball, if you start doing draconian things due to a funk as such, you’ve already lost the war. Instead it’s better to convey calm, and a total lack of anxiety. Even if the truth is starkly different from that. Basically, steer the ship steady as she goes, and stay the course. (Incidentally, good life advice also.)

Kremer found himself with runners at the corners and two outs in the second inning. One unforced mistake Kremer did make was disengaging twice. That meant that if did do again without picking the runner off, it was a balk. This allowed the runner to steal second base.

However you figure that with two outs, maybe it won’t make a difference. And it didn’t, when Higashioka popped the ball up on the left side of the infield. That is…until it did matter. Gunnar Henderson and Ramon Urias appeared to miscommunicate and collide, allowing the ball to drop. Two unearned runs scored, and the O’s trailed 2-0.

At first that was ruled an error on Gunnar Henderson. However the shortstop is the quarterback of the infield, and Henderson clearly and emphatically called for the ball. A few moments later that was changed to an E5 on Urias. It’s a team effort, however regardless of who was charged with the error that falls on Urias to hear Henderson calling him off.

Machado’s RBI-double in the third extended the lead to 3-0. That’s the lone earned run that Dean Kremer surrendered, however again you could argue it should have never happened. It went under Urias’ glove at third. While not an error, it’s a play you expect Urias to make.

San Diego would score again in the fourth, and this time the error was on Gunnar Henderson. On what should have been a tailor-made double-play, Henderson threw the ball into the camera well. When things aren’t going well, they flat out aren’t going well. Following Kremer’s departure after the sixth, Machado also launched a three-run homer in the seventh, followed by a sac fly-RBI by Merrill.

The Orioles did show some life in the seventh. And that’s the silver lining in this game. Maybe there were signs of the O’s coming out of their latest slumber. Cedric Mullins’ two-RBI double cut the lead to 8-2. San Diego would add an additional run in the ninth, however Mullins would also smack a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. However the O’s still fell, 9-4.

Again, if you do something draconian you’ve already lost. They just need to work their way out of this, and that process hopefully started late in the game today, and continues tomorrow. Here’s one thing though; we all know the Orioles rely on the home run ball. Opposing teams know this also…

…ever notice the O’s are getting a lot of pitches out of the strike zone? And yet, they’re swinging. Teams know they’re looking for home run pitches, so they’re nibbling. Or you swing at balls you’re going to get balls.

The series with San Diego concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Al Suarez gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Randy Vasquez. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.