Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles: Anthony Santander and company chump the champs

Thom Eshelman got the start for the Baltimore Orioles tonight in Washington D.C., but didn’t last as long as the Birds would have liked. Eshelman wasn’t awful, but he didn’t have that glossy finish on his pitches as we’ve sometimes seen. As I’ve said before, roughly a third of a pitcher’s starts are going to be great, a third poor, and a third in between. That final category is where Eshelman was tonight. Eshelman’s line: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K.

Washington got a solo homer from Soto, and a sac fly-RBI from Suzuki in the second inning. Washington would also net an RBI-double in the last of the sixth by Thames. It’s important to note, that run started out as a swinging bunt, and it snowballed…

…when you get runners on base things happen. Reliever Shawn Armstrong came off the mound to field a swinging bunt, and threw errantly to first base. That gave the runner second, and he took third on a wild pitch. That allowed him to score on Thames’ RBI-double.

Obviously he would have scored on a double anyways – most probably, at least. But when you give up extra bases like that you also allow teams to find ways score runs simply by putting the ball in play. That’s what the Orioles need to stay away from.

While the Birds put up 11 runs on 19 hits on Friday night, through seven they had only mustered two hits tonight. This perhaps prompted Brandon Hyde to send up two pinch hitters in the eighth: Pat Valaika and Pedro Severino. And they didn’t disappoint; they smacked back-to-back solo homers to put the O’s right back into the game, cutting the Washington lead to 3-2.

So that run allowed by Shawn Armstrong was the only thing standing between the Orioles and pay dirt. Washington has led almost the entire game, and their pitching had dominated the Birds. But it was a tense lead. It felt like they were allowing the O’s to hang around. And they paid royally for that.

Later in that eighth inning the O’s had a couple of guys on, with Anthony Santander coming to the plate. And he sent a towering fly ball towards left…it barely cleared the fence, but it was a home run. And a three-run shot at that, which gave the O’s a 5-3 lead. And an eventual win.

Washington did mount a rally attempt in the last of the eighth. Cole Sulser, who’s quickly earning the trust of Brandon Hyde, put two runners in scoring position. However with the game hanging in the balance, he knotched a strikeout with two outs ending the threat and the inning.

One thing we know about these Orioles is that they play until the final out is recorded. Washington almost seemed to lose interest as the game wore on. And the Birds cranked it up when it mattered most. With the win, the Orioles have officially won the D.C. leg of the Battle of the Beltways.

The series concludes tomorrow at Nationals Park in D.C. Asher Wojchiekowski gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Stephen Strasburg. Game time is set for just after 12:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Someone paid

Former Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter used to say that eventually someone was going to pay for the types of offensive struggles the Birds has this week. And we saw that phenomenon tonight; it was the Washington Nationals. Starter Tommy Milone was dominant against the organization which drafted him, and Oriole bats were hot from the beginning. Milone’s line: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

Jose Iglesias‘ RBI-double in the first inning got the party started. The Birds opened the game with back-to-back doubles. One inning later Austin Hays smacked an RBI-single, and Hanser Alberto tacked on a run on a fielder’s choice. That easily could have been the end of the game. When your pitching limits the opposition to zero runs, you don’t need many to beat them. But…the runs just kept coming.

Iglesias, who ended up with four hits in the game, would add an RBI-single in the fourth. But it was Renato Nunez‘s three-run homer in the sixth which broke the game wide open. That have the O’s a 7-0 lead, an led signaled that the Birds has no intention of looking back.

Pedro Severino and Anthony Santander also got involved in that sixth inning in terms of putting runs on the board. And they came in buckets. When the smoke cleared, the O’s had themselves an 11-0 victory over the defending World Champions.

I always say that in a game that gets out of control like this one, it’s never indicative of either teams’ true capabilities. Games like this happen, and the O’s have been on the other end of their share of them also. So from the Orioles’ perspective you gladly take the win, move onto tomorrow, and take it with a grain of salt.

But again as Buck Showalter used to say, someone’s eventually going to pay for the type of slump in which the Birds found themselves this week. Washington ended up being that lucky team tonight. We saw the O’s break out of the slump partially last night. So that in a way acted as a harbinger for what we saw in D.C. this evening. Now…if another body in that city could get their act together in the same manner, we’d be in business. (Looking at you, Congress!)

The series continues tomorrow night at Nationals Park. Thom Eshelman gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Austin Voth. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Bats come alive but Birds fall

Baltimore Orioles’ starter Wade LeBlanc surrendered the lead to Miami this evening on the first pitch. Former Oriole Villar smacked a first pitch homer. It would act as a harbinger, as the O’s fell and were swept in four games by Miami. LeBlanc’s line: 3.1 IP, 7 H 6 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

However Renato Nunez brought the Birds right back in the second by tying the game with a solo homer of his own, only to have Miami take the lead again with a sac fly-RBI in the bottom of the inning. But Anthony Santander followed Nunez’s example of tying the game – an inning later in the third with an RBI-triple.

The O’s held a brief lead later on in the third when Dwight Smith Jr. drove a run in with. A sac fly-RBI. But Miami would come right back, and put two runs on the board to take the lead back in the last of the third. But again, the O’s weren’t down for long. Chance Sisco‘s solo homer tied the game right back up at four.

Miami tried to pull away, putting two runs of their own on the board in that fourth inning. But again the O’s battled back, netting solo homers from Renato Nunez and Dwight Smith Jr. However Miami put two across in the seventh and stayed off a late Orioles’ rally to win the game 8-7 despite the Birds putting one across in the ninth.

Despite the loss, fans should take heart that Oriole bats came alive tonight. The longer you go into a team slump at the plate, the harder it is. Now the losing streak itself is another story. But we know that at least now as the O’s hit the road, they do so with their bats having corrected themselves.

Tomorrow the O’s head down to D.C. for the first of three against Washington at Nationals Park. Tommy Milone gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s TBD. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Miami pitching wearing Birds out

The Baltimore Orioles has two hard luck losers in yesterday’s doubleheader: Alex Cobb and Asher Wojchiekowski. Cobb’s line (game one): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 Ann, 7 K. Wojchiekowski’s line (game two): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K.

The O’s in this series have really suffered from death by paper cut. Oriole pitching has been great in the three games thus far with Miami. However Miami’s pitching’s been superb.

Cobb gave up a solo homer to Anderson in the fourth inning of game one. Normally a solo homer isn’t going to beat you. But when you don’t score any runs, it’s entirely capable of beating you. And in that case, it did.

Aguilar got Miami on the board right away in game two with a sac fly-RBI. Later in the inning Anderson’s RBI-single would run the score to 2-0. And the Birds held Miami off the board for the rest of the day. They did however mount a slight comeback when Austin Hays‘ RBI-single in the sixth cut the lead to 2-1. But that was the final, and the O’s were swept in the doubleheader.

And incidentally, it was perhaps the strangest doubleheader in franchise history. Per MLB’s new rules for this year, doubleheader’s are only seven innings. On top of that, the Birds played the doubleheader at Camden Yards. Yet they were the visiting team in game two.

Seeing the Birds bat first in the inning at Oriole Park was just bizarre. The Orioles still wore their home whites, but for the purposes of last at-bats and so forth Miami was the home team. That will be the case tonight also.

The series concludes tonight at Camden Yards – again with Miami “hosting” the O’s. Wade LeBlanc gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Miami’s Jordan Yamamoto. Game time is set for just after 7:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Is Brandon Hyde mismanaging the bullpen?

Baltimore Orioles’ starter John Means wasn’t in the game for very long tonight. But he was outstanding when he was Mean hung one pitch, and in reality it was the only one that counted. Means’kine: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K.

Means surrendered a solo homer with two outs in the fifth to Miami’s Cervelli. And manager Brandon Hyde popped out of the dugout immediately to relieve him. Now to be fair, Means started the season out injured. This is also only his second start. So perhaps Hyde being careful with him is understandable.

But it just seemed to me to be a fairly quick hook. Especially with a guy in Means who had pitched as well as he did to that point. This doesn’t mean that Hyde’s a bad manager. I actually like how he’s coming along in that department. And managing the bullpen is probably the toughest thing that a manager needs to learn. But especially with a doubleheader tomorrow, I wonder if it wouldn’t have paid to leave Means in the game further.

Miami’s Berti would smack ab RBI-single in the sixth. Miami would later load the bases, and a third run would score on an E5. Miami would add an insurance run in the eighth in the form of a solo homer by Aguilar.

Miami’s pitching obviously shut down Oriole bats tonight as well, and that’s to their credit. This is an Oriole team that was soaring coming out of the weekend, and it would have stood to reason that would have continued given that Miami had to assemble an almost new team. But their pitching shut the Orioles down. And that can sometimes happen.

It almost took divine intervention to get the game off at all. A tropical storm blew through Baltimore in the first part of the day, and then later on there were issues with some COVID tests on Miami’s side. But better to be safe than sorry. The game was delayed 45 minutes and all was eventually well.

The O’s and Miami will play a doubleheader tomorrow at Camden Yards , with the Orioles as the visiting team in game two. Alex Cobb gets the start for the O’s in game one, and he’ll be opposed by Miami’s Elieser Hernandez. In game two Asher Wojchiekowski gets the start for the Orioles, and Miami’s starter is TBD. Game one begins at 5 PM, with game two beginning approximately 30 minutes after the completion of game one.

Baltimore Orioles: MLB announces game schedule vs. Miami

Major League Baseball has announced the game schedule for the Baltimore Orioles’ and Miami Marlins this week. The O’s will host Miami starting tomorrow at 7:30 PM. The teams will play a doubleheader on Wednesday, starting at 5 PM. The Orioles will serve as the home team in game one, and Miami as the home team in game two. Both games will be seven innings long, a first in Oriole history.

The second game of the doubleheader (the one in which Miami will be the home team) will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. And on Thursday evening the teams will conclude their series with a game at 7:30 PM in which Miami will be the home team. So far as I know (and I’m going off of memory on this), it’ll be the first time in the history of Camden Yards in which the Orioles will be the visiting team. Because, 2020…

…although that’s not technically true. Circa 2007 or 2008 the O’s had a game in Chicago suspended due to rain in the seventh inning. The game was completed the next time the ChiSox played the O’s, which was a month later at Camden Yards. The game was completed prior to the regularly-scheduled game, with the Orioles technically as the visiting team. But I digress.

All of this is up in the air, as a Hurricane Isaias moves up the east coast. It’s anticipated to dump a lot of rain into the Baltimore area tomorrow. What’s unclear is whether or not this will affect the 7:30 PM game at Camden Yards. What’s also unclear is what the contingency plans would be, if any. It might just go as a rainout, only to be made up if need be. Time will tell.

Baltimore Orioles show the pride of the Orange and Black in sweeping Tampa away

With a sweep potentially in play, the Baltimore Orioles tasked Tommy Milone with getting them to pay dirt this afternoon. Tampa’s a team that’s tormented the Orioles over the years. So a sweep of their division rivals this weekend would go a long way towards erasing those memories. And Milone didn’t disappoint. Milone’s line: 5.0 IP, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K.

When I say Tampa’s tormented the O’s, I mean more so how they’ve beaten them as opposed to just beaten them. New York’s beaten the Orioles’ brains in at times. But you’d almost rather than than have a bunch of mad scientists literally finding stats for everything and using it to their advantage almost every time. They’d nickel and dime the O’s, and then kill them by paper cuts. And just when the Birds thought something was going right, someone would climb the wall and make some miraculous play in saving a homer. Not today.

The O’s took the lead on Renato Nunez‘s solo homer in the third inning. Tampa tied the game in the sixth on Lowe’s solo shot which chased Milone. But the Birds were seemingly on the cusp for most of the afternoon. Finally in the last of the seventh they broke through.

Hanser Alberto smacked an RBI-double which gave the O’s the lead for good at 2-1. Nunez’s RBI-single would extend the lead to 3-1, and Jose Iglesias‘ RBI-double ran it to 4-1. The competitive part of the game seemed to be over.

But the O’s did put up an all-important insurance run before all was said and done. Pat Valaika, last night’s hero, smacked a solo homer in the last of the eighth, putting a capper on the Orioles’ 5-1 win. And their first sweet of Tampa since 2016.

Keep in mind, the games mean more due to the shortened season. And these games mean even more than others because they’re division games. Needless to say, the pride of the Orange & Black is alive and well, and it was on display all weekend.

The Orioles found out yesterday that they’re going to be off tomorrow. However as we know the schedule’s been retooled. We know that the Birds will be scheduled to play Miami at Camden Yards on Tuesday – in some form. And there’s also a hurricane that’s supposed to be here on that day. So stay tuned!

Baltimore Orioles: All’s well that ends well

The Baltimore Orioles sent starter Wade LeBlanc out there tonight and tasked him with putting the team in a spot to win. LeBlanc did that, and very effectively at that. LeBlanc’s line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

The Orioles may have caught Tampa at a good time, as they’re struggling a bit offensively. But often times playing against a young pitching staff can snap bats back into form. Thus far in the series, Oriole pitching hasn’t allowed that to occur.

The Birds on the other hand came into the series with “hottish” bats. Renato Nunez got the Orioles on the board early with a solo homer in the last of the fourth. Later in the inning Rio Ruiz‘s RBI-single extended the lead to 2-0.

Tampa would get a run back in the sixth on a solo homer, however the Orioles were dialed in. I’ve written a lot, both surrounding exhibition games, and now in the regular season about insurance runs. I’m not sure when runs become “insurance runs,” but we saw the O’s add runs on after Tampa cut the score in half. And that’s a good sign.

Pedro Severino‘s RBI-single (in the aforementioned last of the sixth) extended the Birds’ lead to 3-1. Rio Ruiz would also add a sac fly-RBI to make it 4-1. It’s also worth pointing out that the only reason that run was made possible was due to a pass ball. That got the runner to third, and it shows the Orioles starting to hold their opponents accountable in games.

Unfortunately for the O’s, those insurance runs weren’t enough. A Shawn Armstrong throwing error in the eighth started a sequence which ended with Tampa putting three runs across and tying the game. While all three runs were charged to Anderson, Miguel Castro allowed the final run to score.

The game went to extra innings, which meant that the O’s were subject to MLB’s new extra innings rule for the first time, starting each inning with a runner on second base. Ironically it was the Orioles (as opposed to Tampa) who used that to their advantage defensively. They began the tenth by scoring a 7-5 double play. They also notched a 1-2 double-play in the eleventh.

Ultimately, Pat Valaika was the hero of the day. His RBI-single in the last of the eleventh won the game for the O’s. It also guaranteed them a series victory, and against an AL East rival at that.

The Orioles also found out yesterday what awaits them this coming week. The four games with Miami will be made up on Tuesday-Thursday, with Monday being an off day. One of those days will be a doubleheader, and Miami will be the home team in two of the four games. Which games are which is still unclear.

The series with Tampa concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Tommy Milone gets the call for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Yonny Chirinos. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: These colors don’t run

The Baltimore Orioles have struggled against Tampa the last few years. They almost find a way to beat the Orioles, no matter what happens. They took a 2-0 lead on starter Alex Cobb last night, and it appeared that the trend was continuing. Cobb’s line; 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 K.

Tampa put up runs in the first and third on RBI-doubles, following an hour rain delay before the game. And that’s one of the many ways they’ve done the Orioles wrong over the years. They get people on base and quickly get them in. They have no issue piecemealing one run here and one run there. One run means their opponent has to score two to beat them.

The Orioles however could have rolled over and played dead. Knowing the history of Tampa prancing to victory using any means possible, what would have been the point. But orange and black…those colors don’t run.

The Birds showed Tampa the way that they operate. As opposed to piecemeal, they score runs in clumps. Anthony Santander tied the game at two with a two-run homer in the fourth. A few minutes later, the Birds had the lead when Pedro Severino went back-to-back and smacked a solo shot.

Tampa tried to win by playing the Orioles’ game with a solo homer by Lowe to tie the game in the fifth. But the orange and black weren’t going to allow this night to be spoiled. They got the lead back in the last of the fifth on Santander’s RBI-single. Rio Ruiz would reach base in the seventh in a fielder’s choice in the last of the seventh, and a run would score on a throwing error. And Hanser Alberto would add a solo homer in the eighth to complete the Birds’ 6-3 victory.

I do think it’s important to note that this is a team that’s given the Orioles problems. Not as many as say New York, but I digress. They’ve always seemed to be able to find a way to win. But the Birds didn’t allow it on this night. Because these colors don’t run.

The O’s also consummated a trade after the game. Reliever Richard Bleier was traded to the Miami Marlins for a player to be named later. An interesting turn of events for sure, but that’s the news.

The series continues this evening against Tampa at Camden Yards. Wade LeBlanc gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Tyler Glasnow. Game time is set for just after 7:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles fall late

The Baltimore Orioles put up a fight last night against New York. However starter John Means has a lackluster first outing. Means never pitches well against New York, however he certainly wanted to look better than he did. Means’ line: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 K.

Before you could blink, New York put five runs on the board in the first inning. This included a grand slam by Voit. Means stabilized, but he was lifted in the third.

However the O’s battled back. And almost immediately at that. Hanser Alberto‘s two-run homer in the last of the first brought the O’s to within 5-2. One inning later Rio Ruiz hit a two-run shot of his own, putting the Orioles right back into the game, and within one run at 5-4.

The skies opened up in the sixth inning, causing an hour-and-a-half rain delay. When the game resumed, the O’s took the lead in the eighth inning. Pedro Severino‘s two-run homer gave the Orioles a 6-5 lead. Unfortunately however, New York had a guy in Judge who was capable of a three-run shot. And he gave NY the lead back in the ninth. And the O’s fell 9-6.

I’ve written on the important of insurance runs several times thus far this season. And we saw it last night. Especially when playing against the likes of Judge, Stanton, et al. However the good news is that the O’s battled back after being down big early on. With a young team, that’s how you have to look at things.

Tomorrow the Orioles will welcome in the Tampa Rays to Camden Yards for a three-game weekend series. Alex Cobb gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Blake Snell. Game time is set for just after 7:30 PM.