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 hold on to win Texas two-step

The Baltimore Orioles has several big leads last night in Texas, but held on to win at the end despite a furious comeback attempt by Texas. Dylan Bundy has a four-run lead before even stepping onto the field. End of the day, it was just one of those nights in Texas where the ball really flew. Bundy’s line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K.

The O’s got a three-run homer from Dwight Smith Jr, and a solo shot from Pedro Severino in the top of the first to take a 4-0 lead. (Severino would end up having a career night.) However as I said, the ball really flew last night in Texas – for both teams. Texas got one back in the last of the first on a solo homer by Choo.

The teams exchanged sac flies in the second and third innings, but in the fourth Keon Broxton picked up the homer parade again with a solo homer. Later in the inning Dwight Smith Jr. appeared to break the game wide open. He came up with the bases loaded and smacked a bases-clearing double. The O’s led 9-3 then after the fourth and a Texas RBI-single.

And with that, Severino smacked another homer (this one of the two-run variety) in the seventh), giving the O’s an 11-3 lead. Texas would put runs on the board in the last of the seventh and last of the eighth. That left the Birds with an 11-5 lead. Seems safe, right? In general and for the most part.

Before Texas could even think about coming back, Pedro Severino smacked his third homer (a solo shot) of the game in the top of the ninth. The O’s led 12-5. However Texas tried to come all the way back, and they almost succeeded. Cabrera’s two-RBI double cut the lead to 12-7. Odor added an RBI-single, and Forsythe a two-RBI double. Choo’s RBI-single cut the lead all the way down to one at 12-11.

Luckily for the Orioles, Andrus struck out with two outs in the ninth to end the game. It was a valiant comeback attempt by the Texas Rangers, but ultimately this one went in the Orioles’ column. As I said above, Pedro Severino had a career game. Of the Orioles’ five homers, he hit three.

The series continues tonight in Texas. John Means gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Texas’ Mike Minor. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: More on Adley Rutschman and the draft

Baltimore Orioles’ General Manager Mike Elias seemingly got rave reviews in his selection of Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick last night. Said by Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo:

He has a strong arm, impressive receiving and blocking ability and excellent footwork on throws to second base, with a quick exchange from his glove to his release. Some scouts would like to have seen Rutschman throw more frequently this spring, but teams have run against him infrequently – and for good reason. Like most catchers, speed is Rutschman’s weakest tool and the only tool that doesn’t project as plus, but that’s hardly a concern moving forward.
Most scouts believe Rutschman has a chance to be an All-Star-level player in the majors as an impact bat in the middle of the order while also bringing plenty of defensive value. With excellent makeup and plenty of natural leadership traits, Rutschman has all the intangibles teams like to see from their backstops. He is the best catching prospect since Buster Posey in 2008 and Matt Wieters in 2007.

Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports

Many Orioles fans on twitter told me that one drawback to Rutschman might be that Wieters didn’t pan out the way that the Orioles had initially thought. Wieters also had to undergo Tommy John’s surgery, which is certainly not part of the initial outlook on any player. However I would caution fans from saying that the O’s should have gone in a different direction based squarely on that.

The O’s also had the first pick in the second round of last night’s draft, and they picked shortstop Gunnar Henderson out of John T. Morgan Academy in Selma, AL. He’s a southpaw fielder who scouts expect to get better as he progresses through the minors. Overall, it was a successful first day of the draft for the Birds.

The Orioles are in Arlington, TX this evening to open up a three-game set with the Texas Rangers. Dylan Bundy gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Texas’ Drew Smyly. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Baltimore Orioles draft Adley Rutschman first overall

For the first time since 1989, the Baltimore Orioles has the first pick in this year’s first year MLB player draft. GM Mike Elias wasted no time, and selected Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman. One way or the other, those two will now forever be linked.

Rutschman’s a switch hitter, who appears to have a tremendous upside. He’s hit .411, with ten doubles, a triple, and 17 homers at this plate this year thus far in 2019. He also has 58 RBI. In the past few days most scouts were agreeing that Rutschman would be the top pick in the draft.

I would remind fans that they won’t see Rutschman at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for some time. He has to progress through the minor league system. However as the number one overall pick, he MUST be a can’t miss prospect. In other words, they’d better hit on him. Presumably however, his rise through the minors will be well-documented as time goes on.

Baltimore Orioles: Draft day

Today is the biggest day for the Baltimore Orioles’ future in some time. The Orioles of course will have the top pick in the draft, which is this evening. The only other time that happened was 1989, and the O’s selected pitcher Ben McDonald. Whomever GM Mike Elias drafts with that top pick this evening will play a major role in the franchise’s future moving forward.

However the difference between this year and 1989 is the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a consensus top draft pick. McDonald was always going to be the number one pick in 1989 – it was just a matter of who was going to get the top pick to select him. There is talent in this year’s draft, it’s just a matter of whom the Orioles wish to stake their future. No pressure there, for whomever that pick ends up being.

A name that’s been thrown around a lot in the past few weeks is Oregon State catcher Adley Rutchsman. Many scouts are deeming him the top pick, however he’s not the only guy on the Orioles’ radar. High School (Texas) shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is also a potential draft choice, as is Georgia High School shortstop/CFer C.J. Abrams.

Whomever the selection is (and for all I know it may be someone other than who I mentioned above), both he and the Orioles’ brass will be heavily scrutinized. However again keep in mind that there’s no apparent slam dunk player who’s understood to be the top selection this year. It could be anyone. It’ll certainly be interesting to see in which direction the Orioles go.

Baltimore Orioles: Walks, balks, and shifts don’t equal wins

In what’s become a theme this year, the Baltimore Orioles were held to account for every mistake they made this afternoon in the series finale with San Francisco. When you give teams extra outs and/or extra bases, you can expect them to take advantage. Starter Gabriel Ynoa in effect was the victim, although he himself wasn’t immune to mistakes in this game. Ynoa’s line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R (2 earned), 2 BB, 4 K.

The game started on a positive note, as Trey Mancini‘s first inning solo homer gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. And that held up for a few innings, as we appeared destined for a Sunday matinee pitcher’s duel. But how quickly things change.

San Francisco tied the game at 1 in the fourth inning on a solo homer by Longoria. Later in the inning Belt drew a walk and was on first. However in a move that rarely happens in the big leagues, Belt took off for second in a steal attempt while Ynoa was still in his stretch. There’s no rule (written or otherwise) against that, however it’s just not something that’s usually seen in the major leagues.

Ynoa seemed confused, and threw to second…committing a balk in the process. Belt, who has the Orioles to thank for getting him out of a slump of sorts, stopped on the base paths and pointed at Ynoa, calling for a balk call. Keep in mind that the definition of a balk is the pitcher trying to deceive the runner. While by the book what Ynoa did was a balk, in reality the runner in that instance tried to and was successful in deceiving the pitcher.

A few moments later Belt scored on Pillar’s RBI-double, giving San Francisco a 2-1 lead. Ynoa then gave up a walk to start the fifth, and a second runner reached on an error. The sad thing about the error was that it was set up to be a tailor-made 4-6-3 double-play. Wilkerson bobbled the ball, and things escalated further.

With both of those runners eventually ending up in scoring position, they would later score on Longoria’s ground rule RBI-double. Crawford would add a solo homer in the sixth, and Sandoval a sac fly-RBI in the seventh. Crawford would also add a second solo homer in the eighth inning, and Panik an RBI-single in the eighth.

Obviously San Francisco added on numerous runs at the end, however had the Birds limited the mistakes earlier perhaps things could have been different. To add insult to injury, the Orioles left the bases loaded in the seventh inning. Would it have mattered had they put a couple across? Probably not. However when you’re held to account for all of your mistakes and you can’t do the same to your opponent, you’re really in trouble.

You also want to ask yourself at times if some of these shifts aren’t becoming a bit much. I get it – part of the game nowadays is analytics, and those analytics suggest that you have a better shot at winning if you position fielder’s in a certain manner. However specific to this game as well as all year, the shifts have failed the Orioles. And I’m not saying in the sense of errors being committed and guys getting on anyways.

Today’s game was a microcosm of the season in the sense that plenty of opposing hitters reached either by flat out hitting against the shift, or by hitting into the shift and having the ball find daylight. Again it happened several times today and it’s happened many times over the course of the season. The Orioles may well be positioning their fielder’s in accordance with how the statistics say hitters will hit. But the hitters are taking that shift and raising the Orioles a base hit in one manner or the other.

The 2019 MLB first year players’ draft of course is tomorrow night – while the Orioles are off. We’ll have full coverage of the Orioles’ pick, which of course will be first overall. You can expect a recap here on Birdland Crush, but you can also follow me on Twitter (@DomenicVadala) for full coverage.

Baltimore Orioles: Renato Nunez homers in Birds’ loss

Last night the Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco combined for 14 runs in an Oriole victory. However someone told the Birds that the trend was supposed to continue this afternoon, as San Francisco jumped on the Orioles and starter David Hess early on. Hess’ line: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 4 K.

Walks plagued Hess this afternoon. He walked two in the first inning, which led to Belt’s two-RBI single. And low and behold, that RBI-single came with two outs. Opponents’ propensity to get to Oriole pitching with two outs is uncanny. But them’s the breaks.

Hess would also surrender a solo homer to Posey in the third, which ran the lead to 3-0. The Orioles looked like they may have been making a run in the fourth when Renato Nunez smacked a solo homer of his own. But at the end it was a mirage…

…San Francisco came right back. The fifth inning was the back-breaker for the Birds this afternoon. Panic smacked an RBI-single, Belt a two-RBI double, and Longoria added a sac fly-RBI. Austin Wynns would add an RBI-single in the Orioles’ column in the last of the fifth, but that was too little too late. San Francisco added on an insurance run at the end just for good measure.

A lot of folks like to bring up the fact that David Hess has struggled since he was lifted while throwing a no-hitter in Toronto. That of course was in the first week of the season. Let it go said that it’s impossible for that to have had any affect mechanically on Hess. Hyde did the right thing for Hess and his career by pulling him. It was hard to see, but it was the right thing.

Many well-intentioned fans say that there’s a psychological aspect to it as well – in other words, it’s more than just mechanical. That might be semi-true. However if Hess was that bothered by that in a psychological manner, he doesn’t have the gumption to pitch at the big league level. In other words, he was never going to make it anyways. Point here being: that had no effect on Hess’ performance as time’s gone on.

The series and the home stand concludes tomorrow afternoon at Camden Yards. Gabriel Ynoa gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Francisco’s Jeff Samardzija. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Crooked numbers in a Caddywampus game

There was a moment where Baltimore Orioles’ fans questioned whether starter Andrew Cashner would even make it out of the first inning. Cashner surrendered five runs to San Francisco in the top of the first, causing many fans (and writers) to assume the game was over. But if you had Cashner overcoming that 5-0 deficit and qualifying for the win, you’d probably be a rich man right now! Cashner’s line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 0 K.

I say all the time that pitchers will have bad starts. But when you throw a clunker and you still get the win, you can consider it a bonus. Luckily for Cashner, he got some help from Oriole bats. And early on after surrendering five runs in the first, he needed it.

The Birds immediately put runners on base, and got on the board in the last of the first on an RBI-single by Renato Nunez. Pedro Severino would follow suit with an RBI-single of his own. So at that point at least the O’s had trimmed the lead and fought themselves back into the game. Needless to say, they were sending the message that they weren’t going quietly into the night.

Later in the inning Dwight Smith Jr. came up with the bases loaded. And Smith forced the O’s into the lead with a grand slam. Cashner left the field with a five-run deficit, and returned with the lead.

However he did allow SF to tie it up. Yastrzemski’s solo home run (the same Yaz whom the O’s traded a few weeks ago) ties the game back up at six in the second. However that shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone, as this game had already established itself as caddywampus or off the rails. Both teams had already put up crooked numbers. So why not let the fun continue?!

And continue it did – in the last of the second, for the Birds. Trey Mancini smacked a two-run homer to give the Orioles the lead back at 8-6. And Cashner along with the Orioles’ bullpen kept it right there. Renato Nunez would add a solo shot in the last of the seventh, and the O’s took game one of this inter league series by the score of 9-6.

The Orioles’ bullpen was also strong tonight in relief of Cashner. Incidentally, Cashner threw 109 pitches over five innings. The fact that he got the win is to his credit for toughing it out. It’s also to the credit of manager Brandon Hyde (who will miss tomorrow’s game to attend his step-daughter’s graduation in Chicago) for sticking with Cashner. Whether there are crooked numbers or not, at the end of the day a W’s a W.

The series continues tomorrow at Camden Yards. David Hess gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Francisco’s Shaun Anderson. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Orange and black party downtown

The Baltimore Orioles will take on the San Francisco Giants this weekend in an interleague series beginning this evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Birds thus far are 1-2 in interleague games, as they dropped two-of-three against Colorado last weekend.

However that series was on the road. This one will be in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. That means that San Francisco will get the benefit of a DH. However the flip side of that is that the Orioles won’t have to surrender the use of their DH and have their pitchers hit. Context, folks!

However this weekend’s series is noteworthy because the league’s two teams which take the colors orange and black will be playing one another. Given the fact that San Francisco is having a lackluster season as well, I can’t imagine that too many Giants’ fans will show up at the yard this weekend. (Although who could really blame anyone for wanting to see their favorite team play in The Ballpark That Forever Changed Baseball?!) However those who do will be tough to decipher from Orioles’ fans!

The series begins this evening as I said at Camden Yards. Andrew Cashner gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Francsisco’s Drew Pomeranz. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: The issue of bandwagon fans

The Baltimore Orioles have very few bandwagon fans. That’s consistent with a rebuilding team, however it’s always been the case for the most part. The Orioles have always kind of belonged to it’s core group of fans – in essence, Baltimoreans.

Down the pike in DC, Rob Woodfork of radio station WTOP yesterday published this article regarding bandwagon fans. In essence, in his view it’s acceptable to be a bandwagoner in his view. Part of his point is that perhaps the idea that hometown fans don’t necessarily root for the home team would force the home teams to be better.

That’s all well and good if we’re talking about Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, or Bud vs. Miller. Those are product wars in essence. One of the worst things that’s very happened to the sports industry is the fact that the term “on-field/court/ice product” has come about. Sports isn’t a product. It’s a game.

No, it’s not necessarily a given that hometown kids will grow up rooting for the hometown team. But regardless of where you grew up, if you picked one team from childhood and stuck with them, I see no issue with that. You’ve bled with them in bad years, and shined in good – just as Orioles fans are doing right now.

But if you grew up a fan of one team, I suppose what I’m saying is that you should stick with that team. Granted, some teams make it easier to do that than do others. But…are you that in need of gratification that you’d dump all of your memories of rooting for that team as a child and so forth, only to root for another team? Another team who conveniently potentially has a better shot at winning right here and right now?

To me it’s all just a part of the instant gratification culture that seemingly exists more and more. If the Orioles don’t satisfy me, why shouldn’t I drop them and root for the BoSox? End of the day, nothing’s stopping someone from doing that, for the record. It isn’t against the law. But it does say something about what’s important to you. It says that you’re fickle. If you’re okay with that, go for it.

Having said that, I’ll make an exception if perhaps another team moves or a league expands to a location closer to where you live. Many DC-area fans grew up rooting for the Orioles. Now many of them have also stuck with the Orioles, valuing the tradition in which they grew up and the memories of growing up supporting the Birds more than rooting for a new team that’s potentially closer to their home. However many fans also switched allegiances to the Washington Nationals. And in that instance I can understand it.

I suppose my point is that sports are an emotional attachment. Not necessarily a rational one. You can’t just replace your memories of rooting for that one team with memories of rooting for a new one. That’s just not how it works. Yes, I would hope that most kids growing up in Baltimore would root for the team that has BALTIMORE across it’s chest by default. But either way, don’t switch teams in mid-stream. It’s unbecoming of the sports industry.

Baltimore Orioles: Late pitching mistakes cost the Birds

First and foremost, the Baltimore Orioles ran into some good pitching tonight. John Means set the tone for a good game for the Birds, and as we know it all begins and ends with starting pitching. Means’ line: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K.

The Birds got the lead early on in the last of the first. Renato Nunez‘s RBI-single gave the O’s a 1-0 lead. Detroit would tie the game at one on Castallanos’ RBI-double.

Maybe the Orioles’ luck would have been different had they scored multiple runs in various innings. Instead, they piecemeal’d a lead together over the course of the game. And that cost them.

But the Orioles took the lead right back. Keon Broxton‘s solo homer put them back in the driver’s seat at 2-1. Broxton of course homered on the first pitch he saw as an Oriole last Friday night at Coors Field. This was his first homer at Camden Yards. I suspect the home fans like him so far.

However it was two home runs that set Detroit apart in this game. Hicks’ solo shot in the eighth tied the game at two, and Dixon’s two-run shot in the ninth gave them the lead at 4-2. A lead that would hold up as the final score.

Again, the O’s got good starting pitching tonight from John Means. However it wasn’t enough. It.’a supposed to be, but it wasn’t. But that can happen when you leave yourself no margin for error.

By that, I mean that the Birds couldn’t even extend their lead. When you have no margin for error and you ultimately make a mistake on the mound, it isn’t going to end well. That’s why add-on or insurance runs aren’t bad things. They leave you a margin for error, which the Orioles didn’t have tonight.