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: Back-to-back-to-back in the first bludgeons Pittsburgh

To paraphrase a famous poem, the outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Baltimore Orioles today. Not at the very beginning of the game at least. Jayson Aquino gave up two RBI-doubles in the first inning, and the O’s appeared destined for a loss to Pittsburgh. But that was all Aquino would surrender, and Oriole bats took it from there. Aquino’s line: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

But that rough first inning for Aquino was the pinnacle of Pittsburgh’s day. With a runner on base in the last of the first, Trey Mancini smacked a two-run homer to tie the game. The rest is history – no, really…the rest is history! Manny Machado came to the plate next, and suddenly after his solo homer the Birds held the lead. That brought Jonathan Schoop to the plate, and he smacked a solo shot of his own.

When the smoke cleared, the O’s led 4-2 – after back-to-back-to-back home runs. And Oriole bats kept the pressure on. They would load the bases in the third, scoring an additional run on a Chance Sisco walk. Anthony Santander‘s RBI-single would give the O’s a 6-2 lead, and Colby Rasmus would blow it right open with a two-RBI single. That would give the Birds an 8-2 lead.

Tough to come back from, if you look at it from Pittsburgh’s perspective. But perhaps we saw a preview of how potent this Orioles offense can be this year. This was supposed to be what we saw last year, but it never really happened. Needless to say, they came into this game with a balanced offensive attack that fired on all cylinders.

The O’s would net two more runs in that third inning on sacrifice ground outs and fly balls by Machado and Jones respectively. Santander would add an RBI-single an inning later, and Pittsburgh would add three more runs over the course of the middle/later innings. By far, this was the best day of the spring for Oriole bats.

Again, the hope is that this foreshadows what the Orioles see out of their offense this season. We saw contributions up and down the lineup, which is what you want to see. Jayson Aquino on the run support (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

It’s great to have support like that. What you’ve got to do is keep putting zeros up and I tried to put the team in a good position.

The Orioles will pull a split squad day tomorrow with the B Team heading to Fort Myers to play Boston, and the A Team taking on Philadelphia in Sarasota in the evening. Andrew Cashner will make his Orioles’ spring training debut in the nightcap, and he’ll be opposed by Philadelphia’s Nick Pivetta. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.

Baltimore Orioles fall big to Toronto once again

You could almost take yesterday’s result and game and play it forward into today for the Baltimore Orioles. The games were very similar, other than the fact that the Orioles’ starter, Miguel Castro in this case, had a decent outing. Castro’s line: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 Bb, 1 K.

Castro allowed an RBI-single in the first inning to Donaldson, which was the only run he surrendered. Caleb Joseph would proceed to smack an RBI-single in the second, which tied the game at one. The game would be tied until the fourth, when Toronto would score on an RBI-ground out and an RBI-double by Grichuck.

The Birds did try to get back into the game, however. Trey Mancini grounded into an RBI in the sixth, however a Toronto sac fly-RBI. That cut the lead to 3-2, however Toronto wasn’t going to be denied. Runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, which ran their lead to 8-2. The O’s did make a run of it late, scoring two runs in the ninth.

Castro, for his small part in this game, was very please with the outcome (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

It felt very good today. My knee was good. It didn’t bother me any. That means everything started the right way

However one area where the O’s are struggling right now is something with which they’ve had issues for years: clutch hits in big moments. You can’t leave half an army on the base paths, and the Orioles area starting to do that. But getting that type of thing out of your system is part of what these games are for.

The Orioles will return to Ed Smith Stadium for a spring training “weekend homestand” tomorrow against Pittsburgh (and Sunday against Philadelphia). Jayson Aquino gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Pittsburgh’s Chad Kuhl. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles take it on the chin against Toronto

Nestor Cortes has fared pretty well for the Baltimore Orioles thus far in the spring. A couple of bumps in the road, but not too bad. That ended this afternoon against Toronto. Cortes’ line: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 1 K.

Cortes said after his outing that in his view he was leaving too many pitches in the strike zone (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

I wasn’t making them hit my pitch and I think that’s what hurt me today. Too many pitches left over the plate and too many strikes.

Down in the zone. I think I left too many pitches in the zone and I felt like they felt comfortable standing on the plate, and I just need to make them chase my pitch.

Cortes went on to say that this outing was going to happen. Presumably, that’s him understanding that you aren’t going to have your best stuff everyday, even in spring training. However when you’re a Rule 5 guy trying to make the final roster, everything seems amplified when things don’t go well.

But all in all, this wasn’t the Orioles’ day. It wasn’t just Cortes, it was almost everyone who was just a bit off. The teams traded runs in the first, with that of the Orioles coming off of an RBI-single by Adam Jones. Toronto would put two more runs across by getting traffic on the base paths in the second and third, leaving the Birds trailing 3-1.

Toronto would put two more across in the fifth. One came on an RBI-double, and the other off of a Beckham fielding error at third base. They would also put two more across in the seventh, and one each in the eighth and ninth innings.

So the home team didn’t get the job done this afternoon. Save for perhaps one guy. Andrew Susac brought the O’s to within 9-3 with a two-run homer in the ninth. It’s easy to say that’s a garbage-time homer when the stakes were lower than low, however to a young guy like Susac who might have a shot at making the team it certainly meant something.

The Orioles will travel up the road to Dunedin, FL tomorrow for the first time this year to take on these same Toronto Blue Jays. Miguel Castro will get the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Marco Estrada. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles defeat Tampa by playing AL East baseball

The Baltimore Orioles once again have seen positive results against the Tampa Rays in the Florida Grapefruit league. Mike Wright got the start for the Orioles this afternoon, and save for a home run was dominant. Wright’s line: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

In three innings of work, Wright retired eight of his final nine hitters. The lone run that crossed came on Adamses’ solo homer in the last of the third. And Wright admitted after his outing that on that pitch he missed his spot (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

It was a bad fastball, inner half. I just left it out over the plate.

However the O’s quickly came back. They took tied the game at one on Danny Valencia‘s RBI-double in the fourth, which was followed by Austin Hays‘ RBI-single. Tampa would tie the game with an RBI-single in the bottom of that fourth inning, and it looked like we had a ballgame. Then the big inning happened.

From a pitching standpoint they say one should aim to stay out of the big inning. The implication of course is that if you’re at bat you play for the big inning. And that’s part of the essence of AL East baseball. If you play small ball and shoot for one run, that could be all you get.

However at first, the O’s looked like they might be playing some small ball. Beckham’s sac fly-RBI gave them the lead back at 3-2. Danny Valencia then smacked another double with runners in scoring position; this one scored two runs, giving the O’s a 5-2 lead. Anthony Santander would then smack a two-RBI single, which resulted in a 7-2 lead for the O’s. And a 7-2 win.

That’s how games are played and won in the AL East. Anytime people talk about the benefits of small ball and so forth, teams like the Orioles just smile and nod. The big inning, and thus big ball is how you win games in the American League East. It might not as effective against some teams, but if you want to maximize your wins in the regular season you have to play and win within your division.

The Orioles return to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota tomorrow to take on the Toronto Blue Jays for the first time this spring. Nestor Cortes Jr. gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Aaron Sanchez. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles fall to Minnesota in Ft. Myers

The Baltimore Orioles’ four-game spring training win streak was snapped this afternoon with a 9-8 loss in Ft. Myers to Minnesota. As has been covered ad hoc, these types of caddywampus games happen in spring. But the good news for the Birds is that starter Hunter Harvey had a good outing at the beginning. Harvey’s line: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K.

The O’s got on the board early in the second inning with a solo homer by Danny Valencia. Incidentally, Valencia has a clause in his contract which allows him to opt out on a certain date if he’s not in the big leagues. So odds of Valencia being on someone’s major league roster on Opening Day are pretty good.

Minnesota would tie the score with a solo homer of their own in the bottom of that inning, however the Birds took the lead right back. Manny Machado‘s two-RBI single in the third gave them a 3-1 lead. However this was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams never letting the other get out of range. Buxton’s RBI-double in the last of the third brought them back to within one at 3-2. Again, these types of games happen in the spring.

However the O’s thought that they had broken it open in the fourth. Santander smacked a solo homer, and Caleb Joseph‘s RBI-single gave the Orioles a 5-2 lead. But keep in mind that Minnesota’s one of these small ball teams that’s given the Orioles fits over the years. In the fifth they scored on a sac fly-RBI with the bases loaded, an RBI-single, and an RBI-double.

And that right there shows you the difference in philosophies in the various divisions. From my standpoint, a sac fly-RBI with the bases loaded is akin to almost failing. With the bags juiced you need to get a lot more than that. But Minnesota’s attitude is that it’s just another run. And they’re right. I still think it’s more efficient to get them all in one fatal swoop, however one run leads to another…which leads to another one.

When the smoke cleared, the Birds trailed 7-5. However Joseph would smack another RBI-double in the sixth, and Craig Gentry an RBI-single. One inning later Pedro Alvarez would add an RBI-double of his own, and suddenly the O’s held an 8-7 lead. However two Minnesota runs in the seventh would end up doing them in, and the Birds fell 9-8 in Ft. Myers.

Several of the Orioles’ regulars made this trip, and many others will be on the road trip tomorrow. They were given the option of picking one of these two games in which to play. Admittedly this is a bit of a strange week because they had the day off yesterday, two road games mid-week, a home game on Thursday, and then again on the road Friday. This followed by back-to-back home games this weekend.

The Orioles travel back to Port Charlotte tomorrow to take on the Tampa Rays. Mike Wright gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Blake Snell. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: AL East vs. the rest of the league

2016 was obviously considered a down year for the Baltimore Orioles. However while not officially, for all intents and purposes they finished in the neighborhood of .500 (37-39) against their division, the AL East. This kind of works against the grain because in general you figure if you can compete in your division, you’re going to win games.

Having said that, the Orioles actually play non-AL East teams for more games than they do division teams. This discrepancy is slight, but it’s there. But how could the O’s finish in that .500 neighborhood in division play, but still end up 18 games out of first place when all was said and done?

It’s actually fairly simple if you think about it. The Orioles are constructed to compete in the AL East. The division has always been about bludgeoning your competition to death. Look at the Orioles and look across the division – it’s just a fact of life.

Whether it’s Davis, Jones, Mancini, Machado, or someone else, the Orioles can hit the ball out of the ballpark. The past few spring games have told us that as well. And that’s how you win games in the American League East. This is true both in the present, as well as historically.

However this is also just another way of saying that Oriole pitching hasn’t held up it’s end of the bargain. The Orioles both win and lose games 9-8 and so forth. Ideally you’d rather win 9-1. Now last year may not be the greatest example off which to look, given that everything kind of went south at once. Odds are against that happening in general. But it did.

So the question is whether or not the Birds would be better off trying to compete with the rest of the league as opposed to the AL East? And my answer is no. If you take ten division wins away does that mean you’re adding 20 wins in non-divisional games? Odds are against it. The best way forward for the Orioles is to maintain their divisional record, and improve their non-division record. If they can do that, they’ll have a better shot at the post season.

The Orioles will resume play this afternoon, traveling to Ft. Myers to take on the Minnesota Twins. Hunter Harvey gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Minnesota’s Adalberto Mejia. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles keeping the beer cold after all these years

Today is the Baltimore Orioles’ lone off day during Grapefruit League play. At first I was a little surprised that it was this early on, however the schedule’s a bit different this year in that spring training ends on a Sunday and Opening Day’s on Thursday. So the players will have some time off right before the season starts.

So with no game to cover I wanted to get to the business of a column that I write in some form every spring training. Nobody honors the past quite like the Orioles, and a big part of that past resides in the broadcast booth. Do the words ain’t the beer cold?!, or Go to war, Ms. Agnes! mean anything to you?!

Chuck Thompson called Orioles games on both TV and radio from the 1950’s until finally retiring for good after the 2000 season. Thompson retired from full time duty in 1983, however came out of retirement a few years later to work games part-time on the radio. Speaking for myself, that’s how I remember him and how I was introduced to his work.

Simply put, nobody was as good as Chuck behind the mic – NOBODY. He had that smooth delivery which brought along with it thoughts of hometown, summertime, vacation, and good times. His call of games could lend to the belief that one was sitting on the front porch sipping lemonade while following the game, or perhaps laying on a beach in Ocean City – down-y oshun!

Chuck Thompson came of age in the baseball broadcasting business when the concept of the hometown announcer was a huge idea. Back then precious few games were televised, and people followed the team on radio if they couldn’t get to the game or if the team was out of town. Thompson acted as a liason of sorts between the team and the fans. This is still an important aspect in the jobs of the men who cover baseball today, however in an age of mass media and online columns (including this one!) people find different ways to follow teams.

When you use the term the voice of the Orioles people of a certain age immediately think of the great Chuck Thompson. He was to Baltimore what Vin Scully was to Los Angeles. And Mel Allen to New York, Ernie Harwell to Detroit, Jack Buck to St. Louis, Jack Brickhouse/Harry Caray to Chicago, or Harry Kalas to Philadelphia. All of those men were of similar age and broadcasting characteristic. And all of them seemingly came to represent the cities and teams that they served.

Speaking for myself, I loved Chuck Thompson’s aforementioned catch-phrases. Everyone did. However I think the thing I remember the most about him as how he always seemed to emphasize the second O in OriOles. It’s little things as such that endeared broadcasters to their hometowns. Chuck Thompson walks in lockstep with Orioles fans of a certain age. He represents not only Orioles baseball, but summertime. And he’ll nary be forgotten, even as the years go on.

Baltimore Orioles win a donnybrook of a spring game

I suppose that Gabriel Ynoa was the one member of the Baltimore Orioles who kind of took it on the chin this afternoon. Some of these spring training outings can be interesting affairs, especially when the opponent is the Boston Red Sox, and they bring some of their regular players on the trip – a rarity at this stage of spring training. Ynoa’s line: 2.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 2 K.

Ynoa retired the first two hitters of the game, and then the struggles began. And this is something I’ve noticed since last year for the Orioles. It’s almost as if they let up just a bit when they get two outs in an inning. The same is true when they get to two strikes in an at-bat – suddenly the opponent has always been able to find a way. And that’s continued into this spring.

In Ynoa’s case, it was a double and a walk that led to two runs in the top of the first inning. Boston picked up right where they left off in the second, plating four additional runs – including two homers. Going back to what I said above, Ynoa said after his outing that it was just a case of him leaving the ball too high in the strike zone (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

I was leaving the ball up in the zone. That was the main issue with me. The ball was just up in the zone.

One would have thought however that those first two innings would have cast a pall over the O’s. However that was not to be. Adam Jones doubled a runner home in the last of the third, and Trey Mancini plated a runner as well on a fielder’s choice. Mark Trumbo‘s fielder’s choice-RBI then cut the lead in half at 6-3.

One inning later, the pressure from the Birds continued. Tim Beckham‘s RBI-single got them to within two, and Manny Machado would tie the score with a two-RBI double later in the inning. The Birds would later take the lead on an RBI-double by Jones, leaving it at 7-6 after four innings.

And as I’ve said in the past folks, these games will happen in the spring. On one hand Ynoa wasn’t that sharp today, which from his perspective is concerning because he’s in a spot where he thinks he has a chance to be a starting pitcher on the Orioles. But you can’t put caddywampus-like comeback numbers up like that unless you’re down big early in a game. The Orioles were…and the Orioles did!

Boston would yield two more runs, however the Birds kept the pressure on. Beckham would smack a two-run homer in the fifth, and Pedro Alvarez would do the same in the sixth. The Orioles would also get Brad Brach into a game for the first time this spring, and he yielded one hit.

The Orioles got good news before the game on first baseman Chris Davis, who had an MRI on his forearm yesterday. There appears to be no structural damage to anything, and he’s expected to miss another few days. That’s good news – for now. It’s something to keep an eye on as the spring progresses, and certainly once the regular season begins.

The Orioles are off tomorrow for the first and only time this spring. So there’s no pitching match-up for me to set up! Incidentally going back to Davis’ aforementioned injury, the Birds are on the road for the first two days coming out of the off day, so the next time Orioles fans potentially would have seen him in a game would have been this coming Thursday when Toronto comes to Ed Smith Stadium.

Baltimore Orioles: Kevin Gausman shines in near shared spring no-no

The Baltimore Orioles and Kevin Gausman almost had a shared no-hitter this afternoon in Clearwater against Philadelphia. Oriole pitching took the no-no seven and a third innings this afternoon, and it was broken up by none other than Ryan Flaherty, with a base hit. Gausman’s line: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K.

Nevermind the potential no-hitter, but this was easily the best outing of the spring by any Oriole starter. Gausman faced nine batters, retired them all, and in fact struck out all but one of them. When asked after coming out whether he was happy with the results of the outing, Gausman adamantly said that he was (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

Absolutely. I think anytime you take a step in the right direction is good, especially in spring training. Just to even get up and down three times, that’s a good step in the right direction.

Chance Sisco smacked an RBI-double to the left field corner in the top of the second to give the O’s a 1-0 lead. And that score stood up for quite awhile. After that it was really just pitchers on both sides retiring hitters. Obviously as time went on the game grew a life of it’s own because the O’s hadn’t surrendered a hit.

No-hitters during spring training happen (in fact, Philadelphia threw one a few years ago against the Orioles), but they don’t count towards any statistics in terms of no-hitters in a franchise’s history. Certainly it’s still something on which to hang one’s hat, and obviously the Orioles were hoping that they could close it out. But while this is still spring and you don’t really judge wins and losses, while the game’s going on between the lines you’re certainly trying to win. The O’s still did that today, so that’s to their credit.

Anthony Santander‘s two-run homer in the eighth extended the Orioles’ lead to 3-0. The only downside of the game however was that the Orioles loaded the bases twice in that eighth inning, and only netted one run – on a Susac walk with the bases loaded later in the inning. However the name of this game was pitching, and I think we got a look at some of the pitching depth that the Orioles actually do have in the organization.

Philadelphia did threaten in the last of the eighth, but they couldn’t catch up. A sac fly-RBI and an RBI-double cut the Orioles’ lead to 4-2, however that’s as close as Philadelphia got. At the end of the day the O’s went home to Sarasota with a 4-2 victory – and a near no-hitter.

First baseman Chris Davis underwent an MRI this afternoon on his elbow/forearm area. He’s had soreness there the past few days, and it caused him to DH in the Orioles’ last two home games in Sarasota. This is something to watch, as it would be a major blow to the Birds to have Davis injured and miss any amount of regular season time. The Orioles also announced that they had optioned pitcher Chris Lee to triple-A Norfolk.

The O’s will return to Ed Smith Stadium tomorrow for their first home meeting with the division rival Boston Red Sox. Gabriel Ynoa gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Jalen Beeks. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Manny Machado homers as Birds win at batting practice

The good news for the Baltimore Orioles is that Manny Machado and the other regulars are starting to get into their groove. If there’s one thing however which is somewhat concerning, it’s how some of the presumed starting pitchers are getting dusted up; today it was Dylan Bundy struggling against Pittsburgh reserves. Bundy’s line: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 0 K.

To be fair, not many pitchers had good outings in today’s ballgame. In reality, it was akin to batting practice. However it was the second inning that got Bundy, and he admitted as much after the game (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

I got a couple guys with two strikes and gave up some hits there. Didn’t really put them away and execute the pitches. I was leaving them … all the pitches out over the plate today. Last outing, I was just missing off the plate. This outing, I was just missing too much on the plate I felt like and a little bit up. I’ve just got to keep working during spring.

Losing guys with two strikes (or two outs) was a problem all of last year. The Orioles’ coaching staff really needs to review film on all of their pitchers to see if there’s anything that’s fundamentally different once they hit two-strike counts or once two outs are recorded. The last thing this team needs is that concern to be following them this year as well.

The Birds took an early 1-0 lead on Manny Machado’s RBI-double in the last of the first. However as I said above, the second inning was Dylan Bundy’s bugaboo today. He allowed a three-RBI triple to Frazier, and an RBI-double to Marte. One other thing I’ve noticed is that regardless of who’s pitching or catching, opposing teams are stealing bases at will against Oriole batteries. It happened in that second inning to get a second runner into scoring position, and it happened a couple of other times in the game. Again, the coaching staff needs to look at these scenarios and see if teams are picking up on something in terms of being able to steal at will against the O’s. Otherwise come regular season time, singles quickly turn into doubles.

The O’s would swap runs with Pittsburgh in the second and third, with Colby Rasmus smacking his inaugural spring homer as an Oriole (in the second), and Moran doubling home an additional run for Pittsburgh in the third. Cunningham would add a sac fly-RBI an inning later, and the Birds trailed 6-2. But the fireworks were about to start.

Tim Beckham‘s RBI-double in the last of the fourth would cut that lead to 6-3. Trey Mancini  would single Beckham home, and suddenly the Orioles were in the game, trailing only by a single run. Machado would come up again later in that fourth inning with two runners on, and he ceremoniously put the O’s in the driver’s seat for good with a three-run homer.

While Pittsburgh would threaten a couple more times and net two additional runs, Beckham’s two-run home run in the fifth would propel the Orioles to a 10-8 victory. Again, one might draw some concern in this game regarding Bundy and how he looked. But any smart baseball person will tell you that this was just one of those games. On the flip side, sometimes you win games 2-1 which leave you walking away wondering long term what happened to your teams’ bats…and you just say it’s one of those games.

This was the third win for the Orioles on the spring, but perhaps more importantly it was the first home win, meaning that most of the guys in the lineup were starters. Before the game the Birds announced that they had signed former Oriole and longtime journeyman Danny Valencia to a minor league contract. Valencia is expected to be infield depth, and obviously could see time in the big leagues. But whether in Norfolk or in Baltimore, he’s in the Orioles’ organization again.

The Orioles tomorrow will head to Clearwater to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Kevin Gausman gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Philadelphia’s Tom Eshelman. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.