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: Sister cities connected by the railroad

The Baltimore Orioles head to Cincinnati this evening for a three-game series. This will not only be the Orioles’ first foray into Interleague play this season, but also their first step outside the division. Given that they’ll play by National League rules, the Birds will have to surrender their DH this evening and starter Ubaldo Jimenez will have to swing the bat.

Baltimore and Cincinnati have special places in history, but not for reasons that you might think. Certainly the 1970 World Series comes to mind, when the Birds defeated the “Big Red Machine.” You could also look to the NFL where the Ravens play the Bengals twice a year, but that’s not what I mean either.

As we know, Oriole Park at Camden Yards’ crowing feature is the B & O Warehouse on Eutaw St. The Warehouse of course is the former terminal for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and it began being built in 1899. The final sections were built around 1905 or so, and it was in use until the 1960’s. Since 1992 when the ballpark opened, it’s housed the Orioles’ team offices, stadium store, etc.

This isn’t news to Orioles fans. But have any of you ever heard of Longworth Hall? You can click on the link I provided, but I would encourage you to click on images from a simple google search of the building first. Trust me, you’ll do a double-take when you see what comes up, and you’ll have to pinch yourself not to think you’re looking at Baltimore’s B & O Warehouse.

Longworth Hall is the Warehouse’s “sister building” in a sense. Whereas the Warehouse in Baltimore was the “Baltimore terminus” of the B & O Railroad, Longworth Hall was the “Ohio Terminus.” Here’s a fun fact about me, I’m somewhat OCD when it comes to uniformity. So in my mind it makes total sense and I can actually rest easy knowing that both ends of this very important railroad in American history are bookended by what in essence could be the same building.

The buildings are uncannily similar but not identical, and in fact my understanding is that Longworth Hall is actually bigger than Baltimore’s Warehouse. And whereas Baltimore’s used the Warehouse as a centerpiece for “The Ballpark that forever Changed Baseball,” Cincinnati is using Longworth Hall as part of a condo and commerce project in their downtown area.

In essence, both cities use the buildings as a tip of the cap to the past while creating a modern downtown atmosphere, albeit for different reasons. Longworth Hall was at risk for demolition as recently as 2012, however that would apparently only happen if the owners of the building (the family of Nicholas Longworth, the original owner) decide to sell it.

So in this sense, Baltimore and Cincinnati are forever linked together in history. Most people know of the B & O Warehouse, mainly because of Camden Yards. However Longworth Hall served the exact same purpose, on the other side of the same original railroad that we know. And again, I encourage you to google Longworth Hall and pull up images on the google search – you’ll have to tell yourself time and time again that you aren’t looking at the Warehouse in Baltimore.

The series in Cincinnati begins tonight at the Great American Ballpark. The aforementioned Ubaldo Jimenez will be on the mound for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Bronson Arroyo. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Big wheels keep on turning

As late as last year, Rogers Centre was a house of horrors for the Baltimore Orioles. And I’m not just talking about the 2016 AL Wild Card Game, but also regular season series’. So an early season four-game set north of the border may well have been met with some angst in the Orioles’ clubhouse.

But that would have ended up being unnecessary, as the Birds took three-of-four from Toronto, putting them in a great spot going into today’s off day before opening a series in Cincinnatti tomorrow. Dylan Bundy was fairly dominant for the Orioles yesterday, shutting Toronto bats down all day – just as Toronto bats had basically been shut down all series long. Bundy’s line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.

Throughout the first part of the afternoon it appeared as if we were going to see another pitcher’s duel. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that anyone scored, which was when Adam Jones‘ RBI-single gave the O’s a 1-0 lead. One inning later Trey Mancini smacked a three-run homer, and the Birds were off to the races.

The O’s would add additional runs in that fourth inning on Hardy’s RBI-double, and Gentry’s sac fly-RBI. Toronto also mounted a threat in the seventh, but the O’s got out of it surrendering only one run. But one inning later Mancini spouted off again with a solo homer. But wait…there’s more.

The O’s ended up with three home runs in that eighth inning, as Gentry and Machado each added two-run shots. Toronto would put three runs on the board before all was said and done, however that was too little too late. The O’s ended up with an 11-4 victory in the series finale, again giving them a series win at three games out of four.

This has the feel of a series to which one might look back as one that was instrumental in setting the tone for the season. The Orioles found different ways to win in different types of games at each spot along the way. They also leave Rogers Centre with five consecutive quality starts, dating back to last week in Boston. The pitching has really stepped up and come a long way.

However that pitching took a bit of a hit before the game, as we found out that Zach Britton was being sent to the 20-day DL with forearm soreness. He apparently felt a twinge while throwing a breaking ball on Friday night; the DL assignment is back-dated to Saturday.

Adam Jones also smacked into the Rogers Centre wall chasing down a triple late in yesterday’s game. He stayed down for awhile, but was able to stay in the game. He was lifted in the ninth inning, but it certainly gave the Orioles a scare.

Needless to say, the Orioles may well have exorcized any old demons which existed at Rogers Centre. Timely hitting, offensive power, and quality pitching all played a role in this big divisional series win. Big wheels keep on turning!

Baltimore Orioles’ Alec Asher strong in eventual loss

The Baltimore Orioles came to Toronto hoping that it wouldn’t be against them that the Blue Jays got well. To this point, that hasn’t happened. However they did manage to beat the Orioles yesterday, in what ended up being a pitcher’s duel.

The Birds of course acquired Alec Asher from Philadelphia at the tail end of spring training, and he was called up as the de facto fifth starter in the rotation. The O’s were really high on him from the moment they made the deal to get him, and he didn’t dissapoint in his Orioles’ debut. Asher’s line: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K.

Asher pretty much kept a struggling Toronto lineup at bay for all but the tail end of his outing. Toronto has a good lineup, which at some point is going to make someone pay for their struggles thus far. But it wasn’t Alec Asher, and for the most part it wasn’t the Orioles today.

Asher started to tire in the seventh when he hit Bautista with a pitch, and later gave up a base hit to put two runners on. That ended his day, however Bautista would later come around to score on Barney’s RBI-single. That run was charged to Asher, and it gave Toronto a 1-0 lead.

However it wasn’t just Asher who showed his worth to the Orioles today. Castillo led of the ninth with a base hit, and was promptly lifted for pinch runner Craig Gentry. Almost immediately, Gentry stole second base and was later moved to third on a fly out. He would score on Schoop’s sac fly-RBI.

That extended the game, and made Toronto come to bat in the last of the ninth and potentially onward. However Morales led off the inning with a walk off home run, and the O’s fell 2-1 at Rogers Centre. However the final result shouldn’t dim the fact that the Birds may have found a back-end starter in Asher.

It’s unreasonable to assume that Alec Asher will pitch at that level indefinitely. He’ll have starts where he can’t get balls over and so forth. But for the time being, I suspect he’s cemented himself into the Orioles’ rotation. For what it’s worth, this was the Orioles’ fourth consecutive quality start.

And don’t downplay the importance of what Gentry did yesterday either. The Orioles haven’t had much team speed of late, and he provided that which extended the game. He entered the game, and before you could blink he was at third base. That’s a great weapon to have late in games. Especially close ones.

The series in Toronto concludes on this Easter Sunday afternoon. Dylan Bundy will get the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s J.A. Happ. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Wade Miley quality start plus power equals victory

In as many outings, the Baltimore Orioles have now seen two quality starts in a ballpark that was traditionally harsh on their pitching staff. Last night Wade Miley set the tone early, and save for one semi-rough inning was a real work horse for the Birds Miley’s line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 8 K.

I’ve always said that it begins and ends with starting pitching. And in that sense the starting pitching’s been pretty good the last two nights. Miley did run into some problems in the second, however Toronto had their share of help which had nothing to do with pitching. Overall, a very well pitched game from the Orioles’ standpoint, and that sets the table for wins.

The Birds took a 1-0 lead when Chris Davis scored from third on a wild pitch. Incidentally on the flip side, when things aren’t going well those are the kinds of things that will happen in games – we’ve seen it with the Orioles many times. Toronto would tie the game in the bottom of that second inning with a Smoak RBI-single, and Miley allowed a second run in a Machado error. Miley had induced a ground ball that would have almost certainly ended the inning with a double-play (although you can’t assume the double-play), however a run scored as Machado bobbled the ball in the field.

For a short period it appeared that Smoak was going to steal the show, as he extended the Toronto lead to 3-1 in the last of the fourth with a solo home run. But one inning later the Birds were back in command. Jonathan Schoop‘s solo homer brought the O’s to within 3-2, and later in the inning J.J. Hardy smacked a two-run homer of his own to give the Birds the lead back at 4-3.

However luckily the O’s got some insurance later in the game, which they probably ended up needing. Solo homers by Chris Davis in the sixth and Seth Smith in the ninth put the Orioles ahead 6-3. Toronto threatened in the last of the ninth agains, as Travis’ RBI-single brought them to within 6-4. However the Birds recorded the final out without anymore drama, running their league-best record to 7-2.

Again, it begins and ends with starting pitching. Miley put his team in a position to win last night by pitching strongly. That makes a world of difference, and after the game he discussed the fact that he had improved over his last outing (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):

I just spent some time slowing down a little bit throughout the week and slowing my delivery down and I was able to command the fastball a little better. I had the breaking ball a little bit as well. I was able to throw the backdoor slider and then bury it when I needed to. Caleb did an outstanding job. I can’t say enough about the way we worked together. I’d seen him working back there hard for me and it’s a pretty good feeling. Definitely the command was there tonight, where it was nonexistent the other day.

As I’ve said before, pitchers are going to have ten good games, ten poor, and ten in between over the course of a season. File this one under the good category for Miley. Having a starting pitcher set the tone for the game makes a world of difference. And as I said, in the past two games it’s come in a ballpark at Rogers Centre where the O’s have struggled in the past.

One scary moment of the game occurred in the eighth inning when home plate umpire Dale Scott took a foul tip off his mask and fell to the ground. The game was halted for approximately 15 minutes as both teams’ medical staffs attended to Scott, who was eventually carted off the field. He was later diagnosed with a concussion, and will not work the rest of the series. So I’m sending my best thoughts his way, along with hopes for a speedy recovery.

The series continues this afternoon in Toronto. Alec Asher (who in essence is now the Orioles’ fifth starter) will make his maiden start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Marco Estrada. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Kevin Gausman pitches a gem in Birds’ win

Kevin Gausman gave the Baltimore Orioles the start they’ve been wanting for some time last night in Toronto. Well, I say that…however this is only his third turn through the rotation this year. But needless to say, Gausman put it all together last night to give the Orioles their third quality start of the young season. Gausman’s line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K.

Toronto is traditionally a tough place to pitch, and not just for the Orioles. Granted the Orioles seem to struggle there more than other teams for whatever reason, but the dimensions of the park and the strange bounces off the turf give pitchers across the league fits. But in a sense, the O’s are catching Toronto at the right time, as they’re struggling mightily. Sometimes it matters when you play certain teams, and the Orioles are certainly hoping that they’re clear out of town whenever Toronto breaks out of their funk.

Buck Showalter heaped praise on Gausman after the game, pointing out how good he was over his six innings (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):

He was good, really good. A well-pitched game. We got in here about 4 or 4:30 (a.m.) like everybody does over the course of the season, and we needed a well-pitched game. We got it from Darren (O’Day), who has had two good games in a row and that’s good to see. Brachie and Zach were going to pitch tonight regardless because of four days off. We needed all of them.

The game was a scoreless tie through four innings, with both teams occasionally getting a runner in scoring position and threatening. However Jonathan Schoop finally broke through in the top of the fifth with an RBI-double, and the O’s had a 1-0 lead. The Birds tried to get two on that play, however Mancini was thrown out at home plate trying to score. Some might question the decision to send him, but in a game that was shaping up to have runs at a premium, better to try to get everything you can.

Later in the inning J.J. Hardy‘s RBI single gave the O’s a 2-0 lead. Toronto would cut the lead to 2-1 on a Donaldson RBI-double in the last of the sixth, however Donaldson pulled up lame on the base paths and had to leave the gave. It’s unclear if he’s looking at a potential DL situation or not, but the injury didn’t look good.

The Orioles’ bullpen was fairly solid, however there was some angst at the end before Zach Britton could record his 53rd consecutive save. He had runners at first and second with one out, and uncorked a wild pitch to move both runners (one of which was the would-be winning run) into scoring position. However J.J. Hardy made perhaps the biggest play of the game in looking the runner back to third and throwing to first on a soft grounder in the infield for the second out, and then a line drive to center field ended the game as the O’s improved to 6-2 on the season.

The Orioles also made a flurry of roster moves, both before and after the game. It appears that Alec Asher (acquired just before the season from Philadelphia for a PTBNL) is going to be starting tomorrow afternoon’s game, in essence as the fifth starter. He’s in Toronto on the “taxi squad,” but hasn’t officially been called up as of yet. He’s being joined by Stefan Crichton, and as a result Oliver Drake was DFA’d off the roster.

The O’s then proceeded to trade Drake to Milwaukee, along with their 2016-17 international signing bonus draft pick. In return, they got pitcher Damien Magnifico, who was immediately optioned to Norfolk. So in essence they’ve called up some of their depth, but they’ve also replaced it. And while Drake wasn’t a longterm solution in the bullpen, they were able to move him and do some justice by him in the long run.

The series in Toronto continues tonight at Rogers Centre. Wade Miley will get the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Aaron Sanchez. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Big wheels start turning

Coming out of Tuesday’s loss, many Baltimore Orioles fans thought the sky was falling. I suppose that last night’s game in theory should have reversed that logic to a point. Adam Jones, Chris Davis, and others homered, as the O’s defeated the BoSox 12-5.

But the game wasn’t without it’s drama in terms of who was going to win. Ubaldo Jimenez was unable to make it out of the fifth inning, despite being given a huge lead. Jimenez’s line: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 K. Mychal Givens ended up being credited for the win; it you’re Jimenez, look at it from the perspective that you had worked the angle on a romantic interest for some time and were stalling in a sense before you were ready to ask her out. Then someone else swoops in and does just that after you’ve softened her up a bit.

When you can’t make it out of the fifth of a sure win, that’s kind of what happens. After the game Showalter admitted that Jimenez needed to pitch more like the veteran that he is, but also mentioned that Fenway Park itself can often add to the anxieties of pitchers (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

Ubaldo, a little frustrating because he was really good early on and it looked like he was going to pitch like a veteran should pitch with a lead and then it just kind of left him there and he couldn’t seem to get his delivery back together. I know it’s frustrating for him. Created some anxiety in the game. Of course, in this ballpark, it’s always a possibility. Nobody takes anything for granted.

Much of the early damage was done off of Boston’s Wright (a knuckler) in the first inning. Machado’s RBI-double got things going in the first inning, which was followed by Trumbo’s RBI-single. If you’re Boston, you’re thinking okay let’s just regroup after giving up a couple of early runs. Ha!

Trey Mancini came to the plate later in the inning with two on, and smacked a three-run homer to center field to give the Birds a 5-0 lead. That brought Schoop to the plate, and he followed suit with a solo shot to left. When the dust settled, the O’s led 6-0 after one inning.

And the route continued an inning later. Jones and Davis added solo homers, and Mancini added a second homer (a solo shot) in the third. That ran the score to 9-0, and the Birds had chased the Boston starter from the game.

However the issue with playing the BoSox is that they feel they’re never out of it. A few RBI and a Sandoval two-run homer later, they had chased Jimenez and gotten to within 9-5. Four runs is still a sizable lead for the Orioles, however Boston had the momentum. For awhile, Boston coming from nine down to beat the Orioles in ignoble fashion at Fenway seemed to be the only possible out in this game. But luckily the Orioles’ pen was solid, from Givens to Hart, and eventually Nuno.

The O’s also put a couple of insurance runs on the board late. Castillo smacked a two-RBI double, and Schoop an RBI single in the seventh. That ran the score to 12-5, at which point Boston finally seemed to concede the game. Despite Jimenez’s struggles, the Orioles had broken out the bats in grand fashion at a moment when they needed to do so.

Incidentally just so people don’t think I’m hard-hearted, the analogy I gave above about someone else asking your girl out regarding Jimenez has happened to me more times than I care to admit. Nothing like psyching yourself out having bought flowers, wine, etc. for someone over a period of time and being ready to take the next step…and then seeing someone else step up and do it instead. The point is that to the victors go the spoils – for his sake and for that of the Orioles, hopefully Jimenez realizes that.

The Orioles will now head to Toronto to open up a four-game series this evening. Kevin Gausman will be on the mound for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Francisco Liriano. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Darren O’Day haunted by errors behind him

Darren O’Day had a tough outing for the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, prompting the twitterverse to blow up about whether or not he was reliable enough any longer. If his performance last night at Fenway Park is any indication, he is – just as I said on Sunday. Look past the statistics if you don’t believe me.

The Birds got another quality start out of Dylan Bundy last night. He wasn’t as crisp as he was last week against Toronto, but Fenway Park and the BoSox lineup will do that to you. Bundy’s line: 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K. (Two of those runs scored after Bundy had departed.) At the end of the day, he put the O’s in a position to win.

Boston got sac fly-RBI in the second and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead. The O’s cut that in half in the seventh with Schoop driving in a run with a fielder’s choice-RBI. Incidentally, Oriole bats were quiet all night long, similar to Sunday against New York. Whether pitching or fielding lets them down is almost irrelevant if they only produce one run.

O’Day was brought into the game in the last of the seventh with a runner at first base and one down in the inning. If you’re O’Day, you’re looking for a ground ball in the infield to induce a double-play and get out of the inning. O’Day did just that. The would-be double-play was tailor made, with a grounder right to Hardy…

…while normally reliable, Hardy fumbled the ball in the infield and suddenly Boston had runners at first and second. Vazquez later sent a lazy pop fly towards very shallow right field. Schoop had the best angle on it from second base…and he dropped it, loading the bases.

Pedroia would later smack a two-RBI single. Benintendi would add an RBI-single, and three runs had crossed the plate while O’Day had been in the game. Vazquez would add a two-RBI triple in the eighth, and Pedroia an infield RBI-single later in the inning to run the score to 8-1.

Someone just reading the box score might assume that O’Day struggled again. Granted, he did give up a two-RBI single. But at a certain point there isn’t much you can do if your defense is failing you. Now the fact is that most people are going to know that what we saw last night was an anomaly from the Orioles’ defense – just as what we saw from O’Day on Sunday was an anomaly. But ultimately it happened.

O’Day got the Orioles out of the inning…that is before the defense messed all over itself. And after the game Showalter said as much (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

That was the highlight for me of the night. Darren was good. That’s Darren. A lot of ground balls, a lot of command. You could tell he felt (good). He’d like to have one pitch back to Benintendi, but other than that, that was real encouraging seeing him today. I really wanted to get him back out there tonight.

These types of games are going to happen here and there, so fans shouldn’t fret too much over it. It’s also worth noting that several of the hits that drove in runs and got guys on base were of the infield variety. Infield hits and incredibly soft-hit balls have seemingly nagged the Orioles since the 2014 ALCS, when Kansas City teased and taunted their way to the World Series by beating the Orioles on broken bat hits and soft-hit balls. But I digress, as I said these games will happen. You accept them and move on, especially when you know that the likes of Hardy and Schoop are going to win you more games than they’re going to lose you.

The short series concludes tonight at Fenway Park. Ubaldo Jimenez will get the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Steven Wright. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles head on the road for the first time in 2017

Thus far in 2017 the Baltimore Orioles have only dealt with the adoring cheers of their home crowd. That changes tonight as they head north to Fenway “Pahk” in Boston. They’ll be in Boston for two games, Toronto for four (over Easter), and then Cincinnatti for three. All in all, a nine-game road trip.

Fenway of course provides it’s share of challenges, and not only limited to the fact that the BoSox are a good team. The Orioles’ bullpen should be rested in full after the off day today, however they’ve been called into action far too often thus far in the young season. And we saw the downside of that on Sunday afternoon.

Being the ultimate hitter’s paradise, that could pose a problem for the Orioles tonight. However they do have Dylan Bundy on the mound this evening, and he was the lone starter to go deep into a game thus far (seven innings). But if that’s not enough, they’ll then head up to Toronto where Oriole pitchers always seem to struggle anyways – and of course Rogers Centre is also a hitter’s park.

So the way that the Orioles ensure that the bullpen remains as fresh as it can be is by starters going deeper into games. In fairness, quite a few teams have starters that can only last between four and seven innings in games the first two or three times through the rotation. And the weather can play a role in that, as guys have gotten used to the warm Florida sunshine during spring training. Then they come north and find that it’s still chilly up here.

But ultimately, a park like Fenway can set you back a bit in terms of bullpen depth – if your starters can’t go deep. So the Orioles really need Bundy (and Jimenez tomorrow) to step up when it counts. In Bundy’s case, he’s returning to the site of his big league debut in 2012, when he came in as a reliever in a game late in the season.

Incidentally, this is also a Boston team that got abused over the weekend in Detroit. So you can look at this from the perspective that they’re due, or that the Birds are getting them while they’re down. Bundy will be opposed by Boston’s Drew Pomeranz. Game time is set for just after 7 PM this evening.

Baltimore Orioles: Is the bullpen more susceptible than we think?

Some of the twitter chatter after yesterday’s 7-3 loss to New York amongst Baltimore Orioles fan seemed to indicate this is what we were afraid of; they aren’t that good. I even saw a few comments suggesting that fans learned a valuable lesson about how much worse the Orioles’ bullpen is than we thought. Let’s be frank; it wasn’t a good outing for the bullpen, specifically Darren O’Day. However you have to revert to the track record after a game like this. And that’s pretty good.

Wade Miley got the start, and really set the tone for a very strange game. Miley didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning, yet he walked seven batters. New York actually loaded the bases on walks at one point, but Miley pitched out of it. At the end of the day, he was in line to be the winning pitcher. Miley’s line: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 5 K.

The Orioles took the lead in the last of the second when Trey Mancini grounded into a force out which scored a run. Later in the inning they ran the lead to 2-0 on Hardy’s RBI-single. Trumbo would add an RBI-single of his own in the fifth, and the O’s seemed to be in control at 3-0.

However New York wasn’t about to be outdone on this day. Torreyes’ two-RBI triple in the sixth cut the lead to 3-2, and Judge’s solo home run would tie the game at three in the eighth. But the story of this game came in the ninth, when O’Day allowed four runs to cross the plate. Now while all of those runs were earned, it’s important to note that one did come on a throwing error. However the fact remains that the bullpen overall was shaky in this game, which is something we don’t normally see.

O’Day felt that some of his earlier pitches were borderline strike calls, and quite frankly I might tend to agree with him there. However he also indicated that he needed to re-adjust to the zone, which he was unable to do (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):

Yeah, I threw some good pitches early in the outing. They were just pitcher’s pitches and I couldn’t make the adjustment to get back into the zone to get strikes called. So I overadjusted on some pitches. If you put three guys on base, bad things are usually going to happen. Just wasn’t a good outing. Pretty bad.

Throughout the entire series I felt that the strike zone was erratic at best. That’s not to say that the umpiring was bad, it was just a bit erratic in terms of balls and strikes. However throughout the entire series, New York did a better job of adjusting to that than did the Orioles. Whereas NY pitchers would try to hit spots that the umpire as calling as strikes, Orioles’ pitchers would try to hit what they felt were strikes.

Nevertheless, should fans panic about this game? Were the Orioles just unmasked and shown to be pretenders instead of contenders? Hardly. You can’t say that they’re either at this point in the season. You’re going to have games like this, and really all you can do is move onto the next game and work on things. If you want further proof, would you as a fan not give the ball to Darren O’Day any longer?

Baltimore Orioles: 2017 Comeback Kids

The Baltimore Orioles have been marked by their ability to come back in games thus far in the very young 2017 season. We saw that again yesterday, as Hyun-Soo Kim‘s go-ahead RBI-single in the last of the seventh put the O’s in the lead. So if there’s a name we could put on the Orioles through the first week of the season, it would be The Comeback Kids.

Kevin Gausman wasn’t effective in the early part of the game, and he struggled his was through his time in the game. Gausman’s line: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K. I always tell people after early-season outings like this that starting pitchers are going to have 10 great outings, 10 poor, and 10 in-between every year. So if you file this one under poor, the Orioles stole a win yesterday.

Gausman to his credit knew his command was off, and made no bones about it after the game (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):

Obviously, walking the first guy on four straight. I just couldn’t throw a fastball down and away to save my life. From the first pitch on was trying to figure out my mechanics and what I needed to do with my front side. I think it was more mechanically than anything.

Gausman’s issue was in essence runners on base, and he gave up a two-RBI single in the second inning. When guys get on base anything can happen; throw in the fact that the starter’s command is off, and base hits start to bleed through. However the O’s cut the lead in half two innings later on an RBI-single by Welington Castillo. That would be a motif to follow throughout the day.

Gausman compounded matters in the fifth by balking in a run with a runner on third. In a bizarre sequence, he turned and threw to third base – where NY catcher Romine was situated. The home plate umpire saw this as an act of trying to fool the runner, and called Gausman for a balk – allowing the run to score. It was a strange and almost unnatural play, which I think is part of why the balk was called. However the fact is that Gausman never stepped off the rubber – I’ll leave it at that.

Castro was at the plate at the time, and later in the at-bat he smacked an RBI-single to run the score to 4-1 in favor of New York. The runner who scored was previously at first base, and the balk allowed him to advance into scoring position. So all while being off on his command, Gausman did himself no favors in the mental game either.

But these Orioles are the Comeback Kids…you know, the Fighting Showalters. They don’t go quietly into the night! Manny Machado got the comeback rolling in the last of the fifth with an RBI-double, cutting the New York lead in half. Later in the inning Trumbo grounded into a fielder’s choice-RBI, and suddenly the New York lead was only one at 4-3.

But it was the last of the seventh which really sealed it for the Birds. Trumbo’s RBI-single would tie the game at four, letting Gausman off the hook. That brought Kim to the plate later in the inning after Trumbo moved into scoring position, and his RBI-single gave the Orioles the lead at 5-4.

Combine a huge momentum swing like that with the Orioles’ bullpen, and you have a win. Zach Britton knotched his 52nd consecutive save, and the Birds remained undefeated at 4-0. On that note, the Orioles might want to try to build a sizable lead in today’s game to avoid using Britton, who’s appeared in every game thus far.

The series with New York concludes this afternoon. Wade Miley gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by NY’s C.C. Sabathia. The Birds will have to make a roster move prior to the game in order to call Miley up, however at this point it’s unclear who goes out. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.