The Orioles are mired in a five game losing streak in which the pitching has been bad, the defense has been the worst in the major leagues, and the offense, which had been producing at a record pace, has been anemic. This has many people shaking their heads, claiming, “Here we go again.” The wheels seem to be coming loose on the bandwagon.
Baseball history tells us, however, that this is not unusual. Every playoff team goes through bad stretches. The World Series winning Baltimore Orioles of 1983 went through two separate seven game losing streaks. The 1990 Cincinnati Reds, 1991 Minnesota Twins, and 2000 New York Yankees, all World Series winners, also had to endure seven game losing streaks. The Orioles right now have only lost five in a row going into the weekend series, which will determine first place in the AL East, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The offense will come back around. When a team lives by the home run, as the Orioles have, runs may be hard to come by for stretches. However, Matt Wieters will not continue to hit at a 3-for-36 pace. His bat will come back around. Chris Davis is showing the consistency to hit to over a .300 batting average. Adam Jones is continuing his great season, hitting .314 with 16 home runs, including the second two-home-run game of his career Tuesday night. J.J. Hardy has more home runs then any other short stop in the league with 10 to go with a respectable .260 batting average. Nick Markakis is starting to show some of his old power again with 13 doubles and eight home runs. All of this adds up to a potent offensive team.
Pitching wise, though the starters have struggled recently, the bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular. Jim Johnson is pitching at an all-star pace with a 0.84 ERA and converting 16 out of 16 save opportunities. Darren O’Day, Pedro Strop, and Luis Ayala all are pitching to ERAs under 2.00. The starters are going to need to improve, but even so, Brian Matusz has found his velocity again. Wei-Yin Chen has pitched better then anyone could have asked in his first season in the MLB. Also, Jason Hammel is still has an ERA of 3.06 even after giving up four home runs Wednesday night.
Baltimore, take a collective step off the ledge. The defense must improve and the Orioles need to find someone to put a bunt in play. Other then those two (glaring) weaknesses, the Orioles have the pieces in place to win and win for the entire season. The Orioles will rebound and rebound soon.
Blog from Max Grossfeld——written before the announcement of Nick Markakis’ injury
freddy from boca
you are correct, sir. except about taking the step off the ledge. if “baltimore” did that d.c. e.m.s. would be busy for months scraping “baltimore” off the sidewalk.
more like take a step back from the ledge.
· 11/12/2019
Max
Back from the ledge is what I meant lol
· 11/12/2019