This game was lost because :
An utter collapse of our hitting from key contributors
12 strikeouts against mediocre Toronto pitching–The Blue Jays bullpen had been battered game after game but tonight they brought the Orioles’ to their knees
12 Orioles strikeouts–4 of which on pitches that bounced before home plate
I really don’t have much of a problem with any of the pitching decisions until Ubaldo lobbed up 2 softballs for hits and had 1st and 3rd with 1 out. First of all Ubaldo’s era in the 1st inning he has pitched has been horrible. But I was shocked to see Buck leave him in when Britton was fresh or Bundy was available. Bundy’s heat can strike out anyone. Britton might be the Cy Young winner after being perfect all year. Plus he induces so many ground balls it’s incredible. To leave his 0.54 era on the bench well it just shocked me.
But at the end of the day, the same playoff bugaboo–lack of hitting, reared its ugly head again. Would we have ever scored? I doubt it.
Buck is still the man — what he did this year achieving 89 wins was incredible. But to get better the O’s first of all, can’t repeat the Cruz mistake–TRUMBO MUST BE RESIGNED, first and foremost. We will review the season on Terp Talk tonight at 6.
Brian
Great season and agree loss in on the shoulders of the hitters and not Buck or the pitching staff. Unfortunately this is the fate that follows most power hitting teams in the playoffs. Home Runs are harder to come by in October and you need to be able to string some hits together while being aggressive on the basepath to win consistently.
Is Wieters as good as gone? I think an argument could be made that he is a more important part of this team than Trumbo and therefore needs to be the priority free agent resigning. I’d love to have both back but that’s not the Angelos way,
· 11/12/2019