Tempers flared, baseballs flew at heads, and suspensions are sure to be coming soon. More importantly, the O’s took two of three from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, pushing their record to a stellar 12-5. Things don’t get any easier though – the next 10 games are all against AL East teams, starting with three at home against Tampa Bay.
Stay Buckled Up, and let’s get to the links.
Britton Says Pedroia Needs to Control his Teammates
Zach Britton had some interesting things to say about this weekend’s drama, per Dan Connolly of Baltimore Baseball.
Trey Mancini Will Never Be Frank Energa
Trey went deep again this weekend, so Baseball Prospectus’ Bryan Grosnick may need to update this article. Who is Frank Energa you ask? Well, that’s a very interesting piece of obscure baseball history, as Grosnick explains.
In Nod to Orioles & Data, Jones Positioning Himself Deeper
Adam Jones is playing further from home plate this year. We had a link to a story on that in Friday’s links, but today’s goes even deeper (see what I did there?) as Jones explains to the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli how the decision came about. It’s clear that Jones isn’t necessarily happy with the change, but it’s great that he’s willing to swallow his pride for the good of the team.
FanGraphs’ Paul Swayden says what I’ve been saying for months, which is that if the Orioles aren’t going to give Hyun-soo Kim a fair shake (AGAIN), then they should just trade him. Some team will find value in a guy who gets on base at a .380 clip. After Kim finally got a hit against a lefty (when given a chance) on Sunday, perhaps he’ll be in the lineup more? I won’t hold my breath.
Wade Miley’s Winning Combo: Great Command and Great Framing
Camden Depot’s Ryan Romano has an outstanding piece on what’s making Wade Miley look like a Dallas Kuechel clone here in 2017, instead of the train wreck he was for much of 2016’s second half. Part of the secret: Caleb Joseph, of course. The former Ubaldo-whisperer is now the Miley-whisperer.
A Few Thoughts on Baseball’s Unwritten Rules
Our own Andrew Stetka, writing in his weekly MASN guest column, weighs in on baseball’s very stupid “unwritten rules” which state that it’s perfectly OK, and even encouraged, for one grown man to intentionally throw a baseball at another grown man over some perceived slight.
