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Blown Leads Testing O’s Mental Fortitude

Buck Showalter gets the ball from Mychal Givens as Givens walks off the mound.
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Winning games at the Major-League level is no easy task. The run of consistency Buck Showalter‘s Orioles have managed to put together over the past five-plus seasons is nothing to sneeze at. Even this year, when it feels like the team is a bit of a train wreck, a glance at the standings reveals the O’s to be just 1.5-games out of first place, and in possession of the American League’s third-best record.

However, though the Orioles have lost just 18 of their first 43 games, the manner in which some of their recent losses have unfolded could severely test the mental fortitude of this group of players.

Building a lead early on, only to see it quickly evaporate thanks to yet another pitching meltdown, has quickly become an all-too-regular occurrence.

To wit:

The frustration was evident on the faces of the players in Monday night’s loss. The Birds’ bats came out and smacked Minnesota starter Kyle Gibson around to the tune of six runs on eight hits in building a 6-2 lead.

Then, Ubaldo Jimenez happened. The Twins struck for four in the top of the fifth, the second time in just eight days an Orioles starter had been staked to a 5-0 lead and was unable to even get through the fifth inning to qualify for the win.

To say that it was deflating would be an understatement – not just for the fans, but for the players. Immediately upon losing the lead, the Orioles offense went into hiding. A team that had looked so energized and locked in just an inning ago was now flailing at everything and looked to just be ready to pack it in and try again tomorrow.

In the fifth, Gibson struck out the side on 14 pitches.

Tyler Wilson, who had replaced Jimenez in the fifth, was even more of a disaster than Ubie, allowing the Twins to take a commanding 11-6 lead in the sixth, before being replaced by Stefan Crichton. Who, of course, allowed an inherited runner to cross, the Twinkies’ 12th of the evening.

Again, the Birds offered nothing up in the way of a comeback themselves. They scored just a single run the rest of the night, capping off a 14-7 laugher of a loss that had started off so promisingly.

I absolutely agree with Jon here. How could the guys not be absolutely deflated after watching yet another large lead so quickly go the way of the Dodo?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that they’re not trying. Adam Jones, for instance, was still going all out to make plays like this in the seventh inning:

I’m just saying that this crap has got to be getting very old, very fast for the guys who produce the runs and the seemingly-comfortable leads. The Orioles have shown plenty of resilience already this season, like when they turned around and won eight of 11 following their April 28th loss in New York, a game in which they held a 9-1 lead in the sixth inning.

But it’s a lot to ask for them to keep picking themselves up off the mat time and time again. Prior to last night’s loss, the O’s had played in 12 straight games that were decided by one or two runs. They didn’t win a single nine-inning ball game between May 8 at home against Washington (a game that ended with the Nationals having the tying run on third) and this past Saturday, May 20 (there were two extra-inning wins in there). The last time they won a game in a non-save situation was Thursday, May 4 against the Boston Red Sox.

Those are high-stress games, no matter which side of the ledger you come out on.

Losing a 5-0 and 6-2 lead only to get blown out in the end? That’s an infuriating way to go down.

Buck’s face at the end of this GIF says it all:

Not only do we frazzled fans need an easy, coasting win or two, but so do the players. Perhaps tonight will be the night.

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