Through the early part of the 2013 season, our Birds have struggled to string any appreciable number of wins together.
Their longest winning streak to date is two games – which they’ve done twice. On the bright side, they haven’t had any long losing streaks either, the longest being three in a row from April 6 – 8.
They’ll finish up their fifth series of the season tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays, and for the fifth time, they’ll be playing in a rubber match. That’s right, they’ve split the first two games of all five of their series so far.
If that’s not a formula for .500 baseball, I don’t know what is.
Don’t believe me? They’ve been 1-1, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, and now 7-7 this year.
In 2012, they were 3-3 after six games, then never looked back to .500, finishing April 14-9 with winning streaks of three and four in the opening month.
I know, I know, we can’t compare seasons.
Still, it’s been an extremely frustrating first few weeks for O’s fans, as we’ve watched our team grasp at straws in trying to find any consistency – anywhere!
From the starting pitching, to the bats, to even the formerly reliable defense, no area of the team – except, of course, the bullpen (and how long can we count on that if the aforementioned starters don’t pick it up?) – has lived up to expectations.
O’s starters have consistently been chased from ballgames early, as not one of them has pitched seven full innings to date. In total, Birds starters have recorded just four outs in the seventh inning (Hammel two, Gonzalez and Chen one each) all season.
The back of the rotation – Jake Arrieta and Chris Tillman – have been the main culprits of the bullpen’s overuse. Arrieta has pitched exactly 5.0 innings in each of his three starts, while Tillman has gone 3.2, 5.1, and 5.0.
Over the last two nights, these two former members of “The Cavalry” threw a total of 205 pitches (112 Arrieta, 93 Tillman) over just 10 total innings.
That’s not gonna cut it.
At the dish, the only players that have been producing are Nick Markakis (.310/.375/.448), Adam Jones (.390/.400/.593) and Chris Davis (.340/.448/.809). No other regular is hitting over .250, and some key contributors are floating around the Mendoza line.
Look at these numbers, if you dare:
JJ Hardy: .189/.246/.358, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Matt Wieters: .217/.321/.370, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Nolan Reimold: .189/.268/.270, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Those are two guys who play every day, and another who would be, if he was producing at all.
Then of course you have O’s designated “hitters” who are a combined 3-for-47 on the season.
Even the defense, which was so strong down the stretch last year, has let us down at times, with the main perpetrator being two-time Gold Glove winner Jones.
AJ has misplayed two balls that led directly to losses (against Minnesota and New York), and last night against Tampa had a ball skip by him, and missed a cutoff man, to allow the Rays several extra bases.
It’s obviously way too early to start panicking. Unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are playing better than anybody expected them to (because of course they are), with Boston at 10-4 and the Yankees having won seven of eight since their 1-4 start. We can also assume that Tampa and Toronto will start to pick things up going forward.
The O’s need to do the same, and quickly.
If they insist on playing rubber matches every series, the least they can do is win them. Right now, they’re 2-2 in such games. It would be nice to move to 3-2, but it won’t be easy. Expect a pitcher’s duel tonight, as Miguel Gonzalez (1-1, 2.92) takes on David Price (0-1, 5.82) down at the Yard.
