While O’s fans have plenty to gripe about, should we so choose – no primetime games, we have to wake up extra early just to tailgate on Friday, in this writer’s opinion, the O’s are about to face the best team in baseball in the Detroit Tigers, etc. – but as Buck Showalter said yesterday, all of these complaints beat knowing what your tee time is today.
The Orioles are back in the playoffs, and are primed to make a deep run this time.
ALDS Roster Includes Jimenez
Well I’m shocked. A guy who can’t consistently throws strikes will be relied upon to come out of the bullpen and get big outs and at times, will be entering the game with inherited runners. I know the Tigers rake left-handed pitching (led majors with a .285 batting average) but let’s not think they struggle against righties.
Detroit finished second in the big leagues against right-handed pitchers with a .274 batting average and first overall in team batting average with a .277 average.
The moral of the story is they can flat out hit and gambling on a guy who has struggled all season long and leaving off two players in Brian Matusz and T.J. McFarland who understand their role and were quite successful is not a risk I would be willing to take.
Who starts at third?
I looked way too much into the Orioles bringing up Alexi Casilla (and apparently not enough into Jimenez’s bullpen appearance on Sunday), but Showalter’s biggest decision this series is who he writes on the lineup card as the third baseman. Ryan Flaherty seems to be the front-runner, but even he has committed errors at the hot corner the last couple of weeks. This is a huge issue and I am just hoping it isn’t the reason the Orioles are sent packing for the offseason.
Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be a big surprise, as the best defensive third baseman is rehabbing from his second knee surgery in less than a year. The combination of Flaherty, Kelly Johnson, and Jimmy Paredes haven’t provided the relief needed and none of the three are enough of an offensive force that you can live with the errors. This is a situation where we hope the ball doesn’t find whoever is playing to J.J. Hardy’s right.
Hopefully 2012’s experience settles down the hitters this time around
We remember all too well how the last time the O’s made the playoffs the hitters swung at any pitch, no matter the location. This team has never been good at drawing walks and working counts, but hopefully they don’t get themselves out. This will be a very tough task as three American League Cy Young award winners will take the mound in the first three games.
This is the exact reason Nelson Cruz was brought to Baltimore and he needs to step up big in this series. Adam Jones needs to use his playoff experience and understand that he can’t hit 5-run homeruns. Even though Nick Markakis has not appeared in the playoffs, his low key personality should allow him to stay within himself and be the guy we have seen his entire career. These are the three guys who have carried the team for the entire season and to beat to the Tigers, the leaders of this team have to have their best 3-5 game stretch of the season.
