Last week, the Orioles had a shot against two divisional opponents coming into Camden Yards in an unexpected playoff chase. This was an opportunity to not only catch and perhaps surpass the Blue Jays in the wild card hunt but also to show the rest of the AL East that this team isn’t going to be pushed around anymore and to make a statement.
Instead, the Orioles laid an egg, winning just two of the seven games. Embarrassing themselves against the Blue Jays and then doing nothing against the lowly Red Sox seemed to suck the air out of the fan base and the team. For the most part, the pitching held up outside of one Jordan Lyles start (he was returning from a sickness), but again the offense just continues to sleepwalk with no end in sight. During this last week, the Orioles scored more than five runs just one time. That is right, once a week. The alarming trends discussed in a previous week’s article about the bad at-bats and not playing players continued into last week, and both were glaring on Sunday.
In that game, a 1-0 loss, the Orioles scored no runs, and Brandon Hyde put out one of his worst lineups of the season because a left-hander was on the mound for Boston. I don’t know if Hyde thought people wouldn’t notice the lineup because the NFL was on, or what, but unfortunately for him, we noticed, and it was rightfully shredded on social media.
Hyde tried to defend it by stating, “playing matchups,” but here is the point that seems so hard for Hyde to understand. Playing matchups doesn’t always work. The truth is that the Orioles need Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and even Kyle Stowers in their lineup right now, no matter which side the pitcher throws from. Hyde needs to stop managing from a stat sheet and start managing with feel because that lineup was atrocious, and it is no wonder they didn’t score a run.
Still, a manager can only do so much. Does it matter if the lineup is bad when the some of these players are taking such bad at-bats that it could make a person physically ill? These at-bats are disgusting to watch; the Orioles had fourteen strikeouts on Sunday against a mediocre pitching staff. That is not a typo; fourteen strikeouts. Let that sink in.
There just seems to be no end in sight for the horrible trends, and all the problems with the off days and the lineups aren’t going away either. There is no doubt about it at this point: the Orioles are pulling a Tom Petty because they are “Free Fallin’.”
At this point, it doesn’t matter who pitches or how bad the lineup decisions are, because this offense can’t score. If this play continues, they don’t even deserve to make the playoffs, and this shouldn’t even be a debate. They were able to win on Tuesday night in DC, 4-3, but again struggled mightily with men on base, and managed just four runs despite 11 hits.
So what can the Orioles do about it, then? It seems like benching struggling veterans and playing young players while managing their off days is not the question. Adley needs off days, they seem to value Austin Hays’s defense over everything right now, and Hyde won’t stop playing matchups.
So there is only one solution: for the players to take better at-bats and stop striking out so much. Guys at the top of the order need to step up, especially on Adley’s notorious scheduled off days, because this can’t continue. The pitching has given them a chance most every game this year, but like last week’s article said, they can’t carry that on throughout September into October if this team wants to make the playoffs. The magic this team had throughout the summer has dried up, and all that is left is just pain and sadness and nothing else.
Look, the Orioles aren’t entirely dead yet. They have “easy” series against the Nats and Tigers coming up, but they still have to play the Blue Jays, Astros, Red Sox, and the Yankees, and that sn’t going to be easy. At this point, though, is making the playoffs even in the cards for this team? The 2022 season has given the Orioles tons of laughs and great moments, but it is time to wake up and smell the coffee; this team is done. They look checked out on offense, and the pitching can’t throw one-hit shutouts against great teams every time, so what they showed me last week is that they are toast.
Time is not of the essence either, so unless something magical happens, it isn’t happening.
