In this roller coaster called life, we learn to roll with the good times and take the bad times in stride. And you can bet that in baseball, the philosophy stays the same.
But we also learn to savor the good moments, and after the Orioles’ two-game weather-shortened “sweep” of the Tampa Bay Rays to move to 5-0 for the first time in 46 years, the O’s are flying high heading into Boston for a three-game set at Fenway. Let the good times roll!
After a decisive 6-1 win on Friday night in which the O’s tagged Rays ace Chris Archer for four home runs, followed by a washed out contest on Saturday night, the Orioles stayed perfect on Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 win.
But before the first place O’s head to Beantown for their first game and series of the 2016 campaign against the Red Sox, let’s take a look back on the impressive weekend sweep of the Rays:
– Joey Rickard continued to impress, going 3-for-7 with an RBI in his first two games against his former club. Rickard now has started the season batting a robust .444 at the dish (8-for-18) with one home run and three RBI while posting three multi-hit displays. He takes a five-game hitting streak going into Boston.
– Mark Trumbo has also wasted no time in proving his worth to the O’s faithful after posting back-to-back multi-hit outings versus Tampa Bay, and the 30-year-old now has three multi-hit performances in his first five games in the Black and Orange. Trumbo also heads to Fenway with a sparkling .474 average (9-for-19) and is tied with Manny Machado for the team lead in hits. The Californian slugger is in excellent form at the moment, and it is only a matter of time before he starts to send them over the fence.
– Manny Machado is just on fire, man. After going 5-for-8 with a double, two homers, and three RBI over the weekend (4-for-4 in Sunday’s win), the 23-year-old star takes a .429 average (9-for-21) and a five game hitting streak into the Boston series. Oh, and did I mention he’s homered in three straight games? Yeah, he’s on fire.
– Jonathan Schoop is flying under the radar due to a few of his teammates stealing the spotlight, but he also has a five-game hitting streak going and has picked up an RBI in four straight going into tomorrow night’s game.
– Where are the boo birds now? Hyun-soo Kim went 2-for-3 in his O’s debut on Sunday, and looked steady in left field. Welcome to Camden, Hyun-Soo!
– Congratulations to Pedro Alvarez, who collected his first hit as an Oriole on Sunday as well! Don’t worry everybody, this guy will assuredly hit higher than .067.
– After pitching 2.1 scoreless innings over the weekend, Brad Brach is now another bullpen arm that’s getting the job done and doing it well to kick off the season. The 29-year-old has recorded 4.1 scoreless (and hitless) innings through his first four appearances with seven Ks and a 0.69 WHIP.
– Speaking of the guys in the bullpen…did I ever mention how incredible they are? They were all locked in this weekend. On Friday night, T.J. McFarland (3.0 IP, 1 K) and Brach threw four shutout innings in relief of Chris Tillman, and then the bullpen combined to throw 4.1 innings of shutout baseball while racking up seven Ks and allowing just one hit in relief of Vance Worley on Sunday. That’s just…incredible.
– One down, one to go. J.J. Hardy returned to the lineup on Sunday after missing a game (would have missed two if they had played Saturday night) with calf tightness. Now, hopefully Adam Jones can follow suit on Monday versus the Red Sox.
That’s it for now Orioles nation, and keep pounding O’s!
