Here’s the good news: the Baltimore Orioles took three of four from the Oakland Athletics in their house to start an 11-game road trip.
The bad news is they could’ve and should’ve had the sweep.
Yesterday afternoon the O’s jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Miguel Gonzalez was rolling through five innings. Looked like this game was in the bag.
Then Gonzalez fell apart, giving up four in the sixth.
The bullpen was shaky at best, with Troy Patton and Brian Matusz each giving up a two-run home run and Pedro Strop being, well….Pedro Strop.
He got the loss Sunday, but he may have lost this game on Saturday. Strop came in on Saturday with a four-run lead to finish things off.
Instead, he promptly hit a guy and walked a guy so Buck Showalter had to bring Jim Johnson in to close things out. If Strop does his job on Saturday, Johnson is available to pitch the ninth yesterday.
Strop is a tough case for the Birds moving forward. He’s out of options so you can’t send him down, but right now, you can’t pitch him either.
I’m reluctant to cut him because he is so talented, but he’s killing our bullpen right now. The Orioles may have to make a tough decision and designate him for assignment.
One Response
Put him on the DL, something is wrong with his head.