I’ll say this for the Baltimore Orioles: they may not make it easy all the time, but they seem to often find ways to win.
They come home from an impressive 7-4 road trip (including taking three of four in both Oakland and Anaheim) to face a surprising Kansas City Royals team, and they proceed to take the first two of the three game set.
They were fortunate to avoid James Shields in the series but you have to win the games in front of you. They have gotten good pitching performances from both Wei-Yin Chen and Chris Tillman the past two nights. Neither was dominant but they were good enough to keep the O’s in the game and let the bats win it for them.
So far this season the bats have been good enough to win. Chris Davis has cooled down a little bit, but JJ Hardy has heated up, going 7-18 with three home runs and five RBI in his last five games.
Yes there’s a black hole currently residing at second base, and Brian Roberts may never be coming back.
However, the fact is, even with this situation, the Orioles are currently 21-13 which ties them for first place in the AL East and for best record in the American League.
Only the St. Louis Cardinals have a better record in all of baseball at 21-12.
The Orioles go for the sweep tonight against old friend Jeremy Guthrie, who has pitched really well of late. Even without sweep it’s still another series victory. You keep winning series and your winning percentage rises.
The O’s are proving that 2012 wasn’t a fluke.
Baseball in Charm City is once again relevant!!
One Response
Ken,
What’s interesting about the O’s is how they’re still somewhat under the radar. There’s lots of buzz about the Red Sox (well deserved this season so far with their roster problems) and the usual Yankees talk (again, they deserve it given their circumstances starting the season with the injuries they have had). And really throughout MLB there’s been attention elsewhere as the Orioles continue to thrive. I like that.
Without a lot of hype the team performs at a high level with a wide range of players stepping up and being instrumental in a win. I also think the “sleeper story” of the 2013 season is Manny Machado.
So let the focus continue outside of Baltimore Baseball for the time being. The pressure’s not as intense, the players are having fun and certainly Buck and the coaches are ecstatic. Hopefully, by the time the ESPN’s and Fox Sports’, etc. really discover this team we’ll be in the playoffs!