After a magical Opening Day, where the Magic was on full display, Birdland was ready for a weekend of fun, dongs, solid starts, and shutdown bullpen innings. Alas, that was not to be. Minnesota took the final two games of the series – in distressingly dominant fashion – as the O’s bats were completely MIA, and Andrew Cashner’s egg Saturday night pale in comparison to the one Kevin Gausman poetically laid on Easter Sunday.
The Birds now head to Houston and New York, so they’d better find their offense in a hurry or this thing could get ugly quick.
Welcome back, baseball
To the links…
One series down, and these orioles have struggled in the same way as 2017
It all looked distressingly familiar, didn’t it? Crappy starts, the entire team slumping at the same time…Dan Connolly has more details, if you can stomach them.
If Cashner’s Slider is Back, Expect More Strikeouts
Before his start on Saturday, we got some optimistic words about Andrew Cashner from Matt Kremnitzer of Camden Depot. Cashner DID have five K’s, so that was nice. The home runs kinda put a damper on them, of course.
Twins Look Silly for Taking Offense After Catcher’s Bunt
Judd Zulgrad of ESPN 1500 takes the Twins to task for their ridiculous whining over Chance Sisco’s bunt in the ninth inning yesterday. As if unwritten rules weren’t bad enough, now we apparently have to deal with unwritten rules that teams MAKE UP ON THE SPOT. Seriously, who has ever heard of “you can’t bunt against the shift in the ninth inning when you’re down a bunch of runs?” If you want to play that game, how about DON’T SHIFT IN THE NINTH WHEN YOU’RE UP A BUNCH? When did the Twins turn into the Red Sox? Just awful. Fans don’t care about this crap. If he really wants younger fans to embrace the game, Rob Manfra should work to abolish all unwritten rules during his tenure.
Showalter Speaks After 7-0 Loss
Roch has quotes from Buck on the stagnant offense, Davis as a leadoff hitter, Gausman’s concerning velocity, and more.
How Orioles Could Extend Recent Positivity
Think Andrew wrote this one before Sunday? But seriously, let’s end on a high note. The Birds have pleasantly surprised us in many respects recently, from the Kids Cheer Free initiative, to lowering concession prices, to signing Alex Cobb. There’s one thing they could do to really put a cherry on top.
That’s all the Bird talk I can stomach today. Here’s to finding the bats on the plane.
