GulfBird Sports/Craig Landefeld
The Birds followed up their four-game sweep over Oakland with a disappointing loss in the first of two against the New York Mets, in front of what sounded like more Mets fans than Birds fans at the Yard. Jonathan Schoop had a night to forget, with two errors, another misplay, and a hitless night at the dish to greatly “contribute” to the team’s loss. His play was certainly disappointing, but the amount of venom that’s being spewed Schoop’s way ’round these here interwebs is even more so.
Come on, guys: Schoop is one of the better young second basemen in the game, had one error ALL YEAR before last night, and has raised his batting average and OBP nearly 100 points, and his slugging more than 150 points, over last season. We all have bad days. Jonny Beisbol will be just fine.
Off the soapbox & onto the links:
Chris Davis’ Incredible Feat of Strength
Like the rest of us, Craig Edwards of FanGraphs was impressed with Crush’s walk-off home run on Saturday night, on a swing that looked strong enough to produce nothing more than a weak grounder. As we know in Birdland though, when Crush hits the ball, good things are probably going to happen. Edwards dives into just how rare it is for a player to hit THAT PITCH for a dinger. Cool stuff.
Also, this:
Chris Davis 9th inning HR last night was the lowest most outside pitch a lefty has ever homered on in PITCHfx era… http://t.co/oVOHLncEdb
— Daren Willman (@darenw) August 16, 2015
The Orioles’ Left Field Woes Continue
Steve Damerell of Camden Chat says that even after acquiring Gerardo Parra & jettisoning Travis Snider & David Lough, the combination of Henry Urrutia, Junior Lake, & Nolan Reimold is still giving the Birds little to nothing out in left field. That’ll almost certainly have to change for this team to get where they’re going. You all know my solution – stick #REIMTIME out there and stop making him worry about being benched for going 0-for-4, and he’ll be just fine. Of course, nobody is asking lil’ ol’ me.
Bird’s Eye View Episode 125: Never Tell Me the Odds
Jake & Scott are back with another episode of Bird’s Eye View, in which they discuss the Orioles’ playoff “odds,” the roller coaster that has been the 2015 O’s season, and of course play fantasy boss (go Jake!) & blow the save. Always worth your listen.
Section 336 Daily – Good, Mediocre, & Bad
Here’s some more great Birds listening for those of you with a shorter attention span – Bert’s 3:36 Daily is Wednesday this week, & the big show will come out tomorrow. For now, get Zany with Bert & hear about the Orioles’ struggles against both mediocre AND good teams, and how the rest of the schedule is quite scary in light of those struggles.
Calvin Pickering Settles in as Hitting Coach, Mets Own O’s
Remember Calvin Pickering? In case you didn’t realize, he’s still with the organization, as the hitting coach for Aberdeen. Steve Melewski has an interesting interview with the former O’s prospect, as well as some very depressing stats about the Orioles’ recent record against tonight’s opponent, the New York Mets.
