The Birds gave us a long overdue dose of Orioles Magic on Thursday night in Tampa, scoring four straight runs with two outs in the 8th inning to erase a 3-0 deficit and turn it into a 4-3 win. They’ve won seven of their last nine to scratch back to within 4.5 games of the second Wild Card. While they still need to go on a ridiculous tear to close out the year, AND get plenty of help, it’s still great to see that they haven’t quit and completely gone in the tank, as we all feared they would a few weeks ago.
Let’s see what everyone is saying about the O’s.
What the Baltimore Bullpen Can Teach Us About Arm Action
Don’t let the title of this post turn you off – this is an extremely cool article from Eno Sarris of FanGraphs, in which he explores the way Zach Britton, Darren O’Day, and Mychal Givens have each found themselves with a pitch of their own, unique in Major League Baseball. Come for the slow-mo video of O’Day pitching (OUCH!), stay for plenty of great data you didn’t know about.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/XJDwpXClOL4[/youtube]
Will the O’s Change Existing Perceptions This Winter?
Chris Stoner of Baltimore Sports & Life plays a game of “How Confident Am I?” on a laundry list of O’s topics, including: Will they re-sign Chris Davis and/or Wei-Yin Chen? If they don’t, will they get anybody (good) to replace them? Will Dan Duquette stick around? And more. While I disagree with his confidence level on many of the topics, it’s sure to be an interesting offseason in Birdland.
Five Free Agents That Would Fit the Duquette Philosophy
I’d argue that it’s not so much the “Duquette Philosphy” as the “Orioles’ Philosophy as Applied by Duquette,” but that’s neither here nor there. The fact is that the Orioles aren’t going to make a push for Zach Greinke, or David Price, or Jason Heyward, or any other huge FAs this winter. So, who could they go after? Nick Cicere of Camden Chat has five options, none of whom will have you dreaming of buying a shiny new orange jersey with that player’s name on the back.
Velocity Lost: Mike Wright’s September Fastball
The other day, we talked about Mike Wright’s frustrations, and how it’s tough to watch the kid struggle so badly in his latest stint at the MLB level. Jon Shepherd of Camden Depot looks at Wright’s velocity back in May compared to his velocity now, and finds a few reasons that he may not be as effective as he was back then, including a new mix of pitches in addition to a drop in velocity.
If the Orioles Make a Run, Here’s How They’ll Do It
It’s Friday. The weekend is nearly here. The sun is shining, and has been all week (in Baltimore, anyway). We’re all in a pretty upbeat mood, so let’s end these links with some orange kool-aid and go into the weekend with positive vibes. Mike Long of Baltimore Sports Report wrote this piece a couple days ago, but the O’s have closed their gap on the second Wild Card from 5.5 to 4.5 since then, so it still works.
Happy weekend, Birdland, and here’s to a few more wins in Tampa.
