The Birds came home with a 3-3 road trip but the last game – a 3-0 loss on Sunday Night Baseball – was nothing short of disappointment on a national stage. It was a game they wish they had back. I liked the comments from players and coaches that indicated that this will not happen very often.
What just happened:
A 3-3 road trip is nothing to sneer at, though many will, simply because it was the Yankees that got the better of the O’s.
Hiroki Kuroda was outstanding and I tip my cap to him. That being said, he did have a strike zone the size of Texas. Wei-Yin Chen, on the other hand seemed to be pitching to a postage stamp. It happens, but Chen did what he does and shouldn’t be blamed for the loss. Kuroda seemed to be throwing an 89-mph knuckleball and had the line up completely befuddled.
What to expect:
There will a lot of regrouping, extended BP’s as well as advanced scouting and game film exploration. Buck will right the ship and it would behoove the team to take advantage of the day off. Tampa is first on the hit list reeling after getting swept in Boston and will be like a dog backed in a corner.
Tampa is not a rival; they are a nemesis. They have played basically .500 ball with Baltimore since their inception. A thorn in our side, the Rays play with an integrity I have grown to respect. They play the game the way we in here I Baltimore want our team to play.
After that will be the Dodgers and their bloated payroll. There are a lot of even comparisons to make between their club and ours as far as record and division – they have a winning record (7-6) and sit fourth in the AL West; we are 6-6 in third place.
Theirs is a very tough division, and the residence of the 2012 World Series champs, the San Francisco Giants. LA cannot be taken lightly, as they will need every win to stay in competition just as we do. Though they’ve only been in Baltimore once since the 1966 World Series (a three-game set in 2002), that line up will have no trouble in a hitter’s ballpark. It should not an impossibility to keep them at bay, if our starters can get deeper into innings.
The pitching is good but not what we expect after what we saw to close out 2012. I for one have faith in the determination of the starters, who will begin to gut out these innings and throw strikes. It can’t continue this way if they expect to remain in the running come June. Someone has to start pitching into the late innings consistently.
As far as the ‘pen, I was impressed with T.J. McFarland, who came out of the pen Sunday night to throw two innings of one-hit ball, adding three K’s. It was a noble effort in a tough loss. Matusz and O’Day have lived up to last year’s numbers and possibly gotten even stronger. Patton and Strop are holding their own with room to improve, while Hunter seems to be struggling.
At this point in the season we have a .500 record and are only two games back in the division that is – from my best interpretation – wide open with possibilities. When Toronto gets here next week, the race will come into better focus and we will have a better understanding of what the rest of the summer will bring us, the fans. We will have faced the entire division at least once and will head into games outside our division. Those games will become increasingly more important – the games we can’t afford to let get away or out of hand.
Winning series is the name of the game.
Comparisons to last year can be made but it is still too early to judge which direction this team can or will go. Lots of complainers will tear them apart about the way Buck has managed the rotation and lineup.
Much will be talked about on a national stage about where we stand in our division and the rest of the league.
The Birds will take it in stride and continue to believe in themselves. This is what Buck preaches and what the true fans will flock to The Yard to see.
A winning home stand right now will instill a lot of confidence in everyone as we go forth. Go O’s.
