Well, they did it to us again. The O’s took two-of-three from the Red Sox last week and had positioned themselves nicely to make a run at the playoffs as they headed to St. Petersburg to take on the Rays in a four game series.
If the Orioles were to win three of the four games against the Rays, they were pretty much assured of heading back to Baltimore with at least a share of the lead for a Wild Card berth. But that’s not what happened.
Instead, our beloved Birds essentially played two-games-in-one en route to an 18-inning loss to Tampa Friday night. They followed that up with two lackluster performances on Saturday and Sunday to find themselves 4.5 games back with seven to play, having lost the first three games of the series.
It’s time to face the music O’s fans: the Orioles are not going to the playoffs this year. The pitching only started getting consistent in September when it was too late. The offense, a juggernaut from April-July, is flat-out tired. Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado have all played in 150+ games. By comparison, no other team in baseball has more than two players to accomplish the feat. Not to mention Matt Wieters and his .230 average has caught more innings than any man alive this season.
The bottom line is this: the O’s simply didn’t do enough in the offseason to make a legitimate run. They didn’t acquire an innings-eater for the rotation which led to a taxed bullpen, they didn’t sign a second basemen, and they didn’t find another bat for the middle of the lineup.
In-season they attempted to make moves to better the club, but by the time Norris, Feldman and K-Rod got going, it was too little, too late. Don’t even get me started on Mike Morse and Jim Johnson.
What Adam Jones and Chris Davis have done this season with all the home runs and all the run production is truly commendable, but at the end of the day, they both severely lack in plate discipline.
Davis, for all the home runs and all the doubles, has walked 68 times to go along with his 193 strikeouts. Adam Jones has walked just 24 times to go along with his 128 strikeouts.
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but a guy with 50+ home runs should probably have close to 100 walks, and a guy like Jones should probably have closer to Davis’ 68.
Having said all that, there is a silver lining to this season. The Orioles, hopefully, will look at this season as one in which they beat themselves. They led the majors in blown saves and in the season’s final two months they were absolutely abysmal with runners in scoring position.
Hopefully they go out and sign a corner outfielder to bolster the lineup, as Markakis and Nate McLouth have combined for just 21 home runs and 90 RBI; solid numbers for a corner outfielder, but not for two. In a co-op effort they couldn’t even match the offensive output of their All-Star center fielder.
Hopefully they give Chris Tillman some help in the rotation. Bud Norris is a good start, and Chen can be penciled in, but after that it’s a crapshoot. Perhaps Gausman will take the reins of a two or three starter, but they need to go out there and sign somebody like a Matt Garza.
It’s nice to see the Orioles playing winning baseball again, but I’m not using 1998-2011 as an excuse to settle anymore. This team has shown better. They’ve played better. And you can rest assured that every single player in the clubhouse expects better. They ought to.
