O’bservations at the end of June

The month of June saw the Baltimore Orioles go 16-12, putting them at a season-high 11 games above .500 at 47-36, good for second place in the AL East, 2.5 games back of the Boston Red Sox. The Birds ended the month with four straight wins, including a sweep of the hated New York Yankees. Here’s how the month shook out.

Offensively Speaking

The Orioles averaged 4.64 runs/game in June, their lowest output for any month this season. As a team the O’s walked just 50 times but they did hit 37 of their league-leading 115 home runs.

Chris Davis led the way with 12 home runs and 30 RBI, giving him 31 and 80 for the season. Davis became the first player since Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 to hit 30 or more home runs by the All-Star break and just the third player in ML history with 25+ home runs and 25+ doubles by the All-Star break.

Manny Machado also helped pace the offense in June, hitting .303 while smacking 13 of his league-leading 38 doubles. It was the third straight month to begin the season that saw Machado record 11+ doubles while hitting over .300. He will turn 21 on Saturday.

Defensive Minded

The Orioles have committed the fewest errors in the majors this year, committing just 26 defensive miscues for the season. Nick Markakis and Nate McLouth have yet to commit a fielding error, leading their respective positions.

Manny Machado and Chris Davis have put a padlock on the infield corners as Machado ranks first in the American League with a .980 fielding percentage at third base and Davis ranks second the AL with a .996 fielding percentage at first.

Matt Wieters has committed just three errors all season and is second only to Russell Martin in the majors in caught-steal percentage. His .994 fielding percentage ranks third in the AL.

For the month of June, the Orioles committed just seven errors as a team.

Pitching Woes

The Orioles team ERA for June was 4.40 – 27^th out of 30 teams in baseball. Chris Tillman went 6-0 with a 2.68 ERA in the month while Miguel Gonzalez went 4-1 with a 2.88 ERA. After that, the pitching is all downhill.

Starters Jason Hammel, Kevin Gausman and Freddy Garcia were downright awful for the month, though Hammel’s stat-line is a bit deceiving, but we’ll get to that later.

In June, Hammel pitched to the tune of a 5.34 ERA while allowing eight home runs – as many as he allowed in April and May combined. Gausman’s ERA for June was 4.50 in three starts while Garcia was atrocious in recording a 10.19 ERA for the month while allowing nine homers.

The bullpen has been terrible since the middle of May, which is in part because of the struggles of the rotation. No really getting around it. While Jim Johnson pitched to a 2.08 ERA in June while recording 11 saves, he just doesn’t seem to have the same feel for his pitches as he did last year.

What it all means

I’ve been saying it all year: the Orioles would be the best team in baseball if they could find any consistency in their starting rotation. The good news is that Wei-Yin Chen should be back in time to make at least two, if not three, starts before the break. Either Britton or Gausman, depending on the day and Buck’s mood, has replaced Garcia. Tillman and Gonzalez have been nails for the team and Hammel actually seems to be turning it around.

In four of his last seven starts Hammel has gone six innings or more while giving up two runs or less. In another start, he entered the seventh inning having allowed just two runs before Pedro Strop came in and blew the game, adding another two runs to Hammel’s stat line.

Since May 22^nd, Hammel has made seven starts. If you throw out his abbreviated start against the Tigers when he was ejected, his ERA over that period is 3.57.

I was saying just before the Yankees series that the O’s were about to make a run because their starting pitching is about to turn the corner. Then Gausman (in relief) threw 4.1 scoreless innings on Friday, Britton went six innings allowing just one run on Saturday, and Tillman went six innings allowing just two runs on Sunday.

The O’s travel to Chicago to take on a struggling White Sox team in a three-game series that starts Tuesday and then to New York for another three-game affair with the Yankees.

Bold Prediction

The Orioles have won at least 15 games in each month this season, posting three straight winning months to start the year. Since last June, the Birds have the most wins and the highest winning percentage in Major League Baseball.

Having said that, this team, despite its current winning record, has yet to take off this season. I am predicting that July will be a huge month and by August 1^st the O’s will sit alone atop the AL East. You heard it here first.