Well, Birdland, it was another disappointing series. The Orioles had to stave off another sweep Sunday with a win against the Padres, and while they still have a lead on the Yankees, how much longer can we champion that? The team’s struggles remain evident (they nearly blew ANOTHER 6-0 lead) and the vibes of everyone including the players, coaches, and fans, remain way off.
It’s hard to watch a team that should be better struggling like this, and even harder without knowing the actual cause of what is going on. What makes this all the more frustrating is that it seemed like the team was turning over a new leaf after the break, winning the first two in Texas. Then they go and lose the first two of consecutive series against Miami and SD, and in their lone wins in those series watch huge leads totally or nearly evaporate.
Friday night should have been the most straightforward win in the books. You have a packed house with the news of two new trades coming in. The vibes could not have been higher, yet they managed to screw it all up. That game broke my spirit so much that I had a moment where, for the first time, I questioned if this team has an “It” factor.
Look, struggles happen, and bad months happen. They even happen to be World Series winners (the Texas Rangers had an 11-13 record in July of last year), but as fans, we can’t look at this stretch of play and not be worried about this team.
The trade deadline has already given us some new faces and roles, but there is a deeper issue right now.
This team has three things right now holding them back from getting back into this World Series-caliber team that is in there somewhere.
1. Offense
2. Mental Errors
3. Managerial Decisions
These are the three factors right now that are holding the team back. The San Diego series highlighted each pretty well.
If this team wants to make a series push these three things need to improve.
Let’s start with talking about this offense. Oh man, this Offense. In April, I wrote an article going over the season’s first month. In that piece, I gave the Orioles a B on offense because of their inconsistencies. They could have a couple of games in a row of hitting many home runs but could also be susceptible to slumps. Now, those games with multiple home runs and scoring tons of runs are few and far between.
The issue is that they rely on the home run ball to score. Brandon Hyde did change up the lineup to some pretty good results on Sunday, so maybe he unlocked something because they scored eight runs without hitting a single dinger. This needs to continue if this team will level up to that true World Series contender.
Another thing is that they need to get better with runners in scoring position. Again, on Sunday, they did well here, but must continue this trend. An example of them not scoring at pivotal times was on Friday. Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman walked in the first inning, so what do the three and four hitters do? Pop out and ground into a double play in four pitches. This isn’t a rare occurrence either. That caused a snowball effect because the Padres had rested their bullpen, allowing them to not use Mazur for a full start. If Ryan O’Hearn or Anthony Santander gets a hit there, that changes the series’ dynamic. This doesn’t excuse not getting any more runs and waiting until the eighth inning to score again, but like with this team right now, it is not one problem but a bundle of issues that snowball into losses.
Let’s discuss the second issue, the hardest to talk about: mental errors. Some players make constant mental errors that are starting to add up. As much as this one hurts, right now the main culprit is Gunnar Henderson. He has made five errors in his last four games. He is just in the worst rut right now, and I have a theory as to why. For one, he didn’t get a full break because he did the Home Run Derby and played in the All-Star game. This could mean he is tried, and as such a fierce competitor he won’t admit that to himself. I also think his throwing motion is messed up. I am just speculating, but when Gunnar throws, he doesn’t set his feet; he throws on the run in a sidearm motion that I think is throwing off his accuracy. He needs to get his throws straightened out, immediately.
Another player making mental blunders is Ramon Urias. Saturday’s game was perhaps the worst defensive performance at third by an Oriole in a long time, with Ramon costing his team multiple runs. He had a ridiculous miscommunication with Gunnar that allowed two runs to score on a routine pop-up with two outs. Yes, was his fault. Get out of the way, dude; why are you trying to catch it when Gunnar calls you off? Then he muffed a grounder that was ruled a double. That right there was like four runs. I never thought it was possible to be a worse defensive infielder than Rio Ruiz, but Ramon managed to do it. How this dude got a Gold Glove is beyond me at this point, but I think that is the only reason he is still here.
Teams go through offensive ruts, but the mental errors need to cease.
Lastly, I want to touch on Brandon Hyde. I wrote an article back in 2022 discussing how I felt about him.
Last year, I did back off a bit on the Hyde criticism, but this year, he has regressed to his lousy self from 2022. The way he managed Friday night was a disgrace. To spark the offense late, he pinch-hit Cedric Mullins for Connor Norby. It failed miserably, but doesn’t even compare to the ninth-inning management. He brought Craig Kimbrel, who has been awful since July 14th, into a tie game after he threw a ton of pitches on Thursday, and he blew it.
It’s not just that Kimbrel stinks (because he does); the way Hyde manages this game is beyond stupid. With first base open, he opted to not intentionally walk Jurickson Profar, an All-Star who’s been clutch all season and who already had a two-run HR earlier that night. In high-leverage situations, Profar is basically Barry Bonds. We all know that. Why doesn’t the manager?
So, of course, he hit a back-breaking home run. Why didn’t Hyde walk Profar?
This is something Baltimore’s skipper does time and time again. Even with first base open, he opts to challenge the opponent’s best hitters, often with disastrous and predictable results. He did the same thing with both Jazz Chisolm and Josh Bell in Miami the previous series.
Hyde continues to telegraph his intentions, and other managers take advantage. Think back to Bruce Bochy running circles around him last October. It seems pretty fair to guess that Brandon Hyde isn’t much of a poker player in his spare time.
You can like Hyde as a person, but if you aren’t questioning whether or not he is the manager who will lead us to the promised land, you have blinders on.
Luckily, we have two things going for us right now. This month doesn’t define this team, and Mike Elias seems to be all in. Multiple reports have said that the Orioles are nowhere near done. They want another reliever, preferably left-handed, another right-handed bat who plays the outfield, and another starter. Elias looks like he has the go-ahead from ownership to get smart and go all in. Maybe by the time you read this article, a big move will already have been made.
This team is awful right now, and the Orioles are crying for help, but these issues aren’t un-fixable. We need a reasonable deadline with multiple pieces and to eliminate dead weight, like Urias.
This stinks now, but this might make the team better in the long run. One of the issues from last year is that they went through no adversity until the postseason. Let’s hope they can make lemonade out of these lemons. Right now, everything is just very sour.
