Oh hey, it’s raining today. It hasn’t done that in a while. April showers may bring May flowers, but May showers bring soggy and dreary baseball games in Baltimore, that’s for sure. It’s looking like this mess should clear out before threatening any of the O’s-A’s games this weekend, but man, some sun would sure be nice, huh?
Taking a series from the Yankees will brighten anybody’s day though, and Kevin Gausman looking like an “Ace” is icing on the cake. Let’s see what everybody is saying around the blog-O’sphere today.
How to Fix the Orioles’ Biggest Flaw
Matt Perez of Camden Depot says that, aside from Gausman and Chris Tillman, the O’s rotation is a dumpster fire. He floats the crazy idea of the Orioles going to a four-man rotation, and it’s insane and I love it. Now, this doesn’t mean that starters would only get three days of rest – Gausman and Tillman would be on a normal schedule. Everybody else would be handcuffed to another starter. I can’t imagine Buck ever going with such an unorthodox approach, but it’s a fun thought exercise.
With Rickard Struggling, It’s Time for Kim to Play
Nick Cicere of Camden Chat gives us GIFs galore of Hyun-Soo Kim’s swing, saying that he should be getting more playing time these days, now that the league seems to have figured out how to get Joey Frickin’ Rickard out. Nick posted this yesterday, just in time for Kim to start last night’s game and play a bit of the hero, singling to start the 10th inning and moving to third with some great baserunning before being pinch-ran for by Nolan Reimold, who would score the game’s only run. More Kim, please.
Gausman Looking More and More Like O’s Ace of the Future
Eddie Matz of ESPN dares speak the “a” word about Gausman after his outing last night. Gas Man went 8.0 innings, tying a career-high and becoming the first O’s starter this season to do so. It would be nice if the Birds could ever score any runs for Gausman, who has thrown three very good-to-great outings this year and has just an 0-1 record to show for it. It gets worse:
Since Aug. 17, 2014, Kevin Gausman has won just three of his last 26 starts. #Orioles
— Rich DubroffMLB (@RichDubroffMLB) May 5, 2016
Make it three of 27.
Kevin Gausman: “My Confidence is Growing”
All Kevin can do is keep going out there and tossing up zeroes. His run support luck has to turn around eventually. Steve Melewski has some post-game quotes from Gausman about using his change-ups, having fun matching Tanaka pitch-for-pitch, and becoming more confident in his abilities. Good things, good things.
Looking Back on Orioles Walk-Offs in 1966
It’s another Flashback Friday over at Roar from 34, and Matt uses the occasion of another O’s walk-off (hey, a walk-off sac fly is still a walk-off) to take a look back at the 1966 squad’s victories of that sort.
Speaking of Flashback Friday…I love Mark Trumbo now that he’s wearing black and orange (and mashing baseballs, of course), but I still have trouble seeing him and not remembering the times Jim Johnson made him look straight up silly. JJ did it twice to Trumbo back in 2013, and Facebook reminded me that the first of those instances was exactly three years ago last night:
Dirty Jim. Miss that guy.
And in Ravens News…
Tale of the Tape: Correa is a Raw Player with Upside
Kyle Casey, in his usual Tale of the Tape column, takes a look at Ravens’ second-round pick Kamalei Correa. He says that Correa could have a Paul Kruger-esque career in Baltimore, and should really come into his own in a couple years as the careers Terrell Suggs and/or Elvis Dumervil wind down.
