It was a forgettable weekend for the Birds in Toronto, as the pitching completely fell apart to the point that even 12 home runs and 24 runs from their red-hot offense couldn’t stop the Blue Jays from taking the final three games of the four-game set. The O’s now head to Boston in a tie for first place with the Red Sox.
As Buck would say, bring it on.
To the links…
O’s Must Decide on Jimenez Now
The pitching implosion in Toronto came to a head on Sunday, as Ubaldo Jimenez lasted just one-third of one inning before being yanked. Yuck. In his weekly MASN guest column, our own Andrew Stetka says that the team needs to decide what to do with Jimenez NOW, and not keep running him out there to get beat around every five days.
An Idea for the Orioles to Fix Mike Wright
While Ubaldo is the most glaring example, he’s far from the only O’s starter to be struggling lately. Mike Wright also falls into that category. On Saturday, barely half of his 100+ pitches went for strikes. Alex Conway of Camden Chat has an idea on how to “fix” Wright, though in this case “fixing” him means sending him the way of Brian Matusz, Tommy Hunter, and Zach Britton – all failed O’s starters turned effective relievers – before him. Become a sinker/slider guy, and head to the bullpen, says Conway, and Wright could be effective.
Hardy Getting Close, Bundy’s Bullpen Role, & More
MASN’s Steve Melewski says that, per Buck, J.J. Hardy could be heading out on a rehab assignment soon, so his return to the team is imminent. In other news, Buck further clarifies what Dylan Bundy’s bullpen role will be going forward. Bundy was one of the few pitchers to do his job effectively this weekend, pitching several scoreless frames in the O’s only win of the series on Thursday night.
How Often Do the Orioles Score 9 Runs and Lose?
Well, there’s a depressing question, but one worth asking after the Birds put up a nine-spot on Sunday, only to fall 10-9 to the Jays. Matt Taylor of Roar from 34 answers it for us. In short: not often!
Time to Cut Ties with McFarland
One of the main culprits this weekend was T.J. McFarland. T.J. gave up five runs, all earned, in just 2.0 innings on Saturday, a game the O’s ended up losing by – you guessed it – five runs. Dan Clark of The Big Leagues daily says that it’s time to part ways with the 2013 Rule 5 pick.
And in Ravens news…
As if the O’s losing three games wasn’t bad enough, Baltimore football fans got some bad news this weekend as well, as Breshad Perriman looks to yet again be lost for the season before playing a single snap. Reading fans’ reactions to the news is almost as tough as reading the news itself, as folks seem to think the WR WANTS to be injured and off the field. RSR Editor-in-Chief Tony Lombardi collected some of these responses, and tries to provide some perspective.
Chris Moore Can Ease Perriman Loss
The bad news, is, of course, that Perriman is out. The good news is that the Ravens may have planned for this a bit when they drafted Chris Moore out of Cincinnati in the fourth round. Kyle Casey digs up some GIFs of Moore’s college play and says that he could help fill the void left by Perriman.
