REALITY: Going into Sunday, Orioles pitching had given up the most base on balls in Major League Baseball.
PERCEPTION: That simply won’t cut it. The actual walk may not hurt you, but it’s what happens after the walk. Saturday’s game against the Red Sox was nearly lost because of what happened after the walks. As we know, that certainly would not be the first time walks have hurt the Birds this year.
REALITY: Going into Sunday, the Orioles have given up the most Earned Runs in baseball.
PERCEPTION: Simply put, walks lead to Earned Runs. It’s been happened for as long as baseball has been around. It just hasn’t killed the Orioles as much until this season, with their struggling pitching.
The O’s have also given up a total of 95 total runs, which is 2nd in baseball.
REALITY: Going into Sunday, the Orioles were 10th in baseball in Errors.
PERCEPTION: The Orioles had 13 errors in 18 games, two above the league average. The O’s are 22nd in Fielding Percentage… the lowest I’ve seen in quite some time. That is a far cry from the 2013 team which holds the MLB record for team fielding percentage in a season, with .99104.
REALITY: Going into Sunday, the Orioles had scored 86 runs, which is 6th in baseball.
PERCEPTION: The Orioles offense has struggled in some situations (like earlier in the year when they couldn’t hit at all with the bases loaded), but they continue to score runs. Plus, they lead the league in Home Runs.
REALITY: The AL East has five team that are all right around .500 and within a couple of games of each other.
PERCEPTION: At 9-10 on the year, Orioles fans have some reason to be optimistic.
The offensive numbers continue to show that the Orioles pitching and defense has killed this team. The defense should improve. For a team that has been so good at the fundamentals over the last few years under Buck Showalter, you have to believe this team stops making boneheaded mistakes.
So that leaves pitching. We know the Birds will score runs, as they have been doing. So it’s up to the pitching to keep them in ball games. If the starters and bullpen can pull their weight, so the team can take 2-of-3 in each series, then the Orioles will right the ship and finish this year on top of the division again.
As a fan, when you take a step back and look at all that has gone wrong in the first 19 games of the year and realize that the O’s are only two games out of first place at the end of April, you should be encouraged to think that, after enduring some downs, the O’s are due for some ups, during the ups and downs of a long season.
