The O’s Early “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2014

After watching the Orioles go 3-for-12 with RISP Thursday night and leave 11 men on base, it is safe to say one thing about this team: they are incredibly frustrating to watch.

Whether it’s Buck leaving a pitcher in too long, Adam Jones swinging at sliders in the dirt and then scolding pundits (fans and analysts alike) who criticize him for it, or the seemingly team-wide unwilliningness to take a walk (aside from Nelson Cruz, Steve Pearce, and Chris Davis), this team is enough to cause baldness, either from the hair falling out by itself or us ripping it out. So what are some of the problems facing the Orioles this season?

Problem

The Orioles do not get on base enough. Their 105 walks ranks dead last in all of baseball and the team OBP of .313 ranks 12th in the American League. Only six of 16 position players to take the field for the Orioles this season have registered an OBP above .307.

It is because of this that, even though the team leads the AL with a .285 BA with RISP, they are just 9th in the AL in runs scored. When a team has power up and down the lineup like the Orioles do, the batters MUST make the opposing pitcher throw them strikes. In other words, quit going up the plate hacking at everything, show some patience, and take some walks. It is only going to make the ballclub better.

Silver Lining

The Orioles have only struck out as a team 326 times, good for fourth fewest in the majors. They have recorded 12 or more hits in four consecutive games, a feat they had not achieved since April 2007. In those four games, the Orioles have scored a total of 30 runs.

After ranking 25th in the majors with 16 home runs in the month of April, the Orioles are tied for second in the majors with 26 home runs for the month of May. Looks like as the weather warms, so do the Orioles bats.

After walking just 94 times in the teams first 43 games, the Birds have drawn 11 walks the last two games.

Problem

In 2013, the Orioles scored in an inning and allowed the opposition to score in their next at-bat 110 times. That is not a misprint. It happened 110 times in 162 games. In 2014, it has happened 25 times in 45 games. This is a problem.

Of those 25 times this season, the opposition has either:

a.) scored after the Orioles tied the game or took the lead;

b.) scored after the Orioles got within two runs or less;

c.) scored to get within two runs or less; or

d.) scored to tie the game or take the lead,

a total of 14 times, including four times in the last two games.

No, folks, this is not a formula for winning baseball games. The fact is this: the O’s have scored 30 runs in their last four games and have won just one of those games. A team that had an ERA of 3.02 for the month of May heading into last Sunday has an ERA of 5.92 over the last four games (starters: 8.68), allowing eight runs or more in three of those four games.

Silver Lining

The Orioles committed the treasonous act of surrendering runs immediately after scoring a staggering 36 times in the teams’ first 45 games in 2013, so they are on a far better pace this season. So, there’s that.

Problem

After winning 93 games in 2012 to make the playoffs (including 48 of 77 games in the second half), the Orioles have failed to make a serious push since. While they were in the Wild Card hunt until late September in 2013, they never went on run to solidify a playoff spot, even though they had, on paper, a better team than the one that took the Yankees to five games in the ALDS the year before. Let’s look a little closer.

In 2012, the Orioles had five five-game winning streaks and one six-game winning streak. In 2013, they had one five-game winning streak, which was the longest of the season. After winning that fifth game, they promptly lost five of their next six games.

In 2014, the Orioles have one five-game winning streak, also the longest of the season. After winning the fifth game, they promptly lost four in a row. They have two three-game winning streaks. Losing three of four games followed up the first, and the second was followed by two straight losses. The five-game winning streak had the team in first place at 20-14. They have since lost eight of 11 games to fall to 23-22, good for third place in the division.

Since the start of last May, they’re 92-88, a very mediocre .511 winning percentage.

Silver Lining

The 1973 and 1974 Orioles were 23-22 and 22-23 through 45 games. Both teams made the playoffs. Unfortunately, those were the only two seasons of Baltimore’s 11 playoff seasons in which the Orioles had the same record or worse through 45 games as they do in 2014, so take from it what you will. Just know there is still hope.

Final Thoughts

The Orioles have been wildly inconsistent through the first quarter of the season. Luckily, so has the rest of the AL East, so the Orioles are just 1.5 games back of first place. Hell, the two teams that represented the AL East in the playoffs in 2013 (BOS & TB) are a combined 14 games below .500 rights now. This team is better than both the 2012 and 2013 versions, they just haven’t jelled yet. Keep in mind that the projected lineup in spring training has yet to play one game together, as Manny Machado returned just in time to see Chris Davis go on the DL, who then returned just in time to see Matt Wieters go on the DL. Nobody knows if Wieters will play again this season, but if he does, this team could really take off when he is fully healthy.

Or they could plummet into the side of mountain, leaving no survivors. Who knows?

So goes the season for the Baltimore Orioles.