The Orioles return to play in front of their home crowd for the first time since Sunday, April 26th, tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays. Hopefully, this is the much needed jolt to a team that has appeared in a daze for the better part of a week. Base running mistakes along with fielding miscues have been commonplace for most of the season which is very uncharacteristic of a Buck Showalter led team. I keep waiting for it to end, but then Jimmy Paredes gets picked off first base and Delmon Young throws to the wrong base along with overthrowing his cutoff man. Until these mistakes stop, the Orioles will continue to struggle.

REOPENING DAY

I will be making my way to the ballpark this evening and I hope the recent “ReOpening Day” push will work. Monday nights are usually not a good attendance night, but maybe the team being away for so long will make more people want to attend the game tonight. As I mentioned earlier, this team seems to be sleepwalking recently and any outside help they can get from the fans will be a huge boost as they currently sit at the bottom of the A.L. East standings.

GAUSMAN DEALING WITH SHOULDER TENDINITIS

I can go on for days how I think the organization has botched the development of Kevin Gausman, but the bigger priority is finding out after his MRI on Tuesday that he will not be out for too long. It appears whenever Gausman returns, he will be used as a starter in Triple-A. This is music to my ears as I believe this is best for his future. Gausman will need some time to build his arm strength back up, but if he is only going to hit the 15-day disabled list, it shouldn’t be long until he is ready to make an impact as a starter in Baltimore.

BUNDY’S VELOCITY RETURNING

It has been a long road for Dylan Bundy recovering from Tommy John surgery. The velocity hasn’t returned as quickly as many would have hoped and his upper 90’s fastball is the reason he was a top prospect in baseball a couple years ago. In his start on Sunday, Bundy was consistently 94-95 and touched the upper 90s during his three-inning outing. Bundy could be a boost to the bullpen later this season if he continues to see the progression of arm strength. I always heard from a couple of scouts that he is using his cutter again, his best pitch, and one you’ll remember that the organization wanted him to avoid throwing after he was first drafted.