“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” ~ Exodus 20:8-11
The O’s must be strict on maintaining their religious duties to keep the holiness of the Sabbath, because so far this season the Birds have not done any work on Sundays.
The last time the Orioles won on Sunday was the first week of the 2014 season against the Detroit Tigers; they won 3-1, defeating Justin Verlander in Comerica Park in a game where Chris Tillman twirled an 8.1 inning gem.
Since then, the O’s have lost six straight games on Sundays, in which they have been outscored 44-21 The way the O’s have played on Sundays makes for a miserable conclusion to weekend, on top of the next day being Monday (ugh!).
The Sabbath is declared a day of rest and the Orioles offense – which many thought could carry this team – has decided they are going to take the day off as well. On Sundays, the Birds are batting .247, and have left a total of 53 runners on base (avg 7.6 LOB/game). With runners in scoring position, batters have hit a measly 13-52 for a combined batting average of .250.
The lackluster performance with the sticks has thus put the pressure on the Orioles starters and pitching staff to be lights-out – an adjective not used too often to describe the O’s hurlers.
In the seven games played so far on Sundays, O’s starters have failed to reach the 6th inning in five – averaging 5.2IP with a 5.22 ERA collectively. Take out Tilly’s gem on April 6th – leaving the six straight losing Sundays – and the O’s starters have averaged under 5.1 IP with a combined ERA of 6.32.
Not exactly “lights-out.”
The Orioles’ poor performance on Sundays extends past the fact it is on the last day of week, but also to the fact that Sunday games are usually day games. This year the Orioles are 5-11 in day games, compared to 17-9 in night games.
In day games, the Birds offense is floating right about in the middle of the pack in runs scored (65), as well as their slash line .252/.301/.366, but the pitching on the other hand…ew.
Dead last.
That’s where the O’s pitching staff is ranked in the MLB, with a 5.65 ERA during day games and opponents are hitting a Major League leading .304. No other team has an ERA north of 5.00 in day games other than the Orioles, nor is any other team’s pitching staff allowing hitters to stroke over .300 against them. With these types of numbers it is a wonder that the Orioles have even won five of the 16 day games they have played.
In night games, Orioles pitchers have the third lowest ERA at 3.03, holding opposing batters to a .240 BA.
Unfortunately for the Birds, the baseball season doesn’t stop on Sundays, or only start when the sun goes down. Maybe the O’s need to send up a prayer on Sundays with the way they are playing, and I imagine it would kinda go like this:
Adam Jones: “Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit slider low and away. Straightball, I hit it very much. Slider, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him bubblegum. He will come.”
Buck Showalter: “You know you might think about taking Jesus Christ as your savior instead of fooling around with all this stuff.”
Adam Jones: “Jesus, I like him very much, but he no help with slider low and away.”
Buck Showalter: “You trying to say Jesus Christ can’t hit a slider?”
[youtube]http://youtu.be/gndH9mhHPk0[/youtube]
Note: credit for “Major League” reference to Orioles Uncensored
