After a weekend that saw the Orioles lose two of three to the Oakland A’s and have their star third baseman, Manny Machado, act immature on multiple occasions, the team is coming up on a crucial two-week stretch in their schedule.
The schedule hasn’t been kind to the Orioles all season long and it doesn’t get any easier with the next 13 games coming against the American League East. We will find out over these next two weeks how fun this summer will be in Birdland.
In order for it to be another summer to remember, the O’s have to find a way to get Chris Tillman and Ubaldo Jimenez pitching effectively. With the money invested in Jimenez and Tillman being a huge part of the future of the organization, the team is “stuck” with these two guys going out every 5th day and making their turn in the rotation.
I was not high on the Jimenez signing from the start, but I didn’t think he would be this bad. It is very difficult to sit and watch a baseball game that Jimenez is starting in with his inability to throw strikes consistently.
As for Tillman, his early inning struggles has become such a normal occurrence, that the team needs to seriously look into his pregame routine. As a fan watching the game, you hope that when Tillman gets into his groove the game isn’t too far out of reach. That hasn’t been the case lately, and it is time to figure out why a guy always struggles in the first couple of innings.
The Orioles also have to snap Chris Davis’ season long slump. Davis struggled in the 2nd half of last season and that has carried over into this year. This stretch has been long enough that it can be considered a trend and it is something the organization should be concerned about, especially when a decision looms on the future of Davis in Baltimore.
This season has already been a grind, but the O’s find themselves in perfect position to help their cause over these next two weeks and it starts tonight against the Boston Red Sox.
NOTE: Watching Sunday Night Baseball and hearing the announcers talk about Machado’s antics and seeing it make headlines throughout various outlets has made it hard to be an Orioles fan. I don’t know how many games Machado will be suspended for, but it won’t be enough. Machado is an exceptional talent, and has worked very hard to come back from his serious knee injury. It has been a struggle this season for him, but that was to be expected. He has struggled for the first time in his baseball life and he hasn’t responded very well to it. With an impeding suspension likely to occur during this crucial stretch, he has let down the entire organization including the fans. I have to keep in mind that he is only 21 years old and when I was 21, I only cared about the next weekend bender in college. Hopefully he uses this as a learning experience, but the last thing you need is getting the reputation as a punk kid. Between the Ravens’ off-field issues and this, it has been a rough few months for us Baltimore fans.
One Response
Agree on the hard tag, he could have handled it better. Buuuuuuuuuuuut, if I just had surgery on what could have been a carer ending injury and the pitcher was obviously aiming for my knees in their retaliation against one of their players getting hit; I wouldn’t have thrown the bat, but that pitcher would have been knocked the $%^& out. Period.