Fresh off a 4-2 road trip – their first winning tour since April – and back at .500, the Birds return home for a quick three-game set against Tampa before finishing the first half on a seven-game road swing through the midwest.
Let’s see what the blog O’sphere is saying.
Ubaldo Shows Why O’s Are Better Off With Him Than Without Him
Ubaldo Jimenez continued his infuriating career in orange and black last night with eight masterful scoreless innings in Toronto, scene of the crime that O’s fans will vilify him for forever. Starts like that pop up every few months, earning him a handful more that are sure to not resemble that one in any shape or form. Or hey, maybe 2016 second-half Ubaldo is here. We can hope.
Orioles Still Haven’t Seen Much Power from Mark Trumbo
There has been a severe lack of TrumBombs this season. What up with that? Camden Chat’s Nick Cicere tries to figure it out.
Orioles Feeling the Weight of J.J. Hardy’s Absence
All due respect to Mr. Dubroff, not sure I agree with him here. Do you find yourself missing Hardy? I certainly don’t, and I can say the same for Chris Davis, which is the real shame. There’s a Zach Britton update in here as well.
Welington hurt his knee coming up the steps for batting practice yesterday, and was scratched. In his absence, Caleb Joseph had a couple hits, knocked in one of the team’s two runs, and called Ubaldo’s gem. Hopefully Welly doesn’t miss much time, but this has an “everything happens for a reason” vibe to it, no?
Technically, Baseball Really Is More Boring
FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan uses the Leverage Index to argue that baseball in 2017 really is more boring than it’s ever been. Games aren’t close these days. Personally, I was hoping to see more blame thrown on the stupid three-outcome trend (strikeout, walk, or home run).
