Through the first week of the 2014 season, a few surprises have caused the Orioles to find themselves looking up in the standings as they finished the first seven games with a 2-5 mark. For the second straight season the Birds have started the campaign with a losing record. Hopefully they fair a bit better this time around. So how did they come to this record?
A Call for Arms
Aside from Chris Tillman (13.1 IP, 1.35 ERA), the starting rotation hasn’t even been mediocre – they have been downright bad.
Ubaldo Jimenez has walked 917 batters in 10.1 IP. Ok, maybe that number is a bit of an exaggeration of the eight total walks he has surrendered to go along with his one HBP, but when the pitch count causes you to exit the game before the 5th inning, it can feel like a lot more. Add to Jimenez’s lackluster performance thus far the fact that Wei-Yin Chen allowed 12 hits in 5.2 IP in his first start and you do not get a recipe for success. Orioles starters have combined for an ERA of 6.16 through the team’s first seven games, third worst in all of baseball. Only Tillman (8.1 IP in his last start) has gone beyond 6 IP in any start, and Jimenez is the only other pitcher to make it through 6 IP.
Power Outage
Through the Orioles’ first seven games in 2013, they hit eight home runs and scored 38 runs. Through the first seven games on 2014, they have hit just three home runs and scored a mere 22 runs. Chris Davis and Adam Jones combined for 86 home runs and 246 RBI’s in 2013. This season they had zero home runs and just five RBI’s between them going into Tuesday. The team had scored multiple runs in just three innings this season before Tuesday. This is not something that will last throughout the season (as we saw yesterday), but when the pitchers are failing to get beyond five innings on a regular basis and the team is below .500, the lack of offensive production is frustrating and a bit disheartening.
Bullpen
The bullpen is the lone bright spot for the Birds early on. The ‘pen, led by Zach Britton (3 GP, 6 IP, 0 ER, 0.67 WHIP), has pitched to a 2.86 ERA. Tommy Hunter is 2-for-2 in saves, and Josh Stinson is proving that his strong finish in 2013 was no fluke.
But as was the case in 14 straight losing seasons, and even last year to a certain extent, this bullpen will only go as far as the starting pitching. Orioles starters absolutely need to start getting deeper into ballgames, or the strongest part of their pitching staff will be taxed by the beginning of June. Keep any eye on Zach Britton. If Chen, Gonzalez, and Norris continue to struggle, he may be called upon to replace one of them in the rotation. This is the best Britton has looked since his call-up in 2011.
What Does it all Mean?
This is certainly no time to panic. The Orioles will hit, they will score runs, and they will win more games than they lose. It really all falls on the starting pitching. Buck Showalter will wait on his offense to get into a groove because all of his hitters have track records and this offense has hit 426 home runs the last two seasons.
His patience, however, will be tested with the rotation. With Kevin Gausman and Zach Britton waiting in the wings, and Dylan Bundy and Johan Santana quickly on the mend, the leash for these starters may not be much longer than a month’s worth of starts. Based on the first week of the season, the solution is simple. Here’s hoping this rotation starts to make Buck’s moves a bit more difficult.
Week 2 Preview
The Orioles started week two of the season with a bang. The bats finally made the trip north from Sarasota as the Birds pounded out 20 hits en route to blowing out the Yankees 14-5 on Tuesday. Adam Jones, Delmon Young, and Matt Wieters each connected on 2-run homers as every player in the starting lineup recorded a hit and a run scored, and everybody but Ryan Flaherty—who contributed three hits to the cause—had an RBI. Chen was less than adequate, throwing 102 pitches over 5 IP while allowing 9 hits and 4 ER. While Chen did record the victory, his 6.75 ERA and 1.97 WHIP leave much to be desired. At least he hasn’t walked anybody in his two starts. The bullpen threw four innings of 1-run ball as Josh Stinson cooled off the Yankees bats with 2.1 shutout innings in relief of Chen.
The Birds hope to take the rubber match in New York today against Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka before returning home for series against the Jays and Rays.
