allquixotic

Just walk Tucker

Well Hicks might be done for the season. WTF Urias? Just threw away the game there quite possibly.

Oh my god!!!!! AMAZING!!!! Weaver in the 9th! CEDRIC!!!! ORIOLES MAGIC

I've got better things to do than watch this team choke.

Yep, extremely likely. The chances of Eflin going complete game shutout are about 70%. If he doesn't, he'll just go 7 or 8 innings of shutout ball. Then their unhittable back of the pen will close it out. I GUARANTEE YOU the Orioles won't score a run tonight. They're up there hacking at anything, Adam Jones style. Fitting on his sellout retirement night.

OMG WHAT A PLAY!!

The last … 3? times I was at the park, the O’s won. I’m here tonight.

Leave it to the Orioles to play DOWN to the level of a bad team, and allow the flawless Rays to catch up to us. The Rays may never lose a game again. Unbelievably pathetic.

HUH??????? Why would you pull the most effective pitcher we've had on the mound in about 3 games? Yeah, no, I don't agree with pulling DL Hall there. When you find a reliever who can locate the strikezone more often than not, keep them out there until their arm falls off. I don't care. Don't keep switching relievers every 3 batters. Drives me nuts!

Going 1-2-3 is not the offensive explosion I hoped for. Not gonna get it done. We're going to need a lot of runs to win today. That means we need to tack on a few every inning. And it was mostly weak contact and rolling over. Very disappointing to see them be that impatient.

He wasn't good -- he gave up 8 hits, 5 runs, a homer and a walk, and 3 strikeouts over 3.1 innings. BUT, just look at how poorly the other pitchers we sent tonight performed. In context, maybe it was just that the Sux were hitting really well. Perez: 1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 strikeout (lousy) Fuji: 1.2 IP, 1 strikeout (the best pitching performance from either team in this game tbh) Webb: 0.2 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 1 strikeout (putrid) Coulombe: 0.2 IP, 3 hits (bad) Lopez: 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts (bad) Cano: 1 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk (terrible) We're just lucky that more of those hits weren't doubles and home runs, or strung together in the same inning, or this game would have looked more like 20-13 Sux.

This is funny when you consider that one of the Mortal Kombat characters with cybernetics is named Cano.

Everything in the zone is getting absolutely crushed. It's been that way the entire night for all O's pitchers. Hell, it's been that way all night for all Red Sox pitchers. This is unbelievable.

Can we ask Cano to go 2 IP? Although, the way we've been pitching tonight, I don't trust anyone to have a decent inning. Non-injured Felix Bautista would probably give up 3 runs in the 9th in this game. That's just how it's going.

OMG. The bottom of every inning is excruciating to watch. Silver lining: the top of every inning is exciting to watch.

I predict a disgusting final score of 14-11 O's.

This might be a low-scoring game. The ump is calling balls 6 inches off the plate to both lefties and righties. If he does that consistently for both teams, this could be a 1-0 or 2-1 type game, like soccer.

OK, yes, put him on the playoff roster, go right ahead. I just hope we don't use him in a playoff context in a situation like the one he just faced. Like someone said in the game thread, he seems to be a coin flip whether he's going to dominate like he did tonight, or lay an egg. The elephant in the room is that we need Felix back, but wrong thread for that. Fuji is not a substitute for Felix, but I'm not sure we'll find better options on the waiver wire in September, and I certainly don't like the few, existing alternatives on the staff. Fuji is the best of the bullpen's B team. If we have serious aspirations for going deep into the playoffs, we're going to need excellent starting pitching and offense. No one will mind watching Fuji pitch the 9th with a 3+ run lead. But backing him into a corner in extras with a 1 run lead... you don't get away with a win in that situation often enough.

I made some more wild-looking, futuristic Orioles hats using Midjourney (I have a paid plan that allows me to distribute these to an unlimited audience royalty-free):

That was the biggest nailbiter I've watched in a while! No Felix, no Cano, 1-run lead in extras, had to score in the 9th to not lose, blew the save in the 9th, bad 'pen... good grief... we won by the skin of our teeth. And the skin of our Fuji.

So... Fuji will either strike them all out, or give up a walk off HR. I don't think anyone - even Fuji - knows how it's gonna go.

NOW they pitch Fuji...

We may still lose, but not in regulation. Finding a decent pitcher out of the pen is going to be even harder in extras. We should either score 2+ runs in the 10th inning or just roll over and lose in bot 10 instead of dragging this out. IMO.

We're not the same team without Felix. None of these guys can pitch!

wtf?????? how was that a ball?????