Machado and Davis decline - numbers do not lie

[AdamK]

Aaaaaaargh.

Stop striking out! Both of you.

[eddie83]

I doubt most people thought they were going to keep us their pace all year. Others need to step up. Not that complicated.

[Art Wing]

The book is out on Davis-- just pitch him inside. It doesn't even matter if it's high or middle or low inside, just stay inside. The more frustrated Davis gets, the harder he swings. Gone are those beautiful easy swings we got to see for most of the year.

As far as Machado goes, I do not know. Is he tired perhaps?

Let's just hope things revert back before too long.

[LibertyTerp]

I think OP made a great point that it is true that they are regressing and shouldn't be expected to be all-time great players every year. But I think most of you are overreacting to a few bad weeks just as much as you overreacted to when they were hitting spectacular. Davis is one of the best home run hitters in baseball and Machado is one of the best young players in baseball. Davis may bat .280 and hit 45 home runs a year instead of .320 and 60 hr. Machado may hit .295 while winning gold gloves instead of .330 but we're going to be just fine.

[Billy Button]

Davis sure is swinging at a lot of bad pitches, mostly low out of the strike zone.

[calmunderfire]

Remember when I said Machado could finish the season at .275 before he started slumping? He was hitting with doubles and racking up the hits, but I saw this coming. People tore me a new one. All I said was he couldn't hit a slider and his plate discipline in general is poor and that his BABIP was unsustainable?

Now look who looks dumb now.

[Norfolk orioles]

Machado I think will be ok long term, he's only 21 and the league is making adjustments.

Davis looks really bad, that golden sombrero tonight was UGLY. I really hope he can get back into a groove but right now, it's not looking too good.

[Jonesy10]

Davis has been streaky for a while. Manny and Nick have been absolutely terrible for a long time now. They're killing our offense. They're 2 black holes and are batting 2nd and 3rd. You can't have that at the top of your lineup. They really need to get it going.

[calmunderfire]

Davis has been streaky for a while. Manny and Nick have been absolutely terrible for a long time now. They're killing our offense. They're 2 black holes and are batting 2nd and 3rd. You can't have that at the top of your lineup. They really need to get it going.

I'm not worried about Davis because he slumps, but not for extended periods of time. Markakis is what he is, just a meh player. I'm very worried about Machado because the league is making adjustments and he just cannot cope and it's been going on for a while.

[OFFNY]

.

My bad.

Good merge, Paul.

[Orioles2012]

Davis just looks lost. Its not that hes swinging at stuff out of the zone, he is just flat MISSING completely on pitches right down the middle of the plate

[Jonesy10]

I'm not worried about Davis because he slumps, but not for extended periods of time. Markakis is what he is, just a meh player. I'm very worried about Machado because the league is making adjustments and he just cannot cope and it's been going on for a while.

Markakis had an .834 OPS last year. This year it's at .727. Even if he was at .775 he'd be fine, but really he should be at least at .800.

Manny just seems to be swinging at everything. And he's swinging half heartedly it seems. He either grounds out weakly or strikes out on a ball. He hits the ball hard about once a series now, where it was about once a game earlier in the year. He is simply not driving the ball.

[Guest rochester]

I don't buy that the league has just figured out Machado - I believe he'll be fine - plus his D... CD is different, he looks totally lost right now... and it looked like he had a nasty uppercut going tonight. He needs a day or two off. Nick is Nick.

[wildcard]

Two things on Davis. One the league has adjusted to throwing him inside. Two he looks like he is trying to homer every at bat. He has more of an upper cut now. Before he was just trying to hit the ball hard and its would go out the park.

I agree the Maris record has got into his head.

[markakis8]

Machado's double heater was never going to sustain, but I admit I didn't think he would drop off this far in OPS. I don't care though...he plays the best defense on our team and if he does his job in situational hitting most of the time, I don't care if he hits .240 or .300.

Chris Davis - I've been saying it for about a month. He's 2011 Chris Davis right now. It's awful. He got LUCKY, yes LUCKY, on several pitches that he was able to drive the opposite way for a HR or double...this stems back to a week BEFORE the ASG...most of his HR against the White Sox and Blue Jays and his extra base hits against the Rangers were luck.

You can just tell in his approach...he is NOT seeing the ball well at all. I have no idea why but it's horrendous watching him hit right now...If you locate him 75% fastballs inside or high and inside...with the occasional offspeed pitch, you are guaranteed an out.

That double he "demolished" to LF the other day...he got lucky b/c he didn't recognize the pitch and it just happened to be a changeup and he was so late he just drove it the other way...trust me, I've been in that spot many times.