Tonight I have lost all hope.

[TonySoprano]

Case in point I would go after Adam Dunn from the White Sox. He works the pitcher every AB when he's not hitting HRs, and will take a walk to be a baserunner for somebody else to drive in.

Markakis

McLouth

Davis

Jones

Dunn

Hardy

Wieters

Machado

Roberts/Flaherty

From one side of your mouth you recognize the Orioles didn't do much last offseason. Then from the other side, you hold out hope that the Orioles would take on big salary by trading for Lee-Utley-Young and now Dunn, or by trying to sign Abreu. One of these things is not like the other. The Orioles are not going to spend their way out of the current situation no matter how many times you propose they do.

[BMann]

No its not a single game.. its a body of work. I'm with the OP on this one. I've been trying to hold out hope all year but I think we're going to squander a historic defensive year and a historic offensive season from Davis by missing the playoffs.[/quotee ]

Of course you are. Pessimistic folks on this board stand together. Geez losing two to Arizona doesn't mean the team is doomed. It is really too sad that the so called fans can't have a belief in the team when they hit a tough patch. The doom and

gloom bunch sell your team short. After all it is not like the team is under .500. I

am not looking through orange colored glasses. The team has a damn good shot

at the playoffs. IMO

I'm with you. This is still a 4-3 road trip - today's game is pretty big, but a 4-4 road trip doesn't kill us, either. I can only imagine the tone here if we were looking back at a 1-7 trip.

[Ori-Al]

When I put together this piece, on July 7, the Orioles were drawing an unintentional walk every 17.31 PAs, worst in the AL and one of the worst marks in modern major league history. Remarkably, that's gotten worse.

Through play tonight, the Orioles have drawn one unintentional walk per 17.46 plate appearances (257 UBB; 4488 PA) to date this season.

They entered play tonight 10th in the league in OBP despite being 3rd in batting average. They rank third in runs and first in slugging percentage.

They also ranked 10th or 11th in OBP last season, I believe. The Orioles have not ranked above seventh in the league in OBP only twice since 1997, IIRC. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Yankees rank near the top almost every season. One day, maybe we'll learn from them.

[Ori-Al]

They also ranked 10th or 11th in OBP last season, I believe. The Orioles have not ranked above seventh in the league in OBP only twice since 1997, IIRC. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Yankees rank near the top almost every season. One day, maybe we'll learn from them.

Please disregard the first "not" in my second sentence. They have ranked above seventh only twice, IIRC.

[Ori-Al]

You can when you hand the closer a 3-2 lead. They are called closers for a reason. If you can't expect to win in that situation at least 90%ish then the wrong guy is closing

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

As you say, a one run lead in the ninth is a one run lead, whether the score is 1-0, 3-2, or 10-9.

[Ori-Al]

This times 1000. In all honesty, it has to be hard for JJ to sit in the clubhouse and look at his teammates in the face with the way he has performed this season. Its bad enough for a player to struggle offensively and feel like they're not contributing. But when you have a direct outcome on losing games like JJ has, well, I can't even imagine.

He's not alone. Leads or ties have been blown by the other relievers in the seventh and eighth innings this season. The whole pen has been worse than last season. In 2012, entering the last third of a regular season game tied or ahead meant a win. Not the same certainty this year.

And let's not forget the starters, who have often had the nasty habit of melting in the sixth inning.

While the offense does have some big numbers overall in the late innings, the team does not have a lot of come-from-behind wins in the eighth and ninth.

[Dipper9]

He's not alone. Leads or ties have been blown by the other relievers in the seventh and eighth innings this season. The whole pen has been worse than last season. In 2012, entering the last third of a regular season game tied or ahead meant a win. Not the same certainty this year.

And let's not forget the starters, who have often had the nasty habit of melting in the sixth inning.

While the offense does have some big numbers overall in the late innings, the team does not have a lot of come-from-behind wins in the eighth and ninth.

Correct. Thus my thread yesterday that got ripped...."The Magic is gone."

[bobmc]

Correct. Thus my thread yesterday that got ripped...."The Magic is gone."

In Roy we trust - oh wait.....

[JTrea81]

The "cast of characters" that returned was the team that had the best record in all of baseball in August and September last year. There was every indication that those players would keep the Orioles competitive this season, and they have.

I'm sure had you been around here, you would have been screaming for Hamilton. How's that working out for the Halos?

Nope not Hamilton, but they could have gone after Justin Upton, Nick Swisher or Josh Willingham among others.

[Mayor McCheese]

I'm with you. This is still a 4-3 road trip - today's game is pretty big, but a 4-4 road trip doesn't kill us, either. I can only imagine the tone here if we were looking back at a 1-7 trip.

If we go 5-3 it will be an OK trip. We faced SD & SFG who are just bad this year. Dbacks were going to be more competitive but we should have at least taken 2 of 3 which would have given us a 6-2 record on the trip.

If we went 1-7 the season would be in full blown panic mode. Going 5-3 / 4-4 we are still hanging around... but you know ... you can only use the hanging around excuse for so long, it's time to start gaining some ground.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Congratulations. This is definitely the most pathetic post I have ever read on Orioles Hangout. It is also the worst thread OP.

Seriously.

This is gross.

Sack up or at least write something worthy of a thread OP and worthy of your veteran OH status. Whiny sadsack three sentence nothing-post. Boo this man.

And yeah, you've been neg-repped. You're welcome.

LOL. I like it Dan-O.

BUCKLE UP ALL YOU SAD SACKERS !!!!

[bobmc]

LOL. I like it Dan-O.

BUCKLE UP ALL YOU SAD SACKERS !!!!

Orrr - Sad sackers, "Sack Up!" Back to the Ambien Gurgi!

[Redskins Rick]

LOL. I like it Dan-O.

BUCKLE UP ALL YOU SAD SACKERS !!!!

Yeah, count me in too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tettleton14]

If we win today, it's a 5-3 road trip.

No matter who you're playing, that's a fine result.

Teams ahead of us in the standings play each other quite a bit. If we continue to go 5-3 from here on out, we make the playoffs.

[OFFNY]

.

In baseball, you can come back from crushing defeats the very next day.

In basketball you can do that sometimes, but you also have to wait 3 or 4 days sometimes, also.

In football, you have to wait a week, sometimes 2 weeks (bye weeks.)

If we win today, I'll be happy.

If we lose, I'll be unhappy ....... until Friday night, when we beat the Rockies.