Orioles in 1st place

[JLee2027]

Maybe Bud Norris can keep the shutout streak going tomorrow.

[scOtt]

Maybe Bud Norris can keep the shutout streak going tomorrow.

[Mendoza Line]

Maybe Bud Norris can keep the shutout streak going tomorrow.

Don't be asking for miracles now

[scOtt]

o

(JUNE 28th, 2015)

It took a while, but they're back.

[video=youtube;qojlwWTDxGs]

[fansince71]

Can you imagine If Tillman and Norris turn it around....we will run away with it just like last year.

[25 Nuggets]

Should'a kept Cruz, can't replace his power.

Needed Miller back. Was a bad trade.

Snider not a good replacement for Markakis.

Paredes won't hit well enough to stick with the team.

Outfield stinks aside from Jones.

Norris stinks.

Tillman's lost it.

Just get rid of Ubaldo and eat the contract.

Miguel Gonzalez won't make the rotation. Need Kevin Gausman in there.

Bullpen is substandard with Matusz and Hunter on the team.

Hardy was a bad re-sign, won't be healthy.

Need better backup infielders than Flaherty.

Caleb Joseph can take over, we don't really need Wieters.

Machado's not pulling his weight (that one's my fault)

All stuff I've read at various points this year.

First place going into July. It's a long, long season.

[scOtt]

Can you imagine If Tillman and Norris turn it around....we will run away with it just like last year.

Tillman alone and get Gausman going. Either works.

[sportsfan8703]

What's incredible is that this morning three teams in the AL East had 40+ wins and we weren't one of them. Now we're in first.

The beauty of the all important loss column. I'm counting the percentage points as we are in 1st place. And the fact that we had to play "3" home games in TB. Tie break should be ours.

[callahan09]

Man, I'm still giddy over today, what a great day to be an O's fan! Back to back shutouts, great performances by the starting pitchers, the bullpen, the defense and the bats, and end the day in first place. Doesn't get better than that!

[TonySoprano]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a> are tied for first place in the AL East! <a href="http://t.co/gkuTtu6kMB">pic.twitter.com/gkuTtu6kMB</a></p>— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) <a href="

">June 29, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[allquixotic]

1. Should'a kept Cruz, can't replace his power.2. Needed Miller back. Was a bad trade.

3. Snider not a good replacement for Markakis.

4. Paredes won't hit well enough to stick with the team.

5. Outfield stinks aside from Jones.

6. Norris stinks.

7. Tillman's lost it.

8. Just get rid of Ubaldo and eat the contract.

9. Miguel Gonzalez won't make the rotation. Need Kevin Gausman in there.

10. Bullpen is substandard with Matusz and Hunter on the team.

11. Hardy was a bad re-sign, won't be healthy.

12. Need better backup infielders than Flaherty.

13. Caleb Joseph can take over, we don't really need Wieters.

14. Machado's not pulling his weight (that one's my fault)

1. I've never held any stock in this one. Cruz picked up a lot of wins for us where we would have lost in the early going last season, but we had injuries and lack of contribution from even more players than we had early on this season. I never had any confidence at all that Cruz would have a good season in 2015, either, regardless of which team he plays for.

2. Losing Miller got me fired up at first, I'll be honest. It was a huge blow. But we totally lucked out (or scouted incredibly well) to pick up Chaz Roe, who's more-or-less filling his shoes, as incredible as that sounds. I'm kinda eating crow on this one, though, because I wanted Miller. I wanted what I knew was going to be an awesome reliever, rather than the uncertainty of IF we'll be able to find a Roe out there. But we did, so I didn't need to worry.

3. I kinda-sorta bought into this one, and kinda-sorta still feel this way. He's okay. Maybe my good memories of the years when Markakis was a bit more than okay make me wish that we still had him. He was, at least, a known quantity, a solid contributor.

4. I didn't really prejudge Paredes, that I recall. I tend to give new players the benefit of the doubt. He impressed early on, and by then I was sure that we would give him more looks until he lets us down. So far he's lifting us up more often than he lets us down.

5. That was true when Delmon was a regular out there, and Davis was stuck at first base. I thought it, but never said it or typed it.

6. It's true, but so far, we're dealing with it. It would be unbelievably awesome to see him return to 2014 form, but this year, we would be higher in the standings with a replacement-level starter than with Bud.

7. I've said this to friends and maybe even posted this on the boards. It was good to see him throw 7 zeroes today, but I wonder how much of that was due to a deflated and demoralized Indians club, and a crowd that bought 85,677 tickets total to the doubleheader rallying behind the Orioles.

8. This is the worst one. I was totally advocating for this last year. I'm eating mouthfuls of crow now.

9. I've never had a problem with Miggy. He's a middle of the rotation starter. We got him for a bag of balls and he's been a much needed piece. We DO need Gausman, long term, but I trust our coaches to determine the best time to bring him up for good.

10. I've always been higher on Hunter than most, and not too down on Matusz (a little, yes, but not a lot). We had hoped these guys could be starters for us, but instead, they're now veteran arms out of the pen. Lately they inflate the bullpen's ERA higher than it would otherwise be with the remaining overachievers (especially Brach, Roe, O'Day and Britton), but I don't know how you can move them, get something back that's better, and not have to give up the farm or some bona fide talent elsewhere within the ML roster. Dumping Matusz and acquiring someone like Andrew Miller is not going to be easy to do, at all. Why overpay? Apparently the club agrees with me, since these guys are still with us.

11. I kinda blew this one off when I read others writing about it - I never took much stock in this opinion at any point. I don't like to extrapolate past DL history to the future, especially if the club does their tests (as they would be fools NOT to do) and determines that the risk is acceptable.

12. Backup? Haha. Flaherty is a well-deserved starter for us now. It's great seeing him out there. I've never been of the opinion that we need to rush to replace Flaherty.

13. I still think Joseph is amazing behind the plate. He's more or less made Wieters irrelevant when it comes to catching. I mean, both of them are very, very good, but Wieters isn't so much better that we cringe when Caleb catches. The only thing going for Wieters is the potential to put up great power numbers at the dish, which Caleb hasn't ever really proven he can do consistently.

14. Machado has slumped just like any other player, but again, I've never really felt the need to complain about this to others. He has so much promise and so much riding on his shoulders that I give him the benefit of the doubt. In that respect, he is kinda like Adam. When a bad player is bad, you throw rotten tomatoes at him. When a good player is bad, you just shut your mouth and wait until they stop being bad, which probably won't be that long most of the time.

You caught me with a few of those - things I've said that I'm now eating crow about - but many of those statements are also incredibly reactionary in my view, and not something I would even think of saying at any point this year.

[25 Nuggets]

You caught me with a few of those - things I've said that I'm now eating crow about - but many of those statements are also incredibly reactionary in my view, and not something I would even think of saying at any point this year.

That's the beauty of it -- I could probably come up with fourteen more such statements if I wracked my brain or dug them up, and sooner or later every one of us would have said something. Some of the problems still linger, but the bottom line is, the team won 16 of 20 games to get back to first place.

Thanks for the response, it's rep worthy on my part but I must've done so too recently

[Machado13]

No Cruz, no markakis...no problem. Team has enough offense.

We need the SPs to carry their weight! Ubaldo and Tillman got the momentum going today.

[Machado13]

Just split with hot hitting Texas and move on to Chicago. #stayhungry #grind

[weams]

It's been four days now.