We Are Who We Are - a .500 team

[ExileAngelos]

Original poster was correct. We are a .500 team give or take 30 games.

[weams]

Original poster was correct. We are a .500 team give or take 30 games.

Thirty two.

[isestrex]

We WERE a .500 team for 3 months... then Frobby the Prophet struck again:

At the moment, Detroit and Oakland look like very good teams and everyone else looks mediocre. But a couple of other teams will emerge as being pretty good eventually, and we just have to hope we're one of them. I know this should be a better offensive team than it has shown so far, and still believe the offense will heat up at some point and then people will feel better. I think the pitching pretty much "is what it is," as you say.

That's exactly what happened starting in July. The Orioles were 42-39 on June 30th and are 50-21 since.

[OFFNY]

We WERE a .500 team for 3 months... then Frobby the Prophet struck again:

That's exactly what happened starting in July. The Orioles were 43-39 on July 1st and are 49-21 since.

Don't forget Jonesy10, the prophet:

o

A Bad Stretch Doesn't Mean You're Not a Good Team

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/141398-A-Bad-Stretch-Doesn-t-Mean-You-re-Not-a-Good-Team

When Jonesy-10 started this thread, the Orioles had just lost 4 straight games (including a 2-game sweep at the hands of the Astros), had a record of 26-27 overall, and certainly did not have many believers on the orange and black front.

BUT .......

He told us all, didn't he ???

26-27 is unquestionably mediocre ...... but 26-27 is ALSO only 1/3 of a baseball season.

A game isn't over until 9 innings are in the books.

And a season isn't over until all 162 games have been played.

Just ask JONESY-10 if you don't believe me.

[ExileAngelos]

Thirty two.

Was giving him a break

[TonySoprano]

What the heck, I'm going to bump this.

I don't think we need to keep doing this. The OP hasn't posted in two months and to me

[Frobby]

We WERE a .500 team for 3 months... then Frobby the Prophet struck again:

That's exactly what happened starting in July. The Orioles were 42-39 on June 30th and are 50-21 since.

Well my [May 19] assessment that "the pitching pretty much is what it is" could not have been more wrong. The starters got hot beginning about a week after my post, and never looked back. I thought any resurgence by the O's was more likely to hinge on a resurgence of the offense, but the offense has been pretty steady, and it has been the pitching that has carried us.

[terps19]

Thirty two.

Or 40... you know, whatever.

[ExileAngelos]

Or 40... you know, whatever.

I would love to see 38. Would mean 100 wins. How cool would that be? Need an 8-2 finish.

[Oriolesallday]

Facts of the day 101:

We've had a winning season ever since Manny joined the team

[SteveA]

Call me crazy but I still have complete confidence that this team will win somewhere between 90 and 96 games this season. Go ahead and execute me now for saying that...

Geez you were such a pessimist. I certainly hope we don't win only 96 games! That would be a poor finish.

Thanks for the bump. Rereading g this thread has been fun.

[WV O's]

I think you are totally missing what is special about 2014 Orioles. Its can be described in two words. Pitching and Defense.

The O's are third in ERA in the AL in May.

Tigers - 2.19 ERA

A's - 3.17 ERA

O's - 3.32 ERA

And its is likely to continue throughout the summer and into the fall. The O's pitching is better that anyone in the AL East. Why? Two things:

1) Dave Wallace and Dom Chiti seem to have the ability to fix the mechanics of their pitchers in the majors. That is something the Adair rarely did. He is would send struggling pitchers to the minors for Griffin to the fix. But he didn't seem to have the ability to keep them in sync in the majors if their mechanics went bad.

2) Pitching Depth - The O's have or will soon have 6 major league starters. They had trouble keeping 5 the past two years. Look at the May stats for the starters:

Jimenez - 2.19 ERA

Chen - 2.60 ERA

Norris - 2.77 ERA

Tillman - 3.28 ERA

Gonzalez - 3.95 ERA

And in a month Gausman will join the major league staff.

The O's have found Britton as closer and O'Day, Webb, Matusz, and Patton all have good track records. Tommy Hunter as a setup guy where Buck can pick his spots was really good last year and should be good again this year. McFarland and Guilmet both show potential. And one of the starters a likely to end up in the pen.

And then their is Johan Santana and whatever to can bring.

The O's defense is first in the majors in fielding percentage. Its a heck of any advantage in lower runs allowed. Manny, Hardy, Schoop/Flaherty and Davis are solid and dynamite in turning the double play. The outfield defense does well. You can talk all you want about the lack of range of Jones and Markakis but they are both above average defenders. Cruz catches what he gets to and is more mobile then many give him credit for being. And Buck will keep a 4th OFer that is a good defensive guy whether that be Lough or someone else.

Clevenger and Joseph do a good job of calling games and playing defense. They don't have Wieters arm or his bat but catcher will not make or break whether this team makes the playoffs.

The O's will hit probably hit 200 homers this season. The addition of Cruz offsets any loss that may happen with Wieters. No they are not a good OBP team. But they will score enough to be in the playoff race. That is as sure as hot weather is coming. The O's make the ball fly in the summer.

The pitching and defense makes the O's special and make them a playoff contender. That is the way I see it.

Dude. Rep coming your way WC. Just about spot on. What's strange is that you said the pitching improvement would last. Not many saw that coming. Well done.

Opening poster was bulletin board fodder.

It's cool to look back.

[WV O's]

Well my [May 19] assessment that "the pitching pretty much is what it is" could not have been more wrong. The starters got hot beginning about a week after my post, and never looked back. I thought any resurgence by the O's was more likely to hinge on a resurgence of the offense, but the offense has been pretty steady, and it has been the pitching that has carried us.

I hear ya Frob. I sure didn't see it coming. Pretty amazing.

[atomic]

Toronto is a far better team then we are. They were last year and they are this year. You have to make judgments based on talent. We aren't good enough. Of the two teams, they have a much better chance of going on a run and taking the division.

This is a good one.

[atomic]

We will not finish above .500 this season.

You heard it here first. Far too many holes all around the team and we very well might end up sending our best pitcher back to AAA because we can't "make room for him".

Doesn't sound like a .500 team to me. Would love to be wrong, I just don't see it happening.

I can't believe how negative people were this season it was frustrating.