Duquette owes it to the team and City to go for it...

[Jonesy10]

The team seems really tired, dead out there today. All of these stud pitchers against them has worn them out a bit.

They hit extremely poorly the last 5 games heading into the break as well. When you get shutout it often comes off as being dead. Need to figure it out. The good news is that Pearce and Cruz are the only 2 guys that are meeting expectations offensively and they're still 11 games over .500 and 3 games ahead of the 2nd place team. Still a lot of room to grow. If the offense had played this poorly last season through a 14 game stretch like this they'd probably have gone 4-10, this year they've gone 8-6. That's a good sign. It's not like they've had everyone going in their run to first place like Toronto did (who then predictably cooled off and fell down the standings).

[tntoriole]

They hit extremely poorly the last 5 games heading into the break as well. When you get shutout it often comes off as being dead. Need to figure it out. The good news is that Pearce and Cruz are the only 2 guys that are meeting expectations offensively and they're still 11 games over .500 and 3 games ahead of the 2nd place team. Still a lot of room to grow. If the offense had played this poorly last season through a 14 game stretch like this they'd probably have gone 4-10, this year they've gone 8-6. That's a good sign. It's not like they've had everyone going in their run to first place like Toronto did (who then predictably cooled off and fell down the standings).

Oh, I agree. The pitching has been strong since the break. It was good to see Chris hit a home run yesterday and Cruz. Big wins so far, all in all, we are OK. You have long West Coast trips, tough games, you are going to be flat occasionally and Young pitched crazy. We are going to be fine. Delmon Young has also met or exceeded offensive expectations and Nick has had nice bounce back, though many expected it. We need at least one of the three of Davis, Hardy or Machado to get smoking hot here for a few weeks. I am putting my money on Davis.

[weams]

Oh, I agree. The pitching has been strong since the break. It was good to see Chris hit a home run yesterday and Cruz. Big wins so far, all in all, we are OK. You have long West Coast trips, tough games, you are going to be flat occasionally and Young pitched crazy. We are going to be fine. Delmon Young has also met or exceeded offensive expectations and Nick has had nice bounce back, though many expected it. We need at least one of the three of Davis, Hardy or Machado to get smoking hot here for a few weeks. I am putting my money on Davis.

I wish that we had one more bat that we could count on so we did not have to pretend that Steve Pearce was a guy.

[tntoriole]

I wish that we had one more bat that we could count on so we did not have to pretend that Steve Pearce was a guy.

Yeah, too bad we could not have pried Kendrys this way.

[weams]

Yeah, too bad we could not have pried Kendrys this way.

Na, I think he is not what I am after. Don't care for him.

[Jonesy10]

I wish that we had one more bat that we could count on so we did not have to pretend that Steve Pearce was a guy.

Steve Pearce is still a good hitter. He was last season too. Not a near 1.000 OPS guy but .850'ish isn't out of the question. Mike Carp asked for a trade today. He's pretty good against righties and has a great walk rate. Could be a good platoon option with Pearce and a good bat off the bench late in games.

[Jonesy10]

Oh, I agree. The pitching has been strong since the break. It was good to see Chris hit a home run yesterday and Cruz. Big wins so far, all in all, we are OK. You have long West Coast trips, tough games, you are going to be flat occasionally and Young pitched crazy. We are going to be fine. Delmon Young has also met or exceeded offensive expectations and Nick has had nice bounce back, though many expected it. We need at least one of the three of Davis, Hardy or Machado to get smoking hot here for a few weeks. I am putting my money on Davis.

Yep. Young hasn't played much though which is why I didn't include him with Pearce and Cruz. I'd say the expectation for Nick was .750 OPS. He's a shade below that now so it's pretty close. Overall though I think there's still a lot of improvement offensively which is probably rare for a team in the Orioles spot right now.

[Reboulet'sStache]

Yep. Young hasn't played much though which is why I didn't include him with Pearce and Cruz. I'd say the expectation for Nick was .750 OPS. He's a shade below that now so it's pretty close. Overall though I think there's still a lot of improvement offensively which is probably rare for a team in the Orioles spot right now.

Unless the OBP fairy is coming down to sprinkle magic dust over this team, the offense is what it is at this point. One guy will get hot, another will get cold, and it will all average out to a team that has to hit homers to put up runs, so is going to go through stretches where its a struggle to score. That isn't going to change.

[Jonesy10]

Unless the OBP fairy is coming down to sprinkle magic dust over this team' date=' the offense is what it is at this point. One guy will get hot, another will get cold, and it will all average out to a team that has to hit homers to put up runs, so is going to go through stretches where its a struggle to score. That isn't going to change.[/quote']

Jones and Markakis should both be hitting better. Davis, Hardy, and Machado should all be hitting much better. That's 5 of our 6 best hitters so I'm going to have to disagree with you boss.

[Reboulet'sStache]

Jones and Markakis should both be hitting better. Davis, Hardy, and Machado should all be hitting much better. That's 5 of our 6 best hitters so I'm going to have to disagree with you boss.

Why SHOULD they?

Nick is a singles hitter that will get on base a little better than league average. That's what he is doing this year.

Jones is a free swinger that usually has around a league average OBP with a high slugging %. That's where he is this year.

Davis could probably be doing a little better. But for most of his career, he was regarded as a guy that hit titanic homers but couldn't make contact with the ball enough and struck out a ton. That's where he is now.

Hardy's power numbers are usually better. And he should probably improve going forward. But he has been battling injuries. The numbers show that over the last few years his flyball distance has continued to decline, usually indicative of a drop in power production going forward.

Machado got figured out after a hot starter last year. Its not like he raked all last year. Do you really expect him to get even BETTER than he has been in July?

And of course for every player that has been under performing this year, there have been guys like Cruz and Pearce that have just played out of their mind for stretches to off-set it.

[Jonesy10]

Why SHOULD they?

Nick is a singles hitter that will get on base a little better than league average. That's what he is doing this year.

Jones is a free swinger that usually has around a league average OBP with a high slugging %. That's where he is this year.

Davis could probably be doing a little better. But for most of his career' date=' he was regarded as a guy that hit titanic homers but couldn't make contact with the ball enough and struck out a ton. That's where he is now.

Hardy's power numbers are usually better. And he should probably improve going forward. But he has been battling injuries. The numbers show that over the last few years his flyball distance has continued to decline, usually indicative of a drop in power production going forward.

Machado got figured out after a hot starter last year. Its not like he raked all last year. Do you really expect him to get even BETTER than he has been in July?

And of course for every player that has been under performing this year, there have been guys like Cruz and Pearce that have just played out of their mind for stretches to off-set it.[/quote']

Nick should be able to OPS at least .750. CD, Manny, and JJ all have significantly lower OPS's than their career average. Jones is having his worst offensive season since 2011. There's a lot of room for improvement whether you admit it or not.

[weams]

Nick should be able to OPS at least .750. CD, Manny, and JJ all have significantly lower OPS's than their career average. Jones is having his worst offensive season since 2011. There's a lot of room for improvement whether you admit it or not.

What are you using as the yard stick for Jones being less than he has previously been? Because if it is War, He only needs to be worth .7 WAR for the rest of the season to blow that out of the water. Since he has been worth 3.1 so far, I suspect that he will EASILY eclipse that. You are using loaded dice.

[Jonesy10]

What are you using as the yard stick for Jones being less than he has previously been? Because if it is War, He only needs to be worth .7 WAR for the rest of the season to blow that out of the water. Since he has been worth 3.1 so far, I suspect that he will EASILY eclipse that. You are using loaded dice.

"Jones is having his worst offensive season since 2011".

[Tx Oriole]

Okay so it's a relevant argument in general but not for this topic. I'm not denying that these guys won't be good. I'm saying they are not gonna help us win a WS THIS YEAR!

But they could next year too.

[Tx Oriole]

Be honest with this answer.

Would you rather have 1 World Series victory or a competitive team for the next 5-6 years?

I take the competitive team for the next five or six years.