We are fortunate to be in the division we are. This is one frustrating team to follow.

[Nevermore]

I'm frustrated by our team because the offense bails out when men are on base, so runs don't get scored. They depend far too much on trying to slug it out of the park, and they wind up striking out or hitting into double plays. :cussing:

[NashLumber]

The AL East really is weird this year. The Sox are 5 under .500 and only 5 games out of first while my Cubs are 9 over .500 and 7.5 games out of 1st and 3 games out of 2nd.

Boston will cool off again. And soon. They've reeled off this nice run and *still* under .500? Gives some perspective of how bad they started. They're more flawed than the O's overall. Tons of money spent and still not breaking even at the midway point. The O's will get back on track. A good 7 or 8 of ten run and it'll be more distance between us and them. The Rays are starting to even out to what they were believed to be. Just wondering how NY will fare with any trades or acquisitions. Jays still seem too streaky.

[scOtt]

Agree on the OP about lucky to be in this division, this year. Skanks lost again tonight. TB lost two. AL Least.

[Crazysilver03]

The AL East really is weird this year. The Sox are 5 under .500 and only 5 games out of first while my Cubs are 9 over .500 and 7.5 games out of 1st and 3 games out of 2nd.

Good point. Only way a team from the East makes the playoffs is as division winner.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

[Barnaby Graves]

Agree on the OP about lucky to be in this division, this year. Skanks lost again tonight. TB lost two. AL Least.

Jesus I thought you'd misplaced "two" for "too," but they dropped a doubleheader. Tampa is 1-9 in their last 10. Astounding how bad they have been.

Division is wide open baby. Even for the Red Sox. The only team to be better than .500 over their last 10.

[scOtt]

Jesus I thought you'd misplaced "two" for "too,"

I never do that. Not even when I'm REALLY drunk.

[25 Nuggets]

Agree on the OP about lucky to be in this division, this year. Skanks lost again tonight. TB lost two. AL Least.

..and yet, only a couple days ago, the strongest overall W-L record in baseball.

Everybody's just thrown in a bucket, W-L-W-L-W.

[Frobby]

Wanna know what bugs me most? It may surprise those who think of me as "negative", but its this. I think we are, by far, the best team in the division.Pretty good pitching. Very good defense .A very good bullpen and a ton of good power hitters. What bugs me is that we play stupid. We swing from the heels, can't seem to put a bat on a ball with a runner at third and can't seem to have a clue how to work a count or a pitch count on a struggling pitcher. I hate first pitch swings and we seem to hit into a ton of double plays too. We also have almost no speed. Tonight was a great frustration to me and Im sure most of you. We had their pitcher in trouble right away but couldn't get the runners in. It changed the entire game. It may be that kind of season. And then theres this.We lose a ton of players next year, so we COULD be worse. Not for sure, but maybe so. It bugs me.

I know how you feel, Roy. Right now the team is really scuffling in RISP sutuations, especially with a runner on 3B and less than two outs. The Davis AB in the first inning was particularly galling, as I don't believe he saw a pitch that would have been called a strike during his entire at bat. As soon as he struck out after being up 3-1 in the count, you could just feel it was going to be another one of those games.

On the season, though, we are still at or near the top in RISP hitting, we are average at getting runners home from 3B with less than 2 outs (51%), we're above average in moving runners from 2B with nobody out (59% to the league's 55%) and above average in making productive outs (15% to 14%). The team is clearly pressing right now as well as having some bad luck (like the wild pitch that bounced all the way back to the pitcher). But things will get better. In the long run, it's still the starting pitching that worries me. Gausman was awful last night from the jump, and if he can't stabilize the Norris slot and Tillman continues to struggle, I don't think we can overcome that.

[scOtt]

Wanna know what bugs me most? It may surprise those who think of me as "negative", but its this. I think we are, by far, the best team in the division.Pretty good pitching. Very good defense .A very good bullpen and a ton of good power hitters. What bugs me is that we play stupid. We swing from the heels, can't seem to put a bat on a ball with a runner at third and can't seem to have a clue how to work a count or a pitch count on a struggling pitcher. I hate first pitch swings and we seem to hit into a ton of double plays too. We also have almost no speed. Tonight was a great frustration to me and Im sure most of you. We had their pitcher in trouble right away but couldn't get the runners in. It changed the entire game. It may be that kind of season. And then theres this.We lose a ton of players next year, so we COULD be worse. Not for sure, but maybe so. It bugs me.

We're a good team but so streaky! We started pretty mediocre. Things picked up some and got some players back and then we went 18 of 23. It felt like we could never lose. TOR did that earlier for a while. BOS is doing it now. Somehow NY is in front. We're the best this division has. Schoop has completed the puzzle. Everybody is back. Last two nights Fred's injury report has been no news is good news. Matt did his first back to back tonight. This team is ...... you know the line.

[video=youtube;qDaGc0Dysh8]

[scOtt]

[El Gordo]

Too many potential FA with divided attentions. They try to compartmentalize things but they aren't always that successful.

[InsideCoroner]

This is one of those stretches where I don't even bother looking at the scoreboard to see how other teams did. When you lose 7 out of your last 9 against three teams whose collective record is under .500, it doesn't matter much how the competition fares.

Last night the first inning was all you needed to see. O's get runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and then both Davis and Wieters strike out on pitches out of the zone (in Davis' case, ball four). In the bottom, Gausman gets hammered and gives up three runs, including Sano's first major league homer. Thanks for playing, Kevin. Be sure to grab a consolation prize on your way out the door.

[Going Underground]

This is one of those stretches where I don't even bother looking at the scoreboard to see how other teams did. When you lose 7 out of your last 9 against three teams whose collective record is under .500, it doesn't matter much how the competition fares.

Last night the first inning was all you needed to see. O's get runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and then both Davis and Wieters strike out on pitches out of the zone (in Davis' case, ball four). In the bottom, Gausman gets hammered and gives up three runs, including Sano's first major league homer. Thanks for playing, Kevin. Be sure to grab a consolation prize on your way out the door.

Teams go on these losing and winning streaks. The Orioles will probably have another one or two losing streaks. The Nationals have lost all five games to the Reds this year. The Reds are not good but these things happen. Nationals also are banged up with many injuries. Who knows maybe the Orioles get hot against an injured Nat team .The Orioles miss Scherzer and the Nationals will have Cole or Jordan pitch Friday and Fister on Sunday.

[InsideCoroner]

Teams go on these losing and winning streaks. The Orioles will probably have another one or two losing streaks. The Nationals have lost all five games to the Reds this year. The Reds are not good but these things happen. Nationals also are banged up with many injuries. Who knows maybe the Orioles get hot against an injured Nat team .The Orioles miss Scherzer and the Nationals will have Cole or Jordan pitch Friday and Fister on Sunday.

Of course, and although it's the greatest game ever invented, we all know that baseball can be the harshest of mistresses. Which I love about it as well. But I do embrace the pain. It's why I got a custom Orioles jersey with "Owen 21" on the back, hoping to never relive the misery of 1988.

I do think they'll turn it around very soon, and be in contention. There is simply too much talent on the team for that not to happen.

[DJHJR86]

I'm just glad the Skanks lost last night.