This is What a Fringe Contender Looks Like

[Sanfran327]

August is a good time to get hot

It's happened every year under Buck. Part of the reason why I've never worried too much about our chances. I've always thought we'd take off and other teams (Toronto, Anaheim, NYY) would start to fade. Lots of baseball left.

[Frobby]

It's happened every year under Buck. Part of the reason why I've never worried too much about our chances. I've always thought we'd take off and other teams (Toronto, Anaheim, NYY) would start to fade. Lots of baseball left.

It didn't happen in 2013.

[Sanfran327]

It didn't happen in 2013.

Yeah, you're right. That was the one year where we could just never get it going.

Hopefully that's an anomaly.

[SeaBird]

Fringee contender? BS

I am optimistic about the postseason chances for several reasons.:la:laughlol:

ghlol:

We have gone through our fringe major league tryouts at the corner outfield positions and have at least one of them filled (Parra) with some new canidates in process at the other position. This is better than running out two different .200 hitters out there each night.

The ?give him another chance? pitcher is gone, Gausman has more innings under his belt, and some useful arms and innings are coming from the minors now that we can make roster moves. More freedom to mix and match. Some teams have good pitchers who are now shut down because of a season inning limit after surgery.

Everybody is reasonably healthy. (Wieters is back tonight)

Davis is on a tear, Jones is hitting more home runs, Manny is growing into his body and is poking balls out, Parra adds an on-base presence that Markaksis used to provide. Other than one outfield position, we have certain hitters in the entire lineup.

Buck has been there and done that. He has properly rested players and sat them down with minor injuries to heal rather than slowly building up aches and pains. He is limiting the amount of time in batting and fielding practice to not wear out the players in the tail end of the season. Some managers don?t do that.

The Yankees and Jays have been on good winning streaks lately. I expect things to average out over the rest of the season.

We have more home games the rest of the year. 45 home games and only 35 away games (if I count it right). Every bit helps improve the record.

We play games against our competition for the division title and wild card, so we can influence our destiny. REmemebr that thye have to play us as well. :hearts: We have the Yankees: 5 at home, 3 away??Toronto: 6 away and 4 at home. We also have 10 games against the struggling red sox, two against the Phillies, which are very winnable games.

Don?t be surprised!

Wow! What a post. Parra? Read the Parra defense thread on this page. What ,exactly, are "certain" hitters? And no; you are not counting right. The team has 45 games left.

[bpilktree]

I'm not going to make an argument, just sit back and watch. However, we have a pretty tough schedule going forward and I think 29-16 is a very tall order. Based on the current standings, I'm not sure it will take 90 wins to make the 2nd wild card. I'd put the over/under at 87.5. The O's would have to go 27-18 (.600) to hit the over, and team teams chasing them would have to play better than ,600 to get there. Considering that none of them ate better than .521 to this point, that seems like the likely limit of what can be expected.

I completely agree I don't see why people keep using the 90 win mark. There ae so many average temas this season and vey few bad teams. The Orioles currently in in the 2nd Wild Card and I don't see them going 29-16 but also see no way any teams behind them an do it either. Here is what teams need to do to get to 90 wins.

Orioles 29-16 .644

Angelas 29-15 .660

Rangers 30-15 .666

Twins 31-13 .704

Rays 31-13 .704

[big_sparxx]

IMHO it's down to the starters. We played a very horrible Oakland team and did what we had to do. We have home and away against KC left, as well as HUGE showdowns with the MFY and Bluebirds.

I still have the horrible taste of being no-hit last week in my mouth to remind me of how this team has been this year, and while that isn't down to the starters, it goes to show that we haven't been consistent with the run support either. They mentioned how poor that Chen's support has been during the blowout the other day and how important that was.

I'm sorry, but I only ever feel confident when Tillman is on the mound... and even then I probably shouldn't be.

[Redskins Rick]

It didn't happen in 2013.

Yeah, you're right. That was the one year where we could just never get it going.

Hopefully that's an anomaly.

But, it also wasn't one of those dark year years, where we was mathematically out of it, by the end of May.

[PeteU]

Honestly, we could Mr. Magoo our way into the playoffs via a Wild Card spot.

Then we win the Wild Card game.

Then we win Game 1 of the ALDS.

And at that point, I predict very few of us here on this board or in the Orioles fanbase in general will be wondering whether or not we're deserving of a playoff spot. We'll be focusing strictly ahead.

I don't think this team will make the World Series. However, I didn't think the Royals were a World Series team last year and we all remembered how that went.

Get to the playoffs. Scrape our way there, back in, it can be as messy or ugly as possible, just get there.

Once we get to that toboggan run that is postseason baseball, though, anything can happen.

[OFFNY]

IMHO,

it's down to the starters.

It's down to them ........

The difference in the pitches they throw.

Down to them, the change has come.

It's under their thumb.

[OFFNY]

o

OOOOOOOOOOOO (SEPTEMBER 1st)

This is what a beaten, battered, bloody former contender looks like:

[abbott]

Fringee contender? BS

I am optimistic about the postseason chances for several reasons.:la:laughlol:

ghlol:

We have gone through our fringe major league tryouts at the corner outfield positions and have at least one of them filled (Parra) with some new canidates in process at the other position. This is better than running out two different .200 hitters out there each night.

The ?give him another chance? pitcher is gone, Gausman has more innings under his belt, and some useful arms and innings are coming from the minors now that we can make roster moves. More freedom to mix and match. Some teams have good pitchers who are now shut down because of a season inning limit after surgery.

Everybody is reasonably healthy. (Wieters is back tonight)

Davis is on a tear, Jones is hitting more home runs, Manny is growing into his body and is poking balls out, Parra adds an on-base presence that Markaksis used to provide. Other than one outfield position, we have certain hitters in the entire lineup.

Buck has been there and done that. He has properly rested players and sat them down with minor injuries to heal rather than slowly building up aches and pains. He is limiting the amount of time in batting and fielding practice to not wear out the players in the tail end of the season. Some managers don?t do that.

The Yankees and Jays have been on good winning streaks lately. I expect things to average out over the rest of the season.

We have more home games the rest of the year. 45 home games and only 35 away games (if I count it right). Every bit helps improve the record.

We play games against our competition for the division title and wild card, so we can influence our destiny. REmemebr that thye have to play us as well. :hearts: We have the Yankees: 5 at home, 3 away??Toronto: 6 away and 4 at home. We also have 10 games against the struggling red sox, two against the Phillies, which are very winnable games.

Don?t be surprised!

Obviously you were thinking with your heart, which is in the right place. Your analysis did not pan out as an intellectual exercise. Clearly a difficult effort to be objective and a fan