Yeah, Buck Screwed Up, But It Was The Hitting That Lost This Game.

[ORIOLE33]

I hope the real culprits aren't being let off the hook. FOUR HITS!?!? What the hell was that?

[JR Oriole]

Absolutely. I agree completely. And this has been the case for too long. Their collective approach at the plate is horrific. Jones, Manny, Schoop, Davis....these guys are awful under pressure. Especially Jones, who becomes a weaker hitter than Belanger when the calendar gets to October. Have we fired Coolbaugh yet? If not, he should be gone by tomorrow.

[clapdiddy]

I hope the real culprits aren't being let off the hook. FOUR HITS!?!? What the hell was that?

The Orioles are not a good hitting team.

[Justinlstn]

Honestly when Jones came out swinging at the first pitch it kind of set the pace of the game. Complete opposite of what a lead off hitter is supposed to do. Hardly anyone was taking pitches and it allowed Stroman to work fast. I don't think he threw ten pitches that first inning.

I will say the guys in the bullpen did great last night, coming in the 5th inning and shutting down a dangerous Jays team until Jimenez blew things up in the 10th.

[Nite]

2 runs 4 hits and a terrible umpire. That's why they lost. Hell if Stroman doesn't have a brain fart vs Trumbo then the game ends 2-0.

[Camden_yardbird]

If Buck had faith in the offense we would have seen Britton for two innings instead of Duensing and Ubaldo. I agree. Jones is a great leader and you are reminded of that when he goes to defend his teammate, but he's not a great contact hitter and he is not the on base threat the Orioles need. They may need his power again next year, buthe it's time for the Orioles to figure out a lineup that works around him and Schoop or its time to explore other options if they cant.

[Moshagge3]

Both the hitting and managing were atrocious, but there is a difference between failing to execute physically and making deliberate dumb decisions. Chris Davis didn't decide to swing through a fat fastball, it just happened. And Davis knows he messed up. J.J. Hardy knows he chased the pitcher's pitch 3-2. Reimold knows he misplayed the ball. The difference is, Buck, with plenty of time to mull it over, thought that Britton needed to stay on the bench. And he does not think he was wrong. That's why people are more upset at the latter.

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[MDK02]

2 runs 4 hits and a terrible umpire. That's why they lost. Hell if Stroman doesn't have a brain fart vs Trumbo then the game ends 2-0.

I think I'd rather that than them walking off like that. It would have probably saved a lot of hate towards Buck too.

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[casadeozo]

While eveveryone is caught up on Buck's 11th inning decision, we continue to ignore a flawed offense that could not generate any hits. The truth is did anyone ever think the o's would score outside of a home run?

Let's assume wieters and Alvarez leave in the off season. What are we going to do to address team speed and OBP? We are still a very good team going into next year but can not pretend like we are good enough to win a World Series.

[utvolzac]

Almost as bad as the Britton thing, was pinch hitting a Reimold. With Manny on deck you needed desperately to get that guy on base. And he picks Reimold!?!?!?

Reimold has been beyond pitiful all season. Regardless of match up, I'd take Kim trying to work the count and draw a walk or a single over Reimold who is almost a guaranteed out.

I'd even take Mancini as a rookie in that spot over Reimold.

[pastorfan]

I hope the real culprits aren't being let off the hook. FOUR HITS!?!? What the hell was that?

Exactly!

[InsideCoroner]

I don't even blame Buck. If Britton came into the game instead of Ubaldo, then we just would have lost in the 12th, or the 13th. It wasn't like we blew a bunch of prime scoring opportunities. There was NOTHING going on offensively, Toronto played better defense, and Liriano could have kept that going for several more innings. If we're going to lose, let's just lose in 11. No need to prolong the torture. It was a fun year. Heartbreaking, sure, but I would rather have my heart broken in October than in May.

[pastorfan]

Almost as bad as the Britton thing, was pinch hitting a Reimold. With Manny on deck you needed desperately to get that guy on base. And he picks Reimold!?!?!?

Reimold has been beyond pitiful all season. Regardless of match up, I'd take Kim trying to work the count and draw a walk or a single over Reimold who is almost a guaranteed out.

I'd even take Mancini as a rookie in that spot over Reimold.

No excuse for Reimold to be on the team, much less in that game in that situation.

[Morgan423]

Agreed, OP. We certainly are going to have an interesting conundrum on where to focus or efforts this off season.

[Sanfran327]

I don't even blame Buck. If Britton came into the game instead of Ubaldo, then we just would have lost in the 12th, or the 13th. It wasn't like we blew a bunch of prime scoring opportunities. There was NOTHING going on offensively, Toronto played better defense, and Liriano could have kept that going for several more innings. If we're going to lose, let's just lose in 11. No need to prolong the torture. It was a fun year. Heartbreaking, sure, but I would rather have my heart broken in October than in May.

FTW. It became apparent in the 8th or 9th that we weren't set up to win that game. Now, we can always hit a solo shot and have Britton come in and nail things down (that was, after all, our modus operandi all season), but nobody was really putting a good swing on the ball except for Trumbo, who hit several balls pretty hard. But more to your point, Liriano was going to keep us down for the next 3-4 innings easily. I would probably want to keep Britton's rep clean after the season he had and shoulder the blame myself if I was Buck, too.

Buck is the easy target here, but this thread is right on. We lost because we couldn't create any offense.