Today is the biggest start of Gausman's career

[Diehard_O's_Fan]

Kevin Gausman has to step up today. We need him to absolutely dominate. It is the biggest start of his career if you ask me. The Orioles have to win today. The loss last night was absolutely devastating especially since we got beat by an ex Oriole.

[Frobby]

How about the final game of last season, to clinch a playoff berth?

[Diehard_O's_Fan]

Maybe the second most important start then. It is absolutely critical that he steps up. The pitching matchup favors the Orioles today. We need to win baby! Buckle Up!

[Frobby]

Not to denigrate the importance of today's game, but I'd argue that virtually every game Gausman pitched in September last year was more important than this one, and arguably some of the August ones, too.

 

Sept. 3 -- 2-0 win over the Yankees brought us within two games of the division lead and the first wild card, and kept us one game ahead of Detroit for the 2nd wild card.

Sept. 9 -- No decision, but we lost a game with Detroit that dropped us into a tie with them for the 2nd wild card and kept us from tying Toronto for the first wild card.

Sept. 14 -- Beat Boston 1-0 in a game that brought us within one game of the division lead and put us into first wild card position

Sept. 20 -- Lost to Boston in a game that dropped us from first wild card position and left us 2 games ahead of Detroit for 2nd wild card.

Sept. 27 -- Lost to Toronto to fall two games behind the first wild card and narrow our lead over Detroit for 2nd wild card to one game.

Oct. 3 -- Beat the Yankees to clinch wild card spot; could have gotten first wild card if Toronto had lost later that day.

 

[Ruzious]

3:37 start.  It's the most important game... of the day.  

[joelala]

Important game for sure, and a great start from gausy would be huge.  But if we win 8-7, I'm just as cool with that!

[sportsfan8703]

Our bats need to get going.  They've put up like 2 runs over the first 6 innings of the first two games.  I like Gausman today, this Angels lineup is pretty weak.  You can see how they over perform though, they have great defense up the middle and the best player in baseball batting 2nd.  

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Our bats need to get going.  They've put up like 2 runs over the first 6 innings of the first two games.  I like Gausman today, this Angels lineup is pretty weak.  You can see how they over perform though, they have great defense up the middle and the best player in baseball batting 2nd.  

Our bats have been very good since the all-star break, but I agree it'd be nice if they got going early today.    

[Frobby]

The opposing pitcher, Troy Scribner, is making just his second big league start.   He lasted 4 innings in the last one.   Pretty decent numbers (4.16 ERA) in the batter-friendly PCL, so I wouldn't take him lightly.  

[Tx Oriole]

1 hour ago, Diehard_O's_Fan said:

Maybe the second most important start then. It is absolutely critical that he steps up. The pitching matchup favors the Orioles today. We need to win baby! Buckle Up!

I think the hitters need to show up too. 

[gfrank]

I'm not holding my breath for today's game. Gausman's ERA and slash pitching to Castillo is 7.35 and .346/.415/.993. With Caleb it's 3.19 and .253/.318/.690. Those last four starts where Gausman's been on fire have been with Caleb behind the plate, while that 8 run dumpster fire he experienced against the Cubs was with Castillo behind the plate. I don't know why Buck is disrupting the pretty clearly good rapport Gausman is developing with Caleb, 2 earned runs over the last 27.2 innings is an insanely good run(that's a 0.65 ERA), but I hope that these numbers are not as damning to Castillo as they immediately appear. If this start really means anything, it's probably to determine decisively whether or not Caleb should be Gausman's personal catcher for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, I don't think this is probably going to be that big of a start for Gausman. Those starts when he was a bad outing away from being demoted were pretty immense for him, it can be hard clawing your way back into a rotation once you've been pulled from it, and he's rebounded extremely well on the whole over the last month or so. And as others have noted, those starts down the stretch last year were also pretty huge. Pretty big game for the Orioles, though, as it gives a chance for a competitor to gain some disastrous ground against us.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, gfrank said:

I'm not holding my breath for today's game. Gausman's ERA and slash pitching to Castillo is 7.35 and .346/.415/.993. With Caleb it's 3.19 and .253/.318/.690. Those last four starts where Gausman's been on fire have been with Caleb behind the plate, while that 8 run dumpster fire he experienced against the Cubs was with Castillo behind the plate. I don't know why Buck is disrupting the pretty clearly good rapport Gausman is developing with Caleb, 2 earned runs over the last 27.2 innings is an insanely good run(that's a 0.65 ERA), but I hope that these numbers are not as damning to Castillo as they immediately appear. If this start really means anything, it's probably to determine decisively whether or not Caleb should be Gausman's personal catcher for the foreseeable future.

Day game after a night game.    Simple as that.   

[Cumberbundy]

My boy King Kaus? He's got this.

[mdbdotcom]

Every pitch a pitcher pitches is the most important pitch he will ever pitch.

[Three Run Homer]

All you people who minimized the importance of this game caused him to pitch badly!