The Silver Lining Report: Game 10/162 (O's win 12-4)

[interloper]

Holy crap what a cool game! Maybe one of the most fun games I've watched in a long time. There's a lot to unpack...

• Cedric Mullins: Talk about busting out of a slump. 2 triples, a sac fly, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a nice sac bunt. One of the triples was basically an inside-the-park home run. And the SPEED. It turns out he made a little history while he was at it. What a night for the guy, whose BA is now up to .167. He led the team in Win Probability Added with 0.236. Check out these interesting facts about his historic night.
   
   

• Richie Martin: You have to feel good for this kid, who more than doubled his amount of hits on the season with 3, and did it against his former organization. And there was no dying quail to be found here - he hit two solid singles and crushed a triple, ending the night 3-4 with 3 runs scored and bringing his BA to .185. He got in on some of the history-making while he was at it. 
   
• Jonathan Villar: What a start to the season for a guy who is surely becoming an Orioles fan favorite. 2-5, 4 RBI, and his third home run, a 2-run shot. He's OPSing .992 and looks good doing it. He also played a hell of a defensive game, but we're saving all that for its own bullet point. 
   
• Trey Mancini: Right now he looks like a shoe-in to be the Orioles All Star selection. 3-3, 2 RBI, 2 walks, and his 5th home run, a solo bomb to start a prolific night of Oriole run-scoring. I just noted Villar's .992 OPS. Well Trey's sporting a 1.253. That'll work!
   
• Hanser Alberto: I have to laugh at this guy, man. Who even is he? I love it. He's out there getting hits and playing 3B like he's freaking Adrian Beltre. A 2-RBI single helped seal the deal and you can't say enough about his 3B play in this game. Is he a real third baseman? I have no idea. But he was in this one. And the ENERGY! Fun player.
   
• THE DEFENSE: HOLY CRAP. I mean play after play after play in the infield. Hanser diving stops, Villar diving stops, nifty flips, Martin handling all his plays and a nice recovery on a ball he initially bobbled. And yes, a number of outstanding defensive plays from Chris Davis, who had an excellent diving stop and flip to Cashner, and saved at least one error on a great scoop. Sucre threw out a runner and continues to look great. The O's would officially commit 2 errors on the night - an Alberto throw and a Sucre throw on his second attempt to throw out a runner that looked to be more on Martin to me - but the sheer amount of tough plays that were made more than outweighed them. A banner night for the defense, I really cannot stress it enough. Go watch the highlights: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/athletics-vs-orioles/2019/04/08/564933#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=564933
   

• Andrew Cashner: Bent but did not break. Getting into the 6th inning is really all I want out of Cash and he did that, scattering 9 hits and giving up 3 ER. ERA down to 5.28 after back-to-back solid outings. And for a guy who historically gets no run support, tonight probably felt good.
   
• Jimmy Yacabonis: Attaboy. 2 IP and 0 ER. Only 1 walk. He's looking solid, with an early ERA of 2.45. 
   
• Mychal Givens: A gutsy performance with the bases jacked and he got out of it. Really nice job. I'm sure he wanted to come back out the next inning - and might have - but the O's were not done scoring a million runs. 
   
• Nate Karns: Got back on track with a perfect inning to close out the win. His arm remains attached to his body and he's still sporting a 0.00 ERA. 
   
• Chris Davis: Look. The guy hit 3 balls on the damn screws, particularly the third one, which had an estimated BA of almost .600 (!!). That's just unfair. But the fans were behind him and he looked engaged out there. He played a vintage Davis 1B. 
• Mini s: Sucre's 2-4 night at the plate, Nunez's 2-5 night at the plate, 15 total hits, allowed just the first SB of the season, Rickard saw 27 pitches to lead the team.

 

Whew. What a game. 

[ShaneDawg85]

Jim Hunter said more than once the difference some team speed can make with getting in some insurance runs.  Now granted, Jim Hunter is 9 times out of 10 the captain of the optimism boat, but honestly, I can't say it isn't evident.  Villar, Martin, Mullins, Alberto, they scored more add-on runs based on speed alone than any point I can recall in the last 6-7 years.  Team speed is obviously pretty irrelevant if you can't get on base, but if they can, it'll be a lot more fun to watch.

[interloper]

I don't care how many games we lose this year. It's clear this is a more fun group than the 2018 squad. Some nights they will get their heads beat in by the other team, but some nights they will be joy to watch. Energy level was off the charts last night. 

[Natty]

What an exciting game. It was great to see Mullins and Martin suddenly both come out of their slumps and start hitting. I hope they keep it up. 

[billw76]

I was at the game last night, and the atmosphere and energy was great, even with such a small crowd.

I was quite surprised by the support Davis got all night, even after his strikeout in the 8th. Fans were on their feet for him going back to the dugout. 

Regardless of what the record is this season, there is no doubt IMO that this team is much more fun to watch.

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, billw76 said:

I was at the game last night, and the atmosphere and energy was great, even with such a small crowd.

I was quite surprised by the support Davis got all night, even after his strikeout in the 8th. Fans were on their feet for him going back to the dugout. 

Regardless of what the record is this season, there is no doubt IMO that this team is much more fun to watch.

I was glad to read that on Twitter as well during the game. By all accounts it was not a Bronx cheer for him to break the hitless record; it was genuine. Which is great. Booing is dumb. 

[interloper]

22 minutes ago, Natty said:

What an exciting game. It was great to see Mullins and Martin suddenly both come out of their slumps and start hitting. I hope they keep it up. 

If those two can hit even a little bit and do their speed thing while Villar and Mancini mash, that'll be fun. I'm not sure Villar can keep his pace up, but his approach seems great. Going to all fields, etc. Mancini too. 

[NCRaven]

Not every opponent is from New York, Boston or Houston.  The AL has a lot of mediocre teams and we can match up with them on any given night.  Still likely to lose a ton of games, but we will make many of them interesting and I think we'll win more than expected.

[mdbdotcom]

Wonder how many tickets Chris bought for people last night.

 

[interloper]

 

[Mayor McCheese]

Jesus Sucre is the freaking man.  That is all.

I understand why he was brought here and it is certainly showing with our pitchers.

[interloper]

Just now, Mayor McCheese said:

Jesus Sucre is the freaking man.  That is all.

I understand why he was brought here and it is certainly showing with our pitchers.

Yeah, he's great. I can see how his occasional annoyance at bad pitches might rub guys the wrong way, but I tend to think that seeing someone get annoyed at your bad pitch has an affect that jostles the pitcher a little bit. It might serve to have them focus more to reign it in. And when they do he's very supportive. 

Plus, arm-gun. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Mayor McCheese said:

Jesus Sucre is the freaking man.  That is all.

I understand why he was brought here and it is certainly showing with our pitchers.

 

5.83 ERA good for 24th.

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

5.83 ERA good for 24th.

Shrugggggg. The bullpen stinks. He's called some good games. Also small sample. He's coaxed some outings out of pitchers that in the past would have easily gone south. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Shrugggggg. The bullpen stinks. He's called some good games. Also small sample. He's coaxed some outings out of pitchers that in the past would have easily gone south. 

He's been a replacement level guy over his six year career as a backup catcher.

Guy shows a little energy behind the plate and folks freak out.