This offense has surprised me

[ChuckS]

Our two best hitters, Mancini and Villar are hitting way over their heads.  When they come back down to earth, the rest of the offense will come crashing down. 

Mullins can hit much better than he has.  The rest of the offense has done about what would could be expected of them. 

[Finisher]

1 hour ago, ChuckS said:

Our two best hitters, Mancini and Villar are hitting way over their heads.  When they come back down to earth, the rest of the offense will come crashing down.

Villar sustained this level in 2016 and Macini in his rookie year put up an .826 OPS. So while Mancini by default will regress, he can still be productive and Villar has done what he's doing before.

Between those two and Dwight Smith and Nunez, you've got four guys who should give you around .320 OBP and 15+ homers.

 

 

[SteveA]

3 hours ago, mdbdotcom said:

And doing it without relying exclusively on the home run. Taking advantage of opponents' mistakes, and they've made a lot of them.

Yeah, it certainly seems that most of the teams we have played, maybe with the exception of Oakland, have looked kind of poor defensively.   Lots of mistakes.   And are we taking advantage of opponent mistakes better than before?

[CheeryO]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Following today’s 8-1 win, the O’s are averaging 4.65 runs/game.   That’s right around the AL average, but I’m shocked we’ve been that good, with a lineup that features Davis, Martin, Mullins and Sucre most days.    As a reminder, last year we averaged 3.84 runs/game.

Honestly, I think it’s pretty fluky.   A team OPS of .661 (before today) should not translate to 4.65 runs/game, but somehow it has.   We’ve been a little better with RISP (.733), but that’s still pretty mediocre.    So don’t ask me how it’s happened, but it has.    I just hope it continues!

While Villar and Mancini likely won't continue their great hitting all season, the back of the lineup likely won't continue to be as bad all season as they've been.  Also, this Oriole team has some speed, which recent O's teams have not had much of.  That might be part of the difference.  

Despite Bundy's poor start, some injuries and a shaky bullpen, I'm optimistic the pitching staff could be quite a bit better than we expected.  The O's have faced some strong offences so far; while they've been battered some games they've looked pretty good in others.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

53 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Yeah, it certainly seems that most of the teams we have played, maybe with the exception of Oakland, have looked kind of poor defensively.   Lots of mistakes.   And are we taking advantage of opponent mistakes better than before?

You can do that when you don’t have a lineup of beer league softball players.  Nice to have some athleticism on the team.

[thezeroes]

2019 AFTER 16 GAMES,  600 PA, 49 WALKS 138 K's, 122 HITS, 6 WINS, 10 LOSSES

2018 AFTER 16 GAMES, 627 PAS, 53 WALKS, 177 K'S, 122 HITS, 5 WINS 11 LOSSES

[mdoriolefan]

27 minutes ago, thezeroes said:

2019 AFTER 16 GAMES,  600 PA, 49 WALKS 138 K's, 122 HITS, 6 WINS, 10 LOSSES

2018 AFTER 16 GAMES, 627 PAS, 53 WALKS, 177 K'S, 122 HITS, 5 WINS 11 LOSSES

It was then a loud noise was heard.  The sound of Hope being sucked out of the room.  The strikeouts are down so there's that.

[SteveA]

54 minutes ago, thezeroes said:

2019 AFTER 16 GAMES,  600 PA, 49 WALKS 138 K's, 122 HITS, 6 WINS, 10 LOSSES

2018 AFTER 16 GAMES, 627 PAS, 53 WALKS, 177 K'S, 122 HITS, 5 WINS 11 LOSSES

Of course game 17 last year was a 4 2 loss, game 17 this year was an 8-1 win.

[HowAboutThat]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Following today’s 8-1 win, the O’s are averaging 4.65 runs/game.   That’s right around the AL average, but I’m shocked we’ve been that good, with a lineup that features Davis, Martin, Mullins and Sucre most days.    As a reminder, last year we averaged 3.84 runs/game.

Honestly, I think it’s pretty fluky.   A team OPS of .661 (before today) should not translate to 4.65 runs/game, but somehow it has.   We’ve been a little better with RISP (.733), but that’s still pretty mediocre.    So don’t ask me how it’s happened, but it has.    I just hope it continues!

Well some credit goes to the opposing NY and Boston defense and thanks for all the walks.

but no complaints.

[HowAboutThat]

54 minutes ago, mdoriolefan said:

It was then a loud noise was heard.  The sound of Hope being sucked out of the room.  The strikeouts are down so there's that.

The Defense is TREMENDOUSLY improved. That’s where the difference is.

Is it possible that our pitching is also better this year?

seriously...as bad as it is now, wasn’t it worse last year?

[mdoriolefan]

15 minutes ago, Philip said:

The Defense is TREMENDOUSLY improved. That’s where the difference is.

Is it possible that our pitching is also better this year?

seriously...as bad as it is now, wasn’t it worse last year?

I am enjoying the games much more this year than last.  It's probably the combination of new faces, new management and a sense of a real direction for the team in the future.  That is what I am hoping for at least.  I don't have that dread feeling yet that once we get down a few runs, the game is over automatically. 

[survivedc]

3 hours ago, thezeroes said:

2019 AFTER 16 GAMES,  600 PA, 49 WALKS 138 K's, 122 HITS, 6 WINS, 10 LOSSES

2018 AFTER 16 GAMES, 627 PAS, 53 WALKS, 177 K'S, 122 HITS, 5 WINS 11 LOSSES

Wonder how the difference in strikeouts plays out. Are a third of them productive outs?  

[thezeroes]

1 hour ago, mdoriolefan said:

Is it possible that our pitching is also better this year?

THROUGH GAME 16

2018 147 IP, 153 H, 86 R, 76 ER, 10 UER, 68 W, 134 K'S, 4.65 ERA

2019 140 IP, 161H, 105 R, 98 ER, 7 UER, 60 W, 115 K'S, 6.30 ERA

[HowAboutThat]

42 minutes ago, thezeroes said:

THROUGH GAME 16

2018 147 IP, 153 H, 86 R, 76 ER, 10 UER, 68 W, 134 K'S, 4.65 ERA

2019 140 IP, 161H, 105 R, 98 ER, 7 UER, 60 W, 115 K'S, 6.30 ERA

How can the same number of games involve a different number of innings? We haven’t gone extras yet.

whats the respective FIP?  

[sportsfan8703]

5 hours ago, Philip said:

How can the same number of games involve a different number of innings? We haven’t gone extras yet.

whats the respective FIP?  

We were losing so much on the road that we were only having to pitch 8 innings. We were terrible last year.