The Silver Lining Report: Game 20/162 (O's win 6-5)

[interloper]

The 20th game of the season was a pretty good extra-innings affair.

It's the SLR Zone!

• Beat the Rays: Hey, that's hard to do! The Rays look like a juggernaut of analytics, wacky on-field strategy, ridiculous pitching, pristine defense, and excellent hitting. But for one night, we got 'em!
   
• Andrew Cashner: Don't look now, but he's the Orioles' most consistent starting pitcher. He looked good tonight, touching 96 mph with good location which resulted in 6 Ks over 5. Just the 2 ER to bring his era below 5.00. He's getting some run support this year, which is probably nice for him. 
   
• Joey Rickard: Have a game Joey! He got on base 5 times on the night, going 4-5 with a double, 1 BB, and 2 RBI. Stole a base. Dove headfirst into 1B to beat the pitcher. Uniform was dirty as hell. He needed a good game and had one. .591 WPA to lead anyone who played in this game. His clutch RBI double in the 11th would seal the deal. He gets the first-ever SLR unicorn for his performance. It's like the game ball. But a unicorn. 
   
• Pedro Severino: A moonshot! Good lord. If you haven't seen it, go find the highlight.
   
• Trey Mancini: Just another 3-hit, 1-walk night. With a double. It's almost boring how good he is. The OPS remains above the 1.000 line.
   
• Jimmy Yacabonis: He weaseled his way out of some deep fly balls and got subjected to a Brocail pep talk on the bench, but all told he put up another scoreless outing. 
   
• Chris Davis: Arguably won them the game. A pinch-hit single and proceeded to hustle 1st to 3rd on Ruiz's single. He looked like he might keel over in the process, but he got there. He would be the winning run on Rickard's RBI double. Davis is now hitting above .100. 
   
• Cedric Mullins: Despite another tough night at the plate, he made a huge diving catch in the 11th inning for the 2nd out, which looked to be a sure hit almost all the way. Closing speed! 
   
• John Means: How huge has this guy been? Fastball touched 94 and the changeup is anywhere from 75-81. 2 scoreless in extra innings to shut down the Rays. 4 Ks! 
   
• Rio Ruiz: I'm gonna give one to Rio just because I like his game. 2-6 including the clutch hit 2-out hit that got Davis to 3rd in the 11th. Overall this season he's been hanging in there with a .224/.333/.362, which is a nice improvement on his 2017 numbers, which was the last time he got significant AB (150) in the ML. His 14.5 BB% leads the team. 
   
• Richie Martin: First ML RBI! A solid single to CF. He went to 2nd on the throw, but got hung up thinking about going to 3rd. Hey that's ok Richie. Stay aggressive babe! 
   
• Mini s: Smith double and RBI sac fly, RBI single for Nunez. Hey those would normally be their own bullet points, but that's how good the O's were in this one. 
   
• Road record: 7-6

Back to Baltimore!

[Moose Milligan]

That's a game that last years team doesn't win.  IMO, last years team rolls over...or isn't even in that game because they couldn't work a count and see more pitches.  This team continues to fight no matter who they're playing.  I think everyone in the game thread was expecting that to end in the worst way possible but the Orioles fought hard and came out with a win.  Might not have been pretty, certainly wasn't easy but that was awesome to see.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

That's a game that last years team doesn't win.  IMO, last years team rolls over...or isn't even in that game because they couldn't work a count and see more pitches.  This team continues to fight no matter who they're playing.  I think everyone in the game thread was expecting that to end in the worst way possible but the Orioles fought hard and came out with a win.  Might not have been pretty, certainly wasn't easy but that was awesome to see.

Yeah absolutely. Just look at how many different guys had RBIs.

I didn't list it, but Pedro had an AB where he saw like at least 8 pitches. The backup catcher! 

[Redskins Rick]

[Redskins Rick]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah absolutely. Just look at how many different guys had RBIs.

I didn't list it, but Pedro had an AB where he saw like at least 8 pitches. The backup catcher! 

Backup catch?

That means, we have a starting catcher? LMBO

:):):):):)

[Moose Milligan]

To add another silver lining, I will say defensive alignment.  IMO, I think I got annoyed at Rickard playing what looked like right center on the Rays double down the line to tie it up.  

But then they had him positioned perfectly to catch that line drive later on that was a rocket.  Also having Mullins play deep so he could come in and make that diving catch.

Roberts (who I love) made the point that you'll give up some dink shots that fall in front from time to time but they'll also be able to take away some extra base hits.  I like the philosophy of trying to keep the ball in front of the outfielders, it's easier to come in than go back.

Kudos to Bill Swerski Super Fan member Arnie Beyeler for the mostly good defensive alignments in the outfield.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Redskins Rick said:

Backup catch?

That means, we have a starting catcher? LMBO

:):):):):)

Honestly, I wouldn't hate Severino getting a little more playing time as the younger, more-upsidey of the two. 

[Redskins Rick]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Honestly, I wouldn't hate Severino getting a little more playing time as the younger, more-upsidey of the two. 

True, just a place holder until we draft the next switch hitting Jesus.

[bobmc]

1 hour ago, Redskins Rick said:

Sexy W says "unnamed" Oriole!

 

[bobmc]

57 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

True, just a place holder until we draft the next switch hitting Jesus.

Inside the park dinger!

 

[Redskins Rick]

7 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Inside the park dinger!

 

Sweet, wonder if he can survive the hype?

[bobmc]

1 minute ago, Redskins Rick said:

Sweet, wonder if he can survive the hype?

Did this guy?

 

[Redskins Rick]

5 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Did this guy?

 

Some can, and some cant.

[ShaneDawg85]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

That's a game that last years team doesn't win.  IMO, last years team rolls over...or isn't even in that game because they couldn't work a count and see more pitches.  This team continues to fight no matter who they're playing.  I think everyone in the game thread was expecting that to end in the worst way possible but the Orioles fought hard and came out with a win.  Might not have been pretty, certainly wasn't easy but that was awesome to see.

If there's one thing that is so instantly refreshing about this team so far, it's that they don't just roll over and die.  They've only been in three one run games, but so far they're 3-0.  Last year's team just felt like no matter what the circumstances if it was close and late they would lose, as evidence by their 12-29 record in one run games.  This team isn't very good, but if you're going to lose I'd rather see them go down fighting than just saying screw it.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, ShaneDawg85 said:

If there's one thing that is so instantly refreshing about this team so far, it's that they don't just roll over and die.  They've only been in three one run games, but so far they're 3-0.  Last year's team just felt like no matter what the circumstances if it was close and late they would lose, as evidence by their 12-29 record in one run games.  This team isn't very good, but if you're going to lose I'd rather see them go down fighting than just saying screw it.

That's a fun early stat.