Positivity lifts the O's

[wildcard]

" If you think you can do it, you can do it."   -   Don Long

The O's as a group are living those words.

Mancini, Nunez, Villar and Smith has been the O's offense.  Now Davis, Rickard and Severino are joining them to build a deeper offensive group.

Cashner is tied with 4 others for the most wins in Baseball.   He is becoming a leader on this pitching staff.

“I think CD is feeling more confident,” Hyde said. “He’s feeling more comfortable. Kind of letting the game happen now instead of forcing the issue. Great to see.”

"I like Joey's game."   - Hyde

Well, the O's are beginning to think they can do.  Can the positivity turn their season around?  

 

 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

Can the positivity turn their season around?  

 

 

Not really.    But it can make the season a lot more enjoyable for both the team and its fans.

[Ohfan67]

Positivity indeed. Last night's game was fun, but I guess the one game winning streak has some of us pumped. 

[Moose Milligan]

27 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not really.    But it can make the season a lot more enjoyable for both the team and its fans.

This is about where I'm at.  The offense can be a lot of fun at times.  Seeing these guys come into their own is great.

The pitching, on the other hand...cherish the gems like we got last night, it's going to be murky waters for most of the season.  And really, that could be the thing that'd hold this team back.  The defense is improved, the offense is surprisingly decent, it just doesn't have any household names.  The pitching is what'll hold this team back from cracking 70+ wins.

[Moose Milligan]

The Orioles are smack in the middle of the AL for Runs Scored:  http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/league/al

5th in hits

10th in doubles

8th in homers

9th in batting average

11th in on base

10th in OPS

If this team finished with those totals, I'd be fairly happy.  That's a lot more than I'd have expected headed into this season and a reason to be positive heading into 2020.

[interloper]

As long as it annoys CoC, I'm for it. 

[wildcard]

14 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

This is about where I'm at.  The offense can be a lot of fun at times.  Seeing these guys come into their own is great.

The pitching, on the other hand...cherish the gems like we got last night, it's going to be murky waters for most of the season.  And really, that could be the thing that'd hold this team back.  The defense is improved, the offense is surprisingly decent, it just doesn't have any household names.  The pitching is what'll hold this team back from cracking 70+ wins.

I don't know about that.   The pitching could be about ready to take a turn for the better.

Cashner, Cobb, Bundy, Means and Straily  could form a good rotation

Givens, Fry, Phillips, Hess, Yacabonis,  Ramirez and Scott could be pretty solid.

Bleier and Karns are on the mend.

I am not counting the pitching out just yet.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

I don't know about that.   The pitching could be about ready to take a turn for the better.

Cashner, Cobb, Bundy, Means and Straily  could form a good rotation

Givens, Fry, Phillips, Hess, Yacabonis,  Ramirez and Scott could be pretty solid.

Bleier and Karns are on the mend.

I am not counting the pitching out just yet.

I wish I had your optimism. 

I think, mostly, these guys are what they are.  They're far enough into their careers where they've put up stats that provide enough information that we can get an idea of what they'll provide.  That doesn't take into account that any one or all of these guys could pop off and have a career year. 

To your point, Fry, Phillips, Hess, Yacabonis and Means all have upside.   However, these guys have been ranked where they've been ranked for reasons.  Their games have holes.  To what degree those holes can be fixed remains to be seen.  

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I don't know about that.   The pitching could be about ready to take a turn for the better.

Cashner, Cobb, Bundy, Means and Straily  could form a good rotation

Givens, Fry, Phillips, Hess, Yacabonis,  Ramirez and Scott could be pretty solid.

Bleier and Karns are on the mend.

I am not counting the pitching out just yet.

I fully expect the pitching to be better.    6.15 ERA and 2.36 HR/game is a very low bar to hurdle.   But I expect our pitching to be near the bottom of the league.   And I think our offense is probably going to get worse, though I’m hoping it won’t.   

[Redskins Rick]

I like Melewski calling them the "Bounceback Kids"

So far, twice they have embarrassing loses, and bounced right back with their own thrashing.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/04/os-followed-blowout-loss-with-blowout-win-against-chicago.html

[wildcard]

I believe that positivity is a strong force.   When players start believing in themselves good things can happen.  When they start believing in each other great things can happen.  

Positivity is a driving force with the O's right now.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

[LTO's]

I'm totally fine with us taking some lumps this year. I have to be since I advocated for the house cleaning to take place two years ago. But, I would really like it if we didn't have to use a position player to pitch every series. The 1 run loses where the team fights until the end are not bad. It's the watching the game two nights ago and the second game of the Twins DH that really wear on ya. 

[interloper]

8 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I believe that positivity is a strong force.   When players start believing in themselves good things can happen.  When they start believing in each other great things can happen.  

Positivity is a driving force with the O's right now.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

At the end of the day, there will be a lot of players on this team who will be indebted to Brandon Hyde for allowing them to have a baseball career. 

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I believe that positivity is a strong force.   When players start believing in themselves good things can happen.  When they start believing in each other great things can happen.  

Positivity is a driving force with the O's right now.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

I’m not going to further sully this positive thread with negative thoughts.    Let’s just say we’re on a one-game winning streak.   

[glenn__davis]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I believe that positivity is a strong force.   When players start believing in themselves good things can happen.  When they start believing in each other great things can happen.  

Positivity is a driving force with the O's right now.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

I very much believe that as well.  When everyone is pulling the rope the same way good things can happen.

But I also believe that this team is very bad and will continue to be very bad, as evidenced by their 9-16 record and -48 run differential (worst in the majors).