Orioles Fall on Opening Day

[Bahama O's Fan]

What are your thoughts and takeaways from opening day? I'm not shocked at the results but still disappointed. I was hoping for a closer game. Tommy was decent the first time through the lineup. Maybe he could be a long man or an opener. Davis was in mid season form, putting his spring break numbers behind him early. 

[weams]

 

[JR Oriole]

I think Pillar and J D Martinez would be first ballot hall of famers if they only had to face our pitching.  They have spent their entire careers destroying us.  So that was totally expected.  13-2 is not a great way to start things off.  Hopefully it’s closer today.  

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, JR Oriole said:

I think Pillar and J D Martinez would be first ballot hall of famers if they only had to face our pitching.  They have spent their entire careers destroying us.  So that was totally expected.  13-2 is not a great way to start things off.  Hopefully it’s closer today.  

Naw, just think of the numbers you would have to put up if everyone was judged solely on how they did against the Orioles.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Why is it that we can't develop good starting pitching?

[section18]

Our manager has a bad habit simiiar to what Buck had of saving pitchers for the next two games. I believe we have sixteen pitchers all rested and he lets Carroll and Lakins get raked and then brings in kerosene Hess and we have an embarassing loss. This happened at OP last year for the paying fans as well. He seems to think he is in Spring Training and when they get down by three or four runs its a route so games over. Some may disagree but I would rather lose 8-3 than 13-2. Its demoralizing to the rest of the team. I remember LaRussa changing pitchers multiple times in the same inning during games if a guy walked a player and coming back to win. The offense without Mancini and Villar  and not being replaced will probably guarantee another number 1 pick in the draft. The sooner we can add Mountcastle the better. Did Herrera clear waivers? Some punch ! Valdez cleared and should have made it over Hess. He should have stayed on the roster. I would have kept Holoday as a backup catcher and let him work with Cobb some more. They clicked in D.C. Its obviously only one game but our manager needs to work the pen and if they are going to walk guys or give up hits get them out of there. When asked about Carroll after the game saying he was too over amped and nerves got to him was strange. There was nobody there to watch and no crowd intimidation.

[drjohnnyfeva]

Notwithstanding the drubbing, it was just difficult to watch.  I like Scott Garceau, but the commentary was not engaging and made it difficult to stay into it. It was eerily quiet at times.  Not that I really expected it to be any different, but it seemed more like a Spring Training game than the real thing.

[wildcard]

Hard to beat Eovaldi when he is on his game like that.   O's best chance disappeared when Means could not make the start.

Milone good middle reliever for a couple of innings but not up to starting vs the Red Sox.   We got to see two (new) pitchers.   Carroll throws hard but was missing by a foot at times.  Seemed like he could get two strikes but couldn't compose himself enough to make the pitch when he had to.  I will caulk this one up to adrenaline.     Let's see how he does next time.

Larkin was put into a unfair position.  Bases loaded,  no one out, heart of the order coming up.  He did pitch a clean inning when he got to pitch with no one on base.  

Ruiz homer was nice.   Santander not at full strength yet.  I would not be surprised if he sits day game after night game.   They played a errorless game.

Lets see what Cobb can do.

[wildcard]

26 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Why is it that we can't develop good starting pitching?

We don't know if Elias and company can develop pitching or not.  They have not had enough time yet.   So far he has not drafted much pitching though.

[wildcard]

16 minutes ago, section18 said:

Our manager has a bad habit simiiar to what Buck had of saving pitchers for the next two games. I believe we have sixteen pitchers all rested and he lets Carroll and Lakins get raked and then brings in kerosene Hess and we have an embarassing loss. This happened at OP last year for the paying fans as well. He seems to think he is in Spring Training and when they get down by three or four runs its a route so games over. Some may disagree but I would rather lose 8-3 than 13-2. Its demoralizing to the rest of the team. I remember LaRussa changing pitchers multiple times in the same inning during games if a guy walked a player and coming back to win. The offense without Mancini and Villar  and not being replaced will probably guarantee another number 1 pick in the draft. The sooner we can add Mountcastle the better. Did Herrera clear waivers? Some punch ! Valdez cleared and should have made it over Hess. He should have stayed on the roster. I would have kept Holoday as a backup catcher and let him work with Cobb some more. They clicked in D.C. Its obviously only one game but our manager needs to work the pen and if they are going to walk guys or give up hits get them out of there. When asked about Carroll after the game saying he was too over amped and nerves got to him was strange. There was nobody there to watch and no crowd intimidation.

Herrera and Valdez are on minor league contracts.  They did not have to go through waivers.  They were just reassigned to the minors/pool.

[bobmc]

But only one out of first so there is that and the dinger!

 

[interloper]

Milone is not a guy who can succeed the second time through a lineup. Carroll was disappointing but he's better than that. Lakins and Hess ate innings but are bad. I thought we'd see more velocity from Hess out of the pen but it just isn't there.

Offensively it's tough when Eovaldi is throwing 100 with good command. But Ruiz, Nunez, and Santander with good hits.

I enjoyed every second of this beat down.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Naw, just think of the numbers you would have to put up if everyone was judged solely on how they did against the Orioles.

The Orioles added about .080 points of OPS to an average batter in 2019.  The highest MLB overall league OPSes in history are around .800.  So batting against the Orioles puts you in a context similar to a very good hitter's park in 1894 or 1930.  1930 was the year that Pinkey Whitney hit .342 and was a below-average batter.

[backwardsk]

31 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

Any of us on this page love baseball, and love the Orioles..even if they dont always love us. But even despite the blowout , I couldn't stay with the game for very long. The lack of crowd and energy exposes baseball's oldest criticism...it DID seem slow and plodding. The dirty little secret about sports is that the sound and passion of the crowd at any event elevates the excitement and anticipation. Neither was part of opening night. Yes, the Orioles were awful, but in truth, without the crowd, every game to me feels like an intraquad game in Dunedin,Florida in March.Hard to watch. I think the TV numbers might be big for a week or two...but will dramatically drop off after the curiosity fades.

You also have the playoffs in hockey and basketball picking up soon.  So the casual sports fan will likely turn their attention to that. 
 

The Yankees/Nats delivered 4M viewers on opening night.  A record.  The season premiere of Dancing with the Stars in 2019 drew 8M.  

[Philip]

I agree with the people who mentioned that Hyde doesn’t anticipate The need to change pitchers. Milone was great for 2+ innings, but Hyde should have expected what happened and been prepared.

Santander should have caught that first double.

Hays should have had a double, but for Pillar’s excellent defense.

How was Stewart in LF? He had an accurate throw back into the infield, but it looked like it was losing steam fast. A lot of Red Sox doubles were hit to LF, though. Would Mclouth have caught them?