7 of our next 10 games are against the Rays

[MDtransplant757]

 

[NCRaven]

9 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Should be a good test of were the O's are competitively.

Nah.  We will have beaten a bunch of bad teams and one with a lot of injuries.

[wildcard]

16 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Nah.  We will have beaten a bunch of bad teams and one with a lot of injuries.

You sound pretty sure the O's will beat the Rays.  That is yet to be seen.

[FlipTheBird]

1 hour ago, NCRaven said:

Nah.  We will have beaten a bunch of bad teams and one with a lot of injuries.

 

48 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You sound pretty sure the O's will beat the Rays.  That is yet to be seen.

I believe what he's he's implying is that if the Orioles win 2/3 or better this weekend people will say "Oh, they just beat up on an injured team." 

[NCRaven]

22 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

 

I believe what he's he's implying is that if the Orioles win 2/3 or better this weekend people will say "Oh, they just beat up on an injured team." 

Exactly.

[Frobby]

Every win, regardless of who it’s against or how healthy the opponent is, counts the same.   As was pointed out, the Rays just swept a good team, the Red Sox, after being swept by a bad team, the Reds.   We were swept by the Tigers earlier this year.   There are no foregone conclusions in baseball.  There’s no outcome of this upcoming series that would really surprise me.   

[Frobby]

Pretty huge win psychologically today, I think.  I would not have wanted to enter the ASB on a losing streak.  Now we’re guaranteed to be at .500 or better.  A win tomorrow would really be great, but even a loss won’t leave us in a bad spot at the break.  

Not the tidiest win, with the two run-scoring wild pitches by Kremer and the Odor pickoff, but the team hung in and got the win.   Nice to finally win a game in that hell-hole.  
 

[Oriole1940]

It is always great to beat the Yanks and Red Sox because of who they are.  However, it is sooo satisfying to beat the Rays, esp  in the Trop.  They play the game, for the most part, the way it was designed.  When you have beaten them. regardless of the details, it is a really  great happening.  Who would have thought that we go into AS break,  anywhere  near .500.  

 

[LA2]

On 7/15/2022 at 3:53 PM, NCRaven said:

Nah.  We will have beaten a bunch of bad teams and one with a lot of injuries.

Do Means and Grayson count as injuries too? (Not facetious question: Maybe they don't count because they happened before the current good play.)

[Bahama O's Fan]

2 hours ago, LA2 said:

Do Means and Grayson count as injuries too? (Not facetious question: Maybe they don't count because they happened before the current good play.)

how much better would this team be with those two on the roster healthy right now? How many more wins do you think?

[DirtyBird]

14 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

how much better would this team be with those two on the roster healthy right now? How many more wins do you think?

0

[Roll Tide]

2 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

0

I have to think we’d have a few more wins early if we had the healthy good version of John Means early.

[vab]

You have to have the utmost respect for Tampa. When you look at the injuries they have, losing another player today, and they just keep winning. No excuses, no feeling sorry for themselves. Doing it in the toughest division in sports. A model franchise. 

[LA2]

It's just an initial test, but I like that the distinguishing characteristics of the .500 Orioles of 2022 didn't wilt during this series in a park where we have an abominable record: strong bullpen that can log a lot of innings, good defense, and an offense that keeps chipping away late in the game or no matter how many runs down.

[Camden_yardbird]

16 hours ago, vab said:

You have to have the utmost respect for Tampa. When you look at the injuries they have, losing another player today, and they just keep winning. No excuses, no feeling sorry for themselves. Doing it in the toughest division in sports. A model franchise. 

Thats because the rays build for depth.  They understand that roster development isn't linear (player to prospect, position to position) and they understand that flawed players with elite skill sets in one facet of the game still have value.

Just look at their leaders in WAR this season.

1. Yandy Diaz - former top prospect of the guardians.  A flawed player whose defensive positions are limited corner spots and who has little power, but with an elite OBP tool.  Acquired when CLE gave up on him early in his career even when Tampa had a number of top 3B/1B prospects (Lowe(s), Walls, etc.)

2. Ji Man Choi - former mid level prospect who looks an awful lot like Diaz.  Little power and limited defense but with solid OBP skills.

4. Isaac Paredes.  Acquired from Det at the start of the season.  When I saw this trade I said "thats a Tampa move."  Paredes, a 2B was acquired despite the team have Franco at SS, walls and brujan as top prospects, and Lowe on the team.  He was a top performing hitter in MiLB. Lowe got injured and Paredes (as well as others has stepped in).  He's hit 13 HRs.

5. Harold Ramirez.  Another guy acquired from CLE who they had all but given up on.

Margot (admittedly a big trade), Meija, Phillips.  The list goes on.