It Ain't Over

[Moose Milligan]

The offense just needs to get it together.  I'm not entirely worried about the pitching and I can't believe I'm actually typing that but it's true.  I'm sure they'll have a blowout loss or two in these next 20 games but that's any team.

This has always been a swing happy, hacking bunch but it just seems amplified over the past few weeks.  They're up there trying to hit 6 run homers and abandoning any semblance of a decent plate approach they can muster.  

The notion of making a pitcher work, making a pitcher labor, seeing more pitches and getting deep in at-bat is lost on most of these guys and if these at bats continue that result in one and two pitch outs, we'll be toast.  

[dtk9119]

Looks like TB/TOR series is gonna be 3-2.. pretty much the worst possible outcome for us.. really needed TB to win it like 4-1 since we have 6 more games w TOR.. don't really think we have a shot to catch TB even w all their injuries relying on others.

[OriolesMagic83]

It ain't over but the fat lady is warming up.

[tntoriole]

22 minutes ago, dtk9119 said:

Looks like TB/TOR series is gonna be 3-2.. pretty much the worst possible outcome for us.. really needed TB to win it like 4-1 since we have 6 more games w TOR.. don't really think we have a shot to catch TB even w all their injuries relying on others.

If we go 15-5… to finish with 90 wins .. TB would have to go 10-10 to finish with 89 wins for us to finish ahead of them.. technically we are 4 games behind, but effectively it is 5 because they won the season series tiebreaker 10-9, thus we cannot just tie them. 

 

This playoff race effectively ended when we lost the last game to Oak and were swept in the Monday doubleheader by Toronto. 
 

But I understand those who hope for the dim remaining chance.. remote as it is. 

[dtk9119]

15 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

If we go 15-5… to finish with 90 wins .. TB would have to go 10-10 to finish with 89 wins for us to finish ahead of them.. technically we are 4 games behind, but effectively it is 5 because they won the season series tiebreaker 10-9, thus we cannot just tie them. 

 

This playoff race effectively ended when we lost the last game to Oak and were swept in the Monday doubleheader by Toronto. 
 

But I understand those who hope for the dim remaining chance.. remote as it is. 

I have no hope trust me I am just playing out the string because I am a baseball fan.

I think it ended with just losing that game to the woeful A's. Been saying it for almost 2 weeks. That gave us no margin for error against TOR. Getting swept in the DH just exasperated it. If we had beaten the A's we could have afforded going 1-3 vs TOR. 

[Sports Guy]

I see Tampa got McClanahan back today.  That is big for them.

[spiritof66]

Just win the last 20 and things will probably work out. 

[Hallas]

We're pretty much at a point where we have to sweep the Jays to have a shot, right?  The first 2 are definitely winnable (TBD starter and Berrios with a 5+ ERA) but we're against Manoah for game 3, so we'd need some of that Orioles magic.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Hallas said:

We're pretty much at a point where we have to sweep the Jays to have a shot, right?  The first 2 are definitely winnable (TBD starter and Berrios with a 5+ ERA) but we're against Manoah for game 3, so we'd need some of that Orioles magic.

I don’t think we need to sweep the Jays. We need to play really good baseball for three weeks against a very tough schedule.   

As to Manoah, we’ve beaten the Blue Jays twice in the four times he’s faced us this year.  He’s good but not invincible.  
 

[sportsfan8703]

16 hours ago, AnythingO's said:

I want to be within 2 games of them before that last series and take the first 2. Shades of 1982 for me. I hope for a different outcome but that setup 1983 so I would accept that 2023 WS as a consolation prize.

Sign me up for being 3 GB before that last series. Go all out in game 1 with Grayson starting. Then stuff gets real scary for Toronto. 

[JR Oriole]

In that 5-game series with Tampa and Toronto, there were 6 possible series outcomes. Given that we don't play Tampa anymore and don't have the tiebreak, the one that was least desirable for us out of all 6 was 3-2 Jays. That allowed us to basically gain no ground on either team. I am sure the 4-game series in Tampa will end up 2-2, as those two teams have flawlessly stiff-armed us for the last two months. 

[sportsfan8703]

No need to over analyze this race because after Sunday we’re only going to be 2 GB back from Toronto. 

[waroriole]

15 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

The offense just needs to get it together.  I'm not entirely worried about the pitching and I can't believe I'm actually typing that but it's true.  I'm sure they'll have a blowout loss or two in these next 20 games but that's any team.

This has always been a swing happy, hacking bunch but it just seems amplified over the past few weeks.  They're up there trying to hit 6 run homers and abandoning any semblance of a decent plate approach they can muster.  

The notion of making a pitcher work, making a pitcher labor, seeing more pitches and getting deep in at-bat is lost on most of these guys and if these at bats continue that result in one and two pitch outs, we'll be toast.  

Yep the offense has been trash for a few weeks now. The only thing giving me hope is the two guys with bad approaches, Mountcastle and Hays, have been ice cold for 2 months. They have to be due to bust out over the last 3 weeks. They’re both showing signs now. 

[spiritof66]

15 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

The offense just needs to get it together.  I'm not entirely worried about the pitching and I can't believe I'm actually typing that but it's true.  I'm sure they'll have a blowout loss or two in these next 20 games but that's any team.

This has always been a swing happy, hacking bunch but it just seems amplified over the past few weeks.  They're up there trying to hit 6 run homers and abandoning any semblance of a decent plate approach they can muster.  

The notion of making a pitcher work, making a pitcher labor, seeing more pitches and getting deep in at-bat is lost on most of these guys and if these at bats continue that result in one and two pitch outs, we'll be toast.  

Agree. Not everyone in the lineup has to be a patient hitter who sees a lot of strikes, but those two or three first-pitch swingers have to be pretty effective, and they have to be able to switch gears and take some pitches when they're not seeing strikes.

One of the consequences has been that the bar for a patient or "good" AB by the Orioles has gotten pretty low. A guy works the count to 3-2 by taking a close pitch or two, fouls off a couple in the strike zone, and then pops up to the shallow OF, and we're hearing about how selective he was and how hard he made the pitcher work. Meanwhile, our pitchers are fighting through 10-pitch ABs by guys who are skilled at fouling off good pitches until they see something they like. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Agree. Not everyone in the lineup has to be a patient hitter who sees a lot of strikes, but those two or three first-pitch swingers have to be pretty effective, and they have to be able to switch gears and take some pitches when they're not seeing strikes.

One of the consequences has been that the bar for a patient or "good" AB by the Orioles has gotten pretty low. A guy works the count to 3-2 by taking a close pitch or two, fouls off a couple in the strike zone, and then pops up to the shallow OF, and we're hearing about how selective he was and how hard he made the pitcher work. Meanwhile, our pitchers are fighting through 10-pitch ABs by guys who are skilled at fouling off good pitches until they see something they like. 

If you have pitchers who can miss bats you won't see those 10 pitch at bats.