Opening Day Impressions

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Santander in the OF needs to stop. He showed enough signs last year that he needed to go to DH/1st but his play on the ball in the 8th when Baker was pitching was atrocious. (No idea why McKenna wasn’t in at that point)

 

Agreed. With the lead especially he should have been out of the game at that point. Also not sure why he and Hays were switched around.

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Santander in the OF needs to stop. He showed enough signs last year that he needed to go to DH/1st but his play on the ball in the 8th when Baker was pitching was atrocious. (No idea why McKenna wasn’t in at that point)

 

Agreed. With the lead especially he should have been out of the game at that point. Also not sure why he and Hays were switched around.

[Sports Guy]

8 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Agreed. With the lead especially he should have been out of the game at that point. Also not sure why he and Hays were switched around.

They did last year. RF is harder to play at Fenway, so they put Hays there.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Btw, while they may hit, I think Boston is going to suck this year and that Devers contract is going to be a problem for them long term.

But that is going to be a poor defensive team and I don’t think their pitching is going to be that good.

Devers gonna be the new Pablo Sandoval. 

[Snutchy]

The ball looks juiced this year. I'm surprised it got scorched like that in 40 degree weather.

[emmett16]

Went to practice and it was 10-4.  What in the world happened?  Was hoping to log in and read about all the good stuff that happened.  
 

Adley is fun to watch.  I’m not worried about Gunnar.   Mountcastle looks locked in.  Frazier wants us to keep talk tish on him.  Santander was swing at some bad pitches.  He and Hays didn’t look very good at the plate.  I think we are gonna steal an insane amount of bases.  Love the new brand of baseball.  It looks like we have a very deep offensive team.  We are a massive trade + Means return + GRod promotion away from being a very good team.  

[Too Tall]

This game was dictated by the wind and cold. The team that made the fewer errors won. It went from fun to brutal to watch but a win is a win. Saturday, if they even play given the forecast, will be even more of a challange. As frustrating as some of the outfield play was today, I can't get too upset until I see this team play in much better conditions. At least our pitchers didn't walk a lot of batters and seem to have a better feel for the clock.

Man, that first Adley slide had me near cardiac arrest. I thought for sure he had hurt himself. We dogged a bullet there. 

[Billy F-Face3]

My Opening Day impresssions...

What I saw in Spring Training carried over into Opening Day. Those people that say Spring Training performances don't matter, are wrong. Spring training is a small indicator to see who is locked in with their skill set and who is still working out the kinks. It's the same as watching preseason football. I remember Terrell Davis coming out of no where as a rookie in Pre-season for the Broncos and earning a job. He continued and ended up having a hall of fame type of career with 2 superbowls. Baseball is even more of a "what have you done lately" type of routine/skill sport than football.

-Adley Rutschman is the franchise catcher I've always wanted and been wishing nearly 20 years for. (I thought Matt Weiters had a chance to be it, but then Weiters disappeared.) Rutchman needs to stay healthy, and the Orioles need to give him a long term extension.

-Seeing Logan Gillaspie in action made me happy that I advocated for him to make the team. His stuff look great out there and had great velocity and movement. He still has a ERA of 0.00 if you put all his appearances (including Spring Training) in 2023 together.  

-I was very happy to see Mateo bunt. Mateo making a sacrifice bunt (that almost turned out to be a hit) put a running on 3rd and set up a very important run that was then batted in. That run turned out to be the difference in the game.

-Baker's spring training struggles continued. He has to get his legs back under him again.

-Coulumbe isn't comfortable with the Orioles yet. He needs to become adjusted to his new teammates and surroundings. I think he needs a few days to adjust to his trade/move. Otherwise they would have put him in.

-I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased with how well Gibson pitched and battled in an unfriendly environment. He's won me over.

-Our defense needs to be better than that. The outfielders need to work on fly balls at Fenway. And Frazier needs a little more practice with Mateo as well. They made a couple great double plays, but I'm used to better range from the 2nd basemen. (Or maybe it's that I was used to seeing the shift gobble up those types of balls.)

-It's always great to come away with a win! If we can learn form the mistakes that were made and still be happy about that win, the Orioles will be a stronger team in the long run for this season.

[sportsfan8703]

31 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Agreed. With the lead especially he should have been out of the game at that point. Also not sure why he and Hays were switched around.

He was due up the next inning, but with a 6 run lead he should’ve been pulled. Santander needs to DH. Hays, Mountcastle, Mullins, and Mateo, also had tough plays, but we’re makeable. 

[Sports Guy]

20 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Devers gonna be the new Pablo Sandoval. 

Yea I could see that. I know they have said that they will move him to first and maybe he will be productive enough over there but they got bullied into that contract because they lost Betts and Xander B. 
 

They would have been better off trading him.

[jerios55]

Does any one have video of devers reaction after the timed strikeout?

I see the strikeout, but want to see his reaction. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, jerios55 said:

Does any one have video of devers reaction after the timed strikeout?

I see the strikeout, but want to see his reaction. 

He just looked kinda confused and walked slowly back to the dugout. There was no dust up or anything. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea I could see that. I know they have said that they will move him to first and maybe he will be productive enough over there but they got bullied into that contract because they lost Betts and Xander B. 
 

They would have been better off trading him.

Yup, should have kept Betts, would have gone down in their franchise history as one of the all time greats and one of the most popular players. 

[Roll Tide]

Listened on the radio until I had to ump at 4:45. Sounded like we were getting the better of them. I was surprised to see the score so close. But, missed strikes and poor defense will do it. I think Adley hits 35+ this year. Don’t want to jinx it but I’ve got a feeling 

[emmett16]

29 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea I could see that. I know they have said that they will move him to first and maybe he will be productive enough over there but they got bullied into that contract because they lost Betts and Xander B. 
 

They would have been better off trading him.

Bogaerts is gonna be a HOFer IMO.  Losing him and getting stuck with Devers is going to irk Sox fans for decades.