A dangerous time

[Frobby]

In every season, there are periods where you can sort of feel a slump coming on.   And this feels like one of those times.  

Over the last 8 games, the O’s have hit .229/.289/.356, scoring 4.1 runs per game.   It’s been a little worse than that the last few games.   And now we’re going to have to play without our catalyst, Cedric Mullins, for a while.

Looking at that little 8 game stretch, Adley has a .679 OPS, Frazier is at .633, Mountcastle .590, Mateo at .330, McCann .516 and McKenna a healthy .000.   A couple of guys from that group need to step it up in the coming days, or this could spiral.   
 

[Otter]

I second your concerns.  Our hitting has been slumping even with Mullins; we really need some others to get hot while he's gone.  It really comes down to how long Mullins is out...for 10 days we can try to get by with McKenna, but any longer than that and our offense and defense will really suffer.  And this is the kind of injury that really hurts even more for a player who relies on speed.  

At least the starting pitching has been good lately, although we also have to figure out what to do with the #5 spot in the rotation...I don't like the Voth idea...

[Three Run Homer]

And to make things worse. Urias has looked awful since coming back.  

I said this in another thread but I think Westburg needs to come up ASAP.   Aside from Hays, the O's don't have any good RH hitters (and both Adley and Santander are better from the left side).  The O's have particularly struggled against lefty starters during the current slump.  

[glenn__davis]

Last week we were flying high off a sweep of the Jays.  Amazing how quickly the mood can turn.

A June Swoon certainly feels imminent.  Or do I just have PTSD from 2005 still?

 

 

[kidrock]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

In every season, there are periods where you can sort of feel a slump coming on.   And this feels like one of those times.  

Over the last 8 games, the O’s have hit .229/.289/.356, scoring 4.1 runs per game.   It’s been a little worse than that the last few games.   And now we’re going to have to play without our catalyst, Cedric Mullins, for a while.

Looking at that little 8 game stretch, Adley has a .679 OPS, Frazier is at .633, Mountcastle .590, Mateo at .330, McCann .516 and McKenna a healthy .000.   A couple of guys from that group need to step it up in the coming days, or this could spiral.   
 

Great points.  To me the main point is that a lot of this team is not hitting well right now.  The loss of Mullins can be withstood if some of the guys you named step up.

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

In every season, there are periods where you can sort of feel a slump coming on.   And this feels like one of those times.  

Over the last 8 games, the O’s have hit .229/.289/.356, scoring 4.1 runs per game.   It’s been a little worse than that the last few games.   And now we’re going to have to play without our catalyst, Cedric Mullins, for a while.

Looking at that little 8 game stretch, Adley has a .679 OPS, Frazier is at .633, Mountcastle .590, Mateo at .330, McCann .516 and McKenna a healthy .000.   A couple of guys from that group need to step it up in the coming days, or this could spiral.   
 

I'm not feeling very optimistic about what I'm seeing right now .  I agree that this could get very ugly.  The only silver lining I see is the fact that we're starting from a pretty good place......but would prefer we get it together....next man up, different hero every night if need be.  But, I'm not betting on that.

It is possible that we are actually not as good as our record right now.

[Sydnor]

53 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

And to make things worse. Urias has looked awful since coming back.  

I said this in another thread but I think Westburg needs to come up ASAP.   Aside from Hays, the O's don't have any good RH hitters (and both Adley and Santander are better from the left side).  The O's have particularly struggled against lefty starters during the current slump.  

This year Santander has a .980 OPS v. lefties. Last year he had a .913 OPS v. lefties.

This year he has a .752 OPS v. righties. Last year he had a .720 OPS v. righties.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/anthony-santander/14551/splits?season=0&position=OF&split=0.2

 

[emmett16]

9 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

Last week we were flying high off a sweep of the Jays.  Amazing how quickly the mood can turn.

A June Swoon certainly feels imminent.  Or do I just have PTSD from 2005 still?

 

 

162 is a lot of games to not go into a little slump.   I think we will be ok. 

[Sports Guy]

It won’t get ugly because the pen is too good for that imo.

Now, if Cano and/or Bautista get hurt or perform poorly, we could be in some real trouble but otherwise, I think they will tread water.

This is not the second or third best team in baseball as currently constructed. Their run differential isn’t that great and the margin for error isn’t that substantial for this team. So, there is going to be some “coming back to earth”. 

[Pickles]

Yeah, this team isn't going to win 105 games or whatever it was on pace to do so until very, very recently.

A bit of a slump is inevitable.  And Mullins' loss will hurt, as he is probably, outside of Adley, our most indispensable player.

But this team is too solid 1-26, and that really extends 1-40, to just crash and burn.

[wildcard]

A lot of dome and gloom here.   This team has been resilient. 

[Frobby]

23 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It won’t get ugly because the pen is too good for that imo.

Now, if Cano and/or Bautista get hurt or perform poorly, we could be in some real trouble but otherwise, I think they will tread water.

This is not the second or third best team in baseball as currently constructed. Their run differential isn’t that great and the margin for error isn’t that substantial for this team. So, there is going to be some “coming back to earth”. 

Yeah, I think that's right.  To put it another way, the season is exactly 1/3 over and the O's are on a 102-win pace.   They are not a 102-win team.  But, they have a nice head start on a very good season and definitely can have one.  Right now I'm just worried about the short term, with a lot of our regulars a bit cold right now and one of the few hot ones out of the lineup for a bit.   Some folks need to step it up.  

[Pickles]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Yeah, I think that's right.  To put it another way, the season is exactly 1/3 over and the O's are on a 102-win pace.   They are not a 102-win team.  But, they have a nice head start on a very good season and definitely can have one.  Right now I'm just worried about the short term, with a lot of our regulars a bit cold right now and one of the few hot ones out of the lineup for a bit.   Some folks need to step it up.  

I'm looking right at Ryan Mountcastle.  He's been a profound disappointment this year.  

[glenn__davis]

7 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'm looking right at Ryan Mountcastle.  He's been a profound disappointment this year.  

Ha, was just about to replying with the same response...Paging Ryan Mountcastle...

[Sports Guy]

Anyone know RM’s OPS if you take out the 9 RBI game?