Thoughts on Friday nights loss

[Three Run Homer]

1 hour ago, Baltimorecuse said:

OBP is the most important stat in baseball.  

FTFY

[Baltimorecuse]

3 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

FTFY

How so?  I stated my facts.  Contradict them with facts.  

[Fiver6565]

We have home run threats up and down the lineup, this OP is ridiculous. 
 

It would be nice if the team could lose a game and it NOT cause existential hand wringing for once. It’s baseball. You run into a pitcher who’s got it going. It happens to every team. Even the ones with home run threats.

[Fiver6565]

Team scores 8 runs and 4 runs in back to back wins, then gets shut out in ONE GAME. 

OP: ‘we simply aren’t hitting’

A lot of very veteran fans act like they’ve never watched a baseball season play out before. Laughable. 

[Fan4Life]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

So far as what the OP said, you could have stopped at “I don’t care what the stats say.”  Right, who needs evidence or facts?   

Last night was a case of the Tampa pitchers being very on their game and an umpire with a generous strike zone that they took advantage of.  It happens.  Next game, please?
 

Could you look at some O's offensive stats say first 48 games or so and the last 48 games to see how much if any we have varied there?

[Frobby]

55 minutes ago, Fan4Life said:

Could you look at some O's offensive stats say first 48 games or so and the last 48 games to see how much if any we have varied there?

We have varied very little.   

April .761 OPS, 5.25 runs/game

May .734, 4.79

June .730, 4.50

July .743, 5.18

[Sports Guy]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Who is injured for Tampa?  I’m looking at their BB-ref page and on offense, the only names I see are Francisco Mejia (.658 OPS), Vidal Brujan (.486) and Jonathan Aranda (.467).   

When I look at why Tampa has stumbled,  it’s the offense that stands out:

March/April .878 OPS

May .779

June .740

July .649

Now, maybe some players returned from the IL lately that I don’t know about   But based on who’s injured now, I don’t see the Rays’ offense being ravaged by injuries.   It’s more a matter of them returning to Earth after an unsustainably hot start.

The pitching has sustained some important injuries, but hasn’t had as big a drop off as the offense has.  So, I don’t think that injuries really are the main explanation of Tampa’s so-so performance over the last 60 games or so, though I agree they’re a partial factor on the pitching side.

First 36 games (29-7): 6.33 runs/game, 3.06 runs allowed/game

Last 65 games (32-33): 4.68 runs/game, 4.23 runs allowed/game

 

They have lost more or all their best pitchers for periods of time. Of course that has an effect on them.

[Frobby]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

They have lost more or all their best pitchers for periods of time. Of course that has an effect on them.

I’m not saying it hasn’t.  I’m just saying they have other problems as well.  Namely, their offense played way over its head early in the year and now it is regressing to the mean.  That doesn’t mean that they’re not a good team, just that they’re not some super-team like they looked to be early in the year.