Blue Jays Series - Part 4 (O’s lead 8-2)

[Baltimorecuse]

2 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

I was very anxious about this series...because we were going to face three really dominant pitchers...but whats really remarkable is that for the want of a base hit in Game 1...and in some ways because of a brilliant defensive play by Bichette..we could easily have SWEPT this series. I know there's some "If's" in there, but we really battled and got to all three great pitchers...it reminded me a lot of the Seattle series on the road....Im super proud of our guys,..but there's still Tampa breathing down our collective necks...and we cant let down vs Colorado...

Our starting pitching is better than they've been credited.  They've kept us in there in game after game.  Our guys expect to be there for nine innings so they don't let down.  It's great to watch for the fans.  

[dystopia]

5 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

We win the season series 10-3 and are currently responsible for over 1/6th of Toronto's losses. 

Could have easily been 12-1 too. Total beatdown. 

[Sports Guy]

I thought the Os we’re getting swept?

[maybenxtyr]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I thought the Os we’re getting swept?

I thought the season was going to come crashing down after Tuesday night? It's hard to keep up.

[dystopia]

11 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I thought the Os we’re getting swept?

It’s hilarious we still have posters predicting sweeps after losing the first game of a series. Or even after a couple bad innings of the first game. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, dystopia said:

It’s hilarious we still have posters predicting sweeps after losing the first game of a series. Or even after a couple bad innings of the first game. 

It’s exactly what I would expect to happen too. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s exactly what I would expect to happen too. 

I'm starting to think that particular poster isn't an Oriole fan at all and just comes here to troll.  Really never posts anything positive or adds anything to discussion. 

[Frobby]

Toronto really seems like a team that is less than the sum of its parts.  Vlad Jr., who has so much potential, seems content just to eat his way into being an average player.  Springer seems to be on a precipitous decline.  The team has gone from 117 OPS+ last year to 105 this year.   And John Schneider doesn’t impress me with his managing acumen.  Still, they’re a team that, if they sneak into the playoffs, could get hot and be dangerous.  

[clapdiddy]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Toronto really seems like a team that is less than the sum of its parts.  Vlad Jr., who has so much potential, seems content just to eat his way into being an average player.  Springer seems to be on a precipitous decline.  The team has gone from 117 OPS+ last year to 105 this year.   And John Schneider doesn’t impress me with his managing acumen.  Still, they’re a team that, if they sneak into the playoffs, could get hot and be dangerous.  

They are a tough nut to crack.  They seem to have pretty good pitching and enough talent on offense.  Something just doesn't seem to click for them.  I agree that they could be tough in a short series.

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

They are a tough nut to crack.  They seem to have pretty good pitching and enough talent on offense.  Something just doesn't seem to click for them.  I agree that they could be tough in a short series.

It would be incredibly annoying to lose a playoff series to them after beating them all four series in the regular season.  Kind of like when Georgetown lost the national championship game to Villanova after beating them twice in the Big East regular season and again in the Big East tournament.   

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It would be incredibly annoying to lose a playoff series to them after beating them all four series in the regular season.  Kind of like when Georgetown lost the national championship game to Villanova after beating them twice in the Big East regular season and again in the Big East tournament.   

If they get into the playoffs, they will win a series imo…right now, I don’t believe that happens for the Os unfortunately. That will be annoying.

Hopefully Toronto doesn’t get in.

[Aristotelian]

46 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Toronto really seems like a team that is less than the sum of its parts.  Vlad Jr., who has so much potential, seems content just to eat his way into being an average player.  Springer seems to be on a precipitous decline.  The team has gone from 117 OPS+ last year to 105 this year.   And John Schneider doesn’t impress me with his managing acumen.  Still, they’re a team that, if they sneak into the playoffs, could get hot and be dangerous.  

Is it my imagination or does Toronto have way more than its share of overweight players? Manoah and Kirk are borderline obese, Vlad and Ryu are overweight for sure, Varsho is big for his frame and position (although he is good, for now). Seems like another indication Schneider has lost the clubhouse. 

One thing I will say, Bichette is incredibly impressive and seems to get better every year. If Holliday can be a lefty hitting version of Bichette that would be a special player. 

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Toronto really seems like a team that is less than the sum of its parts.  Vlad Jr., who has so much potential, seems content just to eat his way into being an average player.  Springer seems to be on a precipitous decline.  The team has gone from 117 OPS+ last year to 105 this year.   And John Schneider doesn’t impress me with his managing acumen.  Still, they’re a team that, if they sneak into the playoffs, could get hot and be dangerous.  

This is where the manager does matter imo.

In game stuff doesn’t matter that much but it’s the outside the lines stuff that does matter and you wonder if Schneider is good enough. I mean, they are in the playoff hunt, should win 90ish games, so it’s not like they are bad but it does feel like something is missing with them.

OTOh, maybe it feels that way because when we see them, we are kicking their ass.

[Pickles]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Toronto really seems like a team that is less than the sum of its parts.  Vlad Jr., who has so much potential, seems content just to eat his way into being an average player.  Springer seems to be on a precipitous decline.  The team has gone from 117 OPS+ last year to 105 this year.   And John Schneider doesn’t impress me with his managing acumen.  Still, they’re a team that, if they sneak into the playoffs, could get hot and be dangerous.  

Culture is real.  People try to mock it by talking about "veteranosity" in belittling terms, but culture is real and can lead to teams under and over performing.  The difference between the O's and Toronto this year hasn't been talent.

As far as Vlad Jr. goes I don't think he'll ever live up to his potential.  He'll have years, but I don't think he'll string them together year after year because he lacks the discipline.

[Just Regular]

5 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

One thing I will say, Bichette is incredibly impressive and seems to get better every year. If Holliday can be a lefty hitting version of Bichette that would be a special player. 

In overall value, but I think style wise Holliday will be more scientific.     If Gunnar holds SS, Roberto Alomar is one I'm wondering if he might resemble.

Bichette basically is what "SS" Ryan Mountcastle was meant to be.    He can handle SS, and he can hit anything in the strike zone, the shadow zone, and whatever they call the place pitches that are not competitive at all outside the shadow zone go.

Entering this year, I thought Toronto over the Adley long haul would be the toughest team to get by.    Its certainly still in play they win an October series if we rematch, but that's just baseball.    

Its an exciting aspect of how fast these Orioles have grown that Kremer beating Gausman and Gibson beating Berrios felt kind of routine.    Entering this year I would have expected those matchups to skew towards blowout losses due to shaky pitching.     I did expect our Bats to start handling respectably even the world's greatest pitchers as they did the past couple nights.