The DBacks Series

[Frobby]

The O’s are headed to play the Diamondbacks, who sport a 69-65 record and are half a game out of the final wild card spot.  Obviously, this is a critical series for them.  Per ESPN, the pitching matchups are:

Davies (1-5, 6.93 ERA) vs. Irvin (1-3, 4.78).  Davies was on the IL from late July until last week, when he returned with a solid 5 IP, 1 R outing.  A former Orioles prospect, Davies has never faced the team that developed him in his 9 year major league career.  Nor has Irvin ever seen the DBacks.

Cecconi (0-0, 2.57) vs. Bradish (9-6, 3.03).  The rookie Cecconi has made 5 appearances, 3 starts, after being promoted from AAA, where he sported a 6.38 ERA.  He’s made three solid starts since he was put in the rotation.  Needless to say, Cecconi has never faced the O’s.  Bradish has never faced Arizona, either. 

Gallen (14-6, 3.32) vs. Flaherty  (8-8c8, 4.73 overall; 1-2, 6.41 as an Oriole).  Gallen is the ace of the Arizona staff.  He was roughed up by the Dodgers in his last start but otherwise has had a nice, consistent year.  He has never faced the Orioles.  Flaherty has faced the DBacks four times in his career, and twice this year with the Cardinals, allowing 7 ER in 11 innings.

Arizona has a poor bullpen with a 4.69 ERA, 25th in the majors.  They have a 60% save rate, 21st in the majors.

Their offense isn’t bad, scoring 4.68 runs per game, 13th in the majors (O’s are 7th at 4.98), with a 102 OPS+ (O’s are at 106).   

The DBacks have been super-streaky since the All Star Break.  They’ve had streaks of losing 7 of 8 and losing 9 in a row, and have lost 3 in a row coming into this series.  But they’ve also had a streak of winning 11 of 13, including 6 in a row.  Hopefully, we get the losing version.  
 

 

[dystopia]

Hopefully we take care of business in the first two. Third game is tough on paper. 

[SteveA]

They just got swept and pretty much outclassed by the Dodgers.

Gallen at home:  1.75 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, .558 OPS against
Gallan on the road:  4.81 ERA, 1.261 WHIP, .787 OPS against

Former Orioles (or Oriole minor leaguers) on their roster:  Christian Walker, Jace Peterson, Zach Davies, Miguel Castro

[ace20251]

6 minutes ago, SteveA said:

They just got swept and pretty much outclassed by the Dodgers.

Gallen at home:  1.75 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, .558 OPS against
Gallan on the road:  4.81 ERA, 1.261 WHIP, .787 OPS against

Former Orioles (or Oriole minor leaguers) on their roster:  Christian Walker, Jace Peterson, Zach Davies, Miguel Castro

christain walker has turned into a very good pro , can not change history but the O's chose davis over walker

Edited September 1, 2023 by ace20251

[MurphDogg]

15 minutes ago, ace20251 said:

christain walker has turned into a very good pro , can not change history but the O's chose davis over walker

He had over 1,300 plate appearances between ages 23 and 25 at Norfolk and an OPS under .760.

Corbin Joseph, Steve Clevenger, Henry Urrutia, Jemile Weeks and Dariel Alvarez all had higher OPS seasons during his time in Norfolk. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by MurphDogg

[Roy Firestone]

12 minutes ago, SteveA said:

They just got swept and pretty much outclassed by the Dodgers.

Gallen at home:  1.75 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, .558 OPS against
Gallan on the road:  4.81 ERA, 1.261 WHIP, .787 OPS against

Former Orioles (or Oriole minor leaguers) on their roster:  Christian Walker, Jace Peterson, Zach Davies, Miguel Castro

A much better team than the White Sox and  Rockies. This team has a lot of power hitters and decent pitching...We need to play well to win this series...cant expect to make a comeback every night...this DBACKS need to win...and frankly, so do we...

[SteveA]

8 minutes ago, ace20251 said:

christain walker has turned into a very good pro , can not change history but the O's chose davis over walker

Wasn't it more a situation of us choosing Mancini over walker?

[oriole]

5 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

He had over 1,300 plate appearances between ages 23 and 25 at Norfolk and an OPS under .760.

Corbin Joseph, Steve Clevenger, Henry Urrutia, Jamie Weeks and Dariel Alvarez all had higher OPS seasons during his time in Norfolk. 

Wow. Those are some names I haven’t heard in a while. It really makes me appreciate Elias. 

[ace20251]

7 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Wasn't it more a situation of us choosing Mancini over walker?

you are probably right,those years are hard to keep track of in my brain

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Wasn't it more a situation of us choosing Mancini over walker?

Yes. I always preferred Walker. Looked liked the wrong choice for a while but seems like he has carved out the better career and Mancini may be done now, as he was just released again.

Both had good ML careers though. For all the flack the Os system got during those years, they still produced some useful guys.

[Just Regular]

The Diamondbacks did acquire Paul Sewald to shore up their late relief.    He's been shaky his first 10 innings there, but has a long track record of being a very good reliever.

Corbin Carroll monthly OPS splits - 910, 880, 980, 800, 810.    He was in the MVP race early, but hasn't been able to keep up with Mookie and Acuna like the rest of the 8 billion of us.     He's only doing the Adley Rutschman thing with tremendous speed.

Evan Longoria just shy of 38 looks like a short side platoon guy perhaps hoping Cole Irvin keeps his turn.

[Malike]

I think the last 3 losses are more a product of them playing the Dodgers who damn near ran the table in August. If they win tonight that's 25 wins this month. AZ is going to be no picnic.

[Malike]

I'm not losing sleep over Walker who had done nearly nothing until his age 31 and 32 seasons. Almost all of his 12 WAR was last year and this year combined. We wouldn't have waited him out until 31 years old to see what he could do.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, ace20251 said:

you are probably right,those years are hard to keep track of in my brain

In 2016, the 24-year old Mancini put up an .815 OPS at Norfolk, while the 25-year old Walker posted .758.   The O’s chose Mancini for the September call-up, he did well, and the O’s DFA’d Walker early in 2017 spring training.  

Walker ended up with the DBacks and spent most of 2017-18 in the minors.  It wasn’t until 2019, at age 28, that he got any traction in the majors.   But be has made up for lost time, reaching 13.2 rWAR as of now.

i think the O’s decision at the time was logical and rational, but I’m proud that Walker persevered and has carved out an excellent career.  
 

[waroriole]

I have a bad feeling Davies will make us look foolish tonight. And Sunday looks bleak.