Rays series

[Idaho_OriolesFan]

6 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Could be purely anecdotal, but it feels like our OFs have been deaked a handful of times this year by the baserunning into third. It's happened to Mullins 2 to 3 times and again to Hicks last night. Hate it. 

yes... that dropped bunt pop-up should have given us the game. But getting only one run off of loaded bases with no outs was (imo) the greatest flub of the entire game. Wasted opportunity

[Frobby]

There are times when I really hate reading the Hangout, though I can’t help myself.  I guarantee you the players are not as panicked as many of the posters here appear to be.  The fact that the team hasn’t been swept in a series is highly unusual and I think it has spoiled some fans into expecting that this team will never experience any significant adversity.   But, even good teams do.  The players will weather the storm.  I’m not saying they’ll definitely win the division, but they’re not going to curl up into a ball and suck on their thumbs.

[Idaho_OriolesFan]

10 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Crowd sounded good. Seemingly loud and engaged throughout, especially when the Ump took the foul ball.

Fox announcers were actively restraining themselves from saying what they really felt about the strike zone.

That strike zone was ..... shall we say, "lenient"

[Idaho_OriolesFan]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

There are times when I really hate reading the Hangout, though I can’t help myself.  I guarantee you the players are not as panicked as many of the posters here appear to be.  The fact that the team hasn’t been swept in a series is highly unusual and I think it has spoiled some fans into expecting that this team will never experience any significant adversity.   But, even good teams do.  The players will weather the storm.  I’m not saying they’ll definitely win the division, but they’re not going to curl up into a ball and suck on their thumbs.

Good point, I'm reminding myself that this is really only one week worth of slump.

I wonder, and think it's plausible, that this could have been a 90 win slump. Often when people reach a goal, there can be an inadvertent let-down. Maybe the boys hit their mark, have slumped a bit, and now just need to readjust for the next goal - solidifying their victory over the AL

Edited September 15, 2023 by Idaho_OriolesFan

[ChuckS]

Been mostly absent from the board over the last few days.  All winnable games, and the team isn't playing much differently than normal aside from not hitting well with runners in scoring position. 

The main thing etched in my memory from last night, is that I would prefer to limit our exposure to Fairbanks to the extent possible.  That means, not getting behind.  He was absolutely filthy, throwing 100 and deceptive with that short arm delivery.  He is their Bautista.  Wish we had ours......

[Hank Scorpio]

Just now, Idaho_OriolesFan said:

That strike zone was ..... shall we say, "lenient"

Certainly a bad night for the ump. And us. 

Getting to be crunchtime. Santander narrowly missed two home runs by a total of probably 30 feet and ended up with 4K's. I agree with the notion that we need Mullins back at the top of the lineup. If he gets on base, it's a huge difference maker. 

I don't disagree that lineup construction makes that big of a difference.... but Mullins is a difference maker.

[interloper]

Only getting 1 on bases loaded no outs was the game. 

[Just Regular]

Tampa put a 45% k-bb on the Orioles Bats last night.      Armstrong, Poche and Stephenson have now all worked 2 days in a row, so we'll see if Rays aggression this series includes using some of the A relievers a third day in a row should the game stay close.

Here are the PitchingBot "yesterday" readouts - TBR only 3rd there behind MIA on a Eury Perez day and BAL on a Kyle Bradish day.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&season=2023&season1=2023&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&type=25&month=32&sortcol=10&sortdir=default&pagenum=1

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Certainly a bad night for the ump. And us. 

Getting to be crunchtime. Santander narrowly missed two home runs by a total of probably 30 feet and ended up with 4K's. I agree with the notion that we need Mullins back at the top of the lineup. If he gets on base, it's a huge difference maker. 

I don't disagree that lineup construction makes that big of a difference.... but Mullins is a difference maker.

Can we stop now?

[InsideCoroner]

47 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

That's nonsense.

Is it, though? Look at what happened to McGwire, Bonds, Palmeiro and ARod, each of whom were sure to get into the Hall Of Fame, yet after being HR Derby contestants all of them have failed to do so. How else could you possibly explain that? It’s a curse, I tell you!

(NP: “The Needle And The Damage Done”)

 

[SouthRider]

23 minutes ago, Frobby said:

There are times when I really hate reading the Hangout, though I can’t help myself.  I guarantee you the players are not as panicked as many of the posters here appear to be.  The fact that the team hasn’t been swept in a series is highly unusual and I think it has spoiled some fans into expecting that this team will never experience any significant adversity.   But, even good teams do.  The players will weather the storm.  I’m not saying they’ll definitely win the division, but they’re not going to curl up into a ball and suck on their thumbs.

Thank you Frobby.   The game thread last night was a particularly tough read.    If some of these fans complaining about Adley were managing the O's in the 80's/90's Cal's streak never would have happened.   I'm sure the Rays would love it if we sat one of our top two players for the biggest series of the year. 

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Can we stop now?

Not a terrible day for the ump.  Notably, all the missed “true strikes” involved pitches where a sliver of the ball was barely touching the strike zone, and all the missed “true balls” except one were wide.  So, the ump definitely had a wide zone, but it was for both teams, and his high and low calls were almost perfect.  Not a bad day for the ump but it was pretty tough for the hitters IMO.

[Just Regular]

Robert Stephenson was a trade pickup in early June from the Pirates.    Like DL Hall, he was a 1st round high school pitcher when he affiliated...now he's basically Andrew Miller-ish, or 1A and 1B with Fairbanks.     Stephenson had had a 5+ ERA as a Pirate in April/May.

Last 3.5 months, they are 1-2 among AL Active Roster relievers in k-bb.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&lg=al&qual=y&type=1&season=2023&month=1000&season1=2023&ind=0&rost=1&startdate=2023-06-02&enddate=2023-11-01&team=0&stats=rel&sortcol=8&sortdir=default&pagenum=1

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/06/rays-acquire-robert-stephenson-from-pirates.html

 

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Robert Stephenson was a trade pickup in early June from the Pirates.    Like DL Hall, he was a 1st round high school pitcher when he affiliated...now he's basically Andrew Miller-ish, or 1A and 1B with Fairbanks.     Stephenson had had a 5+ ERA as a Pirate in April/May.

Last 3.5 months, they are 1-2 among AL Active Roster relievers in k-bb.

 

 

You really have to hand it to the Rays.  They are able to milk production out of pitchers better than any other team IMO.  Shawn Armstrong is a great example.

[Idaho_OriolesFan]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Can we stop now?

Cool image.. where do you find those? 
It seems to me that the first two innings , there were a couple of bad strike calls that set the tone for the rest of the game. As another person on this thread mentioned, even the Fox announcers were surprised. At the same time, the Rays pitcher has *incredible* range of movement on that ball... some of them could have been confusing to the eye, and I DID see the strikezone graphic have to adjust itself one time to report accurately.