TT: Rangers remind me of the 2014 Royals

[Jagwar]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Lots of AAA hitters in the playoffs?

Sounds like Damage control from Hyde.

The best follow up question should have been "So you believed 1.1 IP in the AAA Championship was the best gauge of his ability to perform, and not his 6.75 ERA in the minors?

[eddie83]

33 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

Sounds like Damage control from Hyde.

The best follow up question should have been "So you believed 1.1 IP in the AAA Championship was the best gauge of his ability to perform, and not his 6.75 ERA in the minors?

 He gave the reason they added him. Wasn’t his call anyway.  

[Uli2001]

12 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

It's become very obvious during these first two games that the Rangers offense is just white hot right now. I was looking up at the jumbotron yesterday and 5 of the 9 hitters in the lineup had OPS's over 1.000 at one point. Holy crap, Evan Carter has been unbelievable and Josh Jung and Cory Seager have been on fire as well. 

They also have a bunch of soft tossing lefties which is the Orioles kryptonite. It's just not a good combination and why we're down two games to none.

Now saying that, having a bullpen with Baker and Webb in the playoffs is a failure of Elias to acquire an impact bullpen arm at the deadline. Flaherty obvious was a guy Elias thought would be a rotation piece in the playoffs, but his failures and Mean's injury put Rodriguez in game two and it was clear, the moment was just too big for Grayson. Oh, and pulling Bradish in game one in the 5th inning because Seager was coming up is ok IF you have a great bullpen. The Orioles do not. If you are pitching Webb in a one run game your bullpen is not a strength. Now part of that was losing Bautista, but I do still think Elias being unwilling to part with prospects for an impact bullpen arm has cost us in this series.

BTW, someone is going to have to explain to me why Bryan Baker, who was not even very good in AAA and wasn't good enough to be on the Orioles roster for most of September, was the choice to replace Means. Why was Cole Irvin not the guy? Hell, I'll be honest, as bad as Fuji has been at times, I would have preferred him over Baker. Baker's inability to throw a strike was absolutely embarrassing for a major league pitcher in a playoff game. He came into a game down by three and absolutely led to the game getting imploded. Just a head scratching move that completely and utterly back fired on the Orioles.

The Orioles haven't been swept all season so let's hope they don't break that streak on Tuesday. 

I'm not going to get down on this team after the season they had. I knew going into the playoffs this team had very little playoff experience and the moment was going to be too big for some.

I was at the game and the energy from the fans was amazing in the first inning. I told my friend that if Grayson throws the first pitch at 100 MPH, that he's too amped up and that's not good for his command.

Sure enough, he sat 99-100 the whole 1st inning. After the Orioles got 2-runs, the place was absolutely buzzing and I was wondering how he would handle all that energy. Unfortunately, he was not able to bottle his emotions up which should hopefully come with more experience. He certainly was no Mike Boddicker who was absolutely nails in his first playoff series as a rookie in 1983. 

Either way, there is little doubt that the Rangers are white hot right now. They remind me of the buzzsaw that the 2014 Royals were until they went to the World Series. The difference is the Ranger' lineup is legitimately good. 

 

 

To me it doesn't. Those Royals had three automatic relievers in the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning. They were basically unhittable. They won by shortening the game to six innings. I don't recall them having a potent offense like the Rangers'.

[Tony-OH]

30 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

To me it doesn't. Those Royals had three automatic relievers in the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning. They were basically unhittable. They won by shortening the game to six innings. I don't recall them having a potent offense like the Rangers'.

Good Lord, I said they remind me of the fact that they are white hot right now. Not how they were built. 

[Uli2001]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Good Lord, I said they remind me of the fact that they are white hot right now. Not how they were built. 

Sorry then, I didn't get it the first time.

[baltfan]

1 hour ago, Fiver6565 said:

Umm isn’t that exactly what it is?  They get a day after the season, and then a day before the DS if it goes all three. What are you changing on this suggestion?

I thought there was a break between the 3 games. I was wrong.   I would get rid of the day off after the season and the day off after the third game, though practically that would be really tough because of travel.  

[now]

First I'll say I think the O's are up for a comeback. We like shaky bullpens to feast on. The home crowd and first playoff jitters are done, now it's just go to work and play our game. The Tampa series split is a good template for coming back to Camden for Bradish again. So is that 2015 Jays comeback against Odor & Co. 

As for what happened, I agree that Baker and Webb are the obvious culprits (and Elias/Hyde for relying on them), when Palmer could have told them that it makes no sense to use literally the last guys on the totem pole in the crucial spots--especially after Webb already coughed up the game losing HR in game 1. 

With GRod, what struck me was the lack of confidence showing on his face during the meltdown. Understandable, of course, but I hope he learns from it, and I hope he watched Pablo Lopez yesterday up close; the announcers were remarking about his poise and demeanor so crucial to his dominance. (Or I don't know, does it work the other way around, that it's only easy to show poise and confidence when your stuff is on that day and you're getting outs??). 

Some of the interesting storylines now will be: 
- Can Mateo continue to be an impact bat? And Hicks?
- Game 3 seems a great spot to start Kjerstad.
- Ryan O'Hearn to the rescue? And James McCann?
- Here's hoping for 7 strong each from Kremer and Gibson.

[OriolesMagic83]

I just want the O's to win at least 1 game.  I don't want to hear about how the O's weren't very good and built w/ a deck of cards that was bound to collapse.

[milbest77]

If Means doesn’t get hurt again, series is tied 1-1. 

[allquixotic]

14 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

I just want the O's to win at least 1 game.  I don't want to hear about how the O's weren't very good and built w/ a deck of cards that was bound to collapse.

What if they were built with a deck of cards that was bound to collapse, though?

I hope too, but Fangraphs always seems to be right in the end. The only upset so far is the O’s winning the division. I don’t expect them to be wrong again about the playoffs.

[Sports Guy]

 

[Hank Scorpio]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

 

Can’t really quantify luck. What’s Texas’ BABIP these last three games?

Pretty good I’d guess. They’re also murdering the ball so it’s not all dinks and dunks…

[now]

On the voodoo factor, I'm reminded that the KC juju back in 2014 was trumped, after all, by none other then Bruce Bochy.