Are we actually 27-14 with the highest runs/game in the AL?

[Frobby]

Is it me, or is the overall tone of the message board very negative right now?

I realize there are several players in slumps right now, and the overall offense hasn’t been that good the last 14 games or so.   Still, big picture, the team is on pace to win 107 games and finish with the highest runs/game in the AL.   And despite the recent slump, the team has won 10 of its last 14 games, including taking 3 of 4 from the Yankees.   The hitting may have slumped, but the pitchers have been unbelievable of late.  Over the 14 game stretch that the offense has been slumping, the team has a 2.13 ERA.

Bottom line, the season has gone great so far.  Yeah there are guys slumping.  That happens.  Some will come out of it, some may have off years or be about done.   But this team is winning, consistently.   Sometimes the offense carries the pitching, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Sometimes everything is hitting on all cylinders, but that doesn’t happen all that much for any team.  The O’s are constantly finding ways to win, and that’s what good teams do.   So count me as a happy camper, regardless of who’s slumping at the moment.  

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Frobby said:

Is it me, or is the overall tone of the message board very negative right now?

I realize there are several players in slumps right now, and the overall offense hasn’t been that good the last 14 games or so.   Still, big picture, the team is on pace to win 107 games and finish with the highest runs/game in the AL.   And despite the recent slump, the team has won 10 of its last 14 games, including taking 3 of 4 from the Yankees.   The hitting may have slumped, but the pitchers have been unbelievable of late.  Over the 14 game stretch that the offense has been slumping, the team has a 2.13 ERA.

Bottom line, the season has gone great so far.  Yeah there are guys slumping.  That happens.  Some will come out of it, some may have off years or be about done.   But this team is winning, consistently.   Sometimes the offense carries the pitching, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Sometimes everything is hitting on all cylinders, but that doesn’t happen all that much for any team.  The O’s are constantly finding ways to win, and that’s what good teams do.   So count me as a happy camper, regardless of who’s slumping at the moment.  

It's not even me!  I haven't been posting a ton.

 

[clapdiddy]

Gotta admit...I've been complaining a little, but I'm very happy with where the O's are right now.   They seem to find ways to win...that's the sign of a very good team.

[forphase1]

I think it's one of those things where the sum is currently greater than the parts, and because of that it's hard to see how we continue winning at this pace given all the struggles in the lineup at the moment.  IF (and I realize it's a big if) but IF Urias, Cowser, Hays, Mullins, McCann, and Santander to an extent, heck and even Henderson lately,  don't start hitting better it's hard to see us continuing on that incredible 107 win pace.  That's quite a few holes, or semi-holes, in the lineup to overcome.  We can't count on a Westburg hit followed by an Adley homerun in the 9th every night to win games when the offense is comatose for 8 innings.  Now clearly if the starting pitching keeps performing the way they are then we will need to score fewer runs overall as we will be giving up fewer.  But I'm not sure that will happen.  Just as we are hoping some of the hitters get back to their career norms, it's also possible some of the pitchers revert back to more normal levels, and not the incredible pitchers they have been.  Combine that with all the injuries (Well, Grayson) and recovering injuries (Means, Bradish) I'd be a lot more comfortable if the offense was clicking on all, or at least more, cylinders.  

I'm super jacked about the record, and the pace we are winning at.  I've been HUGELY enjoying watching Westburg become this budding star, seeing Adley hit so well, and have loved being wrong about my expectations for O'Hearn, Mountcastle and yes, even Mateo to this point.  But we DO have some real issues that need addressed, or else I'm afraid we are going to fade seriously in the next 3/4s of the season.

[glenn__davis]

Expectation is everything.

If you dropped this exact team into 2021 the board would be saying this was their favorite team ever.

[glenn__davis]

Also I'll say this regarding this offense, and maybe it's just me...

I feel like we've faced some really, really good pitching.  I don't have the time to research the teams we've faced and where they rank on the pitching spectrum, but I feel like we've seen some teams dealing really well against us.

[Explosivo]

31 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Is it me, or is the overall tone of the message board very negative right now?

I realize there are several players in slumps right now, and the overall offense hasn’t been that good the last 14 games or so.   Still, big picture, the team is on pace to win 107 games and finish with the highest runs/game in the AL.   And despite the recent slump, the team has won 10 of its last 14 games, including taking 3 of 4 from the Yankees.   The hitting may have slumped, but the pitchers have been unbelievable of late.  Over the 14 game stretch that the offense has been slumping, the team has a 2.13 ERA.

Bottom line, the season has gone great so far.  Yeah there are guys slumping.  That happens.  Some will come out of it, some may have off years or be about done.   But this team is winning, consistently.   Sometimes the offense carries the pitching, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Sometimes everything is hitting on all cylinders, but that doesn’t happen all that much for any team.  The O’s are constantly finding ways to win, and that’s what good teams do.   So count me as a happy camper, regardless of who’s slumping at the moment.  

Precisely and to really put it into context, we have played one of the hardest schedules in baseball. We have faced every team’s ace, some twice. Yes we haven’t been hitting extremely well, but we have also gone up against tremendous pitching.

[Safelykept]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Is it me, or is the overall tone of the message board very negative right now?

I realize there are several players in slumps right now, and the overall offense hasn’t been that good the last 14 games or so.   Still, big picture, the team is on pace to win 107 games and finish with the highest runs/game in the AL.   And despite the recent slump, the team has won 10 of its last 14 games, including taking 3 of 4 from the Yankees.   The hitting may have slumped, but the pitchers have been unbelievable of late.  Over the 14 game stretch that the offense has been slumping, the team has a 2.13 ERA.

Bottom line, the season has gone great so far.  Yeah there are guys slumping.  That happens.  Some will come out of it, some may have off years or be about done.   But this team is winning, consistently.   Sometimes the offense carries the pitching, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Sometimes everything is hitting on all cylinders, but that doesn’t happen all that much for any team.  The O’s are constantly finding ways to win, and that’s what good teams do.   So count me as a happy camper, regardless of who’s slumping at the moment.  

Overall tone of this board is usually negative, but to you're point, most complaints are against offense production. If you look league wide that's common. Pitchers are ahead of hitters at this point. You think the Yankee board was happy only scoring 6 runs in 4 games. And it does not get any easier this weekend, Seattle comes in, we get to face their best 3 starters, on one of the best staffs in baseball.

[interloper]

The overall tone of the board is negative because the team isn't hitting. We are all intelligent enough to hold two opinions at once: yes, the team is overall doing well and that's great/no, it can't sustain the current success if all these players continue to perform poorly. 

I don't personally love pointing to us having the highest runs in the game because that is based on one hot month. With all the current slumps (are they slumps or something worse?), that stat holds less and less water because we are not going to have the most runs for much longer. 

Edited May 17 by interloper

[Moose Milligan]

I agree with what a lot of @forphase1 wrote.

I said it in the other thread, but I am disappointed with the overall approach at the plate with this offense and saying they've got the highest runs per game in the AL is like saying Colton Cowser is at an .831 OPS.  It doesn't tell the entire story.

If we're at the halfway mark and we're still at the highest runs per game in the AL, well then I think that's a little different. 

But I also think we've been conditioned over the years to complain.  And let's face it, it's been a long time since any of us have seen continued winning baseball.  It's hard to look at hindsight and be able to accurately remember what you were thinking in 2012 when the Orioles started winning without those memories being colored by good feelings.  It's hard to remember exactly what you were thinking in, like, July of 2012.  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of us were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But getting back to the whole "highest runs per game in the AL" bit, if you hear that you'd expect that team to be bludgeoning other teams to death and that's just not what's happened lately.  Lately, it feels like they've pulled wins out of their asses and just gotten lucky.  Adley walkoffs are exciting, but that's not a recipe for success and if you watched that game in its entirety, it didn't feel like a 107 win team and it hasn't felt that way during this drought of runs. 

Like I said, Colton Cowser has an .831 OPS but it sure doesn't feel like it.  It's nice that the Orioles have the highest runs per game in the AL but it sure doesn't feel like it lately.

Edited May 17 by Moose Milligan

[RZNJ]

I chalk it up to the bottom of the lineup.  When Mullins was hitting, we had Westburg and Cowser batting 7th and 8th and they were both on fire.  Every game was fun because every inning I felt we could score.   Now when I see Mateo batting 6th followed by a slumping Cowser, comatose Mullins, and McCann, I’m like, time to check the minor league games.

[sportsfan8703]

41 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Is it me, or is the overall tone of the message board very negative right now?

I realize there are several players in slumps right now, and the overall offense hasn’t been that good the last 14 games or so.   Still, big picture, the team is on pace to win 107 games and finish with the highest runs/game in the AL.   And despite the recent slump, the team has won 10 of its last 14 games, including taking 3 of 4 from the Yankees.   The hitting may have slumped, but the pitchers have been unbelievable of late.  Over the 14 game stretch that the offense has been slumping, the team has a 2.13 ERA.

Bottom line, the season has gone great so far.  Yeah there are guys slumping.  That happens.  Some will come out of it, some may have off years or be about done.   But this team is winning, consistently.   Sometimes the offense carries the pitching, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Sometimes everything is hitting on all cylinders, but that doesn’t happen all that much for any team.  The O’s are constantly finding ways to win, and that’s what good teams do.   So count me as a happy camper, regardless of who’s slumping at the moment.  

The “two game losing streak” and the “almost swept” really bothered people. Bothered them so much that maybe they’re ok without an all “homegrown” position group. 

[interloper]

27-14 is a small sample size, period. We've seen two very different versions of this team in a month and a half. I personally don't know which is the real version of the team. Probably somewhere in the middle, but the shine of April has fully worn off for me based on how awful these guys look at the plate right now. 

That can all change quickly!

Edited May 17 by interloper

[Sports Guy]

It’s definitely a negative tone. Twitter is even worse and yes, people lack perspective.

I will say this though…the team’s back for the pen and lack of walks/OBP are real concerns and you will not win in October without improvements in those areas.

 

[The Goob]

I agree overall it has been very negative.  I am very happy with where the team is despite some of the offensive struggles.  If the pitching continues on the path it is on I would be stunned if we don't win the East and have the best record in the AL because I believe the offense will stabilize and improve as the season goes on.  There is just way to much positional player depth and talent to not have that happen.  Elias' comments this week about the talent and giving it time to sort itself out is exactly how I feel.  If Mullins, Cowser, Hays, Urias continue to struggling then Mayo, Stowers, Kjersatd will be given an opportunity.  Not to mention that I think Holliday is sorting himself out right now and will be back up in the next 30 days or so.

Edited May 17 by The Goob