The Orioles have been playing some pretty stiff competition lately and they have stepped up. The split of yesterday’s double header ensured that the Orioles would escape Minnesota with a series split, though a win today would be really nice. The Birds’ record it still an abysmal 9-22, but since their 2-16 start they have played baseball that is more like we expected and played to a record of 7-6, with five of those six losses coming against the Yankees. A win today would mean the Orioles are no-longer the WORST team in baseball and we can all breath a sigh of relief over that.
Also, the Orioles welcomed back Koji Uehara, and his sideburns, to the bullpen. Koji has been in two games so far and has yet to allow a run. His location has been perfect and his pitches have a lot of movement. Alfredo Simon has stepped up into the closers role nicely notching career saves one, two and three. Will Ohman continues to quietly dominate batters in his role. Ohman has yet to give up an earned run this season and has cemented himself as the late-mid-inning bridge to Koji and Alfredo.
Nick Markakis has been absolutely raking lately.Nick is hitting .333 with a .907 OPS in the last 25 games, Ty Wigginton continues to impress as he has notched 10 home runs in this young season, he only hit 11 all of last year. Guthrie earned his first win with a quality start against a feisty Twins team yesterday afternoon. Brad Bergesen pitched like his old self again earning a second win and the first Orioles shutout of the year. Matusz continues to be Matusz.
Problems still remain however. Adam Jones is still lost. The young center fielder has been scuffling at the plate since the second game of the year and still looks uncomfortable. He had a good day yesterday, going 3-6 with an RBI in the two games, and raised his paltry average to .250. It amazes me how many people I am reading that seem to be lining up to dig Jones’ grave. Jones has the talent. He is not Corey Patterson; he is not Luis Matos. It is still very early and one good week can send Jones’ average back to respectability. I agree that, ideally, Jones would take one or two days off and give Pie some at bats so he can work with the coaches a bit more and get his head together but injuries and ineffectiveness in the minors will not allow that to happen. Jones needs to work through it and he is a worker. I have heard nothing that leads me to believe that Jones isn’t working his butt off to get things right.
More troubling is Luke Scott. Despite hitting a homer last night, his only hit of the game, Luke is batting .183 and has seen a large reduction in his playing time in favor of the smoking hot bat of Wigginton. Scott is known as a streaky but this “streak” is bad even by his standards. The homer last night was just the fourth one of the year for the offseason lumberjack which make up nearly 1/3 of his total hits so far for the season (15). Luke Scott needs to be a force in the lineup. When Scott is on the whole team hits better and we win games, Again I know that Luke is trying everything under the sun to get things right (he even cut his hair) but until he does Wigginton and Rhyne Hughes will continue to take his ABs.
The Orioles have been playing much better baseball recently and have held their own against some very difficult competition. Yes, I understand that Boston and Minnesota are both a little banged up and that has probably helped us out but I don’t care. No one is apologizing for the Orioles’ struggles so beat the teams when you can. The Birds will wrap up this four game set in Minneapolis today with Brian Matusz searching for his third win of the season. A win today would give the Orioles only their second series win of the season and, FINALLY, get them into double digits in wins.The Birds will then return home for three game series against the Mariners and Indians signalling the end of the Ba-tan Death-march that was the first part of this schedule.
Can the Orioles turn this thing around? Yes, yes they can. This is the goal that I have set for the team in May. If the Orioles can be less than 10 games under .500 by the end of the month then a .500 record is not out of the question. If they are 12-15 games under by June then the season is lost. May is a much more favorable schedule than April. In addition to the Mariners and Indians the Orioles have series against the Royals, Rangers, Nationals and Blue Jays. And while the Orioles are in no position to call any part of their schedule “soft” it is far cry from the murderous April.
