The Orioles lost to the Indians, 4-1, last night; however, it’s been a very, very good run for the black and the orange during the past two weeks.
If anyone ever thought the Orioles would have an 8-2 stretch during the season considering everything that happened before Buck Showalter came along, they should play the lottery.
Despite the loss on Thursday, Kevin Millwood looked a lot better than he did in the past few starts this summer. Who knows if his improvement is based on Showalter’s influence, being re-energized, or just feeling better, but Millwood is finally pitching as most thought he would.
The offense finally got tied down, but it looks like with a healthy Roberts, a streaking Pie, and a lineup that finally seems to have it’s bearings in order.
During the Cleveland series, I was most impressed by Brad Bergesen’s effort on Wednesday. The kid threw a two-hitter, gave up one run and rewarded the Orioles’ faith in him. Much like Millwood, who knows if Beregesen’s run of late is because of his fear of losing his job, luck, or just regaining his confidence – that being said, he looks like the pitcher we saw during stretches last year.
If the Orioles continue their nice run and much less start to turn the tide within the next season or two, they’ll need youngsters like Bergesen to step up and compete.
It’s pretty obvious the Orioles are not going the route of the Yankees and Red Sox in terms of spending money; therefore, their young talent needs to progress and improve.
Right now, it looks like the key signing of the season is Buck Showalter. Not to denigrate Dave Trembley or Juan Samuel, but can you imagine how better of the team might have been with Showalter at the helm?
Not to say that the injuries didn’t play a major factor in the horrendous season so far, but it’s looking more and more that the script for the Orioles might have played out a lot differently.
Then again, for the most part – minus free-agent bust Garrett Atkins – the Orioles we are seeing now are the same team we saw a few weeks ago.
Whatever is going on, keep it up.
Plus, the winning streak that the Orioles have been on as of late has been good for ratings. Amazingly, for one game last week, the Orioles had more viewers watching their games than the Nationals did in the Washington Metropolitan area.
Granted, I think this happened because of the Orioles win streak, Showalter and the fact that the Nationals have been terrible, but it’s good to see people still care about the Birds (especially with football starting up).
On that front, I know in the D.C. suburbs – mostly on the Maryland side – it’s still Oriole country, although there are quite a number of Nationals fans in the region. Furthermore, there are plenty of fans in that area who follow both teams closely, especially in Northern Virginia.
I live in upper Montgomery County, and I know that’s the case.
Plus, you have to consider that the Orioles had the D.C. area to themselves for four decades before the team formerly known as the Expos moved into town and became the Nationals.
It’s weird, but there’s plenty of overlap between Nationals and Oriole fans in the D.C. area.
In other good news, it looks like the Orioles are coming to deals with their draft picks. Of course, there’s been little word on Manny Machado – the Orioles’ number one selection.
Considering Machado is a Scott Boras client, expect the negotiations to be protracted and done at the last minute.
Speaking of the draft, can the Orioles not wind up with the number one pick with their recent run? That would be an amazing accomplishment…
