Brian Matusz was masterful last night. Six innings pitched, a career-high nine strikeouts and one earned run. The run came on a homerun in the second inning courtesy of Brandon Inge; Matusz did not allow a Tiger reach second base for the rest of his start. Matusz’s final line: 10-12, 4.30 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 7.1 K/9. Nice.
At the beginning of the year Matusz was on a lot of writer’s short-lists for Rookie of the Year, as the Orioles went into their tailspin those thoughts went down with it. But Matusz deserves votes. He deserves to be a serious contender, but I know he won’t be. Look at the way Matusz has pitched in the second half: 3.63 ERA, 7-3, 7.9 SO/9. Since Showalter has joined the team in August Matusz has just one loss against seven wins and an ERA of 2.11!
Matusz leads American League rookie starters in strikeouts, innings pitched, fewest walks, starts, WHIP and is second only to Wade Davis in ERA by .16. Matusz deserves to be in the Rookie of the Year conversation, and last night dominant performance put an exclamation point on that argument.
Last night’s win was a lot more meaningful than some may realize. First, the obscure, that win tied an MLB record for wins after futility (I made that up). After a team has recorded their 73 loss, only one other team has won at least 37 games (Terry Francona’s Phillies). Also, more importantly and visible, last night’s win means that the Orioles will have no worse than a .500 record in the second half of the season.
Let me repeat that. No matter what happens today, the Orioles will have played at least .500 ball in the second half. This team was THIRTY (!) games under .500 at the break and was challenging for the worst recod of all time. They have played .500 ball since and have a chance to finish the second half over .500 with a win today. If that happens it will be the first time since 2004 and only the second time since 1997 the Orioles finish strong.
The second coming of the Orioles since Showalter has shown up has been talked about ad nausem here and almost every other baseball blog around. The Orioles are a different team, the pitchers are differnet pitchers, the hitters are diffrent. The defense has been tighter the hits have been coming – the entire team seems to have a aura of confidence that I have not seen as an Oriole fan in a long time.
In 2005, the Orioles were on top of the world for the first 90 days of the season. Even in the excitement you had this feeling that something bad was going to happen – that is just not the case. I don’t think there is an Oriole fan around right now that is not looking forward to April with anything less than outright enthusiasm.
Evidence? Over 30,000 fans came out to see the O’s and Tigers last night. Two teams completely out of everything – over 30K. God, imagine what it would be like when the team is competitive.
The good times that the Orioles seem to always tease us with seem to be legitimately right around the next corner. In the Baltimore Sun today the headline reads “MacPhail BITTERLY disappointed..” and the Orioles GM promises moves will be made. Buck Showalter has been touring every aspect of the Orioles organization from the metro-area farm teams to the new Spring Training facility in Sarasota. The importance of this second half was to show the powers in the front office what this team could be. The Orioles showed the baseball world what they could do.
Now, the Orioles as presently constructed will most likely not play .600 ball next year without some serious help but the fact remains: The 2011 Orioles promise to be a much different creature than the crushingly awful team we saw in the April-June of 2010.
As this 2010 season draws to a close what do we take away from it? It was a season of two halves, two completely different records and what seems like two completely different teams. On Opening Day this past April, everyone on that train with me thought that we would have an uneventful ride to good times – the train broke down.
The Orioles broke down, they got a new driver. Luke Scott has been named the Most Valuable Oriole for his play on the field but I don’t think that anyone reading this would disagree that the most important part of this team has been the presence of one man – Buck Showalter.
