Yes, the Orioles have struggled in the past two weeks.
They will probably struggle again at some point in 2013; however, they have shown themselves to be incredibly resilient. Until Buck Showalter arrived, this team would have been stymied by it all and gone into a swoon that they could not have dug out of.
Times are different, and this squad can pull it all together and get out of a rut.
After sending the Oriole fanbase into a collective panic, the Birds have won two in a row and took the two out of three games from the New York Yankees this week at home. They won last night, 6-3.
They have salvaged a nine-game homestand that could have easily gone to hell.
Again, the Orioles got another strong start from a pitcher – this time from Jason Hammel, who has been struggling all year, despite winning his sixth game. He went 6 2/3 innings and gave up only two runs.
The Orioles started the crush early as they scored three runs in the first innings and three in the third. They were pretty much in control from start to finish as they knocked out Hiroki Kuroda early (he left early after being hit on the shin), and they used defense, and the long ball to down the Bronx Bombers. Kuroda has owned Baltimore in the past, but however, that was not the case on Wednesday.
Chris Davis hit his 14th homer; Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters also went deep. Speaking of crushing, David had four hits on the night and is batting .329 for the season now and has driven in 43 runs.
Folks, can we just pencil him in for the All-Star Game already? I don’t know if he makes it as a starter, but barring a major collapse at the plate – he’s most likely on the team. He may not be Miguel Cabrera at the plate, but man, has he been all kinds of good … or what? When hot, this man can carry the Baltimore offense like no other.
According to NBC Sports, Davis is batting .341 with four long balls and 11 RBIs over his last 10 games.
And to think … no one knew if he could repeat last year’s performance (especially in September), or even play first base.
Those questions have been answered – for now.
Tonight will be a must-see game as Kevin Gausman makes his major league debut for the Orioles against the Toronto Blue Jays in Canada.
Finally, as an ode to Chris Davis, here’s to one of my favorite rap songs ever … courtesy of the late ‘Big Punisher”…
