On Sunday night, a couple friends and I decided to watch the replay of the Orioles game at my place.
We had a gathering of five – including a couples – and we sat around, drank a bit and chilled out. There was nothing on television that night for a while, and since we were waiting to watch the season premiere of AMC’s “Mad Men”, we just wanted to kill time.
Well, we were watching a game we knew the results of already; however, it was painful to see again.
While sitting down, we came to the portion of the game that might was a sight for sore eyes.
The Adam Jones misplay in the third inning. We all know what happened. Although the Orioles still had the lead, 3-2, at the end of the frame, it was a sign of trouble ahead.
One of women in the group remarked, “boys, boys, boys…”
It was her way of saying, “what the hell is going on?”
“How could HE make that mistake?”
It was juat galling to see a Gold-Glove outfielder that make type of mistake in the field.
For much of the weekend, Jones was the anthesis on how I felt about this team.
The Orioles seemed to be playing on the margins during their series with the Minnesota Twins, as they coughed up two of three games. The sad thing is they could have won every game after their Friday home opener.
As of now, the Orioles are 3-3.
They could easily be 5-1; however, much like what we have seen in the past decade, the Orioles have managed to give away games they could have won.
Sunday’s game was a prime example of what I just mentioned with the Jones misplay in the outfield, pitcher Jason Hammel walking batters at inopportune times (especially during the two-run seventh inning for the Twins, which decided the game) and not scoring runs when needed.
The Orioles – as we know – put forth an amazing run in 2012. We all know that they had a ridiculous record in one-run games, going 29-9 during the last season.
Right now in one-run games, they are 0-3.
Their record in those contests was somewhat of an aberration, but they all counted and propelled them to magical run.
However, this season, mistakes have cost them. There are only 156 games left in the season and the Orioles are certainly a better team than what we have seen this weekend.
When it comes down to it, you have to beat the teams you need to. The Orioles should have taken two games during the weekend series, and Twins are not that good – on paper.
Of course, the Twins are a professional baseball team and they made fewer mistakes than the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday.
Hopefully, the Bird will turn the tide this week as the face the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees on a six-game road trip.
If the Orioles are to compete, they know – as we do – that mistakes like what happened on Sunday with Jones will cost them in the long run.
Well, if there was any good news to come from the weekend, baseball is back in Baltimore and is a bigger sports town than ever. Opening Day was sold out, but 40,000 plus showed up on Saturday and close to 35,000 on Sunday.
Good job.
Now, the Orioles just have to keep everyone’s interest and win.
