In 2010 the Orioles signed Michael Gonzalez to be a shutdown closer and he had a nightmarish start to the season that we all want to forget. He was injured, he went away. But he came back and finished the season very very strong. In the second half Gonzalez pitched to a 2.78 ERA and held opponents to a .165 BA and a .545 OPS. He finally became the pitcher everyone thought he would be. Now, as much as I really don’t want to call him “Cobra” (because I can’t do it without a raspy voice) after last summer’s performance I was excited to see “Gonzo” be another reliable arm in a bullpen that was shaping up to be rather strong.
Then 2011 happened.
The new season started and Gonzalez seemed to be repeating the same mistakes again. He had no control and anything that did get near the plate seemed to be the size of a beachball. In his first six appearances Gonzalez never pitched more than 1.1 innings and he gave up runs in all but one. He was struggling and not being used often. The Orioles called up Clay Rapada to be the LOOGY, but he struggled. Gonzalez was, very noticeably, being ignored in high leverage situations. Gonzlaez had not pitched in nearly a week prior to his seventh appearance of the season against the Red Sox. In that appearance Gonzalez came in with a man on base and allowed him and another run to score by allowing two hits, a walk while only recording one out.
Gonzo drew the ire of fans by saying in the press that he actually felt GOOD about that outing. Now he was talking about his rhythm and his tempo, not his results. But the comments still felt incongruous and it only result in grumbles and enough eye-rolls. Then came last night.
Last night Gonzalez was called up on to come into a game with no-out, the bases loaded and the Orioles clinging to a two – nothing lead. Now the Chicago White Sox are struggling and every Orioles fan in the greater Birdland metro-area yelled at their TV’s and radios when they saw Gonzalez coming into such an important part of the game.
Gonzalez got out of the inning giving up only a sacrifice fly and striking out two. He came back out for the seventh and retired the side in order while striking out another two. it was hands-down Gonzalez’ best outing of the year as the Orioles went on to win their fourth of five (sixth of their last nine) and ensure a series split in Chicago with Zach Britton going today.
Now it was just one game, and frankly I felt Gonzalez got helped out by a desperate White Sox team swinging at everything and anything that was coming at them, but the point remains: Gonzo was on last night and we all hope that this is the Gonzalez that sticks around for the rst of the year.
