Around the Diamond – Twins 4, O’s 3
April 7, 2013
Episode 30: Riding the Ups and Downs
April 10, 2013
Around the Diamond
Check out this quote from Adam Jones:
We might spend all day tomorrow crying as a team, holding each other’s hands, spend all day walking through the Prudential Center crying… We’re playing good baseball. We’ve got 155 games to go; a lot of games to go.
Um, I get what he’s saying here, and I understand that someone probably stuck a microphone in his face, fresh off a painful loss, but I don’t love the tone here. The sarcasm comes off a little ‘sour grapes’ to me. Just tip your cap and go get ’em on Wednesday!
Box Score
First Base
The theme of the day was runners left on base. The Orioles had their chances, but could never cash in on Clay Buchholz. They left at least one man on base in 7 innings. One key difference between last year’s team and the 2012 Orioles is that a majority of the home runs have been more than 1-run homers. Today, they put men on base, but couldn’t come through with the big hits to drive runners in.
Second Base
Wait. Maybe the theme of the day was strikeouts. 11 of them, to be exact. The hot bats went silent (as the usually do when Buchholz is on the mound), and made for a comfortable win for the home team.
Third Base
After whining that the starters haven’t gone deep enough into games, I have to admit that Wei-Yin Chen had a great game. Yes, he was the loser, but he put in a quality start – 6.1 IP and 3 ER. Chen deserved better than he got today. He kept the Sox off-balance for most of the day, before getting into a jam in the seventh.
Home Plate
What is going on at the bottom of the lineup? Ryan Flaherty, who won the Jake Fox award in Sping Training, has started the season 0-14. A slow start would be easier to swallow if Brian Roberts hadn’t gone down with… whatever it is this time. Steve Pearce made his third appearance at DH – the player who is designated for the purpose of hitting – and floundered, turning in another hitless day. Don’t worry, he did get two strikeouts. I don’t need superstars in each position, nor do I expect the lineup 1-9 to perform like AL Player of the Week Chris Davis. What I do expect is that the bottom of the lineup won’t be a glaring hole. Flaherty and Pearce can’t be here on scholarship. Eventually, they need to do something productive at the plate.
Summary
The Orioles participated in their third Opening Day of the season, but this one did not end as well as the last two. The worst part about today’s loss is that, with an off day tomorrow, we have two full days to stew. Gross overreaction of the day: the O’s fell 2 games back behind the first place Boston Red Sox!
