Around the Diamond – Rays 6, O’s 2

Around the Diamond

I’m beginning to think that Scott has arranged for the Orioles to lose when I’m on duty for Around the Diamond. Sneaky, sneaky.

 Box Score

First Base

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: the Orioles’ starter failed to get deep enough into the ballgame because of a lack of command. Too many 3-ball counts, too many walks, too many pitches. Chris Tillman labored tonight, and took the loss in his first decision of the  2013 season.

Hey Chris, that sound you hear is Freddy Garcia’s footsteps. After turning in another positive outing in AAA, I wonder how long it will be until Garcia makes his Orioles debut. Our 4th an 5th starter may give him that opportunity. Soon.

Second Base

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Adam Jones made an error in the field which cost the team two important runs. Alright, let’s dispel any myths: this one had nothing to do with blowing bubbles. Jones raced in on a line drive, and played it on a bounce, but allowed the ball to bounce past him. If he had played it cleanly, one of the runs would most likely have scored anyway. His misplay allowed the insurance run, and lengthened Tillman’s evening.

Here’s an idea… we’re not getting anything out of our DH spot, and Jones is raking. Why not rotate Jones into the DH slot for a game or two and let him get his head straight? Dickerson could use the at-bats anyway. He wants to show off that nice new number. I don’t want to antagonize our star center fielder, nor do I want to publicly shame him. But if he needs a breather, or some space to clear his head and get right, why not give it to him?

Third Base

Stope me if you’ve heard this one: we got next to nothing from our DH and second baseman. Reimold and Casilla went 1-8 with 4Ks. Worse  yet, they only saw 25 pitches between them. Reimold, Casilla, Flaherty, and Pearce are a hot mess so far this season. They need to seriously step it up, or guys like Russ Canzler are going to start getting chances. Jonathan Schoop, too, if he is deemed ready (and the O’s have proven they’re not afraid to bring a guy up from AA).

I seem to remember Showalter crowing about the fact that he was getting Reimold and Roberts back this season as a defense for not having been more active in free agency. I don’t want to speak for Buck, but  in retrospect, I would have preferred free agency.

Home Plate

Don’t. Run. Ever.

Matt Wieters threw out 2 of 3 runners this evening (though one may have been a gimme). He looked bad on the one he missed – the ball seemed to slip out of his hand, and the throw nearly hit T.J. MacFarland on the mound. Aside from that, he was beastly. Joe Maddon was thrown out arguing one of the calls. Maddon looked like he a had a case at first, but replays showed that the umpire had at least a reasonable doubt, Hey, we’ll take it. Wieters got two guys thrown out on that play.

Summary

This is the type of game that makes me glad that baseball has a 162-game season. The most you can say for this one is that they get to come back tomorrow, and this will be nothing but an unhappy memory. As we discussed in the podcast this week, it’s too early to get too excited over every win and every loss, but at some point the failures I highlighted above will be impossible to ignore. They will become trends, not just related data points.

But.

The O’s head into tomorrow night with the chance to win a series. Let’s Go O’s!