AtD – O’s Limp Out of Royals Series

Around the Diamond

AtD is our “whenever we feel like it” feature where we cover… something. A game, a series, a player’s performance… Admittedly, AtD usually follows great games these days. In the interest of not looking like this guy, limping out of Kansas City seemed like a good time.

Game 1 Box Score – BAL 9, KC 2

Game 2 Box Score – KC 3, BAL 2

Game 2 Box Score – KC 4, BAL 3

Game 2 Box Score – KC 7, BAL 1

Let’s take a quick trip Around the Diamond for the July 22-25 series against the Royals.

First Base

The Quality Start giveth and the Quality Start taketh away. The Orioles got quality starts from Scott Feldman (8 IP / 2 ER), Jason Hammel ( 6 IP / 3 ER), and Wei-Yin Chen (7.1 IP / 3 ER). At times they were dominant. At times, they were frightening – we’re looking at you, Hammel.

In those quality starts, the Orioles went 1-2. There are lots of reasons that we (spoiler alert!) will get to below, but all things considered, O’s fans should be happy with three quality starts in a series. It gives the ball club a chance to win any game. Scratch that, it gives the ball club a great chance to win any game.

The starting rotation was the biggest question mark going, coming out of the All-Star break. Would they manage to piece it back together? Would they make the lineup and the bullpen feel like they had to press? In this lost series, the answer was “no.” This, dear reader, is what we in the business like to refer to as a “silver lining.”

Then there was Miguel Gonzalez. In Episode 45, I crowed about Gonzalez’s ability to pitch effectively. At the time of that recording, he had thrown 23 quality starts in the 34 games he had started for the Orioles. At home, on the road. During the day and at night. Gonzalez is a guy you can lean on to stop a losing skid.

Which is exactly what he failed to do in Kanas City (4.2 IP / 6 ER). I think it’s safe to say that this game is an outlier. On the whole, I give the starters high marks for the series.

Second Base

Chris Davis ha a great game in Monday’s 9-2 stomping, and then disappeared. Strangely, Twitter shut the hell up with its baseless steroids accusations. Unfortunately, the discussion was replaced with questions as to whether the HR Derby messed with his swing.

*sigh*

It’s  a slump. Chris Davis is slumping. And he’s doing it as impressively as he’s done everything else this season. The series ended with a frustrating 4K day at the plate. Davis is the every-day first baseman on this team, but I’d like to see him get a day off to clear his head. Maybe the upcoming Boston series is not the time to do it, but watching him flounder against the Red Sox would be terrible – both in the win column and for O’s fans.

While we’re at it, we should probably mention that Manny Machado had a rough series, too. He drove in a run in Wednesday’s hard-luck loss, but that’s all he had to show for himself at the plate in Kansas City.

Third Base

Let’s file this under Things That Didn’t Matter: the trap in game four. You know the play – with a man in scoring position, Nate McLouth was called out on a ball that hit the turf before ending up in Alex Gordon’s glove. Inning, and threat, over.

When something like that happens, guys like Buck Showalter say things like “you need to work to make that call not matter.” The O’s succeeded, but not in the direction you’d hope. Instead, the Orioles rolled over, and let the deficit get to 6 runs. Fans can whine all they want about replay, momentum, and whatever else makes them feel better.

But the Orioles did not respond to that blown call the way they needed to, if they were going to win the game. They didn’t react to any adversity in game four. It wasn’t their night, the trap included.

Home Plate

Driving in runners in scoring position was a bit of a problem in Kansas City. I think you can label a 1-17 RISP performance as “a bit of a problem.” It seemed as if third base was where Orioles’ rallies went to die. Some even got to calling third base “the Bermuda Triangle.”

The Orioles offense is legit – From top to bottom, their dangerous. In KC, they were limited to batting .214. The pitchers they will face in the Boston series are much tougher, so it’s imperitive that they get over this collective funk in a hurry. Despite the poor results, the Baltimore starters seem to be on a good roll – the offense needs to reward those efforts agains the AL East leading Red Sox.

Back to the Dugout

The Kansas City series was a mess. Talk about deflating, after a sweep in Texas. Though the roadtrip technicall ended 4-3, calling it a success feels hollow and forced. Any momentum gained in Texas has slipped away. We will see how resilliant this 2013 Orioles team can be. A home series against the Red Sox presents new challenges and new opportunities.

The Royals series sucked, there’s no gettting around that. If I know Buck Showalter and his crew, you can be assured that they will be ready to play, and quieted any demons left over from Kansas City. O’s fans need to be able to turn the page half as well as the players. The Birds are still clinging to a playoff spot (as of today), and have plenty of games against their AL East rivals.

The road to October is bound to have some lows, to accompany the highs. This series certainly fits the bill.