Calling the Pen: Will it be a fun four-day weekend for the Orioles?

Homer Simpson once was told that if he didn’t come to work on Friday, don’t bother coming in on Monday. As only Homer could, his reaction was, “Woohoo! Four-day weekend!”

The Orioles are entering their own four-day weekend that could determine their immediate and long-term future. There are three games to play against the Phillies, an Orioles Hall of Fame induction for Chris Davis, Storm Davis and superscout Jim Russo, and Monday’s trade deadline when the Orioles are expected to be buyers.

I think that’s especially true after Wednesday’s improbable comeback that might bring some carryover momentum, but one never knows with this team. For the record, on a day when Ben McDonald was touting a heavyweight bout between starting pitchers Tarik Skubal and Trevor Rogers, I counted the Orioles out by the seventh inning. After losing 14-0 the day before, they were trailing 7-0, had committed three official errors and Leody Taveras was playing the outfield as if he were still chasing the black squirrel that highlighted Monday’s 8-5 win.

But before the boxing referee reached a 10-count, the Orioles came off the mat and recorded a stunning 10-9, 12-inning win that makes the next four days the season’s most important. There also are some takeaways from the series against Detroit that are worth noting.

Second baseman Jackson Holliday went 8-for-11, is hitting .370 in July, and produced a key hit in the 11th against Tigers left-hander Drew Sommers.

The Orioles are mishandling Holliday, one of the Orioles’ young core players who should be an everyday starter instead of a platoon player. He’s not the only one whose development is being stunted by analytics and decision-making.

When the Orioles signed first baseman Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract, they put promising Coby Mayo into a box that didn’t fit. Alonso brought a veteran presence to a young lineup that could use it, and showed fans that the Orioles would spend big to correct the wrongs of the 2025 season.

However, I still believe Mayo could become an exceptional power hitter, if there is a commitment to his development. He also demonstrated in Detroit that he can hit right-handers but his role has been minimized because he’s not an everyday third baseman, Alonso is the everyday first baseman, and manager Craig Albernaz likes to get the bats of both catchers, Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo, in the lineup when they’re healthy.

Another of the core players, outfielder Colton Cowser, delivered the game-winning hit against Sommers after getting two quick strikes. Cowser is another who appears to have all the tools to be an everyday player but whose season has been marked by highs and lows — game-winning homers, homer-robbing catches and prolonged slumps. He loves the fastball, struggles with offspeed pitches, but the Orioles awarded the center field job too soon to Taveras. Cowser seemed to reclaim center field but is now a part-time player again, making us wonder if he will be, or should be, part of the Orioles’ future.

That brings me to Gunnar Henderson, who hasn’t had to worry about someone taking his position but isn’t the player we thought he’d be this season. His hit in the seventh ignited the comeback and his calm in the 10th allowed the Orioles to turn an inning-ending double play. To his credit, his misplays and missed opportunities at the plate don’t prevent him from continuing to play hard. It’s the consistency that’s been an issue.

The same could be said about the Orioles as a whole.

“We have so much talent on this team,” president of baseball operations Mike Elias said last Friday before the Orioles lost two of three to the Braves. “I think we all look at the record, and we’re like, ‘Our record should be better.’

“There’s a lot of ways that it could have been, and health’s been a big part of it. I think we could have played better and executed better and done things differently. Top to bottom, but where we’re at right now, we’re within arm’s reach of the playoff spot. We’ve got enough time to get there.

“We’re coming up on the [trade] deadline, so the next several games are really important and everybody’s focused on these next several games, but I look at the talent on his team and we’re extremely optimistic that we can get where we want to go.”

Elias is faced with sticking with a young core that hasn’t met expectations but still could spark the Orioles in the next two months, or starting to break up that group to shore up some of the club’s deficiencies, most notably defense and the bullpen. No one is under more pressure this four-day weekend than him, who has constructed this team from the foundation up. He probably won’t have as much fun as Homer Simpson, but if he makes the right moves, there might be a fun couple of months for the Orioles.