Peter Schmuck: ‘Tis the offseason for some Orioles’ soul-searching

During my many years as a frustrated intramural jock, I had a close friend and teammate who had an interesting philosophy when things were not going our way.

He would gather everybody together and deliver this one-sentence pep talk:

“Okay guys, it’s time to change the emphasis from losing to winning.”

Everybody laughed and we went back out there and continued to get our butts kicked.

Don’t know why I’m telling all of you this, but that pops into my mind every time an Orioles hitter makes a swing decision like the one that caused Orioles manager Craig Albernaz to criticize Jeremiah Jackson’s first-pitch groundout with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of Sunday night’s loss to the Brewers.

Which means that it has popped into my mind more times than I can count during this frustrating season in which I have never quite figured out what exactly is the Orioles’ organizational hitting philosophy.

The only thing I know for sure is that Oriole hitters – with a few obvious exceptions – have displayed very little inclination toward maintaining pressure on pitchers who seem ready to blow up on the launching pad. And that has been illustrated over and over by a team that has struggled all season to take advantage of prime scoring opportunities.

Jackson isn’t the lone ranger here. He’s just a fringe guy coming to the end of the season who really could have used a three-run extra-base hit in that situation and just figured that struggling reliever Chad Patrick had to throw him a cookie after loading the bases with two walks and a hit batsman.

That’s hitter logic and Jackson got a strike – outside middle – but that’s not really the point. It was a low-scoring game and there is also advantage in giving a pitcher struggling like that a chance to bounce a ball to the backstop to bring in a run or a hitter to see a pitch or two before pouncing on one.

Of course, it’s easy to second-guess one at-bat and Jackson would have been a hero if that ball had slipped through the infield. The issue is whether the Orioles’ coaching staff has created an environment where hitters are playing the mind game instead of just the “my” game.

Albernaz talked on Monday afternoon about the way he and his coaches will go about analyzing the club this winter and was asked whether the club needed to rethink its overall approach at the plate.

“To me, it’s not rethinking,’’ Albernaz said. “Even if you’re great at an area or it’s an area that you excelled in, it’s not rethinking it. You want to constantly evaluate and see where the blind spots are and see where stuff is going to come up because you always want to be on the side of being proactive instead of reactive.”

Offensively, the O’s could take a lesson or two from some of the teams that have schooled them over the past season. They just got swept by the Milwaukee Brewers, who are not the winningest team in the sport by accident. They play old-school fundamental baseball and their hitters do whatever it takes to win.

The Orioles were 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position and left 26 runners on base over the three-game series. They pitched well enough to hold the Brew Crew to just four runs over the final two games but were shut out in both of them.

The offensive attack has been sporadic throughout the season for a variety of reasons, most notably the underperformance of several of the club’s most promising young players. Gunnar Henderson has produced runs, but struggled throughout the first half of the season to keep his batting average above .200. Colton Cowser has looked helpless against left-handed pitching. Jackson Holiday had his season undermined by a pair of wrist injuries.

It’ll be up to the front office and coaching staff to figure out exactly what went wrong and what can be done to get everyone moving back in the right direction by the start of next season.

“That’s something where we’re all talking – not only up here as a big league coaching staff, but throughout the rest of the organization,’’ said Albernaz, trying to maintain a positive outlook. “In the areas we’re excelling at and also in those [other] areas, how can we get better.”

They can start by changing the emphasis from losing to winning.