Enter the Taproom today and try not to fall asleep in your beer.
A week of West Coast baseball can do that to you.
The Orioles’ 10-game, 10-day, three-city road trip wasn’t exactly the highlight of the 2016 season, but Sunday’s come-from-behind, 8-7 victory certainly ended it on a positive note.
I think most people are OK with the Orioles escaping with a 5-5 record on this trip – especially given another nightmare in Oakland.
Ultimately, the Orioles survived what arguably is their toughest stretch of the year and are basically in the same situation as before they left.
There are now 45 games remaining this season; 25 are at Camden Yards, where they are 39-17 in 2016.
Given the unbalanced schedule, the Orioles really control their own destiny. They have 31 games remaining against AL East foes, and that might be a good thing. The Orioles are 26-19 against teams in their division this year.
They remain in a battle for first place in the East — a half game behind the Toronto Blue Jays — and currently lead the AL Wild Card race with a 66-51 record.
We know these Orioles are good. We know they are flawed.
But here’s what I really want to know from you on your barstool today:
Did you learn anything more about this club in the last 10 days?
Were you encouraged or discouraged by this tough road trip? Did it make you think the Orioles have a better or worse chance of making the playoffs? Do you look at the way they ended in San Francisco and think they are resilient, or do you look at how the offense didn’t show up in Oakland and worry that they aren’t a complete team?
Settle in, get out your wallet and throw me an explanation or two.
Tap-In Question: Did you learn anything about these Orioles from their 5-5 road trip?
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Tough question! I think we saw that this team can look as great or as awful as any team in baseball, but we knew that already, right?
If it weren't for the bad starts from Miley and Gausman, I might have said that we learned that the rotation really has finally become a strength, or less of a weakness anyway.
But, ultimately, I think what I learned was that there seems to be some nebulous force at work behind the scenes guiding this team. How else to explain such an unlikely and supremely magical win yesterday? A day that just happened to be Earl's birthday, a day on which Robert Andino (the guy that helped turn the entire organization around by destroying the Sox's playoff hopes in 2011) played in his first MLB game since 2013, and even got a hit?
This team may just be special. We shall see... Still lots to learn.
Well we all knew there was some nebulous force behind the team.
We all knew is was The Earl of Balmers birthday.
But to point out the Andino appearance is awesome dude! I had to go to baseballreference.com to see what you were talking about. Are you some sort of all knowing baseball jedi knight or something? Kudos oh sage Claudecat! I bow to you supreme knowledge. (said with the utmost sincerity)
Bartender! The remainder of the day's libations for this good man on me!
Love the Curse of the Andino reference. I'd throw you a drink chip, but Boog's throwing around cash instead.
I'm not sure what we learned today. All I'm sure of is they reminded us that they are indeed resilient and occasionally prone to late game heroics. I guess the number one thing they taught/reminded us is that it's great to be a fan of the greatest franchise in MLB history!!! Orioles Magic is NOT just some catch-phrase of the marketing department. Now onward and upward. Bring on Sox and Jays. World series or bust 2016!! (hiccup/burp) Bartender ... one more time please ...
I won't even cut you off today. It's gonna be an interesting final six weeks.
Shank shyou very mush ....
I've got a couple of drink chips to use I think, so one Natty Boh please.
Did we learn anything about these Orioles that we didn't already know? I don't think so. They're streaky, have some really good hitters up and down the lineup, can strike out a lot, and have a very solid pen. However, carrying the road record that we do this season (and seemingly every season) a .500 road trip that includes a week on the west coast is nothing short of a victory.
If you project out W-L for the rest of the season, you'd add 25-20 to the W-L which would put you at 91 wins, which should be good enough for a post-season berth. Add in a few more Orioles Magic wins at home, especially against our fellow AL East competitors and First Place is well within reach.
Yeah, I'm sipping on my Natty Boh and sitting pretty over here waiting for my playoff tickets to come.
"Listening" to the others I don’t think I can add anything different. Creatively and Claudecat summed it up better than I could (btw the Andino reference was cool).
BRR, I’m right there with you man! Been an Os fan for 62 seasons and it is a great thing!
So, barkeep, set’um up and we’ll watch the Baltimore “boys of summer” do their thing!
I learned that the O's play to the level of their competition. If you play sub .500 teams close, you L to these teams. The O's should beat the teams they need to beat. Let's keep a PMA that when it comes to crunch time, CRUSH starts hitting dingers.
Well, the Orioles are not going to need to worry about playing sub-.500 teams in the playoffs, so if they play to the level of their competition, they'll be just fine.
That said, I agree with you that they should be handling those teams. I'm just wondering whether a little of their struggle against Oakland could be that they were thinking ahead to playing the Giants, a playoff caliber team.
My guess is that that was a factor, though if you ask the players in the clubhouse, to a man they'll tell you they follow Buck's dictum about one game at a time--subconsciously, tho, it could be a different story.
This team relaxes too much with the bad teams, i.e. Oakland, and loses and gets up for the good teams. It's been that way all year and I think the numbers prove it. The other thing they do is seem to expend all of their energy when scoring a lot of runs. That's why Boston scares me, even at home. They're going to have to get up for all the games if the playoffs are in the picture.