Baltimore Orioles: Waiting for the Offense to come North
By Nate Wardle
Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
Game 2: Boston Red Sox 6 Baltimore Orioles 2 F
W: John Lackey (1-0)
L: Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1)
MVP: Mike Napoli, Honorable Mention: John Lackey
The GOOD: Nelson Cruz continued to show why the Orioles signed him. His ability to make teams pay for walking Chris Davis will pay big dividends. However, the Orioles are going to need to unthaw the bats first.
Ubaldo Jimenez made a few bad pitches on the home runs, and struggled to keep the ball down. But for his first start, against the Boston Red Sox, Ubaldo did pretty well.
Brian Matusz. Say what you want about a first round pick as a situational pitcher, but stranding 50 of 55 base runners is very good. I like having Matusz on the mound when people are on base.
The BAD: The Orioles offense has been anemic so far. No other way to put it for an offense that is supposed to be so good. If not for Nelson Cruz, the Orioles would not have an RBI this season.
The pitch to Mike Napoli really hurt the Orioles. The team had just come back to tie the game, and Ubaldo inexplicably throws a 0-2 pitch right down the middle. I’m sure Matt Wieters didn’t call for a fastball in that location, but the pitch speed and location both were questionable.
Ryan Webb didn’t pitch as bad as his line indicates, but he didn’t pitch well either. Left some balls up and just didn’t locate his pitches well.
What’s NEXT: Game 3: Boston Red Sox (Doubront) (1 – 1) vs. Baltimore Orioles (Chen) (1 – 1) 7:05 p.m. Thursday