Baltimore Orioles: Successful Road Trip Ends with a Victory

Jul 21, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones (10) is greeted at home plate by Baltimore Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis (21) after a 2-run home run in the first inning of the game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles completed a successful West Coast road trip of 10 games in 10 days with a 3-2, 10th-inning victory over the Seattle Mariners. All in all, O’s fans have to be pleased with a 6-4 record over those games against some of the best pitching in MLB.

The strength of opponent pitching is evident in the fact that the Orioles only batted .201 over the 10 games. Winning six contests in light of that is pretty amazing—attributable to the 3.17 ERA of the pitching staff.

The Orioles came out of the All-Star break with a four-game lead in the AL East over both the Jays and Yankees. The Jays have picked up one game, while NY remains four games behind. The Rays have won nine of the last 10 to get now to 7.5 games behind the Birds. The Red Sox appear to be falling off the edge of the earth … oops, there they go … gone! Have a happy fall – without baseball this year.

On this Sunday afternoon, the Orioles managed to come away with a win in a game they did not necessarily deserve to win … not that they deserved to lose, but it was one that could have just as easily gone the other way. The Orioles squandered a number of opportunities to add runs and build some margin. And as always, good defense was an additional asset for the Birds.

Manny Machado was the probable MVP of this game – getting two hits and two RBIs, including a final sac fly game winner on an 0-2 pitch in the top of the 10th inning.

Miguel Gonzalez did his typical contribution of hanging around and holding the Orioles in the game long enough to eventually have a shot at winning. Over six innings he allowed eight hits and two walks, all of which is enough to get a pitcher into more trouble than giving up only a single run. And that is all he allowed. He competes. Gotta love him for that.

The Orioles return home for six games – three each against the Angels and Mariners. We’ll be talking more about matchups in posts this coming week, but one quick note is to say that the Orioles will not have to face Felix Hernandez. He will be pitching on Wednesday. They will likely have to face Hisashi Iwakuma next Sunday.

After the six games at home, the Baltimore Orioles will hit the road for a single game in Washington, followed by three in Toronto. After that is five home games against the Cardinals and Yankees. So, the O’s will be playing 25 consecutive games after the break against teams with winning records, before finally seeing the Indians—who are at this moment only one game under .500.

Hopefully the Orioles players remember how to get to Camden Yards. The last game there was on July 13th, so it will be 16 days between games in Baltimore. What a schedule this has been this year.

The Orioles have again now played more games on the road versus at home—55 to 49. The Orioles are three games over .500 at home, but have an excellent 32-23 road record. Only the Detroit Tigers have been better on the road. If the Orioles could sweep this six-game home series, they could match their road record … now there’s something to shoot for!

The 58 wins by the Orioles is exceeded in MLB only by the A’s, Angels, Brewers, and Dodgers.

The Birds are also 35-12 in extra innings wins over the past three seasons. That is a statistic about which to be particularly pleased.

There are no especially good trade rumors out there to comment upon. The most common name mentioned a bit with the Orioles is catcher Kurt Suzuki. It would be great to have his bat in the lineup, but there is the issue of gaining comfort with the pitching staff. So this sort of falls into the category of “if it ain’t broke….”

Apparently Dan Duquette is disinclined to part with young pitching talent, and I think most O’s fans would applaud that position. The entire Ubaldo Jimenez situation may have quelled the fanbase’s regular criticism of wanting to make bold moves, but being disappointed in what is accomplished. The best overall situation for the Baltimore Orioles at this point may be to go to war with the army they currently have.