Baltimore Orioles Improve to 16-4 without Chris Davis
Sep 12, 2014; Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Orioles pinch hitter Jimmy Paredes (38) hits the game-winning two-run double in the eleventh inning against the New York Yankees in game one of a doubleheader at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Yankees 2-1 in eleven innings. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
The Baltimore Orioles entered into Friday’s doubleheader with the New York Yankees in a precarious position where everything could go terribly wrong, or where extraordinary effort could add a new chapter to the ongoing story of an incredible season. It was the latter scenario that developed.
Staggered by the news of a 25-game suspension of Chris Davis for amphetamine use—that Davis identified as the ADHD medication Adderall—getting swept by the Yankees could have been a sea change shift of momentum affecting the rest of the season. But in the same fashion as how the city’s football counterpart Baltimore Ravens bounced back from the news about Ray Rice in trouncing Pittsburgh, the Orioles took two games from the Yankees to lower the magic number to five (in light of a loss by Toronto).
Bolstered especially by two outstanding seven-inning shut-out starts by Kevin Gausman and Bud Norris, the Orioles bullpen and clutch-hitting offense did enough to pull out the two wins by scores of 2-1 and 5-0.
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The first game appeared to be lost after a Chris Young home run broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 11th inning. But in the same way that over the years the Yankees always seemed able to come back in the final three outs, the Orioles loaded the bases with two outs to set up a walk-off two-run double by Jimmy Paredes.
Another newcomer to the Orioles again made major contributions. Alejandro De Aza hit the first of two triples in the fourth inning to drive in Ryan Flaherty, who had doubled home the first Orioles run. Delmon Young delivered a clutch two-out two-run bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 4-0. And De Aza’s second triple in the eighth plated Jonathan Schoop, who had reached on a third strike wild pitch.
The Baltimore Orioles pitching was simply outstanding on this day, giving up only one run over 20 innings of work. And Norris used 10 strikeouts to improve his record to 13-8 with a 3.74 ERA.
These are the kinds of games that championship teams find a way to win, in spite of whatever craziness is going on around them.
I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago about what it will take to win it all – identifying that all of the championship teams in recent years went into the playoffs by winning about two-thirds of their final 30 games. With 15 games to go in this 2014 season, the Orioles have won 12 of their past 15 games.
The Orioles need to get as many players as possible playing at the high end or beyond of their career average level of play. The pitching staff is pretty much all doing that. Among others are De Aza, Steve Pearce, Nelson Cruz, and J.J. Hardy. Nick Markakis and Adam Jones are both in a bit of a funk right now and are going to need to bounce out of it in the next two weeks.
Regarding the Chris Davis Debacle
As I wrote on the football side of this Baltimore Wire local sports blog, I don’t do this writing to talk about the drama of culture and the personal comings and goings of players and their issues off the field. I’m interested purely in the sports – the games and the statistics and strategies, etc. But some elephants in the room are too big to ignore.
I understand the stringent nature of MLB wanting to crack down on substance abuse and PEDs, with the “steroid era” having been one of the biggest clouds ever over the sport. But long before today it has struck me as very odd that ADHD medications would be on such a list, though I guess it is categorically there and cannot be overlooked.
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But if Adderall is so great for helping performance, Chris Davis must have gotten a very bad batch of it! Is that what helped him hit all the way up to an average of .196?
What this suspension did do for Davis is prevent him from becoming only the second regular, mostly-daily sort of player to strike out with a number higher than his batting average. With a .196 average and 173 strikeouts, he was within striking distance (or should I say “striking out distance?”).
The other player to have done it? Mark Reynolds – who in 2010 with Arizona struck out 211 times while batting just .198. And to think that these two guys used to hit back-to-back in the O’s lineup! Reynolds is also currently batting the same as Davis at .196, though he only has 120 strikeouts at this point.
By the way, in the 127 games that Davis has appeared for the Orioles this season, they are 72-55. So in the remaining 20 games they are 16-4. Just sayin’.