The Crazy World of the Baltimore Orioles
Jun 16, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder
Adam Jones(10) pies right fielder
Chris Parmelee(41) during a post game interview of the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Baltimore Orioles defeated Philadelphia Phillies 19-3. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Baltimore Orioles fans are very familiar with the special deal that their advertising sponsor Papa John’s gives to fans the day after the O’s win a game and score five or more runs – they get 50% off their online order. So what happens when the Orioles win by a score of 19-3? It would seem that Papa John’s at that point should be paying people to get their pizzas delivered to them.
A Bizarre Game
Were the Baltimore Orioles that good, or were the Philadelphia Phillies that bad? Yes, and yes.
The Orioles set a franchise record by hitting a total of eight home runs. Just imagine how many more there would have been if DD did not trade away Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis! Sorry – an evil spirit made me write that snotty sentence.
It sounds impressive that they hit eight homers, until you realize that seven of them were with the bases empty! Yep, that’s typical of the Orioles. Only David Lough hit one with runners on base. So, only 10 runs were produced by the eight home runs. Earl Weaver would be disappointed in that. Maybe after wearing down the Phils’ bullpen it will help them to do better in one of these next two games in Philadelphia.
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A Bizarre Statistic
When you do something in baseball that has not been done in 101 years, that is either really, really good, or horribly and terribly bad. And it was the latter of those descriptions of Dustin McGowan’s relief appearance. He gave up five home runs as a relief pitcher.
The interesting thing about the veteran pitcher’s outing is that he had a lot of good movement on many of his pitches, but, “Oops, there goes another one over the fence again!”
The only thing that could have made this an even more salubrious experience for O’s fans would have been if Jonathan Papelbon was the guy setting the record. It might have even knocked the ridiculous pucker off his face.
A Bizarre Roster Move
Did any of you see the Chris Parmelee addition involving Wei-Yin Chen being sent down for one start? If you answer “yes,” I don’t believe you. What a world – pitch eight shutout innings and get sent to the minors!
Apparently Chen was not exactly thrilled with the news, although the official report as spoken by Showalter would seem to indicate that the pitcher understood the reasoning.
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Does this embitter him for offseason negotiations when he becomes a free agent? Well – what difference does that make? Remember, Scott Boras is his agent.
The move already paid off, as Parmelee celebrated his promotion with four hits and two homers.
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A Bizarre Lineup
Would you have ever believed you would see an Orioles lineup where the top five were Manny Machado, Travis Snider, Jimmy Paredes, Chris Davis, and Chris Parmelee? That looks like a spring training sort of batting order. But those guys accounted for six home runs and a double.
The most glaring thing about that is the absence of Adam Jones. I am not surprised that Jones needs a day or two off. He has had so many foul balls hit him, along with attempting diving catch plays in the past week. But who knew that leaving AJ out of the lineup would produce 19 runs?
A Bizarre Future
There seems to be no end to the way that the Baltimore Orioles creatively use the 25-man and 40-man rosters. The Orioles have already used a total of 40 different players this season.
But this cannot continue forever, that is unless there are some more injuries in the near future that create movement possibilities. But Jonathan Schoop is going to be coming back, as well as Kevin Gausman. Hopefully also Miguel Gonzalez. And there are more than just these names. At some point the Orioles are just not going to be able to keep everyone.
A Bizarre Schedule
So it is on to Philadelphia for two more games. The Phils have lost eight in a row, while the O’s finished a 7-1 homestand. What an irony it would be to see the Phillies come back to life on the home cooking and win a game or two after getting totally shellacked the past two days.
It is all very strange – lots of strange happenings for the O’s, but that is what makes baseball such a great sport.