As Baltimore Orioles Struggle, Stars Recognized

By now, you probably know that the Baltimore Orioles going to the All-Star game are Zach Britton, Adam Jones, Manny Machado and Darren O’Day.

However, in the last day plus, several more All-Star honors have been bestowed upon our Birds.

Manny Machado will be taking part in the revamped Home Run Derby, to be held on Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Machado is the 5 seed, and will face Dodgers’ young star Joc Pederson in the first round. The Derby is now a bracket-style competition, where the winner will have to win three rounds to claim the title. The derby will also be timed this year.

I don’t mind Manny being a part of this. It is good to show how far Manny has come, especially with his power.  And since he is more of a line drive hitter, I don’t see participating in the derby throwing him into a slump.

In addition, due to the injury to Alex Gordon, Adam Jones will now be starting in the All-Star Game. Despite receiving the seventh most votes, Jones was voted second by the players, behind only Mike Trout.

It is good to see Jones so well-respected among his peers, because he is truly one of the stars of the game.

As for the Orioles, despite their 2-8 record in their last 10 games, their abysmal road trip, their struggling offense, they sit just three games out of the super-competitive AL East.

In every other division, at least one team is more than 10 games back. In the AL East, the worst team, the Boston Red Sox, sit only 5.5 games back. The Sox are by far playing the best in the division right now. The Yankees are healthy, the Jays offense is keeping them in it despite slumping right now, the Rays are still competing despite an atrocious offense, and the Orioles are treading water.

The division has been very streaky all year, and it certainly gives the appearance that it will go down to the last week.

As for the weekend series, the Orioles face a team that has become a bit of a rival, the Washington Nationals. The Nationals are a few games better than the Birds, led by their pitching staff.

The O’s have traditionally fared well against Washington, and it will be interesting to see if that can continue. The team has players struggling all over the place right now, and maybe the Nationals are the cure for what ails them.