Baltimore Orioles Let Appropriate Emotions Fly (and HRs too)

Sep 11, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter (left) gets thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Mark Carlson (right) in the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

More than a few of the Baltimore Orioles players worry me many times as to if they have a pulse. It can be a strength for a baseball player to have a mellow and unruffled sort of personality. After all, a lot of bad things can happen in this sport to even the best, and it is a strength to not be easily rattled when things go poorly.

But many of the Orioles players are, for my taste, way too mellow. Even though the O’s have some fiery players in Adam Jones, Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, think about the mellow fellows. To name a few: Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy, Chris Davis, Nolan Reimold, Brian Matusz, Miguel Gonzalez, Zach Britton, Ryan Flaherty, Chris Tillman.

Remember when Matusz got thrown out for the foreign substance on the arm? No argument. He just calmly walked off. Davis gets called out on a pitch six inches outside, he turns around and just walks back to the dugout. Lots of flat lines in the orange uniforms.

So it was good to see Nolan Reimold actually smile after hitting a grand slam off the top of the foul pole in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the O’s a lead of 8-6 at that time. Seriously, he did smile once in the dugout after that!

And then after Manny Machado immediately followed with a solo home run and Adam Jones a crisp single to center, Chris Davis was plunked in his back with a pitch. And I will say it was good to see Davis slam his bat to the ground and snap it! He glared at pitcher Franklin Morales as well before heading to first base, and it was totally appropriate.

All of this of course brought Buck Showalter onto the field to argue that Morales should have been tossed for the obvious beanball. He was furious, and Buck’s anger and verbiage was about as extended as I have ever seen. Good for him; he should have done exactly as he did.

But the best thing to do is just beat the crap out of the other team, and that is what the Orioles did. They logged 10 runs in the eighth inning, including a second grand slam by Steve Clevenger. This is only the eighth time in the history of the game that a team has had two slams in one inning (with one of the previous seven being by the O’s in 1986).

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Final score: Orioles 14, Royals 8.

Before that bottom of the eighth, I will be honest and say that I was preparing to write about two big holes in the Orioles’ lineup: Jones and Hardy. It looked like they were on their way to a big combined “0-for.” And to be fair, after Jones struck out three times, he did hit a ball to deep center prior to the eighth inning single.

But truly there is something wrong with Hardy at the plate. He is totally lost. And I cannot believe he is close to fully healthy. Along with his 0-for-5 and three strikeouts, he managed to make both the first and second outs of the eighth inning. So yes, the O’s had eight in a row reach base between these plate appearances. I wonder how many times in the history of the game the same player has made the first and second outs of an inning. I’ve seen the first and last; but to make the first and second has to be quite rare.

Honestly, I think it would be good to give Hardy the rest of 2015 off. Tell him to heal up and begin a different and better sort of strength and conditioning program for the future — the O’s are going to need him to produce over the final three seasons of his contract.

Next: The O's win more when scoring four

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