Baltimore Orioles: Short Start Wins Again

Jul 9, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) singles scoring shortstop Manny Machado (13) (no pictured) during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Baltimore Orioles defeated Los Angeles Angels 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles once again had a starter go only five innings but also once again were able to hang around and win the game on a home run.

Yovani Gallardo, despite 58 pitches in the first two innings, held the Rays to only three runs. The Orioles would scratch and claw long enough to tie the game, eventually winning it on a Jonathan Schoop home run and the strength of the bullpen.

Reliever Mychal Givens registered his seventh win of the season, doing so after only a total of 41.1 innings pitched. This breaks a two-way tie between he and fellow reliever Brad Brach for the second-most number of wins on the team behind the 12 of Chris Tillman.

That last sentence is weird! What kind of team has relief pitchers registering the second-most and third-most number of wins? Certainly not a winning team! Certainly not a first-place team! Certainly yes! The winning combination for the Orioles this year has been overcoming less-than-stellar starts and outscoring the opponents in the second half of the ballgame. It worked again!

The question is: How long can this continue? It would not seem to be a winning plan. If “stupid is as stupid does,” then “winning is as winning does.”

Helping the Orioles accomplish the unusual is of course the outstanding power the team possesses, including Jonathan Schoop whose homer was the tie-breaker and game-winner. It was the 14^th round-tripper of the season for the O’s second baseman.

Be it far from me to say, “I told you so.” But, I told you so … that Schoop was going to have a breakout season. Quoting from our preseason article on Jonathan, we wrote …

"I am anticipating a big breakout season, believing that he is approaching the time where accumulated experience meets with rare skills at the peak age of life. He just needs to stay healthy and not have something like a blown-out knee happen on a take-out slide. I will go so far as to predict that, given a full and healthy year, Schoop will be at worst third on this team in total home runs."

Actually he is fifth on the team in long balls, behind Trumbo (28), Davis (22), Jones (19) and Machado (17). But it ain’t over yet.

The better statistical improvement for Schoop is in the area of batting average and OBP. Getting his 100^th hit of the season with the home run, he is now hitting .303 with a .337 OBP.

In the preseason article referenced above, an extensive conversation was included about where Schoop ranked among second basemen, taking off on an article by FanGraphs that had this position for the Orioles as #22 in all of baseball. That is simply ludicrous! Even before this season began, that is crazy talk. That article spoke much about Schoop’s lack of plate discipline, citing his 10-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio (which he has cut in half this year). And the article projected that Schoop would likely have a regressive year. So much for sabremetrics!

Having also written here on The Baltimore Wire a few days ago that nothing especially good for the regular season comes out of All-Star Games for those who participate, I was worried that the sushi-induced food poisoning of Matt Wieters and Zach Britton would cause a second-half opening-game setback for the Birds. Fortunately they gutted their way through it (pun intended). And Trumbo had two hits after his silver medal home run derby placement. Brad Brach and Manny looked decent as well.