Baltimore Orioles: Almost Totally Unfair

Jul 18, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) is unable to make the play against the New York Yankees during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles lost the first of their 10 remaining games with the Yankees in New York 2-1, being shut down by the Yanks’ bullpen.

The New York Yankees enjoyed a scripted sort of win against the Orioles on Monday night. The plan is to hold down the opposition sufficiently with starters, eek out a few runs from their aging offense, and get the final three arms into the game with a lead, thus slamming the door.

The Orioles played into it fully, only getting a single run off Ivan Nova in the form of a Jonathan Schoop home run. Nova has not historically pitched extraordinarily well against the Orioles. But these O’s were only able to muster four hits in six innings, going an additional 0-for-5 with RISP, adding to the 1-for-16 from the Tampa Bay series.

Scoring only nine runs in four games is simply not going to lead to many wins. And if the offense cannot hit the Yankees early in the game, they aren’t going to get much at the end … not even as the team in the American League with the most come-from-behind wins (29). Running into a shutdown bullpen is a taste of their own medicine.

We have been expecting for several years that the Yankees are going to age-out and at long last fade away into competitive insignificance. Coming into this four-game series with a 45-46 record, the Orioles had a chance to bury them into obscurity.

The New York offense really is not very good. They only managed two runs off Kevin Gausman and simply don’t have a fierce look about them.

Among American League teams, the Yankees are 11^th in runs scored, 12^th in batting average and home runs, and 13^th in on-base percentage. But they are #1 in highest average age for hitters.

But the Orioles let them have a lead going into the seventh inning, at which time the game becomes almost unfair with Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman to be faced in the final three frames.