Baltimore Orioles Opening Weekend and the Team Moving Forward
By Nate Wardle
The offense
Cause for concern. Look, the Orioles’ offense consists of hitting the ball out of the ballpark. That’s what they do. If you want them to diversify and do other things, good luck. But, when the entire team can’t hit, it makes for a terrible performance.
Jose Berrios barely broke a sweat yesterday and was under 90 pitches entering the ninth inning. That cannot happen. Kyle Gibson had a no-hitter through six innings when he exited on Saturday night. That also is not good.
Jake Odorizzi had the Orioles’ offense stymied through his six innings as well. In fact, if not for Zach Duke‘s wildness and the Twins using the last pitcher in the bullpen on Saturday, this team may not have any runs on the board.
So, how do you fix it? Well, you hope guys come around. Manny Machado hasn’t been bad so far, but he is swinging at everything. Other guys have either a 0 or 1 in the hit column.
Adam Jones clearly didn’t forget how to hit. Neither did Jonathan Schoop, who had the first hit off the Twins on Saturday. Chris Davis may hit around .200, but he won’t hit .000.
One can hope that the warmer weather of Houston snaps the Orioles out of their funk. Maybe going back on the road will do it, I don’t know. Maybe they should bunt for base hits, get on-base and see what happens. It seems to rile players up…
The Orioles’ offense, when it goes cold, is colder than Siberia. Last September, the offense was in a Siberian-like state. To start 2018, not much has changed, and that is cause for concern.