I screwed up and somehow didn’t post the MVP of Yesterday… Yesterday. So today is a twofer.
The MVP of Wednesday was Mike Leake, who struck out 9 and held the Phillies hitless until their were 2 outs in the 7th (of course, the Reds’ bullpen then blew the lead, but that’s not Leake’s fault).
And the MVP of Thursday was Adam Jones, who finally broke out of his slump and went 3-4 against the Astros, including a homer.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
As you know, the Orioles and White Sox will be playing a game today in front of an empty stadium due to the recent events in Baltimore, with only themselves, journalists, and a skeleton crew of ballpark workers there to see it in person.
While of course the first thoughts should be for everyone in Baltimore in light of the unrest (whether peaceful protest or the violent riots that occurred on Monday), it should be noted that this unusual zero-attendance game will provide a unique look at baseball.
Now, I have, of course by definition, never been to a game with no attendance. But I have been to games that have been very close, with perhaps only a hundred or more fans there, tops. Go to a minor league game on a cold night with a chance of rain and you’ll have a chance to see it (as I have at times), or go to one of the lowest minor leagues, where they play games in large Spring Training facilities in front of crowds far, far smaller than the ballpark is meant to.
It is, in a word that will be said many times today: surreal.
For one thing, there is the fact that almost everything in the stadium is closed. Maybe one or two food stands will be open for the few fans who are there (this won’t be the case for the Orioles game today), and maybe you might still one or two vendors walking around hawking beer, but in general, it is a morgue outside of the seating bowl. They might not even turn on the TVs to show the game to anybody down below.
And yet, much of what the stadium’s PA system and video board play remain the same. They’ll flash out the birthday messages meant for people who probably left during the rain delay in the third innings, they’ll play walk-up music that echoes through the empty stands, they’ll give “fan of the game” awards to people who normally never get the awards because their seats are too expensive, and the mascots are able to give a good chunk of time to every kid in the crowd. Individually.
And, above all else, you can hear almost everything said above a conversational tone. You can hear the players actually call out “I got it, I got it,” and hear them swear after they do something wrong. I don’t know if the mics in Baltimore will be good enough to pick stuff like that up, but if they can, it’ll be a treat (and also NSFW).
Lastly, if it’s possible, baseball with little to no fans there is most definitely connoisseur’s experience. The few people there most definitely want to be there. There are no casual fans. And that is an almost zen-like experience.
In 30 Teams, 30 Posts, I write a post about every MLB team in some way in the lead-up to the beginning of the 2015 season. Previous installments can be found here. Today, I talk about the Orioles.
Keith Olbermann put it best when he described the 2014 Baltimore Orioles as being like Wile E. Coyote running off a cartoon cliff. Despite not having Manny Machado, Matt Wieters or Chris Davis, the Orioles were able to keep running on air for awhile until finally, in the ALCS, they realized they were over the cliff and then plummeted to their doom.
And, after a fairly quiet off-season that saw some major losses (Nick Markakis- although how big of a loss that is is up to some debate- and Andrew Miller) and no major additions. In fact, the biggest story of the offseason for the Orioles was likely the fact that GM Dan Duquette might leave to take a higher position with the Blue Jays. He didn’t, at least, not yet.
So, the most important thing for the defending AL East champion (!) Orioles will be how the players returning from injury/suspension will do. Manny Machado and Matt Wieters from injury, of course, and Chris Davis is returning from a PED suspension. To be sure, they could do great and the Orioles could still miss the playoffs, but it feels unlikely that the Orioles can make the playoffs if they don’t produce.
Of the three, the most important one, at least for the long-term hopes of the Orioles, is Manny Machado. Still just 22, he is the one who will be an Oriole for most of the foreseeable future, while Wieters (28 and with just one more year on his contract) and Davis (also 28, and also in the last year of his contract) could soon be on their way out. Machado has seen two straight seasons end in injury- the last thing the Orioles need is their young super-star becoming an injury-prone mess.
Because Adam Jones cannot be expected to be a one-man show, and the starting pitcher remains a bit suspect, at least on gut reaction when you look at it.
Although, on the other hand, Buck Showalter is involved, so it’s entirely possible everything goes wrong for the Orioles this season and they still make the playoffs.
Now over at Hall of Very Good: a “Wisdom and Links” that features some musings as to how the Baltimore Orioles, despite being down 2-0, might not be dead yet.
Check it out.
Last night, the Orioles won, walking off the Yankees in the 9th to lower their magic number to 3. It seems all but inevitable that they will clinch their first AL East pennant since 1997 within the next few days, perhaps as early as tomorrow.
And yet, many are likely asking: “Where the hell did these guys come from?”
It’s not a bad question, as the Orioles have continued to win, even after losing not one (Matt Wieters), not two (Manny Machado), but three former or current All-Stars to either injury or, in Davis’ case, suspension. In fact, if anything, they seem to have gotten better with every big player they’ve lost.
So, to answer some questions about the Orioles, here’s a Q&A:
Okay, so, the Orioles do still have Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, right?
Yes. They do.
And both of them were actually developed in the Orioles farm system?
Only half correct. Markakis was 100% home grown, but Adam Jones was originally in the Mariners system and was acquired in a trade for Erik Bedard back in 2008.
Oh, bummer for the Mariners. Anybody else from that trade on the Orioles roster?
Chris Tillman. Currently 12-5 with a 3.29 ERA.
Wow, the Mariners really screwed that up, didn’t they?
Yes, yes they did.
By the way, alongside Tillman, the Orioles rotation has done pretty good this year, what’s their story?
Wei-Yin Chen, a lefty who is currently 15-4 with a 3.59 ERA and some of the best control in the league (he has had the 5th lowest percentage of BB/9 in the AL this year), was acquired from Japan, where he was a member of the NPB Chunichi Dragons. Before that, he played in his native Taiwan.
Ubaldo Jimenez was acquired as a free agent this last offseason, and has not lived up to his $50 million dollar contract, with a ERA approaching five. It’s highly unlikely he’ll be a starter during the postseason.
Bud Norris was acquired from Houston in 2013 in a trade for L.J. Hoes and a minor leaguer.
Miguel Gonzalez was signed as a free agent in 2012, having never reached the Majors during his time in the Angels or Red Sox systems. He’s 9-8 with a 3.28 ERA.
And, finally, there is Kevin Gausman, the lone member of the starting rotation who is 100% Orioles. Although he was up and down between Baltimore and AAA Norfolk this year, at least some of that had more to do with taking advantage of MLB service time rules than his actual performance (he has a perfectly respectable 3.57 ERA). Only 23 and one of the top prospects for Baltimore, he loves powdered donuts and has a fastball that can hit triple digits at times.
Hang on, so those five guys and Chris Tillman have been the Orioles rotation this year? It looks like a bunch of guys who’d be mid-rotation guys on other teams.
Yeah. Feels that way, doesn’t it? In fact, if you were to look at FanGraphs’ pitching WAR leaders, you don’t see an Oriole until you get to 47 on the list- Tillman, who’s just ahead of Kyle Gibson of the Twins. If you were to look at the rotation’s FIP (Fielding-Independent Pitching, basically what a pitcher’s ERA would be like if they were pitching in laboratory settings with average fielding, luck, etc.), you’d see none of them have one under 4.
So, perhaps the Orioles’ rotation is playing over it’s head, getting lucky and taking advantage of the offense supporting them and the defense behind them. Another way to look at it, though, would be that perhaps having 5 steady mid-rotation guys is better than having one or two aces followed by more questionable pitching. I don’t know.
Okay, enough about pitchers? How about the long-ball?
Nelson Cruz was probably among this past off-season’s best free agent signings, as he’s worked his way from PED-suspended disgrace and poor fielder to dinger-pounding DH (currently 39 on the season), although he has cooled off significantly in the second half of the season, only hitting 11 of the 39 after the All-Star Break.
Go on…
The next highest number of home runs on the Orioles is 26, by Chris Davis, who isn’t available. Adam Jones has been having a good power year, though, and is currently at 25 homers for the year. Steve Pearce, a super-utility/backup 1B/backup OF, has been having a career year at the plate with 17 HRs. He’s another good free agent signing.
Say, where did the Orioles get JJ Hardy, again?
They acquired him from the Twins in 2010 for such immortals as Jim Hoey and Brett Jacboson.
Who?
Exactly.
So, who is Jonathan Schoop and how do I say his last name?
He’s a international free agent signing from Curaco, a member of the WBC Honkballers, long one of the top infield prospects in the Orioles system, and his last name is pronounced like “scope”.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
Now, where’d the bullpen come from?
The bullpen is basically made up of failed starting pitching prospects. Closer Zach Britton? He was a starter coming up. Same for Brian Matusz, Tommy Hunter (Hunter was initially a starter for the Rangers, and was acquired in the same deal that brought Chris Davis to Baltimore) and Andrew Miller (who the Orioles acquired in July from Boston). Only Darren O’Day has never started a game in the big leagues. He, by the way, was taken off waivers from the Rangers back in 2011.
So, anybody else notable?
Delmon Young. David Lough. Ryan Flaherty. The Orioles have plenty of guys who you know you remember still being in the league but can’t quite remember much about. Well, Ryan Flaherty has been with the Orioles since he was acquired in the 2011 Rule 5 draft, but still.
So, really, how are the Orioles doing this?
They made some good acquisitions, a good bullpen and lineup, and the pitching is good enough. Also, they sacrificed Wieters’ UCL and Machado’s knee to the baseball gods. Only rational explanation.
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
There is a special type of baseball culture that I haven’t really covered yet… the baseball biography comic. Whether authorized or unauthorized, the baseball bio-comic is it’s own small subgenre of weird.
Take Baseball Superstars Comics‘ bio-comic on Cal Ripken, Jr. from 1992. A black-and-white comic from the now long-defunct “Revolutionary Comics” and seventh in a series of baseball bio-comics, it’s like a fever-dream of a look into the life and times of the Orioles great up through the 1991 season. The art is disturbing, the writing wooden, and the facts sometimes feel wrong.
That said, it’s not all bad. It’s got a so-bad-it’s-good quality at times, and any comic that features two pages devoted to the longest game ever is going to get my attention.
So, on his 54th birthday, here’s a look at the Baseball Superstars comic on Cal Ripken Jr…. after the jump:
Greatest Baseball-Related Costume ever?
THE Iron Man is here tonight…And so is Iron Man, apparently. #Orioles60 pic.twitter.com/US8EYTzu0G
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 9, 2014
Greatest Baseball-Related Costume ever.
Short version:
Longer version:
Injuries happen in all sports, and they can happen at all times, to all players. Nobody is immune. And yesterday’s injury to Manny Machado is further proof of that. Since arriving in the big leagues, he had not missed a game and he had been a staple of highlight reels both on the field and at the plate. And now, in a freak injury, his season is done and it’s entirely possible he may miss a good chunk of next year as well. And, worst of all, who knows how this knee/leg injury may affect him in the future:
Could this slow him down and turn all of those doubles into singles?
Could it make it so that he will never be able to move to SS, which is technically his natural position?
We don’t know, and that is the thing that makes his injury so sad. Baseball lost one of it’s brightest young stars yesterday for the rest of the (admittedly short) season, and now, all everyone can do- in Baltimore and across the world- is wait, and hope that this injury isn’t as bad as it looked.
In which I write Haiku-style poetry about a potpourri of baseball cards I found in a value pack. Because, well, it’s my blog.
2005 Bowman Melvin Mora
Melvin Mora played
Mainly for the Orioles
Made three All-Star teams
In which I write Haiku-style poetry about a potpourri of baseball cards I found in a value pack. Because, well, it’s my blog.
1991 Score Steve Finley
The dumb Orioles
traded him and Schilling for
Glenn Davis. Stupid.
The Baseball Continuum 