Although Sunday fun day hasn’t been all that fun for the Orioles in April (0-4), Buck’s birds head to the great Northwest having won 6 out of the first 8 series’ to start the season. A solid 15-10 record at print time (with at worst being 3-games over for the opening month) has even surprised this drunk on orangekoolaid consumer to the point of going all sports talk radio caller and re-evaluating my preseason predictions. But like the great Ozzie Newsome, I’ll stick to my board for now with the right to flip-flop like a congressman later this summer.
And I promise I’m not even trying to do wacky shtick here by saying, “why not”. Because this squad so far is showing it’s “magical” 2012 season might be leaning more to norm than a fluke as many suggested in their hack. pre-season predictions. Adam Jones is making that “monster” contract he signed last year seem like a bargain despite his early season defensive struggles.
Chris Davis is so locked in he hit a ball 400-ft to dead center in one of biggest parks in the league Sunday with one, freaking hand. 20-year old, 
Manny Machado, just might be the best overall third basemen residing north of St. Petersburg, Fl line as his bat is starting to match his Brooks Robinson hot-corner skills.
Not sure if this means anything, but I would sleep with Nate McClouth in the straightest way possible.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. This team is going to hit and if they can get decent/mediocre starting pitching as well as doing Pete Strop like Jake Arreita, then we might have another exciting summer in store.
And yes, I understand the O’s are coming off another Sunday debacle where they get up early and then give it up easier than a female prison guard in a Baltimore jail. My glasses might be color of Carrot Top, but I’m not blind. The starting pitching isn’t exactly the Braves of the mid 90’s. Even though the bullpen has the lowest ERA in the American League, it’s still gives me the shakes when anyone is in expect O’Day for some reason. The second base situation makes Chase Utley look like Ali Larter. I get it.
But all these warts are magnified only because this franchise is finally RELEVANT, not only locally, but nationally now. No matter where you extract your sports nuggets from, you can be sure the Orioles highlights aren’t run with the likes of the Houston Lastro’s and my hometown Padres. Whether it’s Manny flashing the leather or Crush Davis hitting another moon shot, your Birds are getting some national love. And it’s deserved as long as they continue to Just. Win. Series’.
Jabby Burns is a diehard #OrangeKoolAid drinker and contributor to BaltimoreSportsReport.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JabbyBurns and check out his website JabbyBurns.com.
I think it’s great that the chucklehead football fans lament over 1 loss the way they do in this town. At least it shows that they care. When the Birds entered this 11 game swing at the tail end of 20 games in a row without a break, I hoped for a 6-5 record. They only need to go 3-4 in the remaining 7 to get that done, but I see more like a 7-4 coming up which would make this a sweet, sweet road trip.
Buck is looking at the big picture when it comes to his bullpen. He is saving his guys for the long haul of the season and they already had won this series. We can all discuss things this organization does but I don’t see much argument in how Buck runs his bullpen. Buck is a smart baseball guy and should have been manager of the year last season.
Calling up guys like Zach Clark, Josh Stinson and having Chris Dickerson, Alexi Casillas, T.J. McFarland, Steve Pearce, Ryan Flaherty, Pedro Strop, Zach Britton, Luis Ayala on your roster just ain’t going to do it this year folks…
Having one or two bums you can hide but not a dozen of them…
Good core with Jones, Markakis, Wieters, Machado, Davis… I like McLouth and Hardy but I think Hardy might be on the downswing of his career. Roberts is done. If a couple of those guys have bad years or not up to par then this team is toast.
Pitching staff does nothing for me. If Bundy turns out to be ok, Gausman a good #2 and 1 or 2 of the existing guys turns out to be dependable then the O’s need to lock up 2 free agents or trade for a 2, 3 or 4 next year or the year after and they will have an Atlanta Braves dominant staff like they had years ago. Staff COULD be elite for years if the O’s spend money and get 2 good young (31 years old or below) pitchers. If you have Bundy and Gausman don’t kill your staff by signing a Kevin Millwood, Jamie Moyer or Bartolo Colon type guy or two. And I mean those guys at age 38+….
All Star teams are playing in both LA markets and not doing too well. Free agent pitchers rarely work out, look at the history.
Os are on the right path. Last year’s surprise playoff run has heightened expectations in that Duquette has only had the reigns for little more than a year. Still think they hang in there all year and win 88-90 games and maybe get a wild card. Although having Houston in the west will pad teams win totals like Oakland’s and Texas and LA.
We’ll see how this 40 man roster scenario works out. So far so good but the season is a long one and still a lot of baseball to play. Buck did it one year but until you can build a franchise with this style, its still a gimmick.