Adam Jones
Image Credit: Keith Allison

This week of Orioles Baseball was exactly what I was worried about when cooking up the Two On, Two Out idea. What to write about when everything sucks? And for most of the season, everything has sucked. If it weren’t for the two games played on Thursday, I would be hard pressed to find positive things to say. But hey – we’re coming off a high, from the Orioles’s 5-2 victory to take their record to 2-5. And with that…

Two On

Adam Jones

The Cap10 has certainly led the charge in good things for the O’s in 2018. His three home runs have come at a good time (including the walk off winner on Opening Day, and the homer that put them ahead a for good in the NY opener).

Clearly, Jones is being fueled by the power of positive thinking:

Every time you think thank Father Time may come for Adam Jones, he erases that concern. Here, at the start of the 2018 season, Jones is performing, and willing his team through (and out?) of its collective funk.

 

Mike Wright Jr.

No, really, hear me out on this: Mike Wright Jr. was not nearly as bad as I expected. Facing the World Champion Houston Astros, Wright put in five innings and gave up only three runs. Yes, these are small comforts, but it is possible that I may come to trust Mike Wright Jr. as the fifth starter more than I trust Chris Tillman.

Remember, when Alex Cobb comes back, someone’s got to go. Maybe it will be one of the Rule 5 guys, with Wright going to the bullpen, but another (real though remote) option is that Wright outperforms Tillman over the next couple of starts.

Yes. This is Mike Wright Jr. we’re talking about. We have seen this movie before, and it did not end well. It’s also entirely possible that he implodes and proves that he’s a AAAA player. But in a week that featured many disappointments, Wright’s failure to add his own stood out.

 

Two Out

Colby Rasmus

I don’t want to say that Colby Rasmus has been bad, but the guy has fewer hits than Chris Davis. What, exactly, is the point of him being here? Has he lost interest in playing baseball this season yet? Because the O’s have other candidates to play the outfield. If the Orioles want to know what they’ve got in Anthony Santander before he is eligible to be sent to the minors, a world in which Colby Rasmus doesn’t hit seems the ideal place to make that happen.

Forget the fact that the team signed Michael Saunders, and that one of its top prospects (Austin Hays) plays the same position. Colby Rasmus was a dubious signing when it happened, and looks even worse every time he comes to the plate.

 

The fans

Dude, we suck. All of us – myself included – have handled this poorly. Though the Orioles have been dreadful to watch for the better part of a week, we have failed to apply a little perspective… as if this was a single losing streak within a 162-game season. Maybe this team doesn’t have it. Maybe they will fall irreversibly behind in the standings. But that is not today.

For now, let’s take a deep breath and hope that Chris Davis can hit his way out of a slump. Let’s collectively hope that Kevin Gasuman can pretend it’s already the second half of the season. Let’s step away from the torches and pitch forks, and take a day off of Twitter. Baseball can be emotionally exhausting, if you let it get to you.

I could go on in this space about the substandard starting performances. Or the horrors of having to rely on two Rule 5 guys in the bullpen. I could remind you that Manny Machado has just a single extra-base hit in the first week of what will certainly be his final season in Baltimore. But I’m watching that happen on a nightly basis. It already hurts, without fans making it that much worse.

The first week of Orioles Baseball sucked. But life’s tough – wear a cup. The next time we hit a rough patch like this (and here, I seem to be willing the Orioles losing streak out of existence) , let’s try to act like we’ve been here before.

And more importantly, that we know the way out.

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