Each Monday, in this spot, I’ll try to give you fan’s look at what transpired with our Birds the past week and what lies ahead for the club. My only promise is that the piece will be totally biased and from a real fan, so here it goes:
1. Off the schnide
On Saturday the Orioles dropped their 11th straight home game tying a club record set in 2007. The Birds are just 11-23 at home and won their first game in the month of June at home on Sunday. They are 1-7 at home in June. They also ended an overall nine game losing streak by beating the Marlins on Sunday. Speaking of which, with the Orioles recording a 17-1 victory over the Rays on Mother’s Day and then a 10-4 victory on Father’s Day, maybe they should introduce new Hallmark holidays like “Brother’s Day”, “Sister’s Day”, “Cousin’s Day”….
2. Manny, forever honing his Craft
Watching the game on Sunday, Manny Machado lined an opposite field single in the third inning. Jim Palmer remarked that Manny, still tetering in or around the top ten in the American League in hitting at .310, has been working diligently with hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh on that very aspect of the game – going opposite field. A guy at or near the top ten in hitting putting in extra time with the hitting coach, what a concept! Palmer noted that assistant hitting coach Howie Clark and Coolbaugh are “there and will come as early as you want or stay as late as you want. They’re there. You just have to want to put in the work.” Take note Chris Davis.
3. Speaking of Chris Davis…
My understanding is that Davis has began to put in the extra work in the cage and has started soliciting advice from Coolbaugh and the rest of the coaching staff. Well, it’s about time. Davis, who is slashing .150/.227/.227 in 229 plate appearances has been out of the lineup since Tuesday. It really is sad and honestly, I hope it is/was complacency on Davis’ part as that is something that can be fixed by putting in the effort. Hard to believe that just a few years ago Davis was immortalized with a superhero figurine giveaway and a “Crush City” performance t-shirt giveaway. Davis once ruled the yard. It’s really sad what’s happened to him.
4. Who would have thunk it…
The Orioles have scored four or fewer runs in 48 of their 69 games this season, including 18 of their last 19 games. In the American League this adds up the an 20-50 record. Conversely, Orioles starting pitchers have recorded 33 quality starts this year – good enough for an eighth place tie for most in MLB. Again, I never dreamed this team would struggle to score runs and rank in the top ten of the league in quality starts.
5. Another MLB debut this week
Yefry Ramírez made his Major League debut on Wednesday versus the Red Sox. Ramirez went 4.1 innings yielding three runs on four hits, striking out six and walking two. When considering this was against the league’s number two hitting offense (.326 going into Sunday’s games), not too shabby for the 24 year old 6’2”, 220 pound Dominican.
This week is ALL interleague ALL week with a quick hop down to DC for a 3 game set with the Nationals followed by 3 with the Braves.
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Bria Davis should avail himself to any and all legitimate and proven resources to help him both with his swing/hitting and his image. Just sayn
About a month ago, the radio crew went into great detail how Davis had been working with Clark, Coolbaugh, and Brady Anderson, putting in the time. The issue isn’t time.. the issue is that his skills have diminished rapidly. He is obviously not the same at the plate as 2012-2014 but his fielding is no where near as good either.
John, thanks for your reply. Be interesting to see if there’s a follow on written article as it would be contrary to an earlier report by Palmer on the same subject.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/mlb/news/jim-palmer-rips-chris-davis-video-orioles-tv-liar-scott/v8yv1wanh3pr1igrc3x784f7x
Hello John, thanks for the reply. Davis’s skills have not diminished, they have disappeared. He would have a hard time making the Bowie roster.