This season has not be fun at all, so far. I say “so far” in the hope that the Orioles are not this unwatchable the rest of the season. If that ends up being the case, I’ll just take up residence in one of those cry closets college campuses now have and will not come out until next March. The only thing keeping me a float in regards to sports in the Capitals. I never thought I would say that statement in May.
I would die for Evgeny Kuznetsov.
But nevertheless, let us all look on the bright side today. For that we turn to, of all things, the starting pitching. More specifically: Kevin Gausman, who is now the best starting pitcher on the team.
Since April 11, Gausman has a 2-1 record with a 2.11 ERA, allowing 8 runs in 34.2 IP. He also has 28 K’s while facing 137 batters, a K% of 20.4% which is decent considering he only had 8 K’s in his first two games combined.
At 1.3 WAR (B-Ref), Gausman is 2nd on the team behind Machado (1.8) and if he keeps this pace up, could see himself at the All Star Game representing the Orioles. Time will tell if Machado will join him in representing the O’s or not. BUT WE’RE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT THAT — THIS IS THE POSITIVE THINKING BLOG TODAY!
Despite it seemingly like everything is going wrong for the Orioles, I truly do hope this is the year Kevin Gausman has figured it out. Normally Gausman is slow to start off the year well, posting a career 4.72 ERA in the first half of the season while it drops down to 3.58 after the All Star Break. I am hopeful that this is Gausman finally conquering the first half of the year and becomes that pitcher we all have hoped for.
Honestly, optimism is dumb but I think we all need a good dose of it every now and then. Yes, the Orioles are bad but that does not mean we should be 100% cynical every second while watching the team. There is only so much we can do in terms of helping or changing the team to where stressing out about it is no longer in my daily mindset. The 2013 version of me would be having panic attack after panic attack over Pedro Alvarez and Danny Valencia sharing time at third base but the 2018 version of me just looks back and says “nothing I can do.”
Okay, this got dark real fast. Let us just enjoy Gausman’s immaculate inning from a few weeks ago. I saw it in person and am still shocked and angry at myself for not noticing at the time.
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I’m looking at it like this. I know we suck. Like real bad. At least try to have some fun with it.
Dont waste your time. Life is short.
Just get rid of Tillman!! He’s done!