What a road trip. The Orioles wrapped up their eleven game west coast journey with seven victories in their AL West Beatdown Tour. The Birds did it the hard way, taking three of four from the Athletics in Oakland, dropping two of three in Seattle against the Mariners and winning three of four against the Angels in Anaheim.
Orioles starters pitched to a 3.76 ERA during the trip, including Freddy Garcia‘s no hit bid, while their bullpen recorded a 3.60 mark. Jim Johnson recorded three saves on the trip, while Darren O’Day recorded one of his own in the finale on Sunday.
Led by Manny Machado, who had 18 hits and an OPS over 1.000 out west, the Orioles offense averaged 5.27 runs per game and outscored their opponents 58-38 (that’s +20 run differential, so it must not have been a fluke). The O’s scored four or more runs in seven of the eleven games.
Their 19-13 record puts them a game and a half behind the first place Boston Red Sox, who were just swept by the Rangers in Texas, and tied with the Yankees.
After 17 straight games, the Orioles finally get a day off. During that span the Birds went 11-6. Their 12 wins on the road are the most by any American League team and as Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com points out, 11 of their next 14 games are at home. The O’s are 7-5 at Camden Yards.
If you didn’t stay up for west coast baseball you definitely missed out. This team is just as exciting as they were in 2012 and might even have more talent than last year’s squad. The next five months should be a blast.
