Nelson Cruz for MVP; nice comeback on Sunday
What’s with getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays? It sure looked like this would occur after not hitting a lick in Tampa this weekend.
And then our MVP candidate, Nelson Cruz, said no more. On Sunday, while getting shut out again, Cruz had a historic day. He drilled a two-run homer to put us on the boards in the sixth. However we still trailed 4-2 heading to the ninth inning. Cruz put us on top with a one out three-run bases loaded triple.
So all we needed was another save from Zach Britton and the victory would be in the books. It didn’t happen. He surrendered the tying run after an infield error (Ryan Flaherty) opened the frame. This game went 11 innings. His 6th and 7th RBIs of the day came on homer No. 2 of the day. The Orioles salvaged game three of the series, 7-5.
We know what Cruz was up to with Texas. He was taking illegal drugs. So some teams stayed away from him. The Orioles picked him up late and for the most part he’s been a hero. He’s been terrific. And I’m thinking he likes being an Orioles player. Lefty Andrew Miller closed and fanned the side so we picked up a game on the Yankees.
Saturday’s loss was tough. The good was was the eighth inning comeback that tied this game at 2-2. Oh, yeah it was Cruz who knocked in the tying run.
The fatal ninth inning was started by another Ryan Flaherty error. Frankly, this player doesn’t do much for me. If I was the general manager, I would give Flaherty his walking papers. In other words, leave town on the first train.
On Friday, we didn’t score. Wei Yin Chen pitched shut out ball for six innings. We ended up losing 3-0.
The Orioles lead is 9.5 games over the Yanks. And 10 over Toronto. Can we choke away this pennant chase? I doubt it. This is very good team with solid front line pitching and a lock down bullpen. There is plenty of hitting up and down the lineup. Sure it hurt losing both Matt Wieters and Manny Machado but the beat goes on.