Orioles almost have reached the promised land
I kind of liked seeing that sign at Camden Yards last night. Something like lost Machado, Wieters and Davis and the other guys have taken over.
Yes, we all will recall the 2014 Orioles as a magical club. Another example of that played last night.
The not-so-good Yankees had just taken a lead over the Birds on Sunday night television. All closer David Robertson had to do was record another save and the Yanks would have their split.
It didn’t happen. Nelson Cruz and Steve Pearce ripped doubles and the ex-Yankee, Kelly Johnson, won it with a blast to right field. Hey, it’s better than the movies.
All those years fretting falling behind in games. Not anymore. We all know this team will fight back and take the lead.
So the next-to-last series with the Yanks kicked off on Friday night. And a tremendous pitching battle between the Yanks’ revived, Brandon McCarthy, and the O’s youngster, Kevin Gausman, broke out.
It was scoreless until the 11th. Speaking of revivals, the former Mets outfielder, Chris Young, has done well in the other New York uniform. He took Brad Brach out for a solo homer. Three more outs and it would be a good win for New York.
Let’s see now. Two walks, a hits batter and a sac bunt got us started. And here comes a good-hit, not-so-good fielder, Jimmy Parades. He puts one in the right field corner and the runaway Orioles have a walk-off win, 2-1.
Game two of this twin bill wasn’t so dramatic. We got two of the harder parts of the cycle in the fourth inning. Ryan Flaherty had the double and A. De Aza had the three-bagger. The O’s were up by a few runs with Bud Norris dealing on the mound.
In the seventh, more free passes went on the board. Pearce, Parades and Cruz all walked. And Delmon Young drove in two of those with a single. De Aza added another triple in the eighth. Norris struck out 10 in seven innings of work. We swept the twin bill with this 5-0 win.
On Saturday, Miguel Gonzalez had only one bad inning and it cost him. The Yanks scored 3 runs in the second and it was catch up time against the one tough, Sean Greene. Cruz got us back a run that brought in Nick Markakis in the third. Pearce’s solo homer came up in the sixth. We lost 3-2.
So how do we explain this fabulous team? Yes, fine front line pitching from Wei-Yin Chen, Chris Tillman, Gonzalez, Norris and Gausman. The bullpen is spectacular especially with the late addition of Andrew Miller. Zach Britton is great at closing with the unhittable sinker.
Obviously adding Cruz to the lineup has paid dividends. The loss of Machado was horrific. We survived Wieters loss with the addition of Nick Hundley and Caleb Joseph. Pearce has been a great surprise. JJ Hardy has put aside some injuries and played well. Of course Adam Jones is a bone fide star. Go Birds! And for plenty of stories on the old Orioles great teams and players from the past, check out my latest book “Tales from Orioles Nation.” At lulu.com. Let me know if you like it,, please.
