Baltimore Orioles (12-13, 4th -3.5) @ New York Yankees (17-11, 1st +2.0) Trends BAL: -2, L10: 5-5, Lost 3 of 5 NYY: -1, L10: 7-3, Lost 2 of 3 Game 1 (7:05) (QS=2)Chris Tillman (2-3) 6.23 (1.54/.258), 20/15 (4HR) vs. (QS=2)Nathan Eovaldi (2-0) 3.81 (1.55/.328), 22/6 (3HR) Chris Tillman: Tillman has once again gotten off to a relatively strong start, but May last year was when he threw his first complete game and also sustained the injury that held him back for another month. Here's hoping he can start to get going this month and he is coming off a solid seven inning start against the Rays where he allowed two runs on three hits and two walks in a loss to the Rays. He also struck out seven. He has not fared well against the Yankees at all especially at Yankee Stadium where his numbers are awful. Rodriguez and Drew both hit him well in the past and there's 16 RBI between those listed below. Career vs. Yankees (14 starts) (5-5) 4.96 (1.53/.293), 10HR 2015 Away (4 starts) (2-2) 4.24 (1.29/.220), 2HR Career at Yankee Stadium (7 starts) (3-3) 7.47 (1.98/.362), 5HR vs. Batter Jacoby Ellsbury (31 AB) .226, 2 2B, HR, RBI Brett Gardner (27 AB) .222, 2B, 4RBI Mark Teixeira (21 AB) .333, 2B, RBI Stephen Drew (15 AB) .333, 2B, 3B, HR, 3RBI Alex Rodriguez (10 AB) .500, 3HR, 7RBI Nathan Eovaldi: Eovaldi has been pretty average overall with two pretty good starts sprinkled in there with one of them coming in his last start against Boston. He doesn't seem to give out a lot of walks, but has given up three home runs in five starts thus far and has allowed 38 hits in 28.1 IP, but has allowed more than three runs only once which means he's good at pitching himself out of trouble and avoiding the big inning. He has not gotten on well at Yankee Stadium yet, so hopefully that continues awhile longer. 2015 Home (2 starts) (0-0) 6.52 (1.66/.349) Career vs Baltimore (1 start) 5 IP, 2ER, 8H, HR, 3BB, 9K vs. Batter Everth Cabrera (11 AB) .182 Caleb Joseph 2/3 Adam Jones 1/3 Travis Snider 1/3 Manny Machado 1/2, S-HR, BB The Orioles were outscored 8-3 in the two games against the Mets and Jimenez kind of bombed in this one going only four innings and then having Brach put the icing on that cake giving up two more runs in relief. The Orioles just can't seem to get going on a consistent basis, but this is as big as a May series can get as this is a four game series against the first place Yankees who just dropped a series to the Blue Jays. We don't want to let the Yankees get too far ahead of us and this would be a great time to turn it on a bit. We didn't look good at all against the Mets though, so that may be a stretch.
Colon & Degrom are two of the best pitchers in the NL and they shut the O's down. Right now the Yankees are on a roll. I wouldn't expect it to last too much longer, but if they get into the 8th inning with a lead, the game is basically over. Both Betances and Miller have a 0.00 ERA. Everybody here knows I have not been very high on the O's pitching for a while. I still believe that Tillman is no better than a #3 pitcher, but he just happens to tbe the best pitcher on the staff of #3's - #5's; much the same way Jeremy Guthrie was. Tillman is better than Guthrie, but he is not a #1 starter. Right now, the best pitcher on the staff is Gonzo. His splitter is nasty this year. he's also getting a lot more movement on his FB. Last year the O's were a .500 team going into the AS break and 6.5 games out of 1st place. Lightning could strike again this year especially with hardy coming back (if he can stay healthy) and hopefully Schoop coming back sometime in May or June (if he doesn't need surgery). DeAza needs to go. Last year was a fluke. I still have some hope for Snider, but as you mentioned, the corner OF's are made up of journeymen players (Pearce, Young, Lough, Snider) or players past their better days (DeAza). The O's put all their eggs in some very flimsy baskets this year. They were counting on comeback years for Davis, Machado, Jiminez, & Wieters as well as the continuing success of players like Brach, Norris, Snider, Pearce, & DeAza. Davis and Machado have been ok so far, but I think we see Davis for what he is, a .260-.265 hitter with 35 HR power and a gazillion K's. Machado is still tapping into his potential and seems to be rebounding from missing basically all of last year. Jiminez is what he is, and I don't believe that Wieters will be the catcher he once was was. Last year seems to be outlier years for Brach, Norris, Pearce, and DeAza. Like I said, I still have some hope for Snider. At least he's still hitting in the .275 - .280 range and I believe him to be better defensively than he has shown so far. He might still only be a platoon/4th OF, but he is a nice one to have. It will be interesting to see what happens this year if the O's go into the AS break and trade/or trade deadline around .500. Will they buy or sell? Right now, the only pending FA I can see getting a QO would be Davis if he can keep hitting HR';s and have his BA stay around .265/.270 and OBP up around .335-.340. In order for Chen & Norris to get a QO, they would need to win at least 16 games with ERA's under 3.50. It's a possibility with Chen. Norris would have to kick it into high gear for that to happen. If they become sellers, nobody but Davis would bring anything back, unless they decide to completely blow up the team and entertain offers for Tillman, Hardy, Britton and Jones (if he recinds his no-trade clause).
Just one correction; the Orioles were four games in first place at the AS break last season and stayed there the rest of the year. Anyway, it's hard to imagine this team not being involved in the trade market come deadline time. How much we can get done is another thing entirely.
Baltimore Orioles (12-14, 4th -4.5) @ New York Yankees (18-11, 1st +3.0) Trends BAL: -3, L10: 5-5 NYY: +1, L10: 7-3 Game 2 (7:05) (QS=2)Miguel Gonzalez (3-1) 2.59 (1.15/.209), 27/12 (3HR) vs. (QS=0)Adam Warren (2-1) 4.78 (1.33/.250), 14/10 (2HR) Miguel Gonzalez: Gonzalez has given up more than three runs only once so far this season and has by far looked the best out of all our starters thus far. He got two outs into the eighth inning in his last start against the Rays where he allowed only four hits and a walk. Perhaps his numbers only look so good because he was able to dodge Toronto entirely in April, but his three wins are consectutive after losing his opener. Gonzalez has been pretty solid against the Yankees overall, but it's no surprise that his weakness was always the long ball against them. He seems to have that problem somewhat under control so far this season, so perhaps we can expect better than his career numbers indicate? Yankees hitters haven't fared well against him with the exception of Beltran who has four hits with three being for extra bases. Career vs. Yankees (11 starts) (3-3) 3.62 (1.08/.215), 12HR 2015 Away (3 starts) (2-1) 1.96 (1.20/.185), 10BB Career at Yankee Stadium (6 starts) (2-2) 4.29 (1.32/.241), 7HR vs. Batter Brett Gardner (22 AB) .227, 3 2B Jacoby Ellsbury (19 AB) .263, 2B, RBI Mark Teixeira (12 AB) .083, 2B, RBI Brian McCann (11 AB) .182, S-HR Chris Young 2/7, 2 2B Carlos Beltran 4/6, 2 2B, S-HR Adam Warren: Warren's numbers so far this season aren't that great and his career numbers against the Orioles are horrible with all those appearances being in relief and we have several guys in our lineup responsible for those poor numbers. He has yet to get through six innings and he has not given up more than one earned run in either of his two home starts this season, but has given up four runs in all three road starts. 2015 Home (2 starts) (0-1) 1.64 (1.09/.238) Career vs Baltimore (10 relief) (1-2) 8.18 (2.09/.370), 17H, 6BB vs. Batter Adam Jones 3/6, 2B, RBI J.J. Hardy 3/5, 2B, 3RBI Manny Machado 3/4, 2B, RBI Chris Davis 2/4, BB Jimmy Paredes 1/1, 2B, 2RBI Just like that, we've started another losing streak and are now up to three as we fall further behind in the division. We squandered scoring opportunities yet again thanks to Paredes getting picked off first and another shaky start against the Yankees for Tillman. We just can't get everything clicking at the same time for longer than a handful of games, but we better find a way to do that in this series or we will be looking up quite a ways from the basement and even in May, that's uncomfortable.
FYI: Injured Orioles shortstop Everth Cabrera is no longer capable of being optioned without consent as he has reached five years of service. With J.J. Hardy returning to action, Cabrera may not have an active roster spot when he returns, and his new service time status could well complicate the club?s decision making.
Baltimore Orioles (13-15, 4th -4.5) @ New York Yankees (19-12, 1st +2.0) Trends BAL: +1, L10: 5-5 NYY: -1, L10: 6-4 Game 4 (1:05) (QS=2)BUd Norris (1-3) 9.75 (1.75/.317), 16/10 (3HR) vs. (QS=3)Michael Pineda (4-0) 2.97 (1.04/.255), 38/3 Bud Norris: Norris is apparently dealing with some kind of illness coming into this game and that certainly won't help his atrocious numbers get any better. He does pitch well against the Yankees overall, though. There are some landmines in their lineup as there are eight doubles, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBI between Beltran, Drew and Headley. Career vs. Yankees (5 starts) (4-0) 3.21 (1.07/.214), 35/8 2015 Away (2 starts) (0-2) 11.57 (1.82/.325) Career at Yankee Stadium (2 starts) (2-0) 3.27 (1.00/.205), 3HR vs. Batter Carlos Beltran (29 AB) .345, 6 2B, 5RBI Stephen Drew (21 AB) .333, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 4RBI Chase Headley (19 AB) .368, 2HR, 4RBI Jacoby Ellsbury 16 AB), .188, 2B Brian McCann 2/8, HR, 2RBI Michael Pineda: Pineda allowed five runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings against us in April, but he got the win in that game. He walked none and struck out nine and this was the only start this season he has allowed more than three runs. He is coming off the best start of the young season against Toronto throwing an eight inning five hitter for his fourth win in six starts. He pitches very good against us overall and has been better than his base numbers at home this season. 2015 Home (3 starts) (1-0) 2.33 (0.93/.236), 18K, 1BB Career vs Baltimore (5 starts) (2-0) 2.84 (0.88/.216), 3HR, 3BB vs. Batter Adam Jones (14 AB) .357, 2B, HR, 4RBI Alejandro De Aza 3/9, 2B J.J. Hardy 4/8, 2 S-HR Chris Davis 1/8, S-HR It's good to get the win yesterday, but we now need another to break even heading into the next series against Toronto. They were our bane in April and it's probably a good idea to head into that series on a high note, but this team still feels off even after yesterday. We go on a losing streak, then a winning streak, now another losing streak just broken yesterday. At least Jimmy Paredes is still looking good. We may have a diamond in the rough with him and I hope it's not just a mirage. Delmon Young is also making the right field situation interesting and is pushing Travis Snider to the bench. Young has not been an everyday player in a very long time, so there's no telling if he can get back to that at all. I do like him, so I hope he can.
Interesting.. so either he agrees to be optioned or he forces us to trade him? I hope he is decent enough to be flexible for the team's sake.
That about sums it up right there. Nothing with this team seems to be clicking. The offense and pitching just can't seem to get on the same page and it's frustrating. I know we're all waiting for this whole team to wake up and I hope/expect them too. I just hope it isn't too late by then.
