belcome to walltimore (a 2023 orioles thread)

3 more outs till the O’s take the lead again. I love Big Bad Bautista so much

This O’s Bullpen is unreal. This team is always so hot in the last few innings it is a joy to watch.
Leaders of the East again <3

Some good stuff on the Orioles and their bullpen here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/friday-rewind-flying-high?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Thanks for the link. I did not check any stats about their wins post-6th inning so nice to know my eye test was not wrong.
It crazy to think the O’s (assuming they keep this division lead up) have the best chance in the AL to reach the World Series. Obviously they will be better than the AL Central leader, and I think I back them over Rangers/Astros right now. Wild-card’s lesser chances are obvious.
It’s a big call, but I’m willing to throw my hat in. O’s to the World Series!

I wouldn't be against them, especially if these imminent call-ups are on the way. The biggest thing going against them--they remind me of the '83 Jays, a young team on the cusp of a long run; I'm sure there are many other examples--is that things often go inexplicably wonky until you get some experience at being good.

"I wouldn't bet" that should read.

it's going to get hairy when the young starters start running up against their innings limits and bautista's arm falls off

I forgot that they had a bit of a run last year, so maybe they aren't doomed to buckle a bit down the stretch.

2 games ahead. Huge series for the O’s. Let’s keep the train rolling!

Our pythag luck has got to run out at some point, right?

Shun the non-believer

I take the pythag to reflect the quality of the bullpen. Much harder for teams without the best bullpen in the league to hold onto 1-run leads like the O’s do. O’s questionable Pythag vs. Tampa’s easy first half schedule? I take the O’s winning that battle. I believe in momentum too and the O’s have it in spades compared to the Tampa going into the end of the year.

I am also a hopeless optimist who believes good things will always happen to anything i support (symptom of following the dodgers for the past decade)

Not really being talked about but Ryan Mountcastle is back from a lengthy IL stay from some odd vertigo condition and could provide a huge boost in the cleanup spot. Preseason predictions forecasted him between 2.2-3.0 WAR for 2023.

welp... maybe it will be talked about more? that didn't take long.

We get Gerrit Cole on his best night and ... we win? Orioles magic.

Scooped up from bellow of the zone. Love watching dingers of balls, especially when they are walk-offs and especially especially against the Yanks

guys -- don't pitch to judge

We can send over Matt Chapman to chew out the Orioles' manager.

Mountcastle always goes on these tears and makes you think he's finally turning it around before crashing back to earth for 3 months, I'm ready to get off the ride

Sad the O’s don’t seem to be making any moves this deadline, if ever there was a season to go for it :\

Wouldn’t mind if this team didn’t kill Bautista before September:/

Do we think Verlander nixed a trade to Baltimore? Very hard to imagine we couldn't have offered the Mets a more appealing package than what they got from Houston.

Anyway, on "awe and mystique" grounds I'm a bit sad about Verlander and about potentially having to face him in a playoff series. But setting that aside, I think getting Jack Flaherty for not very much is.. OK? It doesn't really upgrade the rotation but it does provide flexibility and hedge against late-season injuries. If this was the KIND of move we were going to make I'd have rather had Jordan Montgomery I think.

getting picked off to end the game cannot be a good feeling

Didn’t this happen to another team yesterday too? Wonder the last time there were back to back days of a team losing from a pick off at first base.

Also, this was not a fun game to watch. Two hbp in a row to walk in a run was an ugly way to lose the lead

Jack Flaherty era starts tonight!

Guys, I have a nervous feeling. I don't know whether there was more Elias could have done at the deadline. But more and more I feel like, despite the young talent under control and the young talent still to come, 2023 is the best chance we have.

Starts in about 15 minutes--afternoon game.

oh man didn't realize that, I have Zoom meetings

Mountcastle 11 for 13 this series

I was going to post about him--I've don't think I've seen anything like it in all my years of watching the Jays. Brett used to kill us, Judge kills us, but Mountcastle has maybe eclipsed even those two. Career going into today (4-4 + SF): ~200 PA, .330/.394/.643, 15 HR.

Comparison:

Brett (725 PA): .321/.401/.551, 22 HR
Judge (433 PA): .290/.394/.589, 32 HR

He hits HR at Judge's rate, gets on base at Brett's rate, and overall is better than both.

only took two days to fix jack flaherty

And yet the orioles fly another win.

If it hasn’t been noted yet: the orioles have the longest streak of not being swept in mlb atm, going back to may 2022

Even though we live in Atlanta, my 12 year old son is a big Orioles fan. (Not a bandwagoner, he latched onto them before they got good. Although I'd like to think he has a good eye for young teams on the rise--he also spotted the Jacksonville Jaguars before they started winning games--I suspect the logo has at least as much to do with it.) Anyways, he's about to turn 13 next week, and so for his birthday I'm taking him up to see them play Houston on the 10th. I can't think of a better time to catch this team, and it'll definitely be a birthday to remember.

Not really being talked about but Ryan Mountcastle is back from a lengthy IL stay from some odd vertigo condition and could provide a huge boost in the cleanup spot. Preseason predictions forecasted him between 2.2-3.0 WAR for 2023.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, July 24, 2023 4:48 PM (one week ago)

welp... maybe it will be talked about more? that didn't take long.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, July 24, 2023 5:31 PM (one week ago)

I know: headlines are headlines, and mlb.com is mlb.com, and how can I even give a second thought to something so trivial? But today's game got this headline on mlb.com:

Flaherty's historic O's debut secures series win over Blue Jays

Why historic?

Flaherty became the first pitcher to go six or more innings with one earned run or fewer allowed in his Orioles debut since Jeremy Hellickson (seven scoreless vs. Royals on Aug. 2, 2017). Flaherty’s eight strikeouts were tied for the fourth most in a Baltimore debut (since 1954) and the most since Bud Norris fanned eight on Aug. 1, 2013, vs. the Astros.

That's a lot of history right there.

If Fujinami can pitch like that consistently.... wow.

smh

Kevin Brown is one of the most talented, thoughtful, curious, positive people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, working with and calling a friend.

He’s truly one of the best play-by-play announcers in the country.

If the Orioles don’t want him, another team’ll be elated. https://t.co/tIUcrIGjBm

— Jason Benetti (@jasonbenetti) August 7, 2023

Ah didn’t see this before I posted in the general thread. What a wet towel on the previously immaculate orioles vibes. Just a baffling decision

Boy, there's no way to make this look OK, is there? And as people are pointing out on Twitter it's kind of the same thing that happened all those years ago with GOAT radio announcer Jon Miller.

I wasn’t sure if this was about something else - but apparently this is as stupid and senseless as it sounds

I don’t tend to believe in cosmic punishment but…

Pobody's nerfect

tro sue

Good win against the Astros yesterday. It was a thrill to be there. I was afraid we would get rained out, but the rain mostly stopped before the game started. We were sweating the 9th inning. Bautista was probably fortunate that the last batter he faced was the team's worst hitter.

I guess I shouldn't worry when the team has to go ten innings against the A's. It's been a long road trip.

My god, I feel sorry for the A's.

They got a hit!

NY Times interview w/ John Angelos:

Because economics, Angelos “conceded that it might not be feasible for his popular young core to be career Orioles like Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr.”

Hope the O’s figure out a way to pay Adley, Gunnar and Grayson #Birdland pic.twitter.com/rBvCkc0QdK

— Brent Harris 🎙️ (@BrentWBAL) August 21, 2023

Cheers Angelos 🥂

Tells me they're really good: after the Jays surprisingly took the first game of this series, they came out last night and shut that down pronto, even (or especially) with Gausman on the mound.