Bird Watching - Winners Of 5 Out Of 7, O's Are Right In The Playoff Hunt + A Look Down On The Farm

Pretty exciting week for the Birds. Since being no-hit last Wednesday, they have gone 5-2  while averaging over 6 runs a game. Those wins included three walk offs and an 18-2 blow out. They are now 62-58, still 5 behind New York, but only half a game back in the wild card. Even with how up and down this team has played this season, they are right in the middle of the playoff chase. Countless times I see Orioles Twitter giving up and declaring this team dead. Get no hit? No worry, take the next 5 out of 7. Say what you want about them, but they’ve shown they can bounce back this year. A resilient team through and through. They’re not out of it by any means. The Yankees haven’t shown that they are going to run away it and the wild card spot is right there. The O’s have made the playoffs every year I’ve been the Orioles blogger here at Barstool, why stop now?

Walk Off City- Oakland and Mets Series

The Oakland series consisted of three close games, and one bloodbath. O’s walked off back-to-back nights with Manny on Friday and Crush on Saturday, won a laugher on Sunday, and then beat a top 5 pitcher in the A.L. in Sonny Gray to complete a four game sweep. And don’t give me this “the A’s are a terrible team, they should beat them” shit. Baseball isn’t played on paper, O’s cant control who they are playing, just have to beat who is in front of you. But for real, Oakland sucks.

Then the Mets came to town for 2 games. In game 1 Jacob deGrom and his 70’s mom haircut took care of the O’s- the bats couldn’t touch him. Game 2 featured the Noah Syndergaard, who can’t pitch on the road. He kept the O’s bats quiet for a bit, until they tagged him for 3 runs. After that, it was up to the Mets bullpen who couldn’t hold the lead, giving way to Hammerin Hank’s first career homer, a walk off to split the series. First time the O’s had beaten the Mets since 2009, so now the Mets can start their usual choking down the stretch. Not a bad way to start out a 10 game home stand (we won’t talk about last night).

Some teams don’t have 3 walk off homers in a season, the O’s had 3 in 6 game stretch.  Those wins were big for the O’s, in all 3 games they trailed early, only to fight back and pull out the win. No quit in these guys, even when they get down late in the game.

Prospects Down On The Farm

September call ups coming soon means the O’s will be adding more young talent from Norfolk and maybe Bowie. While the O’s don’t have any guys in the Baseball America Midseason Top 50 prospects, that doesn’t mean they don’t have good young talent at the lower levels. Doesn’t help their top guys Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey are injured either. Minor leaguers Mychal Givens, Steve Clevenger, Henry Urrutia, Chaz Roe, Tyler Wilson, and Mike Wright have all made their marks in the big leagues this year. I haven’t really touched on any of the guys currently in the minors, so lets take a look at some guys who may be joining the team in a few weeks.

Trey Mancini

How often do you see a guy murder 1A ball, get moved up, and hit even better at AA ball? Trey Mancini is doing exactly that. The former Notre Dame first baseman has transitioned nicely in the minors this season. Started in advanced A ball in Frederick, slashed a cool .314/.341/.527 with 14 doubles, 3 triples, 8 homers, 32 RBI, and only 35 strikeouts in 207 at-bats. Got called up to AA Bowie and has performed even better. Slashing .356/.385/.568 with 23 doubles, 3 triples, 9 homers, 45 driven in, and 46 Ks in 66 games. Not a gold glover in the field, but gets the job done, and has a nice smooth swing and hits for power. A crowded first base may be a roadblock for Mancini, as Christian Walker is tearing it up in Norfolk and Steve Pearce will be back with the Brids soon. Could he help the O’s? Yes, but it doesn’t look like for a couple of years. For now, head to Bowie to watch the kid rake.

Terry Doyle

Separated at birth from Sales Guy, Doyle has been lighting up the minors. The 29-year-old righty has bounced around quite a bit, but is killing it this season. Take a look at his stats combined from AA Bowie and AAA Norfolk this season. Filthy. Not a particularly hard thrower, Doyle can command the ball very well. I think we could see Doyle out of the bullpen come September, and lets face it, he’s better than Miguel Gonzalez and Jason Garcia right now. Why not bring him up and see what he can do?

Dariel Alvarez

I’ve had a man crush on this guy for a few seasons now, Alvarez may be the next cornerstone right fielder for the O’s. 26-year-old Cuban is said to have the strongest arm in the entire Orioles system (that was before Parra got here). He can hit for power (16 HR), plays decent defense, and hardly ever walks (16 in almost 500 at-bats), he’ll fit right in with the O’s! Alvarez is a guy who will be up in September, and will show us why people have been talking about him for a few seasons. Very excited to see what he can do. If he starts in the majors next year, and the O’s bring back Parra, the best defensive outfield in baseball will be in Baltimore, and a ball may not touch the grass all year.

Other guys who may be up and can help out the club? Guys like Oliver Drake, Eddie Gamboa, Steve Johnson, Rey Navarro, Christain Walker, Chance Sisco, Quincy Latimore, and Ariel Miranda. Keep a look out for these guys.

Coming up

O’s fell flat on their face last night, 15-2 to the Twins, and now it’s a 3 game series. Minnesota has given them fits all year, but no reason the O’s cant take 2 of the next 3 and split this series before heading to Kansas City. I’ll still take it to my grave that the Orioles were better than the Royals last year, can’t tell me otherwise, Royals were just hotter. Still have nightmares of those dimpy bloop hits- would be great to head into their house and take the series and continue climbing up the standings.

As long as the O’s stay within a game or 2 of the second wild card spot, I’m confident Buck can get us there. Like KC showed us last year, all you need is a ticket to the dance, after that, who knows what will happen. 42 games left, why can’t they go 25-17 the rest of the way and force themselves in? They’re 15 games above .500 at home, win 14 of their 19 home games left, and steal some on the road, and that puts them in a good spot.

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