Bird Watching- Orioles Win Series Vs Texas With Help From Dylan Bundy, Then Head Out On Longest Road Trip Of The Season
The weekend series in Toronto was one to forget for the Birds. Gausman gave up three homers in the first inning of the game on Friday and the offense couldn’t rebound, O’s lose Game 1 6-5. Yovani Gallardo only lasted 4 and 1/3 innings and gave up 5 earned before getting pulled, this game got out of hand quick, and the O’s lost 9-1. They fell out of first place for about an hour, but their extra innings win on Sunday put them back in first where they are right now (it’s a virtual tie with the Blue Jays, #Percentagepoints). Seems like that place is always a house of horrors for the O’s lately. It’s become a very tough place to play, and good for the Blue Jays fans for packing that place every night too, that is a damn good team in Toronto.
In the typical O’s fashion, after they lost back-to-back series against Colorado and Toronto, they take two of three from the new look Texas Rangers, beating Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels, but couldn’t win in Wade Miley‘s debut last night. It seems like this team gets up for the big teams and plays them very well, but can’t get up for the bad teams. Need them to pull a sweep off soon, this Chicago series seems ripe for the picking.
Dylan Bundy Is Maturing Right Before Our Eyes
It’s almost like Dylan Bundy was the Baltimore version of Bigfoot. We saw a lot of grainy video, some photos that weren’t too clear. People swear they saw sightings a few years ago, but it turned out to be nothing. But a few surgeries later, the best high school pitching prospect ever (Better than Kershaw, better than Beckett), is living up to the hype. Every year since he was drafted in 2011, we heard what a beast he was going to be, now we are seeing it. He made his first start on July 17th, and gave up three bombs, and four earned runs against the rays in just three and 1/3 innings. His start on Tuesday night, was one of the best pitched games I’ve seen in a while from an Oriole not named Tillman.
His last two starts, he has gone into the fifth inning with a no-hitter, and he is bringing his swing-and-miss stuff lately. 15 Ks in the last 2 games, and according to MASN’s Steve Melewski, he held the Rockies and Rangers, two high powered offenses, to an average of .075 (3/40), that’s not too shabby. He isn’t just doing it with his fastball either.
(I had to throw this GIF of his curveball from the minors because of how dirty it is.)
In high school it was rumored he was hitting 100 during games, now he’s throwing in the mid-90s, but it’s working for him. He has a nice mixture of his sick curveball and changeup which is keeping the hitters guessing. He looks like a major league pitcher. Since becoming a starter, his numbers are looking very good, 2-2 with an ERA of 3.00, 21 IP, 7 ER, 24 K, 5 BB, holding opponents to an average of .173, and a WHIP of 0.86. In a matter of weeks, he has become must see TV for O’s fans.
Buck has said he has an innings limit in mind for Bundy, but won’t say what it is. He is currently at 59 IP, so we don’t know if his limit is 75, 90, 120? Will this become a problem late in September if the O’s are in a pennant race and need a big start? He is better than any arm out there at the trade deadline, so this is basically the O’s trading for an arm. He is the O’s second best starter right now, and they need him for the long haul, as much as I want to see him do well and pitch this team into October, with the INSANE amount of arm issues he has had, I want to see him be even better in 2017 and 2018. If you can pair him with Tillman, and Gausman for the next 5-6 years, that is a scary three-headed monster in the East. With all that being said, it’s awesome to watch him go out there and absolutely blow away these major leaguers, something we have been looking forward to since 2011.
Wieters Insane Play
I wanted to touch on this real quick, what an insane play this was by Matt Wieters on Wednesday night. I have watched it 100 times, and it gets better every time. Game tying run on first in the top of the ninth., Zach Britton bounces a pitch and it bounces away from Wieters. He circles around it, picks it up, with his back to the Odor and second base. Just check out where Odor is when Wieters gets the ball.
He’s about halfway to second, and Wieters isn’t close to being in a throwing position. I’m not even sure why he threw the ball, or how many catchers attempt to make that throw.
Instead of eating it, and risking throwing the ball into right field and putting the tying run on third, Wieters literally placed the ball right in Schoop’s glove and beats Odor by a step. Just an absolutely insane play, and a great throw. Went from having the tying run at second with 1 out, to no one on base, with 2 outs. A crazy good play, not many other catchers could make.
Upcoming
Friday, August 5th. @ White Sox- Yovani Gallardo (3-3 5.70) vs Miguel Gonzalez (2-5 4.06)
Saturday, August 6th. @ White Sox- Chris Tillman (14-3 3.46) vs Carlos Rodon (2-8 4.67)
Sunday, August 7th. @ White Sox- Dylan Bundy (4-3 3.05) vs James Shields (5-13 4.92)
Monday, August 8th. @ Athletics- Kevin Gausman (3-8 4.08) vs Kendall Graveman (7-7 4.46)
Tuesday, August, 9th. @ Athletics- Wade Miley (7-9 5.08) vs Jesse Hahn (2-4 6.02)
Wednesday, August, 10th. @ Athletics- Yovani Gallardo (3-3 5.70) vs Dillon Overton (1-2 9.33)
Thursday, August 11th. @ Athletics- Chris Tillman (14-3 3.46) vs Sonny Gray (5-10 5.84)
This is a big stretch for the O’s, longest roady of the season. They go to Chicago, Oakland for four, and then San Francisco for 3. 10 game road trip with 7 on the west coast absolutely sucks, and the standings could look very different when the O’s return home. They are in a virtual tie with Toronto right now, with Boston a few games back, but with Toronto playing Kansas City, Tampa, and Houston, they could easily run off a 7-3 or 8-2 record there. If the O’s stumble here, they could find themselves a handful of games down. I touched on the O’s struggles on the road last week, so I think it’s safe to say this is their biggest road trip of the year. I think a 6-4 or 7-3 run keeps them atop the division, anything less than that and the O’s will be looking at someone ahead of them.
PS. Chris Davis and Manny Machado- Start hitting……like now.