DJ Stewart on his call-up to the Orioles

DJ Stewart on his call-up to the Orioles
Outfielder DJ Stewart was home starting to look back on and evaluate his Triple-A season and look ahead and help in the planning of his January wedding. Then the plans changed for the start of his offseason. He had played his last game for Triple-A Norfolk on Sept. 3, but today Stewart got his first call-up to the Orioles. He will wear No. 62. When he gets in the game, it will be the Major League debut for a player the Orioles drafted in round of 2015 out of Florida State. So for him, the news...
Continue reading

A few random takes as the homestand begins

A few random takes as the homestand begins
A few random thoughts while we await the start of a nine-game homestand for the Orioles. The hope is they play with more pep in their step than they did during a lackluster 1-8 road trip where they were outscored 65-25. The pitcher: Why has Mychal Givens regressed this year? From 2015-2017, Givens went 18-3 with a 2.75 ERA and allowed a slash line of .206/.290/.334. But this season, he is 0-7 with a 4.57 ERA and with a slash line of .246/.330/.357. Givens' strikeout rate has dropped a bit this...
Continue reading

More with DL Hall and more on an awful road trip

More with DL Hall and more on an awful road trip
The Orioles brass can look back at the minor league season and find several individual success stories and see players that improved during the year that they must be excited about seeing again in 2019. One of the pitchers that must be near the top of that list is the 2017 top draft pick, left-hander DL Hall. Coming off his high school senior year and 10 1/3 innings last summer in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, the Orioles were careful to monitor and limit Hall's innings and pitch counts...
Continue reading

O's game blog: Trying to avoid a sweep at the Trop

O's game blog: Trying to avoid a sweep at the Trop
The Orioles have been swept in a series of three or more games 15 times this season. They'll need a victory this afternoon at Tropicana Field against Tampa Bay to avoid adding to that. The Orioles have been swept 10 times in three-game series and five times in a four-game series. They've had 10 of those sweeps come on the road and five at home. The most recent was last weekend when they lost three straight at Kansas City. Tampa Bay (77-64) has beaten the Orioles by 14-2 and 10-5 scores this...
Continue reading

A brutal road trip comes to an end this afternoon

A brutal road trip comes to an end this afternoon
During a season where we have now seen the Orioles lose 101 games, we've seen plenty of nights where the team has looked bad. The last two nights at Tropicana Field might rank right up there. On Friday night, in a 14-2 loss, the Orioles trailed 6-0 in the third inning. They were held to six hits and stuck out 15 times and O's pitchers walked 11. At least they didn't give up any unearned runs. That would wait until the first inning in last night's 10-5 loss. An ugly bottom of the first ended...
Continue reading

O's game blog: Orioles looking for second win on road trip

O's game blog: Orioles looking for second win on road trip
After becoming the third club in team history to lose 100 or more games last night, the Orioles would become the second Baltimore club to have lost 101 or more if they get beat tonight. The Orioles (41-100) play at Tampa Bay (76-64) in the second of a three-game series and eighth game of a nine-game road trip, during which the Orioles are 1-6 so far. O's starter Dylan Bundy gave up six runs last night in a 14-2 loss to the Rays. Bundy has pitched to a 10.67 ERA over his last six starts. In his...
Continue reading

What now for Dylan Bundy?

What now for Dylan Bundy?
At this point, if Dylan Bundy is not hurt, as everyone insists, the Orioles need to either consider shutting him down for the season or skipping him one or two starts. Time to let this kid have a break to regroup, catch his breath and not face another major league team until late in the next homestand at the earliest. After his first five starts this year, Bundy had a 1.42 ERA. At the end of June his ERA was 3.75. But now he continues to struggle and the Orioles need to let him come up for air...
Continue reading

O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Blake Snell in series opener

O's game blog: Dylan Bundy faces Blake Snell in series opener
The Orioles have arrived in St. Petersburg, Fla. for their third stop on a three-city road trip. Tonight they begin a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays to wrap up a trip where they went 0-3 at Kansas City and 1-2 at Seattle. The Orioles (41-99) have lost five of six and 13 of their last 17 games. They are 17-55 away from Oriole Park and have lost nine of the last 10 on the road. Tampa Bay (75-64) is in third place in the American League East and holds the seventh-best record in the...
Continue reading

Are the Orioles platooning Cedric Mullins?

Are the Orioles platooning Cedric Mullins?
We have seen recent games when Orioles switch-hitting center fielder Cedric Mullins didn't start against a left-handed pitcher. I certainly can understand the club's desire to both rest his cranky hip and/or use that time to get a look at John Andreoli. But I also hope the organization hasn't yet made up it's mind that Mullins will have difficulty continuing to be a switch-hitter. While Mullins hit better in his career on the farm batting left-handed, he made nice strides this year from the...
Continue reading

A look at some Rule 5-eligible Orioles

A look at some Rule 5-eligible Orioles
The Orioles acquired 15 players in the July trades. Of those 15 players, six have made their way onto the 40-man roster, with right-hander Luis Ortiz being the latest. Just one of the 15 players needs to be added to the 40-man roster this November to avoid being eligible to be selected in December's Rule 5 draft: 24-year-old right-hander Dillon Tate. Tate was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 draft by Texas out of UC-Santa Barbara. The Rangers traded him to the Yankees on Aug. 1, 2016 and the...
Continue reading

O's game blog: Orioles go for series win in Seattle

O's game blog: Orioles go for series win in Seattle
The Orioles beat the Mariners 5-3 last night to record their first win in five games on this road trip. They also ended an eight-game road losing streak. The Orioles (41-98) scored five runs with 15 hits last night after batting just .205 as a team and scoring eight runs in the first four games of the road trip. Trey Mancini had three hits Tuesday night and he's batting .301/.328/.530 since the All-Star break. That was his ninth game with three or more hits on the season, and 19th of his...
Continue reading

O's game blog: Orioles look for first win on the road trip

O's game blog: Orioles look for first win on the road trip
The Orioles (40-98) are 0-4 so far on a nine-game road trip. They lost 2-1 in Seattle last night to start a three-game series at Safeco Field. The Orioles have scored just eight runs on just 26 hits in the four games at Kansas City and Seattle. The last two games the Orioles have scored one run in each and both came on solo homers by Jonathan Villar. The Orioles are 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on this trip. Right-hander Alex Cobb (4-15, 5.11 ERA) will make his 26th start. In his...
Continue reading

Zac Lowther's strong 2018 season featured fast start and big finish

Zac Lowther's strong 2018 season featured fast start and big finish
After a season when he led all Orioles minor league pitchers in ERA and strikeouts, left-hander Zac Lowther has a strong resume to contend for the Jim Palmer Award, which goes to the Orioles' minor league Pitcher of the Year. Lowther had success at two levels, and did so without a blazing fastball. But his velocity didn't keep him from pounding the zone with a high percentage of fastballs this year. It didn't keep him from soaking up knowledge and adding to his education in learning to read...
Continue reading

Looking at the offense on this trip and the final day in the minors

Looking at the offense on this trip and the final day in the minors
The Orioles have scored two runs on nine hits the last two games. Both runs came on homers by Jonathan Villar and no, that won't get it done. In the series at home last week when they swept Toronto they scored seven runs, and then 12 and 10 runs. On this road trip, they've lost four games scoring two, four, one and one run. They have produced in order starting with Friday's game at Kansas City four, 13, six and three hits in those games. The team average is .205 on this so far winless trip....
Continue reading

O's game blog: Orioles and Mariners begin series at Safeco Field

O's game blog: Orioles and Mariners begin series at Safeco Field
The Orioles lost three straight in Kansas City, and their nine-game road trip moves on to Seattle tonight. The clubs begin a three-game series at Safeco Field. The Orioles lost 9-1 at Kansas City Sunday as the Royals moved out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning and put the game away with a four-run eighth. The Orioles have lost seven straight on the road and 24 of their last 28 games away from Camden Yards. They are 16-53 on the road for the season. The Orioles were held to two runs Friday at...
Continue reading

Josh Rogers set for second MLB start, plus other notes

Josh Rogers set for second MLB start, plus other notes
KANSAS CITY - He had a winning Major League debut, one that featured a nice cheering section of family and friends on Tuesday night at Camden Yards. It produced a feel-good story as Orioles left-hander Josh Rogers, the kid from a small town in Indiana, won on the big stage. Using a two and four-seam fastball on 53 of his 85 pitches that ranged from 90 to 92 mph, Rogers beat Toronto 12-5 in his debut. Over five innings he gave up seven hits and three runs with one walk and two strikeouts. He...
Continue reading

Clubhouse quotes wrap up a sweep by K.C. over the Orioles

Clubhouse quotes wrap up a sweep by K.C. over the Orioles
KANSAS CITY - It was just a few days ago that the Orioles swept three straight from Toronto. They stole bases, played some crisp defense and scored 29 runs in three games. Here in Kansas City it was very different. The team with the second-worst record in the majors swept the team with the worst, with Kansas City winning 9-1 today. It capped a weekend where the Orioles lost twice by blowouts and once on a walkoff in the ninth. So they've had better weekends. How could they play so well versus...
Continue reading

Swept away at the K: Royals win 9-1, complete sweep

Swept away at the K: Royals win 9-1, complete sweep
KANSAS CITY - Well it at least started well for the Orioles this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. Shortstop Jonathan Villar hit an opposite-field homer to left to provide a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. It went downhill pretty fast after that. If this weekend was about determining which team most deserved the top draft pick in 2019 by being the worst this year, there was some separation this weekend. The Kansas City Royals beat the Orioles 9-1 this afternoon to complete a three-game sweep of...
Continue reading

Showalter pregame with more on the closer role (game update)

Showalter pregame with more on the closer role (game update)
KANSAS CITY - While Mychal Givens has been getting the Orioles save chances this month, manager Buck Showalter said again today we could still see others get save opportunities before the year is out. Showalter never actually proclaimed Givens as his closer and after he gave up a walk-off homer in the ninth last night, he is not ready to say he is now going in another direction either. Givens went 4-for-5 in save chances since Aug. 5 heading into last night. He had thrown seven scoreless his...
Continue reading

O's game blog: O's try to avoid sweep in K.C. (Keegan Akin honored)

O's game blog: O's try to avoid sweep in K.C. (Keegan Akin honored)
KANSAS CITY - Four days after sweeping a three-game series at home versus Toronto, the Orioles need a win today to avoid being swept three in a row at Kansas City. These teams have the two worst records in the majors and now K.C. is 4 1/2 games better than the Orioles at 44-91 to the Orioles 40-96. Just five teams in Orioles history have lost 97 or more games and this O's edition will join them with a loss today. The last to do so was the 2009 Orioles with 98 losses. Right-hander David Hess...
Continue reading