Daniel Clark: The good and bad of the ALCS

After three games of the American League Championship Series, there's been a number of key things that haven't gone according to plan for the Orioles, who trail the series 3-0 and require four straight wins in order to progress to their first World Series since 1983. In light of these disappointing results, let's explore the good and bad of the series thus far... The Good Shut down the Royals' speed Much had been made of the Royals' speed on the basepaths prior to the series commencing, but they have managed to swipe just one bag in three attempts thus far. The Orioles have stifled the threat with a three-pronged approach - holding runners on first, delivering quickly to the plate and impressive defense from catchers Nick Hundley and Caleb Joseph. The speedy Jarrod Dyson has been caught stealing twice and Alex Gordon was picked off first by Chris Tillman in Game 1. The only successful attempt was from Lorenzo Cain in Game 2, as he stole second base off Brad Brach in the fifth. Nelson Cruz Cruz had a remarkable regular season in 2014, hitting .271 with 40 home runs and 108 RBIs, but his postseason has been even more impressive. He hit .500 with two home runs and five RBIs in the ALDS and now in the ALCS, he's hit .308 with two more RBIs. While his World Series dream is slipping away, his impressive postseason performances will ensure he receives a nice big payday prior to the 2015 season. The Bad Starting pitching One of the keys to the Orioles' success this season was the improvement seen from the starting rotation, which had five men working to ERAs of 3.65 or better. However, this has all gone pear-shaped in the ALCS and it started with Chris Tillman, who gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings of work in Game 1. Unfortunately, Bud Norris didn't fare much better in Game 2 after he gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. Wei-Yin Chen took to the mound in Game 3 and performed better, but fell away in the sixth and ultimately took the loss. Combined, the starters have worked to a 7.07 ERA across the three games and it's resulted in the Orioles having to play catch-up baseball far too often. Clutch hitting The Orioles have gone 9-for-25 with RISP during the series, but this statistic is somewhat misleading as on multiple occasions the hits haven't led to runs being scored. The more crucial stat is that they have stranded 24 runners on base and in close games, which has ultimately proved costly. The worst instances of wasted opportunities came in Game 2 when despite loading the bases in the second and seventh innings, they could only manage to score one run via a sac fly from Joseph. The Royals, on the other hand, have made the most of their chances, frequently producing big hits in clutch situations. Darren O'Day and Zach Britton So often the Orioles' most reliable late-innings relievers, O'Day and Britton have struggled through the series thus far. O'Day has allowed three runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work while Britton is lucky to have allowed just the one run in his 1 1/3 innings, having been bailed out by O'Day in Game 1 after walking three straight hitters to load the bases with none out. It could've been even uglier for the Orioles had it not been for the impressive series from fellow relievers Kevin Gausman, Andrew Miller and Brad Brach, who were all lights out. Steve Pearce The much-improved first baseman carried the Orioles for large parts of the regular season in what was a career year for the 31-year-old. However, his ALCS has been disastrous, hitting just .077 (1-for-13). This lack of production from the No. 5 hitter has hurt the Orioles badly, with Pearce leaving eight runners stranded on base. A clutch hit here or there could've made a huge difference. Lack of home runs The Orioles hit 211 in the regular season, a staggering 25 more than the second-place Colorado Rockies. However, they've hit just one in the ALCS thus far, a two-run bomb from Adam Jones in Game 2. For a team that relies so heavily on the long-ball, this lack of power has hurt them dearly. Daniel Clark blogs about the Orioles at The Big Leagues Daily from Melbourne, Australia. Follow him on Twitter: @DC_TBLDaily. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.