Showalter on walk-off wins and team chemistry (Flaherty homers)
By Roch Kubatko
As Wei-Yin Chen takes the mound tonight for the Orioles, let's point out that the rotation has registered a 1.59 ERA and 11 quality starts in the last 13 games.
No pressure.
Last night, Kelly Johnson delivered the Orioles' 10th walk-off win of the season.
The 10 walk-offs, against seven teams, are tied for fourth in the majors with the Pirates and Angels. They trail the Padres, Marlins and Indians, who each have 11.
Anyone surprised by who's atop the leaderboard?
Nine different players have delivered walk-off hits for the Orioles: Johnson, David Lough, Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Steve Clevenger, Chris Davis, Nick Hundley, Manny Machado and Jimmy Paredes. Steve Pearce was at the plate for a game-ending wild pitch.
Is there a reason why the team excels in these pressure situations?
"I wish I was that smart to say this is exactly it in black and white and let's try to duplicate that and let's teach that through the system," said manager Buck Showalter.
"You go through periods, let's face it, when you're expecting something good to happen, so I think there's a lot of that, whether it's home or away. There's a very positive feel about it that they're expecting that ball to be an inch or two out of reach of a fielder and find a gap instead of right at somebody. I just think there's a real - I don't want to get too deep - positive energy or whatever you want to talk about. It's just that everybody's waiting for something good to happen.
"Why doesn't it happen in the fifth inning, where you don't have to have that situation? A lot of it's got to do with pitching."
During the Yankees series, Johnson and outfielder Alejandro De Aza brought up the team chemistry with the Orioles, which again raises the question of whether it comes from winning or if winning creates the chemistry.
"The support of our ownership," Showalter said, starting to list the reasons. "Our payroll, there's been nothing we needed that we didn't get. But what is chemistry? (Jim) Leyland had a great thing. What is it, a class?
"What comes first? I know what comes first - winning. You never hear somebody say, 'Boy, they're loose and boy they have great chemistry. By the way, they've lost 100 games.' It doesn't work that way. For anything you say as a coach or manager, the words to carry weight, they've got to show up on the scoreboard and the standings sooner or later. I mean, that's the end game. That's always the end game. I think that's what they're talking about.
"The tea tastes sweeter, the ketchup's better, things look better than they normally look. I woke up the other day and there's a little crispness in the air, the leaves are starting to fall a little bit, there's a little color starting to come in. It's that time of year. It's good to be alive and it's got nothing to do with the whole where we are with the baseball team. But there's no sadder time than the end of a baseball season when you're not in it. And there's no more exhilarating time than when you're in the hunt in late September. I've been on both sides of it. It's a miserable last two weeks."
Update: For the third straight game, an Orioles starter limited the damage in an inning and kept a game from getting away.
Chen fell behind 1-0 tonight after allowing three straight singles in the first, the last by Edwin Encarnacion, but he struck out the next two batters and Nick Markakis made a sensational diving catch to rob John Mayberry Jr.
The Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the first to lead 2-1.
Markakis led off with a single, leaving him 36 hits behind Boog Powell for fifth on the club's all-time list. I'm still counting. Alejandro De Aza doubled and Markakis scored on Adam Jones' infield hit.
Nelson Cruz grounded into a double play, with De Aza scoring the go-ahead run.
De Aza is 15-for-42 (.357) with the Orioles.
Chen threw eight pitches in the second inning while retiring the Blue Jays in order.
Update II: The Orioles increased their lead to 3-1 in the third.
Jones reached with two outs on a popup that fell near the right field line. He moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Cruz's single up the middle.
Update III: Ryan Flaherty hit a two-run homer in the fourth to increase the lead to 5-1.
Johnson led off with a walk and Flaherty delivered his seventh home run of the season.
Former Oriole Danny Valencia singled with two outs in the top of the fifth to score Jose Reyes and cut the lead to 5-2. Chen's pitch count is up to 91 through the fifth.
"You go through periods, let's face it, when you're expecting something good to happen, so I think there's a lot of that, whether it's home or away. There's a very positive feel about it that they're expecting that ball to be an inch or two out of reach of a fielder and find a gap instead of right at somebody. I just think there's a real - I don't want to get too deep - positive energy or whatever you want to talk about. It's just that everybody's waiting for something good to happen.
"Why doesn't it happen in the fifth inning, where you don't have to have that situation? A lot of it's got to do with pitching."
During the Yankees series, Johnson and outfielder Alejandro De Aza brought up the team chemistry with the Orioles, which again raises the question of whether it comes from winning or if winning creates the chemistry.
"The support of our ownership," Showalter said, starting to list the reasons. "Our payroll, there's been nothing we needed that we didn't get. But what is chemistry? (Jim) Leyland had a great thing. What is it, a class?
"What comes first? I know what comes first - winning. You never hear somebody say, 'Boy, they're loose and boy they have great chemistry. By the way, they've lost 100 games.' It doesn't work that way. For anything you say as a coach or manager, the words to carry weight, they've got to show up on the scoreboard and the standings sooner or later. I mean, that's the end game. That's always the end game. I think that's what they're talking about.
"The tea tastes sweeter, the ketchup's better, things look better than they normally look. I woke up the other day and there's a little crispness in the air, the leaves are starting to fall a little bit, there's a little color starting to come in. It's that time of year. It's good to be alive and it's got nothing to do with the whole where we are with the baseball team. But there's no sadder time than the end of a baseball season when you're not in it. And there's no more exhilarating time than when you're in the hunt in late September. I've been on both sides of it. It's a miserable last two weeks."
Update: For the third straight game, an Orioles starter limited the damage in an inning and kept a game from getting away.
Chen fell behind 1-0 tonight after allowing three straight singles in the first, the last by Edwin Encarnacion, but he struck out the next two batters and Nick Markakis made a sensational diving catch to rob John Mayberry Jr.
The Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the first to lead 2-1.
Markakis led off with a single, leaving him 36 hits behind Boog Powell for fifth on the club's all-time list. I'm still counting. Alejandro De Aza doubled and Markakis scored on Adam Jones' infield hit.
Nelson Cruz grounded into a double play, with De Aza scoring the go-ahead run.
De Aza is 15-for-42 (.357) with the Orioles.
Chen threw eight pitches in the second inning while retiring the Blue Jays in order.
Update II: The Orioles increased their lead to 3-1 in the third.
Jones reached with two outs on a popup that fell near the right field line. He moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Cruz's single up the middle.
Update III: Ryan Flaherty hit a two-run homer in the fourth to increase the lead to 5-1.
Johnson led off with a walk and Flaherty delivered his seventh home run of the season.
Former Oriole Danny Valencia singled with two outs in the top of the fifth to score Jose Reyes and cut the lead to 5-2. Chen's pitch count is up to 91 through the fifth.
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