The Orioles are trying to avoid a sweep by the Yankees, as well as a seventh straight loss, this afternoon.
The Orioles, you guys. Sheesh. Throughout April, I kept noticing how they were hitting “win one, lose two” markers that would end them up with the same 54-108 record they had in 2019. This team was 3-6, 4-8, 6-12, 7-14, and 8-16. They have been avoiding those numbers since then.
I thought once they got to 14-18, maybe they would be safe. Now, they’re 14-24 and mired in one of those free fall losing streaks where it feels like there’s nothing to stop them except a gravity-mandated appointment with the ground. After today’s series finale against the Yankees, they play three games against the Rays, and then three more on the road facing these same Yankees.
This was always going to be a brutal ten-game stretch here. The Orioles just made it so much worse by getting swept by the freaking Tigers before they even got to the first Yankees series. Nothing can change that now. All that’s left to do is see when the Orioles are finally able to string together sufficient offense with sufficient pitching to actually end up in the win column.
If you feel like looking for silver lining, the team has not been blown out during this six-game losing streak. They’ve lost the last two games by only a run, and the only difference yesterday was an extremely stupid wild pitch that led to two runs scoring.
Perhaps Baltimore’s own Bruce Zimmermann can serve as the stopper here today. With Jordan Montgomery pitching for the Yankees, the Orioles are going to need him.
Orioles lineup
- Austin Hays – LF
- Ramón Urías – DH
- Trey Mancini – 1B
- Anthony Santander – RF
- Jorge Mateo – SS
- Tyler Nevin – 3B
- Robinson Chirinos – C
- Ryan McKenna – CF
- Chris Owings – 2B
As a general rule, it’s not worth getting bent out of shape about batting orders, but man, with how Urías has been batting so far in the 2022 campaign – a .204/.248/.306 batting line – it’s especially sad to see him both serving as the designated hitter and batting in the #2 spot in the lineup. Ideally, this is the spot reserved for the team’s best hitter, who will get more opportunities to bat in the #2 spot than if he was lower in the lineup. And it’s going to someone hitting like that.
Yankees lineup
- DJ LeMahieu – 3B
- Aaron Judge – RF
- Anthony Rizzo – 1B
- Giancarlo Stanton – DH
- Gleyber Torres – 2B
- Aaron Hicks – CF
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa – SS
- Kyle Higashioka – C
- Marwin Gonzalez – LF
I went to the Orioles-Yankees game on Tuesday, and friends, let me tell you, when they have the two lineups side by side on the Jumbotron with the OPS numbers listed, it is very clear that the Yankees have better players than the Orioles.