In case everyone missed it while watching the Yankees and Red Sox play Family Feud the past few days, the Orioles swept the Oakland Athletics in a three-game series at Camden Yards. I'm not one of these people that puts the onus on the opposing team in any game or season. Did I say that right? Probably not. What I mean is that I don't think it's fair to the O's to say that they swept the A's because Oakland's struggling. Similarly, you can't say that the Orioles lost a game or a series because they're struggling. I think that can play a part in it, however ultimately you have to give credit to the victor for going out and winning. Nevertheless, Oakland's now lost nine straight games, and as a result they fired their manager Bob Geren today. (They hired former major league manager and former Oriole catcher Bob Melvin as the interim skipper for the remainder of the season.) I've always liked the A's in a way because I loved Ricky Henderson when I was growing up, so I hope that they're able to get their act together. Their season and this managerial move reminds me a lot of the 2010 Orioles with Dave Trembley. If that's any indication, Oakland will hopefully start to improve going into next year.
Zach Britton picked up his sixth win of the year in last night's game, which also featured third baseman Mark Reynolds hitting his third home run of the week (this one of the two-run variety). Reynolds continues to hit only .199 on the season, however he's also starting to show just a bit more consistency at the plate. The Orioles knew when they got him that he primarily did two things: strike out and hit home runs. To this point he's done a lot more of the former than the latter, sprinkled in with some pop outs and ground outs. However to the Orioles' credit and at various points to the chagrin of numerous fans, they stuck with Reynolds. He came up real big for them when they needed it last Saturday night against Toronto with his first career grand slam, and as I said he's hit two more homers since then.
Starting tomorrow night the Birds open up a weekend series with the Tampa Rays. This will mark the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth time that the AL East rivals have seen each other this year, contrasting with the fact that the O's have played exactly one series against Toronto. The wonders of the unbalanced schedule. Nevertheless, the Rays are a team that's given the Orioles trouble over time, especially at Camden Yards. Although the Birds are 5-4 against Tampa this season, all five of those wins came at Tropicana Field. Here's an interesting point that I feel might be worth making. Over time we've seen almost every AL East team come into Camden Yards and feel right at home. I'm not talking about how Boston and NY fans flock to the yard, however moreso about how opposing players seem to be able to use Camden Yards' dimensions to their advantage. Whether it's someone hitting a ball that rattles around in the right field corner, or utilizes the power alleys to near perfection, numerous rival players seemingly turn the tables on the Birds in their home yard. It's probably worth mentioning that guys such as Derrek Jeter, Alex Roidriguez, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and even Evan Longoria were hitting at Oriole Park well before the likes of Wieters, Jones, and even Markakis. So that does make a difference; while one would hope that Oriole hitters would be able to use their home park to their advantage (and I think that they're starting to do so), the fact that the opposition is more used to the park than some players on the O's is worth a mention.
One way or the other, Tampa is a team with whom the Orioles struggle. The O's will send Jake Arrieta to the mound tomorrow night against Jeremy Hellickson, Saturday features David Price against Jeremy Guthrie, and Sunday will bring us Wade Davis against Brian Matusz. The last two games are the most intriguing to me. Guthrie got rocked last Sunday against the Blue Jays, so he will be looking to rebound. That might well be a tough task for him given that the Orioles don't score a lot of runs when Guthrie pitches, and Tampa scores a lot of runs at Camden Yards. While Brian Matusz is 2-0 on the season thus far, he hasn't faced Tampa as of yet, and as I've said already they love playing at the yard. Let us not forget that a month ago the Rays were in town and B.J. Upton was to be suspended for two games due to a run-in with an umpire. In so many words, Upton said that he knew the suspension wasn't worth appealing by putting in an appeal because he said he loved playing at Oriole Park. As soon as the series was finished, he dropped his appeal. This is a big series for the Orioles because after this they fly out to Toronto for three games, and the Blue Jays took two-of-three from the Birds last weekend in Baltimore. While in theory the coming road trip lasts nine games, the Birds will get some home cooking on the road next weekend when they head down the pike to Washington D.C. to play the Nationals in the second installment of the mid-Atlantic rivalry. My hope is that Birdland is empty next weekend and that everyone is down in DC supporting the Birds on the road!
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