Great players always rise to the occasion when the game’s on the line. Over time, the Orioles have had their share of great players; the Robinsons, Jim Palmer, Rick Dempsey, andCalRipken Jr. just to name a few. However over the course of the past 13 seasons, it seems that while the O’s might have had some “good” players, they had very few “great” players (Brian Roberts, who looks to be out another 3-4 weeks or so, might qualify as “great”). In fact, it seems that over that timeframe, most of the great players in the league have been playing for other teams, and thus rising to the occasion against the Orioles. Remember the Mother’s Day Massacre inBostona few years back? Or for that matter last week the O’s blew a six-run lead to the Red Sox. A few years ago I also seem to remember Alex Rodriguez hitting walk offs against the O’s in consecutive games a few years back as well. Yet, that same kind of moxie has been something that’s been absent from the Orioles’ lineup on a consistent basis for quite some time.
Last night’s game against the Royals brought the Orioles a bit of their own medicine. How many times over the past couple of years have the Orioles thrown a rookie starter out there that’s baffled opponents? That’s exactly what Daniel Duffy did to the O’s last night. This wasn’t Duffy’s major league debut however he had made only one start which was a bit of a clunker. This game was certainly not that for Duffy. He was similar to Brian Matusz in that he was a wiry southpaw that had great big league stuff. Duffy gave up two runs over five hits in the game (the two runs were charged to him, but they crossed the plate after he departed the game). Luckily for the O’s, Duffy did show one mark of a rookie in that he had a bit of a problem with endurance and was only able to throw 5.1 innings. In the last of the sixth it was fairly obvious that his tank was running on empty, and the O’s took advantage of that by putting two runners on base trailing 3-0 (those runs later scored).
Speaking of young southpaw starters, Zach Britton got the start for the O’s last night. He didn’t appear to have his really good stuff, however he certainly pitched well enough to put the Birds in a position to win the game. Similar to Duffy, Britton’s problem was endurance; in six innings he threw 101 pitches. I think that’s probably acceptable for guys like Britton or Duffy at this stage because they’re rookies that were never in the big leagues before now. Veterans or young starters who have some major league experience that show that lack of endurance are a bit more concerning. If you’re going to be a successful starting pitcher in the big leagues you can’t consistently throw five or six innings and call that a successful start. And I think that both Britton and Duffy will get to that point, however they’re still learning.
One great sign for the O’s in this one was that the much-maligned bullpen really came through when Buck Showalter and Mark Connor needed them to. Jeremy Accardo gave up two base hits and a walk; those were the only base runners that the bullpen allowed, and none of them crossed the plate. Being a reliever is far from a glamorous job, however in my opinion Jeremy Accardo has really shined bright for the O’s the past few weeks. He’s a hard thrower that’s normally able to come in for mop up duty or even long relief. He ended up getting the loss in last week’s marathon game againstNew York, but those base runners only reached base because he started to tire. In perhaps an even bigger story, Alfredo Simon made his 2011 debut after allegedly killing a man by accident in theDominican Republic. Simon was wicked in the ninth inning. Several people who know I follow the O’s have asked me why they wouldn’t consider making Simon a starting pitcher. In the firs place, who’s to say that they haven’t? However keep in mind that with Matusz imminently returning and the prospect of Justin Duchscherer showing up at some point, the Orioles already have too many starters. Furthermore, most guys that throw as hard as Simon ultimately have endurance problems because they throw so hard.
So to go back to my original point, what constitutes rising to the occasion? I would say getting the job done in the clutch like Steady EddieMurray used to do. So after J.J. Hardy’s double in the last of the ninth last night, Showalter sent Felix Pie out to pinch-hit for Brandon Snyder. Pie promptly pulled a hard grounder down the line at third past the glove of Wilson Betemit (who ironically was guarding the line against just such a hit), plating Hardy and tying the game at three. That’s clutch. After a Robert Andino strikeout, some wind came out of the Orioles’ sails. However keep in mind that all the home team needs to do to win in the last of the ninth is to take a one-run lead. So a base hit would have sufficed for Adam Jones in his at-bat with two down. However when Jones saw an 0-2 fastball as opposed to the slider out of the zone he was probably expecting, he proved he was a great player with a clutch two-run walk off home run over the centerfield wall.
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