BALTIMORE, Maryland May 13, 2014 - After running off a season-high five straight wins last week against divisional rival Tampa Bay and the Houston Astros, the Orioles have dropped two consecutive games to the Astros and Detroit Tigers. But despite the losses, they have maintained a one and one-half game bulge atop the gritty AL East, in part because of the good they did themselves with the extended winning streak and in part because of the losses sustained by the teams behind them. For instance, their closest pursuer is not just the hated Yankees; instead, New York has been joined in second place by the Boston Red Sox. Before moving forward here, let's take a close look at the standings up-to-the-minute in the AL East:
American League East
1, Baltimore Orioles: 20 wins, 16 losses, .556 pct
2. Boston Red Sox: 19 wins, 18 losses, .514 pct, 1.5 games behind
2. New York Yankees: 19 wins, 18 losses, .514 pct, 1.5 games behind
4. Toronto Blue Jays: 19 wins, 20 losses, .487, 2.5 games behind
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 18 wins, 23 losses, .410 pct, 5.5 games behind
Every AL East Team has a mark on their record that almost explains by itself why they are not doing as well as their personnel suggest they should. This applies even to the Orioles. Baltimore is an almost shocking 9-8 at home, just one game over.500. Were it not for their wonderful road record, 11-8, the Orioles would not be in first place. They have now lost two in a row, as mentioned above. It is a similar story with Defending AL East Champion Boston. The Beantown lads are an astounding 10-11 at the friendly confines of Fenway, and no other team has that many home games already under their belt. Fortunately for Boston, it is 9-7 on the road, and they are the only AL East Team with a current winning streak that exceeds a single game. They have won two straight. The Yanks, like Boston, are one game over .500 and that is the absolute end of their good news. They are 4-6 in the last ten, they are 9-9 at home and 10-9 on the road, and they currently have a three game losing streak. Like the other AL East Teams, the Blue Jays have trouble at home, where they are 8-10. The Canadian team is one game over .500 (11-10) on the road, they won last night, and they are 6-4 in their last ten. Tampa is having all kinds of trouble. The team with the supposed best pitching in baseball is not living up to their reputation, and their hitting is worst. Some think their techno-wizard manager is over-managing. He certainly is slowing games down with his series of challenges. The first thing he needs to do is get a better dugout person giving him a heads up on supposed bad calls. Last week against the Orioles he challenged two calls that were sure losers when he put his hand up. One wondered if he wasn't doing it to rattle the Oriole pitcher the way a basketball coach does when he calls time out to ice a free throw shooter at the end of a game, or a football coach who is trying to ice up the field goal kicker. The Rays are 3-7 in the last ten, they have lost two straight after losing all three to the Orioles last week. They are 8-12 at home and 8-11 on the road.
The Orioles and Tigers last night were locked in a pitchers duel between Detroit's Rick Porcello and the Orioles' Bud Norris. Baltimore jumped on top in the second when J.J. Hardy singled and then came all the way around the bases to score on Steve Clevenger's double. It was the second time in three days that the veteran Hardy scored from first on a double. The Tigers crept in front in the fourth when they scored twice on a single by Miguel Cabrera and an RBI sacrifice fly by Austin Jackson. Detroit doubled its lead in the eighth when Ian Kinsler smacked a two-run homer. When Norris hit the next hitter, Tori Hunter, with a pitch the home-plate umpire removed him from the game, a decision that didn't sit well with Norris or Buck Showalter, the Oriole skipper.
Nonetheless, one run scored will not win a whole lot of games. The Birds, incidentally, have put Matt Wieters on the DL with a sore shoulder. The had recalled a third catcher, Caleb Joseph, from Norfolk, last week when Wieters complained of pain in the elbow but continued to DH with his extremely hot bat. Ubaldo Jimenez goes for the Orioles tonight.
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