A Disappointing Beginning: O's vs. Rays Recap April 6, 2010

The Orioles were two outs away from being victorious on Opening Night, but closer Mike Gonzalez was unable to finish off the Rays. Sure, you can place the blame on Gonzalez and his inability to get ahead of the Rays hitters, but there are many other things that went wrong for the Orioles that could have prevented the loss.

For starters, the most glaring statistic of the night is how the Orioles hit with runners in scoring position. They went 1 for 12 in those situations, with the only hit being Cesar Izturis’ attempted sacrifice bunt in the top of the 9th that turned into a bunt single. This game shows why teams cannot rely on the homerun ball alone, especially when all you hit are solo homeruns.

Hitting with runners in scoring position is a very key part to a team’s success, especially in the tough AL East. Had the Orioles managed a couple more hits in these situations and been able to add insurance runs, perhaps Gonzalez wouldn’t have had the chance to blow the save in the 9^th inning.

Miguel Tejada ran in to some tough luck in the top of the 9^th. In my opinion he was squeezed by the umpire on the first two called strikes after Rays closer Rafael Soriano fell behind 3-0. Then, Tejada hit a screaming line drive, but right at left fielder Carl Crawford. He couldn’t have hit the ball any harder or better than that.

While the outcome wasn’t what we had hoped, and there were several negatives that came from the game, there were also some positives in my opinion.

Miguel Tejada looked good defensively at third base. While it wasn’t always graceful, Tejada was able to handle everything hit to him and record outs on all the ground balls he faced.

Adam Jones and Matt Wieters both had solid games at the plate going 3 for 5 and 2 for 4 respectively, with each adding a homerun and an RBI.

Finally, the Orioles pitching impressed me in innings 1 through 8. Millwood was able to work out of some tough jams, and had good movement on many of his pitches. He showed good control as he only walked one, but he did give up a fair amount of base hits. Matt Albers, Will Ohman, and Jim Johnson were solid in relief as the three combined for 3 scoreless innings only allowing 1 hit.