Clay Buchholz ruined Juan Samuel’s first game as O’s interim manager, tossing a complete-game five-hit shutout as part of an 11-0 victory on Friday night. The Orioles have now lost nine consecutive games and enter play on Saturday at 15-40. They currently sit an incredible 21 games behind the first-place Rays in the American League East.
It doesn’t look like things are going to get magically better any time soon, but Samuel’s sense of humor is still intact. For now, anyway. (via Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com).
Friday’s starter Chris Tillman was only able to record four outs before he was yanked after 57 pitches, giving up four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out two. It was only his second start back in the big leagues, but the young right-hander is symptomatic of a core of young players -- including Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, Brian Matusz and Brad Bergesen -- who have taken a “giant step” backward this season, according to team president Andy MacPhail.
It’s hard for MacPhail to preach patience when the team needs to try to sell tickets -- especially with the excitement in the region tilting in the Nationals’ favor -- but let’s just say that the young core mentioned above isn’t the only thing that has diverted off course in the past year. I believe the Orioles unfairly raised the expectations of their fanbase by bringing in veterans like Kevin Millwood, Mike Gonzalez, Miguel Tejada and Garrett Atkins this winter when they really didn’t need to.
The injuries to Gonzalez and Brian Roberts haven’t helped their plight, but contending should never have been a consideration this season anyway. The Gonzalez signing was especially absurd at the time and looks even more egregious now. With that being said, I still trust MacPhail’s overall vision for the franchise. I just hope it isn’t much longer before we see names like Millwood and Ty Wigginton give way to promising youngsters like Jake Arrietta and Josh Bell.
