Chris Tillman: 26 Starts, 3.76 ERA, 1.27 WHIP
Kevin Gausman: 22 Starts, 4.11 ERA, 1.32 WHIP
Ubaldo Jiminez: 18 Starts, 6.94 ERA, 1.92 WHIP
Tyler Wilson: 13 Starts, 5.38 ERA, 1.40 WHIP
Yovani Gallardo: 17 Starts, 5.08 ERA, 1.59 WHIP
Mike Wright: 12 Starts, 5.97 ERA, 1.47 WHIP
That looks almost as bad (or worse) as those early-to-mid 2000s O's rotations that featured Rodrigo Lopez, Daniel Cabrera, Sidney Ponson, Erik Bedard, and so on. So if it's not the pitching that's keeping Baltimore in the hunt, it must be the offense.
Ok, let's face it. When we say "offense" for the Orioles, we really just mean home runs. The Orioles rank dead last in the AL with 14 steals this year, and their leading base-stealer (Joey Rickard) has 4. To put the team's 14 thefts into perspective, there are 11 PLAYERS in the American League with more steals than the Orioles.
But, instead of bashing on this team's weaknesses, I want to focus on one of their strengths: bashing baseballs into the depths of outer space. Home runs, dingers, bombs, missiles, whatever you want to call them. Go to an Orioles game and you're almost guaranteed to see one. Why? Well through 123 games, they have 192 homers, or 1.56 homers per game. Just take a look at the usual lineup
Matt Wieters- 10 HR
Chris Davis- 29 HR
Jonathan Schoop- 19 HR
J.J. Hardy- 7 HR
Manny Machado- 28 HR
Hyun Soo Kim/Nolan Reimold (platoon)- 9 HR combined
Adam Jones- 24 HR
Mark Trumbo- 37 HR
Pedro Alvarez- 19 HR
With the exception of Hardy and whoever is in left field, every spot in this lineup is in double digits, including MLB's home run leader Trumbo. The Orioles' 192 homers lead all of baseball, with the next closest team (Toronto) coming in at 179. But there's something a little historic about this stat.
With 39 games remaining on the schedule, the Birds are on pace for 253 homers. The big league record was set in 1997 by the Seattle Mariners with 264. Moments ago we saw the O's usual lineup. Take a look at this one:
Dan Wilson- 15 HR
Paul Sorrento- 31 HR
Joey Cora- 11 HR
Alex Rodriguez- 23 HR
Russ Davis- 20 HR
Jose Cruz/Rob Ducey/Roberto Kelly- 24 HR combined
Ken Griffey Jr.- 56 HR
Jay Buhner- 40 HR
Edgar Martinez- 28 HR
Wow. Just wow. Although it seems unlikely that Trumbo will match The Kid's 56 bombs from '97, up and down the lineup, the O's are on pace to come awfully close to the big league record. If they hold at their 1.56 home runs-per-game pace, Baltimore will fall 11 short. In order to tie the Mariners' record, Baltimore will need to average 1.85 round-trippers per game, which comes out to 72 homers in 39 games. Difficult, but with this group of power hitters, it is definitely doable.
Oriole Park has the third highest home run rate in the majors at 2.81 per game. The O's have 19 home games remaining. The remaining games will be played at Nationals Park (2.20 HR/G, 20th in MLB), Tropicana Field (2.54 HR/G, 12th), Comerica Park (2.59 HR/G, T-9th), Fenway Park (2.38 HR/G, 17th), Rogers Centre (2.55 HR/G, 10th), and Yankee Stadium (2.77 HR/G, 4th).
As the Orioles march towards the Seattle Mariners' historic home run total continues, the Baltimore faithful see another connection that ultimately would mean more to them. The O's are on pace to win 89 games. The '97 Mariners won 90 and went to the playoffs. And, in one last interesting connection, the Mariners lost in the first round of the playoffs to...
...the Orioles.
Orioles' Mark Trumbo watches one of his league-leading 37 homers
(Getty Images)
Thanks to MLB.com, Baseball-Reference, and ESPN for stat help.
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