GameDay - May 8th

Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles

Some quality hate watching for the rest of the AL East and the rest of baseball to be honest. Here are two teams that don’t seem to lose and something will have to break. Are the Orioles punching above their weight class and will get a reality check in this series? Are the Orioles one of the “good teams the Rays haven’t played” and beat the Rays in the three-game set? Do the Rays actually play games on the road? I swear I have seen more of Tropicana Field this year than I have the last four seasons combined. Honestly, I’m just happy one of the teams in the next three games will have to take a loss.

After the 1st inning, both teams get base runners. The Rays had a bigger threat with two runners in scoring position and one out but Gibson pitched out of the inning. The Orioles got a two-out hit but McClanahan looks like he brought good stuff to the game. He is hitting the bottom half of the zone and after one-half inning, he does not show any sign of giving up strings of hits.

The top of the 2nd inning gave us one hit for the Rays. That hit went out of play in fair territory, aka, a home run. That might be enough but if the Orioles have told me one thing about the way they are playing this season, they are never out of a game. They have not had to come back against a pitcher like Shane McClanahan, so we’ll see how resilient this Orioles lineup happens to be. Once they get rolling they can score in bunches. McClanahan allows a baserunner with a base on balls but there are two outs. These are the walks that don’t seem to hurt the Rays like they hurt other teams. Does the bottom of the Orioles’ lineup have the timely hitting to score the free pass with 2 outs already on the board?

No, is the answer to that question. McClanahan was good enough to provide a second base on balls as well, but a popup to the right fielder ends the threat. At least the lineup was able to turn over and give the top of the lineup a fresh inning in their next at-bat.

A boneheaded baserunning error in the bottom of the 4th costs the Orioles another at-bat with a runner in scoring position. The runner on second goes on contact and Franco is able to make the running catch in shallow left and get the easy double play at second. An opportunity was taken, and one less batter in the bottom of the lineup will see the plate in the 4th inning. The one positive is that pitch count for McClanahan is high but again, this was a chance for McClanahan to have to pitch to at least one more batter. Alas, on to the 5th inning we go, Rays up 1-0.

Here we go, top of the 5th inning, and the bases are loaded with Rays and there are two outs. Brandon Lowe, who has been on a cold streak is being given a chance to turn his luck around in a big way. Gibson has clearly lost the zone and he has no room for error just before the mid-point of this game. Gibson gets the fly-out to center and the inning is over. The Orioles need to start making hay with McClanahan’s pitch count being where it is and the innings starting to dwindle where they have time to string some hits together.

I have a good news, bad news situation for you. Santander hits a double and there is only one out. There is your good news. The bad news is he tried to watch what he thought was a home run off the bat. In a game like this where messages can be sent and runs are tight, take nothing for granted and run hard out of the box. The double was reached but I’d want my team to be in the game enough to know that any runs in this game are a premium and pushing hard until the end is what’s required to win this game.

While the A’s have the bases loaded in their game, the Rays have loaded the bases with no outs in this game. The Orioles’ bullpen manages to hold the Rays to one run in this situation. The inning ends on an Arozarena groundout and he will have to wait until a future at-bat for his next arm-cross-get-a-hit thing.

The Orioles decide to bring the drama, a single followed by a double and we have runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs in the bottom of the 7th inning. A slumping Adley Rutschman will be at the plate with a chance to build on his blossoming legend in an Oriole uniform.

Alas, Rutschman looked good the first few pitches but strikes out on ball 3 and gets thrown out at first. It just feels like at this point the Rays bullpen is going to be too good to give up the tie or the lead. At least we won’t have to see that 11-0 in the series opener graphic for the Orioles.

The Rays finished off the game, winning 3-0. That was a good game and Baltimore had their chance, they just fell short. I’m looking forward to the rest of this series. The Rays look so good and they are going to be a tough team to catch over the course of the season. how is a team in the Al East supposed to catch and pass them by year-end? I know, it’s May and 35ish games have been played. Bad baseball is not in the cards for the Rays right now and their pitching is too good to not keep their momentum going.

I had previously written that the Orioles would be a problem in 2024. They are a problem today. They faces the best the Rays had to offer and they were in the game the whole way. I think they can win the series with back-to-back wins Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m excited for some good top-of-the-division baseball.

Oakland A’s @ New York Yankees

Here is the Yankees’ chance to make up some ground on a team ahead of them in the division standings. I’m not going to go so far and say these are must-win, but the Oakland A’s are in the tier of teams that the Orioles and Rays have been beating up on their way to great opening records to start the season.

In the Top of the 1st, the A’s were able to get two runners on base thanks to the walk. A weak fly and a ground out end the inning but the one thing that stood out in the A’s favor was that Cortes was not fooling anyone with his pitch mix in that half-inning. This will be something to watch for over the rest of the game. Two warming track fly-out, a hard single, and another fly-out to center and the inning is over. Sears doesn’t look like he is fooling anyone with his pitch mix either. This game might turn into which starter can avoid giving up the 4+ run inning.

I owe these pitchers an apology. Since the first inning, there has been two more full innings of low-event baseball.

SOMETHING HAPPENED!!! Of course, it comes with two outs, but the A’s hit a double. A pop-out to the infield ends that “threat”.

The Yankees get a leadoff triple. A line drive caught for the out gives fans the idea that the Yankees could somehow strand a leadoff triple. That worry is put to bed when Cabrera hits a home run down the left-field line. Nothing I have seen so far in this game suggests this won’t be enough to get the win. However, the Yankees have been losing games in very non-Yankee ways this part of the season.

I will take credit for this one, the A’s have been able to load the bases with no outs. Cortes has been removed from the game and now we see what the bottom of the A’s lineup can do with the bags packed. The first at-bat is one of those dribblers that are too far away for the pitcher to play and pulls the first baseman off the bag but are too slow for base coverage. It goes for a hit and the A’s score a run. Don’t feel bad, it’s the Yankees, they have all that 90’s Jeter karma to pay back. A base on balls and the game is now tied. You’re welcome non-Yankee fans. I’m just doing my part calling the game donzo based on prior events.

Everything is fine Yankee fans. Two home runs later and the Yankees are leading the game 5-2 going into the 7th. The A’s need to do some damage in teh 7th inning because they have the top of the lineup batting and if they want to see the plate in the 9th, they need to get on base and score a run or two before their final at-bat.

I leave to make dinner and the Yankees blow the game open, winning 7-2. Not an unexpected result but the length of time the A’s were in this game to possibly win was a surprise. Sears pitched a good game and deserved a better outcome. The Yankees got the win they had to. Can they carry that win into a sweep against a team they really should not lose to?

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Milwaukee Brewers

I’ve not followed a Dodger game in a while. We’re through 4 full innings so far and there have been a total of 2 hits. It must be a low-event night tonight. The run total across all games is low and the three games I’ve been following are low scores and low events. Well, the Yankees just hit two home runs, but do we really care that much about the Yankees?

I seem to have the touch tonight. Forced the Yankees into giving up two runs and after 4 innings of low-event baseball, these two teams go off and score 12 runs total. The Arizona game certainly gains more meaning as they can make up a game against the Dodgers tonight. If I’m a Dodgers fan, I go and watch the highlights of Mookie’s home run in San Diego, forget about this one and hope for a win tomorrow.

I have an announcement to make. The “Roberts Loves his Guys” tracker has been retired. Muncy sits at 1.3 WAR on the season and Martinez sits at 0.2 WAR. I think we can all agree this is why I am not a Major League manager. I would not be sticking with my guys as long as Roberts and Muncy has rewarded his manager with 12 HR and a 157 wRC+. I hope Muncy sends the Giants fans a holiday card for getting him out of his funk and bringing an end to the Roberts & His Guys Tracker.