Batter's Box Interactive Magazine: Blue Jays at Orioles, July 6-8

The Blue Jays are setting out on their seventh road trip of 2021 and their last stretch of games before the All-Star Break. They've got three games in Baltimore followed by three in Tampa Bay. At which point Vladimir Guerrero, Marcus Semien, Teoscar Hernandez, and Bo Bichette are off to Denver for the All-Star Game. Everyone else gets to rest and recharge.

Sportsnet is reporting that the Blue Jays have made a request to return to the Rogers Centre for the homestand beginning on July 30. The request has already been approved by the city and the province. As the team has said they'll need three weeks to prepare for actual games, they will need a response from the feds this week if it's going to happen. I think the homestand after, the one beginning August 20, is more likely to happen. Barring another wave of evil, of course.

The road has been good to Toronto - they have a 24-19 mark as the visiting team, which is better than both their 9-10 record in Dunedin and the 10-10 record they've so far put up in Buffalo. They took two of three from the Orioles on their visit to Camden Yards, which was just two weeks ago. As you'll recall, in the opener of that set, Robbie Ray came out of the game trailing 2-1 and the opposition piled on additional runs against the bullpen (gosh, that sounds familiar.) But the Jays rallied with 6 ninth-inning runs the next afternoon, keyed by Bo Bichette's fouling off multiple two strike pitches before dropping in a two run single to tie the game. Vlad Guerrero and Randal Grichuk delivered run scoring doubles to complete the rally. Hyun Jin Ryu was dominant in the series finale, although Trent Thornton gave up enough runs late to make the game closer than it should have been.

At this point, the 2021 Orioles have grown reasonably familiar to one and all. They're not very good. They're bad on the road, and they're worse at home. They're bad in the blowouts, and they're worse in the close games. They're bad against the West, they're worse against the East, and they're godawful against the Central. They've been outscored by 114 runs, and only one team has been outscored by more runs - the historically awful Arizona Diamondbacks (since May 4, the D'Backs have gone 8-50. That's right - eight and fifty. That's Cleveland Spiders territory. Historically awful.)

The Orioles are not without talent. Not enough to make them good, or even mediocre, but more than enough to win some games along the way. Cedric Mullins has been Baltimore's best player - he's their all-star, he's thoroughly deserving, and I expect he'll take Mike Trout's place in the starting lineup (Trout and Adolis Garcia are the only centrefielders on the AL roster.) Trey Mancini's comeback season is one of the year's better stories, and the young outfielders Ryan Montcastle and Austin Hays have shown some promise. The starting rotation has generally been a dumpster fire with John Means on the IL. Means has just begun a rehab assignment. They do have a few relief pitchers having decent seasons - Cole Sulser, Tanner Scott, Paul Fry (despite his disastrous outing against the Jays.)

The Baltimores are coming off an 11 game road trip, which was not without interest. After losing three of four to the Jays, the Orioles ventured into Houston to meet up with the mighty Astros. You'll never guess what happened. The team with the worst record in the AL - that would be the Orioles - swept the team with the best record in the AL. That would be the Astros, who didn't have the best record in the AL anymore, not after the Orioles were done with them. Baltimore abused what had been the league's stingiest pitching staff for 27 runs in the three games. Baseball. Go figure. And then the Orioles took this momentum into Anaheim... and got swept themselves by the not-so-mighty Angels, enduring a pair of walk-off losses along the way.

Blue Jays at Orioles, July 6-8

Tuesday, July 06 2021 @ 05:00 PM EDT