Orioles Arms And Bats Fall Silent
Rich DuBroff from CSN sports joined The Vinny and Rob Show Wednesday morning on 105-7 THE FAN with host Rob Long to discuss the recent Orioles struggles. Orioles have fallen in to third place in the AL East and are 5.5 games back of Boston for the first spot.
Rich Dubroff
Not only have the Orioles collectively struggled in the last three series but so has All-Star Adam Jones. Jones has taken a lot of scrutiny lately for his lack of discipline at the plate. AJ's average has dropped to .288 and has just nine walks all season. On top of the falling batting average is Jones has seventy four strikeouts. Last year Adam went down on strikes 126 times but this season he is on pace to set a career high in K's. Dubroff said that Jones and O's hitting coach Jim Presley spoke during spring training to draw at least one more walk a week. Currently, AJ is averaging 0.6 walks per week as the Orioles are fifteen weeks in to the 2013 season.
Joining the struggle with Jones is the Orioles pitching staff. Zach Britton who was last nights starter only went five innings and allowed five runs. Four of the five runs came off of Adrian Beltre's bat by the way of the long ball as he sent two in to the stands. Kevin Gausman then came on but could not stop the bleeding allowing two runs over one and two thirds innings. O's would lose by the final of 8 to 4. Dubroff does not believe that Orioles pitching is doomed, "The fact that they have stayed in this without Chen ya know is really impressive. I don't think the starting pitching is going to be a huge, huge problem for them. Tillman, Gonzalez, Chen, plus Jason Hammel and Scott Feldman I think that's the making of a pretty solid rotation with Zach Britton and Kevin Gausman in reserve."
Wei-Yin Chen who is coming off two months on the disabled list will look to be a stop gap for the Orioles who have lost four of their last five. With the Orioles fading fast they need to get the bats and the arms back on track to right the ship.
