This was supposed to be a year of progress for the Baltimore Orioles. Thirteen straight losing seasons was expected to become 14, but 70 wins was a strong possibility. After a 6-2 start, 80 wins looked like an even better target. But an eight game losing streak quickly gave fans another glimpse of the team they’ve grown to know over the last decade.
Five months later, the Orioles (41-60) have the worst record in the American League and second worst in baseball. They have seven losing streaks in 2011 of four straight or more. With 56 games remaining, a 60-plus-win season will have to be considered a good finish.
Baltimore came into New York on Friday having lost all six meetings with the Yankees in 2011. Despite the early success against their A.L. East counterpart, Yankees manager Joe Girardi doesn’t consider them an easy win.
“It really comes down to execution,” Girardi said. “We’ve been able to execute against them. We’ve had some tough games against them, there’s no doubt about that. We have a lot of respect for them and what they can do.”
While the Yankees as a whole are playing the Orioles well, outfielder Brett Gardner has not. The left fielder is batting just .185 with 12 strikeouts against them. Gardner credits Baltimore as a young team with potential.
“They have some good pitching and a pretty good lineup and they play some good defense,” Gardner said. “They probably haven’t played up to expectations with the way they finished the season last year. They can be a dangerous team.”
Gardner is having a successful campaign otherwise, batting .285 with 53 runs scored and 32 stolen bases, second most in the majors. Those numbers are on target to eclipse last year’s career highs: .277 and 47.
“I feel pretty good,” Gardner said. “We’d obviously like to be in first place, but we’re only a couple games out of first place… It will be a fun two months left in the season.”
On Sunday, rookie Zach Britton, the Orioles’ top pitching prospect heading into the season, will take the mound. It will be Britton’s first since the team sent him to the minor leagues earlier this month. Britton said his stay in Triple-A lasted about as long as he expected.
“It was around what I thought it would be,” Britton said. “I was just making sure that every day I wasn’t too focused on, ‘hey, when am I going back up’ or ‘am I going to stay down longer.’ I was just doing something every day to get me better.”
That focus helped put everything in perspective for Britton, who is anything but bitter about the demotion after starting the year 6-7.
“It was kind of like a little breather for me, it was like, ‘OK, what did I do up there that helped me be successful? What did I do up there that I need to get better at?’” Britton said. “I think it was a good period for me.”
The Orioles organization is hopeful young players such as Britton can turn their seasons around, which would help right a club that has been pointed in the wrong direction for too many years. The Yankees know though that it won’t come at their expense.
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