Dan Connolly

Myriad O’s Thoughts: 250 homers & counting; nasty night; O’Day’s outing

By Dan Connolly

Posted on October 1, 2016

To paraphrase Midwestern philosopher Jarrod Dyson, that’s what power do.

OK, so Dyson, the lightning-quick Kansas City Royals outfielder, was talking about small ball, when he uttered his, “That’s what speed do” line back in 2014.

These Orioles don’t know speed; they “do” power like almost no one else in the history of the game, though.

In the fifth inning of their 8-1 victory at Yankee Stadium on Friday, the Orioles scored six runs on three homers: Adam Jones with a solo shot, Mark Trumbo with a two-run bomb and Jonathan Schoop with a three-run homer.

It was the major-league leading 10th time this season they’ve had three longballs in one inning – yes, 10. That’s almost unfathomable.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter didn’t really bite on the statistic after Friday’s game, however.

“We know what we’re after. And how we get there, we don’t care,” Showalter said. “It doesn’t have to look aesthetically pleasing.”

Schoop’s homer was the Orioles’ 250th of the season; the fifth time in MLB history that one club has hit that many in a year. The others: the 1997 Seattle Mariners (264), the 2005 Texas Rangers (260), the 1996 Orioles (257) and the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays (257).

These Orioles likely will fall short of the club record set by the 1996 Orioles (led by Brady Anderson’s 50), but it’s also not impossible for this team to hit seven more in two games.

They have that kind of jaw-dropping power.

One more thing about Schoop’s homer. It gave the Orioles five players with 25 or more longballs this year: Trumbo (47), Chris Davis (38), Manny Machado (36), Jones (29) and Schoop (25). According to Baseball-Reference.com, they are the 12th club in baseball history to do that.

An ugly night

Showalter said if the temperature had dropped about 15 more degrees Friday – game-time temperature was 56 – it probably would have been the worst weather conditions a team of his has had to endure.

The temperatures weren’t bone-chilling. But there was a constant mist – sometimes a hard rain – and a swirling wind that made playing baseball exceptionally challenging.

Frankly, there is no way that game would have been played under different circumstances. But in the last series of the year, with one of the teams desperately needing these games played, the show went on.

It was a sloppy show, but no Oriole left the game due to injury.

Showalter admitted he was concerned about potential injuries, “but it’s what we do. … What are you going to do, forfeit?”

O’Day delivers ‘encouraging’ outing

The Orioles have been careful with setup man Darren O’Day, who has twice been on the disabled list this season due to hamstring and shoulder injuries.

He was activated from the DL on Sept. 18 and had pitched just three times heading into Friday night.

He entered in the eighth, his first game in a week, and retired all three batters he faced. He threw 17 pitches, 13 for strikes.

That’s a fairly key development for the Orioles, who would love to have a healthy and effective O’Day to again bridge the game between Brad Brach and closer Zach Britton.

Showalter said he was picking his spot to get O’Day some work, and Friday, despite the weather conditions, was a fit.

“We had six days and we could never really get that spot. He had a work day either (Wednesday or Thursday) in Toronto, and (coaches Dave Wallace and Dom Chiti) came in and said, ‘He’s close,’” Showalter said. “That was good (Friday), especially in those conditions. If we could get (him) in, he’d be a nice piece for us to add that we’ve been missing. That was encouraging.”