Orioles getting no help

It’s most often in the NFL that we hear terms such as “control your own destiny” and so forth. However as we move through the 2013 pennant race the fact is that the Baltimore Orioles do control their own destiny…by virtue of the number of times that they’ll see both Boston, Tampa, and even Cleveland down the stretch, as well as the fact that they own a tie-breaker with Texas. However the O’s won twice this week against San Diego, yet they picked up only a half game on both Boston and Tampa. Part of this is certainly due to the fact that the O’s were off both on Monday and on Thursday…but you also have to look for just a bit of a break.

Boston and Tampa both refuse to lose in a sense. Now Boston did drop a game on Monday night in Houston as well as last night in Kansas City, and Tampa lost on Wednesday in Arizona. However both of these teams are fighting neck-and-neck with the Orioles; the difference right now is that they’re ahead of the Birds in the standings. Granted the O’s losing two-of-three to Boston and then Seattle at home didn’t help matters, however I would submit that the frustrating thing from the Orioles’ perspective is that teams (such as Toronto) who play the Birds tough seem to roll over for other teams. Let me state unequivocally for the record that I don’t feel this is some sort of conspiracy to keep the O’s or anyone else out of the playoffs. However it most certainly has to frustrate the team and the fans to a certain point.

This probably comes across as sounding like the Orioles have some sort of entitlement to be in the playoffs; that’s not the case. You have to earn your way to the postseason, and thus far Boston and Tampa have done just that. However what the Orioles need is for a team like Kansas City to step up this weekend and inflict the same kind of damage on Boston that they did to the O’s a few weeks back (they got a good start last night). Tampa heads out to LA for an interleague series against the Dodgers this weekend, and of course LA’s been about as hot as a team can possibly be of late. In the wild card standings, they’re chasing Texas…who heads to Houston this weekend. Perhaps LJ Hoes and his new teammates can attempt to help out his old friends…you get the idea.

However none of that matters if the Orioles don’t go out and take care of business with the SF Giants this weekend. Granted the Giants are the defending champions, but their season’s been derailed by injuries and the season has been a struggle for them. Chris Tillman will take the ball tonight in search of his 15th win of the season. He’ll be opposed by Ryan Vogelsong of San Francisco, who brings in an ERA north of seven. The Orioles need to take care of business themselves in all series’, but starting at some point soon they also need to look for some help from some other teams.