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Baseball in May is supposed to be calm and easy-going as the spring sun warms up. Drama is meant for late September in do-or-die games but the Baltimore Orioles have found a way to build on as that can only be described as riding a roller coaster at full speed.
This past week at Camden Yards has seen two divisional rivals roll into town. The Yankees came in to town to add to their AL East lead by taking some heart breakers from the Orioles. Trying to avoid a series sweep on Thursday – enter Anthony Santander.
Blasting a walk-off homer to win the game 9-6, Santander hit the first dinger of its kind for the O’s since August 11, 2019 and prevented a sweep by the Evil Empire.
Scene Two – in come the visiting Tampa Bay Rays -with their 15 game winning streak against the Orioles going into Friday night’s game. I have to admit I didn’t catch the game until the eighth inning and thought that the game would be over shortly.
The Baltimore Orioles have a flair for the dramatic endings
Five innings later, rookie Nick Vespi threw two scoreless innings to herald his debut in the Show. Rougned Odor took Ralph Garza Jr. yard and gave the Orioles their second walk-off win in a row. A three year drought was erased in little over a day and Vespi registered his first major league “W.”
Sunday evening’s game against the Rays brought more of the dramatic. The game was tied up in the bottom of the ninth when Mother Nature showed up to rain on the O’s parade for close to an hour. Adley Rutschman got on base to represent the winning run when play resumed and you guessed it – Rougned Odor came up again to ground out on a fielders choice and bring Rutschman home along with another walk-off win.
For what it’s worth, baseball is supposed to be fun from the crowd enjoying the game to the players who get to to do what ten and eleven year old kids dream they could do someday. Watching the Orioles the past week has renewed my faith in this ballclub just a bit more. There’s excitement again and dare I say, hope?