| 04 July 2011
This weekend, the Orioles lost two out of three in Atlanta; however, they salvaged a win yesterday as they used a combined team effort, timely hitting and power to emerge victorious.
As the Orioles finally reached the halfway point of the season, they are now 36-45.
Again, I expected them to be better at this point, but all things considered, it’s a big improvement from last year.
On Sunday, Zach Britton got his 7th win of the year and hit his first major league homer; Nick Markakis had five hits, but Mark Reynolds once again turned on the power with a solo shot, his 19th of the year.
I’m going to use this entry to talk about Reynolds.
I know a lot of fans are not impressed with Reynolds at the hot corner, where he has a league-high 19th errors – obviously, a concern – plus, the strikeouts and low batting average.
Reynolds is your prototypical all-or-nothing guy, who can walk. We all saw it in Arizona and fans should not be all that surprised.
It’s not the best thing in the world to have on your team, but it’s a lot better than some of the alternatives that the Orioles have trotted out over the past several seasons.
I think he is what he is.
However, Reynolds really heated up in the past few weeks and is pretty much doing what we all expected now. He’s certainly started to hit the long ball and is looking to be first certified power threat that the Orioles have had their lineup in quite a long time.
Vladmir Guerrero and Luke Scott aren’t doing it now in the middle of the lineup (and frankly, it’s about time Nolan Reimold gets more playing time); therefore, the team needs keep Reynolds the cleanup spot.
Considering how much Reynolds struggled since the season began, it is good to see him make an impact for the Orioles. Perhaps Reynolds was hampered by batting in the bottom of the lineup, or struggled changing leagues; however, it’s good that he is starting to kill it at the plate.
He has produced in career, and is now only starting to live up to expectations in Baltimore. The thing we should hope for as fans is that once the heat comes to the Mid-Atlantic for the summer, the ball will fly off his bat.
As long as he walks, drives the ball over the ball, makes productive outs and plays excellent defense, the Orioles can live with the strikeouts.
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