Orioles’ offense is delivering punch, not punch line

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - They are nearly halfway through the season, and the Orioles continue to press on without a true cleanup man. They have no .300 hitter among their regulars, and not one of them is on pace to drive-in 100 runs or even is a cinch to smack 25 home runs.

Yet this strange, scrappy collection of hitters who spent the first two months languishing near the American League cellar in batting average while a revamped pitching staff did the heavy lifting, has a pulse, after all.

Suddenly, the little train that could hardly buy a big inning in April and May resembles a lightweight locomotive, especially when the Orioles are trailing in the middle or late innings. The lineup that inspires fear in no pitcher is putting together timely rallies with spooky regularity.

Take third baseman Melvin Mora, the poster boy for one of the more endearing groups hitting coach Terry Crowley said he has handled in his distinguished career.

Mora went 1-for-5 in a 6-5 victory over Houston on Tuesday, dropping his average to .242. He failed to reach base in his first four at-bats.

Then came the doozy: a classic battle with Astros closer Jose Valverde that Mora won by drilling a 3-2 fastball to right-center for a two-out, two-run, eighth-inning double that won the game.

Shocked? You shouldn’t be. Mora entered the night hitting .375 with runners in scoring position.

Think this is nuts, do you? The Orioles merely are holding form. With Mora’s timely shot, the Birds clinched their major-league-leading 16th victory after trailing by at least two runs.

The little train that hit a combined .246 in April and May and — despite a spate of home runs —  and barely averaged four runs during that span is gathering steam. In June, the Orioles are batting .299 with 21 homers in 15 games, and are scoring 5.6 runs per game.

No Murderer’s Row quips, please. But a few fireworks might be in order. The Orioles have tunneled their way to respectability. They went into last night’s game hitting .257.

“We do have major-league hitters. We struggled early,” said second baseman Brian Roberts, who is hitting .286 and scored the winning run on Mora’s double. “You don’t like to see everybody struggle at once, but that’s how baseball is. We knew we weren’t all going to hit .220 the whole year. Early on, we said [the pitchers] probably hated us. Maybe we’re getting even.”

The way Crowley sees it, his hitters are riding several, converging factors. They are using enough of their speed, balance and intelligent pitch selection to take advantage of opportunities when they count. They are increasingly comfortable with two strikes, and are in love with the hit to the opposite field. They’ve been unselfishly moving runners over from day one.

And the summer air at Camden Yards is always good for a hitter’s psyche. For example, designated hitter Aubrey Huff, who dragged a .258 average into the cleanup spot on Tuesday, gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead in the third inning with a two-run home run that would have died on the warning track in April.

“They pull hard for each other, and they’ve all got heart,” Crowley said. “They give us a crazy kind of balance. Right [handed], left, right, left. Some guys are better off-speed hitters, some guys are better fastball hitters, some guys are better two-strike hitters, some guys like to come out of their shoes on the first pitch, be it a ball or a strike. In some of my years here, due to injuries, etc., we’ve sent four or five qualified hitters to the plate. This is as good as we’ve been, one through nine.”

The Orioles could not have stayed around .500 early without their pitching. Who would have thought the bats would be keeping them there in mid-June?

This lineup can’t be expected to bash its way to victory on any given night.

But it’s no longer a joke, either.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com

Advertisement