O's Take Two Out Three In Motown; Melvin The Great
The Orioles beat the Tigers, 16-8, thanks to the bat of one man -- Melvin Mora. Thanks to his career day with five hits in six-at-bats, two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored, the Baltimore just ripped the guts out of a Detroit team that was supposed to reign supreme in the AL Central.
Who would have thought that the Orioles and Tigers would be that close to one another record-wise? I didn't.
Despite the huge win and taking two out of three in Motown, you've got to wonder if Garrett Olson need to go back to the minors after his start on Sunday -- let's say, his last few starts. Needless to say, the Baltimore bullpen were also the heroes on Sunday, going more than seven innings and helping out the situation.
When, and if the bats cool down, things could get ugly unless the pitching stabilizes. We have the Yankees and Red Sox on docket -- if we could get series wins against them; one, we may be over .500 by the time next week approaches; two, we could finally put the nail in the coffin for the Yankees for '08, and could also put the Red Sox's playoff hopes in peril.
Most of us here felt that Mora was taking up a spot a younger player should have had, and in mid-July, he was a .230-240 hitter, so the concerns were justified. We were waiting for him to be traded, or benched in favor of someone else. His defense was great, but he was not doing it with the bat — except with runners in scoring position.
I had to look up his numbers since the All-Star break just to even comprehend what he’s done. At this point, the Orioles have stunned me — Melvin has stunned me even more. I think I am up to date with everything — I knew he was hot; however, all of this completely flew under the radar.
Yes, he’s not part of the future — but it’s been amazing to catch a small glimpse of the Melvin we had in ‘04-05 right now, even if it’s for a short while.
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