The Curious Case of Jake Arrieta

Ah, Jake Arrieta.

If you bring up his name to a lot of Orioles fans, it often does not conjure up good thoughts at all.

Sunday’s game was a case exhibit for that opinion.

I saw the self-destruction of Arrieta live and in person at the Yard; however, before the game against the Dodgers, I and several season ticket holders in my respective section pondered how many innings Arrieta would toss.

Furthermore, we all wondered when he would finally implode.

“He’s going to last six innings”, said one person.

“I say five, plus”, harked another.

Although I consider myself an optimistic person, but I quipped, “Four and two-thirds.”

For the first three frames on the mound, Arrieta looked as good as ever, and the Baltimore offense was rolling.

With a comfortable cushion at the time, he breezed through a Los Angeles lineup has that been struggling and endured a long losing skid; however, starting in the fourth inning, the implosion happened.

Walk after walk, followed up by a hit, then more walks, wiped away a 4-1 Baltimore lead which led to a 7-4 loss.

The loss prevented a three-game sweep of the Dodgers.

During the fourth and fifth innings, we all shook our heads and looked up wondering, “Will he ever get it out there on the mound?”

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