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| First Vladdy was safe, but then he was out, and then finally everybody wondered why Luis Rivera sent him |
When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run double down 0-2 in the count in the third inning, it was awesome, and yet not quite shocking, given what we have seen so far this season (it does not seem to be "a hot streak" at this point so much as "what Vladdy hits like"); when Cavan Biggio did very much the same thing two innings later, it sort of did border on shocking. Ah, but should it have, to the attentive attender: the "TaoofStieb" fellow of twitter (and elsewhere) notes that "[a]fter yesterday’s game, Biggio’s OPS is up to .976 (.414/.563) in 15 games since returning from injury. For the season, he’s at .726 (.343/.383) and an OPS+ of 101." So he's coming on! Ross Stripling's first start since he got noticeably mad at Joe Panik went pretty well, both in the sense that he allowed only two runs in five reasonable innings of work, and also in that Joe Panik made an error and Ross Stripling didn't freak out about it (one does wonder, honestly, why Joe Panik at third and not Santiago Espinal, a little, but maybe Joe Panik is a great to have around for reasons less obvious to the outside observer; like maybe he handles it really well when Ross Stripling gets mad at him). The Orioles, bless them, kept it interesting enough through the latter innings, but the Murphy, Mayza, Castro, Romano bullpen allowed only a hit and two walks (and those were all Murphy's, actually [he really did okay though!]). The Blue Jays, after that pretty rough stretch, have now one seven of their last eight as they head into a series against Seattle, against whom one thinks wins seem possible, and then Tampa Bay, which could be rough, but what if it isn't?
KS
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