As I sit in the pressbox and watch the Orioles' offense continue to struggle, I am reminded of a sequence last night that really didn't factor heavily in the game but it said a lot about how the Orioles are playing these days.
Young pitcher David Hernandez had a rough bottom of the second inning, facing seven guys and stranding the bases loaded. Oakland loaded the bases with no outs and Hernandez performed pretty good damage control, allowing only one run to score. He did throw 25 pitches in the inning.
Now, what came next is the disturbing part. Hernandez obviously could have used a little of a rest in the dugout after the grueling inning. But what do the Oriole hitters do?
Felix Pie, the leadoff man in the top of the third, swings at Ben Sheets' first pitch and grounds out to the pitcher. The next man up, Adam Jones, grounds out on the fourth pitch. And then Nick Markakis, flies out to left on Sheets' second pitch.
So Hernandez got to sit down for all of seven pitches before having to go right back out to the mound.
That type of thing is often referred to as selfish baseball. Sure, it's a little thing but all that stuff adds up.