The first thing my Dad said to me when I saw him on Sunday night was, ” It’s football season.” While I’m not one to give up on things easily, (After 29 years, I’m still trying to win People Magazine’s sexiest man alive) things clearly aren’t looking so hot for the birds. This past weekends’ drubbing at the hands of the defending world champs was about as enjoyable to watch as a Justin Tucker, Royal Farms commercial. It was painful. If there was any hope of an Orioles’ second half turnaround, this 10 game home stand following the All-Star break was crucial. Starting 0-3 while giving up 27 runs and 41 hits in the process wasn’t exactly inspiring. So, if you are giving up on the O’s season but aren’t quite ready for football, here are some sports viewing options to get you through the next couple months.
Austin Hays Tearing Through The Minors
Orioles’ 22-year-old, 2016 third-round draft pick, outfielder Austin Hays joined the guys today to talk about his quick rise to Double-A along with some stories about the oddities of minor league baseball including monkeys riding dogs.
Hays started the season in Frederick and after going to town on Single-A pitching he was promoted to Double-A Bowie where he has continued his torrid pace. In 64 games with Frederick, Hays hit .328 with 16 dongs, 41 RBI and a slugging percentage of .592 while hitting mostly in the two hole and occasionally leading off. Since his promotion to Bowie, in 14 games Hays has hit .339 with three homers, 16 RBI and slugging .571. He recently had a season long 17 game hit streak snapped and has hit safely in 20 of his last 22 games hitting .340 with 7 HR, 14 XBH and 20 RBI over that span. Maybe most impressively, Hays is second in all of the minor leagues in total bases with 187 trailing only former Orioles dud Christian Walker (190). Hays has proved to be a versatile outfielder playing center field in Frederick and then moving to the corner outfield positions in Bowie with Cedric Mullins in center.
Screw it. Call him up now.
Fu Manchu,Wouldn’t You?
As I’m writing this the O’s are exactly halfway through the season.While I should be joining the rest of the country getting, ‘ turnt,’ at the beach somewhere forgetting about all my problems and talking about how bad ass the good ole USofA is, I’m instead sitting on a couch in my underwear, soberly dreaming of a magical second half of the season and worrying about my credit card debt and impending loss of health insurance. But whatever, everyone has their problems. Clearly, the Orioles fit right into that category.