The Phillies pitching staff had a tough go of it the past couple of nights. After Zack Wheeler did his thing on Tuesday, both Cristopher Sanchez and Aaron Nola had rough outings. Hopefully that isn’t indicative of a trend, as the Phillies will be heading to Baltimore to take on the best team they’ve faced so far this season.

Baltimore Orioles

Record: 45-23, Second place in American League East (2.5 games back)

The manager

Brandon Hyde took over the Orioles in 2019, and after enduring some rough rebuilding years at the start of his tenure, he led the team to a mildly surprising 101-win season in 2023, earning him AL Manager of the Year honors. The playoffs didn’t go quite so well for the O’s (they were part of the whole “getting a bye is actually bad” thing), as they were swept by the eventual champion Rangers.

I’m actually happy for Hyde who assuredly endured more than his share of “Dr. Jekyll” jokes in his early seasons. Which is somewhat ironic since he’s one of the fierier managers in the league.

The last time they met

The Orioles visited Philadelphia in July 2023 and won the opener thanks to a game-winning ninth inning hit off of Craig Kimbrel (more on him later). The Phillies got revenge the following night, when Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm led the Phillies to a walk-off win. The Phillies went on to win a back-and-forth rubber game thanks to some late clutch hits by Edmundo Sosa and Bryce Harper.

What’s the deal with the Orioles

They’ve picked up where they left off in 2023 (the regular season at least) and have the second-best record in the AL. Unfortunately, they share a division with the AL’s best team, and will likely have to surpass their 101 wins from last season to avoid the Wild Card. (Although, if these teams think the bye is such a disadvantage, maybe that’s not a bad thing.)

The Orioles are utilizing that tried-and-true formula of scoring a lot of runs, while not allowing their opponents to score many of their own. They rank second in the league in runs scored, and their pitchers have allowed the second least.

The headliner has been shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Much like Cal Ripken in the 80’s, Henderson is attempting to follow up a Rookie of the Year campaign with an MVP award the next season. He’s also going to hurt Papa John’s bottom line.

Ace duel!

Sunday’s game will give us an excellent starting pitcher matchup when Zack Wheeler is matched against Orioles ace Corbin Burnes. Burnes was acquired in an offseason trade and has lived up to the hype thus far with a 2.08 ERA.

Burnes’ only drawback is that he typically doesn’t pitch as deep into games as you’d expect. He has yet to appear past the seventh inning this season. If you recall, when he won the NL Cy Young Award over Wheeler in 2021, there were complaints that Wheeler should have gotten more consideration for throwing almost 50 more innings.

Assuming Burnes does depart before the game’s conclusion, that means we’ll likely see a familiar face on the mound for the O’s.

The Birdman goeth

One year ago, at this time, Craig Kimbrel was held in high esteem by Phillies fans. With Jose Alvarado sidelined with an injury, Kimbrel took on a heavy workload, and protected a lot of narrow leads for the 2023 Phillies. He did so well that he made the NL’s All-Star team, and fans actually enjoyed seeing his bird-like pose on the mound.

That workload might have been a little too high as he was far less effective in the second half of the season, and I’m sure we all remember what happened in the NLCS. (Everyone clamoring for a proven closer should remember that Kimbrel is as proven a closer as there is, and it didn’t prevent him from failing in the playoffs.)

Despite that playoff failure, the Orioles signed him as a free agent this offseason. After some shakiness in April, he’s been very good since, converting his last nine saves. But if the Orioles really want to head into October with him as their primary ninth inning option…good luck with that.

Any Phillies fans in attendance will assuredly greet Kimbrel warmly if he enters the game. Speaking of that…

Welcome to Charm City

I’ve always been a fan of Camden Yards. While the park now shows its age in some ways, it’s still a thoroughly pleasant place to watch a game.

Back when the Phillies played in Baltimore every year, my family would usually make a point to take a trip to see at least one of the games. But since the Washington Nationals became their “natural rival,” the Phillies’ trips to Baltimore have become much less frequent.

This will be the Phillies’ first series at Camden Yards since 2018 that fans can actually attend the games. (They played there in 2020.) I will be attendance on Friday night, so if any other Phillies fans make the trip and notice a horse roaming the picnic grounds, feel free to say hello.

Adversity finally rears its head

The Phillies haven’t been at their best lately. Since those back-to-back sweeps of the Nationals and Rangers, they’re just 9-8. This shouldn’t be too much cause for alarm as it wasn’t realistic to think they’d play at a 110+ win pace all season.

But the Phillies do not seem to be their best selves at the moment, which is unfortunate because their schedule has become much tougher. Sanchez and Nola both had off nights against the Red Sox, and these tend to happen to even the best pitchers on occasion, especially when their schedule has been thrown off due to the London trip. But if the Phillies want to win this series, they’ll need Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, and (gulp) Taijuan Walker to be on top of their games against an excellent lineup. We’ve seen the Phillies’ pitching staff handle a similarly strong Brewers lineup, so it is possible.

If the pitching can’t keep the Orioles down, they may be in trouble since the lineup has felt the absences of Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh, and J.T. Realmuto. It sounds like Turner and Marsh are getting close, but we may have to wait until next week to see them back in action.

The Mark Brendanawicz award

Will Clark

Will Clark had several All-Star seasons with the Giants in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. He then moved on to Texas and continued to play at a high level for a few years. Nearing the end of his career, Clark signed with the Orioles before the 1999 season, but couldn’t stay healthy, appearing in just 77 games. The following season, he was healthier, but the team sucked, so they traded him to the Cardinals at midseason.

There were actually several good candidates for this award, as the Orioles of the late ‘90s LOVED signing past-their-prime former All-Stars.

Smarty’s Most ‘90s Thing Ever Tournament

Tamgotchi lose to Alicia Silverstone? As if! The virtual pets advance to the final four.

This week’s matchup:

#3 – The internet dial-up sound

When you heard that screech, you knew that good times were ahead. (And if you heard “You’ve got mail” immediately afterwards? Pure bliss!