need to focus, relo

As they stagger toward the midpoint of their miserable 2018 baseball season Jeremy Kerley Color Rush Jersey , the Orioles own the worst record in the majors and are on pace to lose 100 games for only the third time since their move to Baltimore in 1954.

Worst of all, they never saw it coming.

After giving free agent Alex Cobb a four-year, $57 million contract and signing veteran right-hander Andrew Cashner, the Orioles figured they had a solid starting rotation to go with a power-laden lineup – a formula designed to produce the team’s fourth postseason berth in seven years under manager Buck Showalter.

”We had really high hopes, as most teams do, especially in spring training,” slugger Mark Trumbo said. ”Our offense was really firing, and we had both Cashner and Cobb coming into the fold to go with a similar group of guys from the last couple years.”

Nothing has gone according to plan. Entering Friday night’s game in Atlanta, the Orioles were 21-52 (10-29 on the road) and a whopping 29 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. The last time a team has been at least 30 games behind at the end of June was 1979, when Toronto was looking way up at the Orioles.

”It’s kind of mind-boggling,” reliever Zach Britton said. ”It’s tough. We thought we’d be fighting for a playoff spot, and we’re not even halfway through and we’re already close to being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

”I can’t remember being in this type of situation here, maybe my first year in 2011 when we were pretty bad from the get-go. But I don’t even think it was this bad, and this roster has a lot of talent on it.”

Injuries have been a factor. Trumbo and Britton began the season on the disabled list, third baseman Tim Beckham has been sidelined since April 24 and 2017 All-Star second baseman Jonathan Schoop missed three weeks with an oblique strain. Outfielder Colby Rasmus languished on the 60-day disabled list before hitting a home run Thursday in his first action since April 6.

But the core of the problem has been Jaleel Scott Jersey Elite , quite simply, poor performances by the vast majority of the team – most notably two-time AL home run champion Chris Davis, who’s in the third season of a seven-year, $161 million contract.

Davis is batting .150 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 57 games. He is slated to return to the lineup on Friday night following a hiatus of nearly two weeks during which he worked to get his mojo back.

But Davis isn’t the only underachiever. Schoop has a .209 batting average, starting catcher Caleb Joseph is at .172, Trey Mancini is hitting at a .220 clip (down from .293 as a rookie last year) and the collective batting average of .227 is tied for last in the big leagues with Arizona. Baltimore has been blanked eight times, and no team in the majors has scored fewer runs.

”I can’t remember having a team with so many guys who haven’t swung the bats as they have in the past, or the way they are expected to produce over the course of a full season,” Showalter said.

The best hitters on the team are Manny Machado (.304, 18 HRs, 53 RBIs) and Adam Jones (.292, 10, 31), both of whom are in the final year of their contracts and likely to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

It would take exceptional pitching to offset Baltimore’s meager offensive output, and that hasn’t happened. Cobb is 2-9 with a 7.14 ERA Cheap Customized Carolina Panthers Jerseys , Cashner is 2-8 and Gausman (3-6) has gone seven straight starts without a victory.

”I’ve never been a part of a team like this,” Gausman said. ”Ever since I came up (in 2013), we’ve been a winning ball club and a contender. So, this is really weird.”

Seems as if there’s no option but to tear it down and start over, beginning with some heavy trading action before July 31.

”If you just run the same roster out there the whole year, you don’t do yourself any justice,” said the 30-year-old Britton, who’s in the final season of his contract and a likely trading chip. ”It’s unfortunate for some of the guys who are going to be affected by it, but it’s the nature of the beast. When you don’t play well, people get replaced by younger players.”

Showalter and vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette are also in the last year of their contracts, but situation likely won’t be addressed until the offseason.

Regardless, change is coming for a franchise still in search of its first World Series title since 1983.

”Sad to see it happen,” Gausman said. ”Obviously, I would love for us all to stay here and ride off into the sunset together. But at this point, that’s kind of unrealistic.”

—


A quirk in the schedule has the Colorado Avalanche about to make their only visit of the season to Northern California — and perhaps not a moment too soon for the San Jose Sharks.

Looking to end a late-season swoon Broncos Bradley Chubb Jersey , San Jose will try to extend its dominance on home ice over playoff-hopeful Colorado on Thursday night.

The Sharks’ losing streak reached four after falling 4-2 to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. San Jose gave up three goals in the final 5:17 and managed one shot on goal in the third period.

“Tough lesson learned, but we still control our own destiny,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.

San Jose (44-26-10) is second in the Pacific, one point over Anaheim and two ahead of Los Angeles. The Sharks, who have lost twice in overtime to the Wild this season, meet them in the season finale on Saturday at SAP Center.

Anaheim clinched a spot by beating the Wild on Wednesday, while Los Angeles clinched when St. Louis lost 4-3 to Chicago on Wednesday.

San Jose winger Logan Couture, who scored his team-high 33rd goal against the Stars, told the league’s official website that team must find a way to win again.

“We’re fighting for home ice in the first round here. We have to dial it up. You can’t coast for very long in the NHL and win hockey games,” he said.

San Jose has dropped both matchups with Colorado in Denver this season, but it’s been a much different story when the teams meet in the Bay Area.

The Sharks have won 15 of the last 16 matchups dating back to March 2009. San Jose has been held to fewer than three goals twice, while Colorado has scored one goal or fewer 10 times in those contests.

Martin Jones has two wins — but he also has the only loss — in that span versus the Avs. He also stopped only 34 of 41 shots in this season’s series. Jones, who still needs one win to reach 30 for the third time with San Jose, has been reached for 10 goals while losing three straight starts.

Backup Aaron Dell has never faced Colorado, which fell to 1-3-1 in its last five games with a 3-1 loss to Los Angeles on Monday.

“Our mindset is we’re underdogs. We go out there Korey Toomer Jersey 49ers , and we’re having fun. We have a young team, but there are still no excuses. We should be in this playoff spot, and we should be in the playoffs.” Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov said.

Colorado (42-29-9) holds a one-point lead over the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card in the Western Conference. With one playoff spot up for grabs, the Avs and St. Louis each have two games left — and close the regular season against each other Saturday in Denver.

Saturday’s game will likely decide the final playoff spot. St. Louis plays at Chicago on Friday.

“We cannot control what the Blues did or what they are going to do later. We got one game against them, we got a game in San Jose. We need to focus, reload, and then go up there and win those two hockey games,” Zadorov added.

Jonathan Bernier has surrendered only four goals while beating the Sharks twice this season. Bernier, who’s taken over with Semyon Varlamov (knee) out for the season, has won each of his last two starts in San Jose.

Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are tied for the team lead with three points apiece against the Sharks this season.

MacKinnon, who leads the team with 94 points, needs two goals to reach 40 for the first time in his career. Rantanen is two goals shy of 30 for the season and 50 in his career.

.