A week in to the Buck Showalter era and the Baltimore Orioles appear to be a vastly different squad than they were before he officially took over last Tuesday. However, they aren’t very different, except for some of their injured players have returned from the disabled list.
Although the team is 6-1, there are still issues that need to be dealt with going in to the 2011 season. I’ve noticed that there have been some base running errors and some fundamental mistakes. During Sunday’s game, although shortstop Cesar Izturis had a solid game, he made a bad base running mistake. He hit a leadoff double and Josh Bell did right by hitting a fly ball to the right fielder, instead of advancing, however, Izturis went halfway between second and third and had to retreat to second base. Luckily, there was a pass ball and Izturis wound up on third base anyway.
Also I noticed that Koji Uehara didn’t cover first base on a ground ball to the right side. Covering first on a ball to the right side should be automatic for big league baseball players. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but Showalter is evaluating as he manages.
Showalter has a reputation for paying close attention to details and covering first base is a major detail throughout the season. He’s also aware of little base running mistakes and wants to tighten those up. Showalter doesn’t seem to worry much about getting thrown out taking an extra base, but that is because the team is being aggressive.
Heading in to the offseason, the Orioles have work to do, lucky for them, Showalter is the perfect man for this situation.
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