The Gauntlet is Run...How'd the Orioles Do?

The 12-game stretch against the Yanks and the Sox has been pointed to even before the season began. I highlighted this stretch a couple weeks ago saying that it was do or die time for the Orioles. After that brutal schedule, how did Baltimore do?

Over the 12-games:

Hitting

       AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS   K   BB   HR   SB   CS 
BAL   .276  .342  .436  .778  80   39   15    3    5
 

A .778 OPS would be good for 5th in the AL if it would stretch over the full season. The blame is falling on the offense lately but that's wrong. It's been respectable. If the team had hit like this all season, they would have won more than 7 games.

Pitching

         K/9   BB/9   HR/9   ERA   SB   CS       
BAL      5.4    4.0    1.7  4.84    5    3
 

The pitching was not good. The walks were up, the strikeouts were down and the 4.84 ERA would only be good for 12th in the AL if they had pitched that way all season. Brad Bergesen and David Hernandez are the main culprits.

Given how everything went, the team was lucky to come away with a 5-7 record. After the sweep of the Red Sox, it was a little disappointing not to win one from the Yanks to go .500 for the trip but winning 5 was respectable. It wasn't pretty but given how they gutted out the wins, I'd have to call this a successful run.

The rest of the schedule for May is a cakewalk compared how the season has looked up to this point. The Twins (sans Joe Mauer), Royals, Indians, Mariners, Rangers, Nats, A's and Blue Jays make up the the opponents until June. Time for the Orioles to start winning. Now.