Losses mount for rookie manager Hyde as Baltimore Orioles rebuild
Associated Press
BALTIMORE — There might come a time when Brandon Hyde wakes up in the morning, grabs a newspaper and finds the Baltimore Orioles in the standings.
For now, the rookie manager simply can’t bear to look.
The rebuilding Orioles limped into the All-Star break with a major league worst 27-62 record. During a particular brutal stretch in late June, Baltimore showed its youth and inexperience while losing 13 of 14 games — including blowouts of 123, 13-2, 16-2 and 13-3.
Asked at that point to present his goal for this season, Hyde replied, “I’ll be honest with you — I have no idea what our record is. I don’t even want to look at it. Right now, it’s about developing these guys and how we play. Eventually, I’m going to be looking at the standings and it’s going to be about wins and losses.”
Until then, Hyde will have to grit his teeth when his outfielders throw to the wrong base, players get picked off and his pitching staff gets rocked. Baltimore is allowing a major league high 6.07 runs per game and has lost 26 times by at least five runs.
“We are getting by as best as we can,” Hyde said. “We’re not in an ideal situation. I think those numbers kind of show you where we are.”
Rookie left-hander John Means (7-4, 2.50 ERA) made the All-Star team and Andrew Cashner (9-3, 3.83) has benefited from solid run support, but the rest of the rotation has struggled. A season-ending injury to opening day starter Alex Cobb was particularly devastating because there was no adequate replacement.
“We’ve had some injuries that have hurt us. As an organization, we’re just not loaded with depth at the upper levels,” Hyde said. “We will be. There’s going to be some hope in sight, but right now we’re going with what we have.”