Peter Schmuck’s Orioles report card (Week 1)
Jason Hammel (1-1), Wei-Yin Chen (0-0) and Miguel Gonzalez (1-0) each turned in solid performances during the opening week, but a couple of rocky performances by Jake Arrieta (pictured) and Chris Tillman pushed the combined ERA of the starting five up to 5.67. Even so, the club should have won at least one more game, but for some dicey defensive play. Grade: C (Rob Carr / Getty Images)
Baltimore Sun
Every Monday during the regular season, columnist Peter Schmuck grades the cumulative performance of the Orioles in six major areas during the previous week.
It probably appeared to be all Chris Davis (pictured), who did things during the first four games that no major leaguer has done before, but every regular infield starter contributed mightily to the Orioles offense and defense last week. Davis batted .455 with four homers and 17 RBIs. J.J. Hardy contributed a couple of home runs. Brian Roberts had four hits before he went down with a leg injury. And Manny Machado played great defense and delivered a few big hits along the way. In total, infielders batted a combined .274 with six homers and 24 RBIs. Davis committed a damaging error Saturday night, but it’s hard to fault him after he carried the offense all week. Grade: A- (Gene Sweeney Jr. / Baltimore Sun)
The four players who showed up in the outfield during the first six games of the season put on quite a display of pure hitting. Adam Jones (pictured) hit safely in all six games and headed to Boston with a .538 batting average. Nick Markakis had 10 hits and is hitting .370. Nolan Reimold was 3-for-7 as an outfield starter and Nate McLouth was a respectable 5-for-19. As a group, they batted .427 with nine RBIs, but have yet to hit a home run. The only blemish on the week was the fly ball that Jones lost in the sun on Sunday. Grade: A (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)
The Orioles turned last year’s winning formula upside down during the first week of the season. The offense scored first in each of the six games and average 6.2 runs per game over the week, but lost three one-run games because of rocky pitching and/or so-so defense. No doubt, manager Buck Showalter will take his chances with six runs per game, since it’s fair to assume that the pitching will get more consistent. Grade: C+ (Rob Carr / Getty Images)
