masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSometimes, baseball can be a very simple game. As the manager in “Bull Durham” said, “You catch the ball, you hit the ball, you throw the ball.”

Sometimes it rains of course.

Sometimes you get clutch hits and you win. Sometimes you don’t and you lose.

In looking at the Orioles’ season, one stat that seems to always figure heavily in whether the club wins or loses is how they fare when batting with runners in scoring position.

Just look at the Pittsburgh series. On Monday, the O’s…Sometimes, baseball can be a very simple game. As the manager in “Bull Durham” said, “You catch the ball, you hit the ball, you throw the ball.”

Sometimes it rains of course.

Sometimes you get clutch hits and you win. Sometimes you don’t and you lose.

In looking at the Orioles’ season, one stat that seems to always figure heavily in whether the club wins or loses is how they fare when batting with runners in scoring position.

Just look at the Pittsburgh series. On Monday, the O’s went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position, scored eight runs and won. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they went a combined 2-for-18, scored seven runs in the two contests and lost both.

I decided to look at just the games from this month. In the nine O’s June wins, they are batting .299 with runners in scoring position and average 4.9 runs per game. In their 10 losses in the month, they bat .193 with RISP and have produced just 3.8 runs a game.

The stat is not foolproof. Sometimes they can win with few clutch hits or lose with several. But it’s been a stat that often this year has been a real barometer for wins and losses.

How some of the Orioles bat with RISP:

Andino – .156/0/5 and is 7-for-45 with .469 OPS.
Guerrero – .241/1/20 and is 14-for-58 with .585 OPS.
Hardy – .368/1/18 and is 14-for-38 with .985 OPS.
Jones – .339/3/34 and is 21-for-62 with .959 OPS.
Lee – .128/0/11 and is 6-for-47 with .359 OPS.
Markakis – .231/1/22 and is 15-for-65 with .644 OPS.
Pie – .368/0/5 and is 7-for-19 with .842 OPS.
Reimold – .286/1/5 and is 2-for-7 with .1.214 OPS
Reynolds – .259/2/23 and is 14-for-54 with .831 OPS.
Scott – .233/2/15 and is 10-for-43 with .732 OPS.
Tatum – .500/0/3 and is 2-for-4 with .900 OPS.
Wieters – .451/3/28 and is 23-for-51 with 1.254 OPS.

What is your take on the O’s RISP stat and how the players fare when batting in those situations?