Kansas City Royals outfielder Jarrod Dyson sounds ready to write off the Baltimore Orioles.
Dyson was asked Saturday after the Royals defeated the Orioles in Game 2 of the ALCS to take a 2-0 series lead whether he thought the teams would return to Camden Yards for a Game 6. The speedster was blunt in his response.
“No, sir, I don’t,” Dyson said. “And I don’t think (the Orioles) think that, either.”
There’s really not anything wrong with Dyson’s comment. Kansas City currently is in control of the series and Dyson has every right to be confident. Who wouldn’t want their players to be confident in October? But Dyson’s comment still turned heads, especially since he followed it up Sunday with some more openness.
“I’ll just tell you this, man. If we win Game 3, it’s going to be hard for them to sit there and look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘We can win the next four,'” Dyson told reporters after a workout at Kauffman Stadium. “That’s tough to do, man. Everything must click. I’m just being honest.
“If we take Game 3, I guarantee there are going to be multiple people in that clubhouse over there saying, ‘Man, there’s no way we’re going to beat these guys four games in a row.’ It can be done, but everybody ain’t going to be on the same page, I don’t think. There are going to be some people ready to go home. There are going to be some people not cheering in the dugout — just like if it was vice versa on this side, it might be the same way.”
Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Caleb Joseph were among the Orioles players who brushed off Dyson’s comments, citing their own confidence and faith they’ll jump back into the best-of-seven series. However, it doesn’t take a genius to see that Dyson’s comments undoubtedly represent bulletin board material for a team with its back up against the wall.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know what we’re going to do,” Dyson said. “We’re going to keep going out there and trying to hit them in the mouth early, hoping that they don’t get back up when we knock them down. But somehow they always get back up.”
The Orioles’ first opportunity to exact revenge comes Monday night, when Wei-Yin Chen faces Jeremy Guthrie in Game 3 in Kansas City.
Photo via Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports Images
