Regarding the Orioles... let me paraphrase Close Encounters of the Third Kind

This is NUTS!

Before Buck Showalter arrived, the Orioles were on pace to be the worst team the franchise had fielded in the 162 game era.

I was telling Oriole fans to go to a game just to prove their loyalty.

Then when Buck took over the team, I wondered if they could play 47-7 the rest of the way and finish with a winning season.

That would mean playing at a .870 clip.

Guess what? So far they HAVE been playing at a .875 clip (7-1) and they are winning tonight!

OK fine, they STILL have the worst record in baseball... but maybe after tonight they could pass the Pirates.

These are the same players who were on pace to win 49 games before Buck showed up.

Can he keep this up?

If the Orioles do keep it up, it would be more incredible than anything Richard Dreyfuss saw at Devils' Tower.

What were those uniforms the Rays were wearing?

Evidently these were the uniforms of the minor league Tampa Tarpons.
I thought they were honoring the University of Texas for some reason.

But forget THOSE unis...

Tampa's opponent, the unstoppable Buck Showalter led Orioles, broke out their all Orange uniforms.

Arguably one of the worst top and bottom uniform ever, they did get one thing REALLY right.

The Smiling Bird was back.

They looked like ORIOLES again with the smiling bird.

Come on Buck... as I wrote before the smiling bird is critical for the Orioles to be relevant again.

You've got the birds winning again. Now let's get the bird on the cap to relax!

The scheduling Gods are smiling on the A's

Since being in first place by themselves on May 31st, the A's went into an awful tailspin.

They went 6-16, going from 4 games over .500 and on top of the division... to 6 games under .500 and 10 1/2 games back.

That is an ugly turn of events... the kind that gets managers fired.

What could possibly turn things around?

A wonderful back to back series that would have been tough in 1979 but is "Win Column Padding" since the mid 1990s.

3 with the Pirates... 3 with the Orioles.
Now the A's have won 4 in a row and are 2 wins against the Orioles away from being back to .500.

It's nice to catch two once proud franchises in "Who the hell cares?" mode.

Get back in the race, A's... these are the "Gimmes!"

14 left for Wakefield

When I saw the Sox and the O's were still tied in the 8th inning, I thought "Ohhhh boy. We've got a teeth grinder here. We're going to lose the the Orioles at HOME."

But then Nava found the one spot where no fielder could get to and lo and behold Wakefield is a winner.

He needs 14 wins to tie Cy Young and Roger Clemens for most all time in Red Sox history.

He can win 14 games in a year and a half... especially if Nava keeps finding those gaps and J. D. Drew keeps hitting them out.

If it is down to single digits by the end of the year, then it will happen.

Meanwhile, let's update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 25

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 - 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia's 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 - 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 - 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 - 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 - 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 - 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)
May 29 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Zack Greinke holds the Sox to one run, but they make it stick)

June 1 - 9-4 win against Oakland. (Lackey puts the Sox in a 4-0 hole but Victor Martinez goes 5-5 and the Sox score 9 runs late.)
June 2 - 6-4 win against Oakland. (Dice-K puts the Sox in a 3-0 hole before they come to bat, but come back thanks to Papi's homer.)

June 8 - 3-2 win at Cleveland. (With Papelbon unavailable, Okajima, Ramirez and Bard hang on to make a winner out of Wakefield.)

June 19 - 5-4 win against the Dodgers. (Sox make 4 errors, blow a late lead and let Manny homer, but they win it in the bottom of the 9th on a Pedroia single.)
June 20 - 2-0 win against the Dodgers. (Dodgers blow an early bases loaded scoring opportunity and allow Buchholz to settle down for the win.)

June 24 - 13-11 win in Colorado. (The bullpen lets up 9 runs in 5 innings, but Pedroia homers 3 times including with 2 outs in the 10th to win a wild and stupid game.)
June 26 - 4-2 win in San Francisco. (An injury running the bases takes Buchholz out in the second, but the bullpen and Mike Cameron's bat and glove win the game.)
July 2 - 3-2 win against the Orioles. (Wakefield gets the win and J.D. Drew homers twice, but it is Nava's 2 out 8th inning bloop that landed between three fielders that breaks the tie.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 22

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 - 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 - 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 - 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 - 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th... but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 - 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi's bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 - 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)
May 28 - 12-5 loss to Kansas City. (Sox blow a 3-0 first inning lead to be blown out in Fenway.)
June 3 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox lose a slugfest where two Boston runners are thrown out at home.)

June 6 - 4-3 loss in Baltimore. (Sox rally to tie the game in the 9th only to lose it on a small ball rally in the 11th.)

June 10 - 8-7 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow an early 5-0 lead and then after rallying in the 9th to take the lead coughed it up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th)
June 13 - 5-3 loss to Philadelphia. (Sox 9th inning rally comes up short)

June 22 - 2-1 loss in Colorado. (The Sox waste a solid Lester start and twice leave the bases loaded.)
June 23 - 8-6 loss in Colorado. (The Sox batter Ubaldo Jimenez around but Papelbon lets up 2 homers in the 9th to lose it.)
June 25 - 5-4 loss in San Francisco. (The Sox strand 11 runners in the last 4 innings wasting a solid Wakefield performance.)


Up to +3
The White Sox - Rangers game is still going on, but one thing is for sure... despite all the injuries and inconsistencies, no team in baseball has MORE wins than the Red Sox.

That's not too shabby.

Don't worry Ty... you'll be out of Baltimore soon enough

Ty Wigginton looks like he is in Hell.
He's not having a great year but a good year and is obviously trying hard and can play several different positions for the Orioles... a team that as of THIS writing is on on pace to go 43-119... second only to the 1962 Mets for futility in the 162 game era.

Tonight they once again got their brains beat in, 10-2, by the Giants.

THE GIANTS! A team notorious for their lack of offense got 10 runs.

The Orioles are fascinatingly bad. Since May 18th they are 4-20. They have lost 8 of Juan Samuel's first 10 games as manager... and 5 of those by 5 runs or more.

They aren't just losing, they are getting their brains bashed in.

And things can get worse! If they trade away whatever valuable veteran talent they have (like Wigginton) they could indeed give the original Mets a run for their money.

So Ty, Miguel Tejada, Luke Scott, Garret Atkins, Cesar Izturis, Jeremy Guthrie and Kevin Millwood... be patient. We'll find homes for ALL of you soon.

And Orioles fans take heart. Maybe there is another Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg in the 2011 draft. You guys are picking first!

Orioles fans... here are 4 easy steps to making 2010 positive for you

Listen up Orioles fans. I know this year hasn't been fun for you, but you can make it worth your while if you follow these very simple steps from your pal Sully.

STEP 1. ATTEND A GAME AT CAMDEN YARDS THIS SEASON

From the looks of the clips, good seats are available.

STEP 2. GET A PICTURE OF YOURSELF AT THE STADIUM.

Preferably with the scoreboard and a player's face on the JumboTron in the background (I will explain why later.) Keep it stored in your phone.

STEP 3. PUT THE TICKET STUB IN YOUR WALLET AFTER THE GAME.

Don't throw it out with old receipts either. Keep it in there. You'll need it later.

STEP 4. MEMORIZE THE STARTING LINEUP OF THE GAME YOU SAW.

It's only 10 names you need to commit to memory. 9 hitters and a pitcher. If you need a rhyme to help you remember them, fine. But you need to be able to rattle the 10 names off like it is second hand.


OK, why did I just make you all do that? It's quite simple.

The Orioles stink this year. It could be a historic level of suckage. Even with last night's win, they are on pace to go 45-117, making them potentially one of the worst teams in the history of the 162 game schedule era.

But someday the Orioles will be good again. I know it is hard to believe, especially with Angelos running the team into the ground... but someday they will be a pennant contender.

It won't be 2010... and it probably won't be 2011. But it doesn't matter if it is in 2 years or 15 years... it will happen.

And when it does happen, as a good Orioles fan, you will be thrilled.

And you'll notice getting a seat at Camden Yards will be harder to get.

And you'll see a lot of fans wearing pink Orioles hats.

There will be an obnoxious new song or rallying cry for the Orioles like "We're going to TWEET you" or some garbage like that.

And you'll see that a lot of the fans won't know the difference between Eddie Murray and Eddie Money.

Yeah it will be fun seeing Camden Yards rocking again, but you'll be among the bandwagon jumpers!

They would be like the bandwagon jumper Red Sox fans with no memory of Mike Torrez possibly being a double agent for the Yankees in the early 1980s.

Or having no memory of the offense depending on the big bats of Bob Zupcic, Scott Cooper, Phil Plantier and Tim Naehring.




Or the Yankee fans who didn't suffer through the turmoil of the 1980s and the disastrous early 1990s when the Yankees sloshed through the Mel Hall/Lee Guetterman/Hensley Bam Bam Meulens/Kevin Maas years.

But when the Yankees starting winning World Series again, I saw my Yankee friends saying things like "I stuck with them when they had Lee Guetterman and Steve Howe in their pitching staff!"

And I called those Yankee fans the other day to express my condolences for the death of Oscar Azocar.

And when my Red Sox started winning, I remember Julius Sharpe, Andrew Donnelly and myself rattling off all the obscure Red Sox players from our youth (from Mike O'Berry to Tom Poquette.)

Which brings us back to you Orioles fans.

Now is the time to establish your fandom cred.

You've done my 4 steps (including keeping the ticket stub in your wallet and memorizing the starting lineup.) So when you are in the crowded Camden Yards and chatting with someone you suspect is a fair weather fan, ask them "were you here in 2010 when the O's were awful?"

Chances are they'll hem and haw. Then say "I've stood by them this whole time."

That's when you pull out the ticket stub. They see that yes indeed you were there.
You show them the picture of you with the scoreboard in the background.

That's when you rattle of the lineup.

"Oh man, the Orioles SUCKED back then. They had Corey Patterson, Miguel Tejada, Nick Markakis, Luis Montanez, Luke Scott, Adam Jones, Scott Moore, Julio Lugo, Craig Tatum... Kevin Millwood pitching... and I was there."

And if the guy you are talking to goes blank on those names, then you know they haven't paid their dues.

And if they DO, then you have found a fellow fan who has earned the right to yell for the Birds.

Trust me, the thrill of a title is even sweeter when you can show your loyalty in the dark times.

Now is the dark times, Orioles fans. (The Orioles are losing AS I TYPE THIS.)

But do my 4 steps NOW. It will make the inevitable championship season even better.

It's ALREADY that kind of day for the Orioles

I can't even imagine what it is like to be a Baltimore Oriole today.

They are on pace to lose 118 games and are down 5-0 before they even come to bat.

I actually admire the team for NOT pulling a Buttermaker and just calling the game after an inning.

Yeah, I just compared the 2010 Orioles with the Bad News Bears.

Now only if they can sign Amanda Whurlitzer.

Hey! I still have a job!

I can't blame Juan Samuel for his team's 1-4 record.
It's not like he inherited Palmer/McNally/Ceullar for a team.

And they had a lead at one point tonight.

But alas it was another loss... the 43rd of the year.

And currently the Orioles are on a pace for a 44-118 record.
The .271 winning percentage would be the third worst since the schedule was expanded to 162 games.

And the 44 wins would be only one better than the franchise's lowest total (the 1939 St. Louis Browns won 43... but in a 154 game schedule.)

Any minute another manager will take over this squad (Bobby Valentine?) It would be nice to give Juan Samuel plural wins.

It won't happen at THIS pace!

Good luck, Buck

Buck Showalter has his own Mission Impossible and he chose to accept it.

Make the Orioles relevant again.

He's taken on a few doozy assignments over the years:

Rebuild the Yankees of the early 1990s.

Build a team in Arizona.

Put a winning product on the field in Arlington.

He did all three... and Joe Torre and Bob Brenly reaped the rewards of Buck's hard work with a few World Series titles. (I wonder what Buck felt like seeing the Yankee team he helped put together being beaten by the Diamondback team he managed just a year before in the 2001 World Series.)

Well now he needs to take what used to be one of the great baseball cities ever and make them care about the birds again, something they haven't done since Ripken was in uniform.

Step one: Make sure the Orioles don't have one of the worst records in the history of baseball.

He won tonight.

So far so good.

Yes Buck... Angelos is still the owner

Suddenly Buck doesn't look so happy about the new gig.

He had a nice cushy TV gig and now he is taking the baseball gig that can be best be compared to coaching the Oakland Raiders.

The gig used to mean pride and championships.

Now it is a joke being played out in front of empty seats, pissed off fans and an owner who should sell the team out of mercy.

Then again all Buck has to do is lead them to mediocrity and he'll be a hero. Lest we forget the Orioles haven't been a .500 team since the 1997 ALCS. Their incompetency streak is a mere 5 years shorter than their opponents from '71 and '79, the Pirates.

Good luck Buck.

Start by changing back to the smiling bird hat.

Can the Orioles go 47-7 the rest of the way?

The Orioles only have 54 more games... and all season they have been staring at a 100 loss season or worse. For a while it looked like they were going to be one of the worst teams in the franchise history, dating back to their days as the St. Louis Browns.

But a strange thing has happened to the Orioles since Buck Showalter took over:

They are winning.

Granted it is only 3 games... but the lowly Orioles seem like they just eliminated the three time defending division champion Angels tonight.

And maybe Buck Showalter has scared them into relevance.

The Orioles have put a winning product on the field since losing the 1997 ALCS to the Indians.

Well what if THESE Orioles went 47-7 the rest of the way?

They'd finish 82-80 and join the rest of their division as a winning team.

Far fetched? Sure.

But so far Showalter has them on that pace.

The Birds should have hired Showalter back in April

The Orioles were supposed to be that welcoming sight on the schedule. Camden Yards was a spa where all woes of a losing streak could go away.

In other words, the Orioles have sucked for so long that beating them in a series was always a foregone conclusion and down right awful when they would sneak a game or two.

Or at least that is what the Desperate to get their act together Angels and trying to put distance between them and their closest team White Sox are probably thinking.

But the O's swept the Angels, ending any realistic playoff hopes and now the White Sox lost in extra innings.

Is this REALLY what Buck Showalter can do for a team?

They can go from joke to unbeatable after one week?

Back in June when Dave Trembley was fired and replaced by Juan Samuel on an interim basis, I said they could bring back John McGraw and this team would still lose 100 games.

Maybe that is the goal. Have this team avoid 100 losses.

After tonight, they will have to go 27-26 over their last 53 games in order to stay at 99 losses.

Granted, that's not exactly the most inspirational goal for a team, but this team needs to take baby steps.

And so far so good in the Showalter era.