Showalter and MacPhail -- A Win-Win Situation Regardless of Team's Record

I am beginning to think that the Orioles are the Cubs of the American League, as Orioles Hangout community founder Tony Pente suggested a few weeks ago. After 14 years of losing, we've become a novelty team playing in a novelty park.

We have a number of ex-Cubs and Twins employed on the roster because those are the teams who are willing to talk to us these days about trades--the last two places MacPhail has worked. We've become the last stop on line for players like Guerrero and Lee, another city to collect a paycheck in and garner a few extra years of service. The good ones don't want to come here in their prime.

2011 doesn't really matter. It's an extended Spring Training.

These aren't Showalter's Orioles--and he can't be tagged for a depleted farm system or a roster of players that, for the most part, includes precious few starters for contending teams. Jones, Markakis, Roberts, and Wieters could probably play regularly for contenders, and that's 4 out of 25. It's a line-up that's a mouth full of missing teeth. Hitters lack patience and a sense of situational hitting--or they just lack talent--regardless, the job is far from getting done.

Their disappointing record against the National League, 7 wins against 11 losses had a lot to do with not having a DH. Having a pitcher in the line-up meant days of Andino, Tatum, and a hurler batting in succession.

Buck has been a trifle passive, perhaps because he knows a change is coming. He claims otherwise, and that behind closed doors things are being handled, but his approach is more aligned with Johnny Oates than Earl Weaver at this point--patient and compassionate.

MacPhail hasn't talked about returning next year and if he leaves, Buck would be well positioned to handle general manager responsibilities. Willie Randolph or another Buck protege could then manage the team. MacPhail's "Grow the Arms, Buy the Bats" strategy is sound but making the right bet on the right bats is a harder feat to pull off. Also, handling a stable of young and inexperienced pitchers has had its share of ups and downs.

If Andy stays, this will be remembered as a year of working out the kinks. If he goes, Buck will have more of an imprint on the future. The team's record today, 36-45 doesn't really matter.

No Show

For the first time in my life, I had four free seats behind home plate and decided not to attend the Orioles vs. Twins game last week. I couldn't get anyone to go. It's a sad state of affairs. I attended a CityLit Project event instead and heard a great reading of Poe and Mencken, among others. The Orioles lost 5-0.

Steinbrenner vs. Angelos

It boils down to letting go. George surrendered the reins of making baseball decisions to Gene Michael, Bob Watson, and Brian Cashman in the nineties. We should be eternally grateful to George for the trade that sent Scott McGregor, Rick Dempsey, and Tippy Martinez to the Orioles for a cast of characters on the downward slope of their careers. We won't be stealing any "blue-chip" pin-striped prospects anymore.

McGregor won 138 games for the Orioles, Martinez saved 115 games, and Dempsey turned out to be a scrapper and a fierce competitor with his orange-tinged catcher's mitt. They weren't perennial all-stars but they provided a stable foundation on the mound and behind the plate.

Steinbrenner demanded and received excellence from his players--or they were shipped out. He stepped back from his meddlesome nature--gave a little and received a dynasty in return. Angelos and his Baltimore Orioles would benefit from the same approach.

Goodbye Dave Trembley, Hello Bums

In his first year of managing the Orioles, Trembley's post-game pressers were loaded with emotion and motivational talks. At times, they were better than the nine innings that went before it. He talked about players "respecting the game" and his interactions with the young talent. He welled up with tears of joy when players reached their potential. He was a leader, a field general, commander of the Oriole enterprise.

As it turned out, a lot of these young players didn't "respect the game." They didn't run out ground balls and became so accustomed to losing that they will never know how to win. "They don't want to learn the fundamentals," said Paul Blair last fall when I ran into him at a Brooks Robinson event.

Dave didn't play the game at the Major League level but he had that extra skill-set as a born teacher to help nurture young talent. The difference between a great prospect and an all-star is that extra leadership piece, that innate sense of wanting to change the game with one at-bat or one pitch.

These guys might not have that in them. Jones, Reimold, Markakis, Wieters, Roberts, and Matuscz might not possess that extra desire for greatness. They are still young and time will tell. The organization is not a patient one and they have rushed players.

They don't play as a team. I listened to an interview with Justin Morneau about what a great season he was having and he used the opportunity to talk about everyone else on the Twins--his teammates.

In Dave's absence, it will be nice to see at least one player stand up and take ownership. That is, if they have it in them.

The Worst Oriole Team Ever?

Local Baltimore radio stations play ads for upcoming O's games that start, "The Orioles gave it a shot last night," referring to another loss in hopes of drawing fans to the yard. The millions of dollars being paid to these people to wear the name of the city on their uniform and play a childhood game should be enough to require that they do a little more than just try. In other words, what those ads are really saying is this; we're out manned, out coached, and out of our opponent's league--which might be true.

The only way for the current collection of salaries and contracts known as the 2010 Baltimore Orioles to win a game this season is for the other team to simply forget to do so. This is currently happening for one game a week, usually on a Monday or a Tuesday where the other team isn't quite sure where it is. Yankees are beatable on off-days after big series. That's the only time to get them.

Last night, the A's woke up in the 8th and beat the Orioles after Brad Bergesen pitched a two-hitter. The relievers were ineffective. The hitters were anemic with runners in scoring position.

After 12 years of losing by any manner possible, it was easy to predict that the Orioles wouldn't win the second and third game of the last weekend's series against the Nationals after surrendering a 6-3 lead on Saturday. Down 7-6, they weakly acquiesced and then made a valiantly effort to tie the game in the ninth on Sunday, only to lose on a walk-off home run. The Nationals are on a faster track to success and they lost their general manager last year.

Losers are not resilient, they pack it in, and fold up. There's a fragile consistency to this group of Birds. It's this subtle. In a game a few weeks ago, the Orioles managed to tie the score in the fifth. The Oriole pitcher shut down the team in the next frame. The Orioles came up and batted so quickly -- 5 to 7 minutes max -- that the inning was over. They swung at first pitches and went down so fast I couldn't believe the inning had ended. Right back out there almost immediately, the O's pitcher had zero rest and surrendered the go ahead runs.

It's enough to make me think that there must be nine or ten players around the Baltimore area, local prospects who are working middle-class jobs, who could help this team like pitcher Dave Johnson did in 1989. It's a baseball town to some degree and a kind of American "Oriole" Idol approach might be worth considering. Going to watch the rising talent at the local highs schools has not been part of the strategy, seeing as Mark Texeira was right under the noses of the worst front office dictatorship in all baseball.

I'm not sure anyone in the current line-up would start for a contending team. It's minor-league level or retirement time talent at best. We've become a place for marginal talent to extend their careers--no rebuilding for the future or rekindling the Oriole way which is part of the marketing machine on Eutaw street.

Our free agent strategy has always been abysmal. National league players who come over have a tough time measuring up and frankly are not going to get the job done--Sabo, G. Davis, Lopez, Mercker, DeJean, and now Gonzalez and Adkins have joined this illustrious group of busts. we keep bringing them in.

You can fire Dave Trembley to make everyone feel like change is in the offing, but frankly, he's been dealt a weak hand. The entire organization needs to do more than just "give it a shot."

The Daily Camden

If there is any solace to be gained from this train wreck of an Oriole season, it may come from a quotidian assemblage of photos taken of Camden Yards during the present campaign. From April to October, The Daily Camden includes a picture a day to keep the losing away. It reveals just how superior this magnificent ballpark is, even when compared to the athletes who play in it.

Conceived and commissioned by writer Rafael Alvarez, the photo collage is populated by a different contributor each day. Alvarez likens his writing process to the careful arrangement of pieces in a stained glass window. This project has a similar feel to it as the pictures captivate the imagination with each entry and provide a deeper glimpse into the faceted and wide ranging beauty of Oriole Park. The photos thus far -- one of the foul pole, another of a gate shadow, and at least two taken at sunrise -- evoke more power than the Orioles line-up.

Memorial Stadium was a hulking concrete-and-brick mastadon of a structure. It left splinters in your fingers and the taste of watery Coca-Cola in your mouth. It was raw in the cold air and more humid than a sauna in the summer. Pitching, defense, and the three-run jack ruled on 33rd street. The stadium blended into the neighborhood community and thundered and shook when the fans erupted. You went there to see some of the greatest players to ever play the game and you expected the Orioles to win.

Today, Oriole Park is as alluring a draw for me as the team itself. Inside the confines, you bask in the baseball history of the city with its Ruthian ghosts and Kaline sandlot ropes. We have yet to put a championship team on the field or at least one designed to excel with tall imposing pitchers and game-changing sluggers. These daily photos of Camden Yards further emphasize that this ball yard has consistently been more spectacular than the team that plays in it.

One Win, Ten Losses, and a "No Thanks" to Cal

It's no surprise that the Orioles continue to be abysmal. In any other business, would an owner as inept as Peter Angelos be allowed to run an organization into the ground? In New York or Boston he'd be history. Baltimore walks on egg shells around him because of his money and the city has bigger problems than a losing baseball team right now.

The asbestos gravy train will fill his coffers for decades and the team will remain at a minor league level as long as he presides over it like a giant carp over the contents of Baltimore harbor.

It's easy to see that trading George Sherrill to the Dodgers left a massive crater in the bullpen. They haven't won many games without him going back to last summer. With him, they would have at least three to four more wins than they do now. Middle and late relief provide the backbone for victories. They give confidence that winning is possible in the late innings and are key to the psyche of a team.

What you are seeing this year is a team in August to September form. The Orioles are giving you your summer back.

Cal Ripken offered his services this week as an instructor and Angelos turned them down. Cal helps Larry Sheets coach the Gilman high school team because his son plays on it and he's a "diamond rat." He loves to be around the baseball field. It's strikes at the heart of his soul. Anything Cal says to one of our young players could be helpful. The rise of the Yankees began with Wade Boggs on the bench schooling Jeter, Williams, and others on how to work a count.

On the night that Cal broke Gehrig's record, Angelos droned on for thirty minutes like Charlie Brown's teacher--all but killing the energy of the crowd. The disconnect was evident. He wanted to make the evening about him. For the last 12 years, he has succeeded in one area. He has made losing about him.