An absurd third

sent to aa after the game,lol
aa! now thats decisive!
dont go home for clothes
don't shower or brush your teeth
ya ain't cuttin it kid....bye bye,lol oh my

I have noticed that the Sun coverage of the Orioles is slipping. Articles are much to short and do not have the detail of a year ago. No mention of the great job Dennis did or NO mention of Kameron Mickolio? What gives? In depth reporting use to be one of the trademarks of this paper.
thanks
rc

Well at least they didn't get swept by those scumbags. I'll tell you I haven't seen a bigger bunch of bandwagon dirtbags then Boston fans. This so called Red Sox nation is a joke and all this from a team that's still only won 2 world series in 100 years. Bring on the evil empire!

"He didn't catch it, so why should I care if he had a shot or not," Hernandez said. "I didn't even see him. I knew it was over the wall, so I just kept jogging."

And, if perchance, it didn't go over the wall or he happened to fling it back onto the field with his glove, you'd still be jogging, eh Ramon?(all the way to 1st base)

Yessss!.....

Oriole fans crack me up.

Two world series in 100 years? How about two world series in the last four years?

The O's haven't seen the WS in 25 years. They haven't seen the playoffs in 11 years.

And they should get used to last place, since that's what they're building.

I swear I heard this from MacPhail last night: "Our job is to build the minor league system..."

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

I cannot believe that he doesn't even know his job. His job is to build a WINNER at the MLB level.

The minor league system is one tool/one component of building a winning MLB team. When the GM says that his job is to build the minor leagues, I weep for the future.

He doesn't even understand his job.

I was at the game the other night, and a "real O's fan" was telling me how exciting the 2008 team is. I said, "the team is in last place."

"But it's a tough division" he said.

So I suppose the new mantra is that it's OK to finish in last place, as long as there's an excuse for it.

Losing has become so ingrained that fans are actually programmed to be excited about it.

Oh, and "it's a rebuilding year" is the other excuse cranked out by "real O's fans."

Interestingly, it's been a "rebuilding year" every year this decade, but the team still loses.

Where is it written that only losing teams are rebuilding? And if they're rebuilding, why are there so many old guys on the team?

Nice to get one from the Sox, and send the bandwagon Nation back to Northern Virginia with a loss.

Good job by the bullpen to hold on. Sarfate looked good, and it was a nice debut from Kam (yet another guy from the Bedard haul). I know he gave up a run, but he's got a nice arm. Both of these guys throw heat, and could be a presence in our bullpen for years to come. It was also nice to see Jonesy hanging out in the dugout. You can tell he wants to be out there so bad.

Bring on the Yanks!

Thank you for not getting swept last night Birds! Waters actually pitched decent in the 3rd 4th and 5th. He had them guessing and off balance big time.

Plus, if the ump hadn't called a ball on what was CLEARLY strike three to Ortiz on a curve, he would have gotten out of the 2nd unscathed. He's just got to pitch confident, change speeds, and NOT WALK hitters to be successful. However, I will also say that I don't think he's a long term fix for this team at all.

Ghost To Be Named Later wrote:

I was at the game the other night, and a "real O's fan" was telling me how exciting the 2008 team is. I said, "the team is in last place."
"But it's a tough division" he said.
So I suppose the new mantra is that it's OK to finish in last place, as long as there's an excuse for it.
Losing has become so ingrained that fans are actually programmed to be excited about it.

The team is in last place, and will almost ceratinly end the season in last and below .500. But despite the fact that the end result will be the same, this season doesn't have the same ugly feel that many of the last 10 have had. In past years many of us expected a loss almost nightly and were surprised when they won. This year that negative feeling isn't there.

That doesn't mean I'm satisfied with last place, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge whether our prospects will pay off, but just the fact that the team and its fans expect to win rather than lose is a step in the right direction.

Ghost To Be Named Later wrote:

Oh, and "it's a rebuilding year" is the other excuse cranked out by "real O's fans."
Interestingly, it's been a "rebuilding year" every year this decade, but the team still loses.
Where is it written that only losing teams are rebuilding? And if they're rebuilding, why are there so many old guys on the team?

Well, Ghost - I am certainly one of the fans who cracks you up. I'm enjoying O's 2008 quite a bit. And largely I'm enjoying them because I see the farm system (games I also go to in Bowie, DelMarva and Frederick) slowly getting restocked.

It's a given to me that it's bad business and bad baseball to pour tens of millions of dollars into free agents. You build no team chemistry...even with good players you create a collection of bickering millionaires to hate.(See NY Yankees...see BoSox...see L.A. Dodgers). I don't want to come out and cheer for that team.

So what's the option? The option is patiently build a quality farm system and watch young players come up together. And then spice up a youth based team with a key free agent or two. I have no problem waiting to see if Andy McPhail can deliver on this type of plan and am hopeful he will.

Now...it was positively stupid for Angelos to let the Orioles to get to this position. They had a top rate team in the mid-late 90s. If the farm system had been a quality system at that point the pipeline would have fed farm-raised players to the club. And top O's should have been resigned.(See Mussina). But we can't rewrite the '98-08 years and Mr. Angelos won't return my $25K in season ticket money. So now I happily pay $6 to see DelMarva and Bowie and I'll be back if McPhail succeeds.

jason wrote:

Plus, if the ump hadn't called a ball on what was CLEARLY strike three to Ortiz on a curve, he would have gotten out of the 2nd unscathed. He's just got to pitch confident, change speeds, and NOT WALK hitters to be successful. However, I will also say that I don't think he's a long term fix for this team at all.

Yeah, that was a bad call but Big Papi almost never gets called out on strikes. It's ridiculous.

No one really expected much from Waters at all. They needed a stop gap, and so they called him up. He has zippy chance to make the team next year. But after his brilliant start against the Halos, he earned himself a few more looks.

Satisfying win. These umpires make the game hard to watch sometimes though, we were at three hours by the 7th inning and 300 pitches thrown already. The 2-2 pitch to Lowrie in the 1st was right down the middle and called a ball, I almost threw in the towel right there.

That new kid Mickolio does look good, he should be death on right-hand batters with that delivery.

when your mission is to rebuild, you must start at the beginning. First draft well. Than develop rookie league,low a ball,aa, aaa and finally the big team. Andy inherited an empty shell and a poor attitude at major league level. Since we all know you can't beg,borrow, steal or buy a championship anymore I believe he has done an outstanding job. Once a critical mass is achieved combined with real game experience I believe he will make the right decisions to solidify a winning environment. Its a positive approach. In Andy I Trust.

It's a given to me that it's bad business and bad baseball to pour tens of millions of dollars into free agents. You build no team chemistry...even with good players you create a collection of bickering millionaires to hate.(See NY Yankees...see BoSox...see L.A. Dodgers). I don't want to come out and cheer for that team.
----------

See the 1996 and 1997 Baltimore Orioles.

Richard Clarke Wheaton wrote:

I have noticed that the Sun coverage of the Orioles is slipping. Articles are much to short and do not have the detail of a year ago. No mention of the great job Dennis did or NO mention of Kameron Mickolio? What gives? In depth reporting use to be one of the trademarks of this paper.
thanks
rc

but that cost money and they give you one article , no detail and a bunch of blogs . I used to look forward to reading the paper , not now . It's the whole paper , not just the sports

Look, people.

Baseball is not all or nothing. You're not exclusively a free agent team or exclusively home grown.

I'm not sure why so many people on this forum think that's the case.

I realize that the Baltimore front office cannot multi-task, and it takes them months to do what other teams do in days.

But in order to win, they're going to need to sign free agents, INTERNATIONAL talent, and make substantial trades.

The farm system is still horrible. Can you show me even ONE player who has been promoted this season and stuck?

ONE PLAYER???!

How about this: can you show me ONE PLAYER from the last two years who came from the O's system and performed at an average level?

Nope. None.

I realize that there are high hopes for a few guys in AA, but the results are horrible. Players arrive and get shredded.

So if I am to understand "The Plan," it's to base the future on the part of the franchise which hasn't produced even ONE player in the last two years?

Sounds brilliant.

What is the Oriole record fo outfield assists in one season??

Duh - In your attempt to know it all and shove it down people's throats, me thinks you forgot one Nick Markakis. The last two years would include him, since last year was his first full year with the club.

YOur "last place" theory is old, tired, and proven to be wrong. You can keep stating it to the cows come home. And of course you can keep pissing in the wind, which you do very well.