I'm Back and Ready for Opening Day and Countdown to WINNING!

Hi All -

I'm not even sure anyone checks this site anymore but I figured that since the Orioles are about to start a season where people are thinking they could actually win games maybe I should bring back the Countdown to Relevance. Last year that countdown ended as quickly as it started since the O's were so abysmal at that beginning of the season. However, this year looks more promising. Also, I have more time on my hands so I actually believe that this year we will have a successful countdown. However, because last year's was such a failure, I'm changing the name to Countdown to WINNING!

Orioles fans were promised a team that wouldn't embarrass us this year. I team to be proud of, a team that would win enough games to not be a laughing stock and inspire us to believe that the turn around was real. It was team to restore our trust in our beloved franchise and give us legitimate hope for the future.

Somehow WINNING! seems to fit the Orioles perfectly. If they actually put together a winning season I will probably not be able to talk about it without screaming in a manical Charlie Sheen way. If they turn out to be a hot mess, well then it really will be Charlie Sheen's version of WINNING! Only time will tell which type of season this will turn out to be. I'm hoping for the kind of crazy that makes me believe we will not have another terrible losing season. But we'll see.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this anymore, but if you do then feel free to give me your thoughts on the season. I have read so much that my brain can't even process it all and I can't even hope to make an accurate prediction. But feel free to leave on in the comments below.

Picture of a WINNING! Orioles Team

Countdown to Relevance

Welcome back to baseball season. The days leading up to Opening Day are some of the best for rebuilding teams. For a few days we can truly believe we will contend in our division, that great things will be in store this year. This is a time of hope. Tomorrow will be a time for reality to start again. But this year, that hope seems less starry eyed and a little more realistic. I'm not saying that the O's will be contenders this year, not by any means. I'm hoping for relevance. Therefore, I'm starting a Countdown to Relevance. A non-losing season would make the O's relevant again. Right now the team is 81 wins away from that relevance.

Last year the O's got off to a fast start, followed by a terrible decline which led to a pitiful end to the season. This year the Orioles look well equipped to become relevant again. Youngsters like Wieters, Markakis, Bergesen, Matusz and Jones make this a team with some up and coming stars. Yes, the AL East is stacked as always.

This countdown will try to focus on the positive, the things the Orioles are doing right, the great moments, the great plays, the games they win and the players who play their hearts out to make the game worth watching. This is a countdown devoted to giving hope to Orioles fans. Yes, I'm sure it will be tough at times, but I'm willing to take on this challenge. I'm hoping this is not as futile as my countdown last season. Yes, I did abandon it due to shear desperation. Whatever, I have a good feeling about this season. You should too.

Countdown to Relevance: 81 wins, 162 games remaining

O is for Offense

Last night was a big night for the O's. They got their 50th win of the season. Before the season began I predicted the Orioles would struggle to win 50 games. Sometimes it's good to be wrong. It's not even August and while the O's might be in the cellar of the AL East, they are only 5 games below .500. Which really isn't that bad. At least not when you look at our records for the last 10 years. I'm practically giddy.

But while hammering the Yankees 13-4, the Orioles did much more than beat my preseason expectations. There were many big milestone nights. Not only did the O's stop the Yanks 10 game home win streak. So they have managed to beat 2 really hot teams in 2 days after an abysmal previous 10 games. They also had their best offensive night in years. Every batter in the lineup had a hit. And some of those hits were major milestones.

Adam Jones, the young rising star outfielder, had his first career grand slam. A memorable moment for him. This was a great night to do it. But it was not the only career milestone of the night. Brian Roberts hit his 250th career double. That's right 250. Talk about a lot of good hits and stretching a good number of singles as well. The little man has legs. And finally Ramon Hernandez hit his 1,000th hit. How about that for a good night for the team.

Also our pitching is starting to turn around. After a good outing by Olsen, Guthrie showed he still deserves the ace spot by pitching into the 7th before allowing a run and being taken out of the game. So it looks like its on a the Orioles are on an upswing. Let home they can keep it going and creep back up to .500. It was a true night of Orioles Magic.

Sunday Funday

This Sunday I took the day off from watching sports. The Orioles have been slumping lately and had lost 15 consecutive Sundays. They were also playing the Angels who have the best record in baseball. So I figured that I would enjoy my Sunday more if I didn't spend it watching the game. Damn it. I was wrong. Not only did the Orioles beat the Angels 5-2. But Garrett Olson had the best start of any Orioles pitcher in the last 8 games. He made it into the 7th inning. Which has seemed impossible for our pitchers to do lately. George Sherrill racked up his 30th save. That's more than all the Orioles pitchers combined in 2007. What happened?

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that our losing streak is broken and that we managed to avoid a sweep by a great team, but why did it happen the day I decided not to pay attention. Players tend to be very superstitious. Kevin Millar shaved his head to get back on track. (He likes to grow facial hair but this is against the team policy.) He did it on Friday and then hit 2 home runs. I guess it worked. Sports fans are even more superstitious. I have a friend that wears his Ravens jersey's in a particular order to ensure that they win. I have another friend who believes a Baltimore losing streak can be combated by adding Old Bay to whatever food is eaten during the game. I don't argue with either of these theories as long as we win. I too really believe that how I watch the game has some effect on the outcome. I didn't watch the game and we won, should I stop watching? I just can't do that. Not this season. I can't remember the last time I was still excited about baseball in August. Maybe I just shouldn't watch on Sundays. But Sunday Funday is more fun when the game is on.

So what to do? I will ignore the results of last Sunday as a fluke. Maybe I just needed to change it up to help my team win. I want us to keep winning on Sundays. And I want to keep watching. But this time I'll accept that the win had nothing to do with me. It must have been some other fan or player changing their routine. And next week I'll be ready for a real Sunday Funday. One where I watch the O's continue a streak of winning on Sundays. I just hope that other fan does whatever it was that keeps them winning.

DH Dominance?

With the coming All Star Game it seems like a good time to talk about the biggest problem in baseball. In my opinion, this is not steroids, its the lack of a standard set of rules. Steroids are bad and all but MLB seems to be trying to come up with a solution to that problem. However, other than casual fans and the occasional sports writer, I rarely here people talking about the inconsistencies among not only the different leagues but even within the same division.

Is there any other sport where the fields of play are different sizes? No. A long fly ball at some parks is a home run at others. This is not fair. I know that both teams are playing at the same park so technically they are each hitting the ball the same distance. But really, that's like each basketball court having a different three point arc and free throw line. It's not just about players stats. A player knows how far and hard he has to hit it in his stadium to get a particular hit. That gets thrown out of whack when he goes to another park. There should be a standard. There should be continuity. A home run in one park should be a home run in every other park. The fields should be the same size and the walls should be the same height. (Yes, I think there's a problem with the Green Monster, but I'm not going into that now.)

Besides the total lack of conformity in the fields of play, the rules are different in the National League to the American League. The most hotly contested is the existence of the Designated Hitter in the AL. Now, either way I'd like to see both leagues play by the same rules, whether it means the DH or the pitcher batting. But being a huge AL fan, I'm going to argue for the DH.

The DH makes baseball more fun to watch. The average fan likes higher scoring games. Yes it's possible that there is slightly more strategy when watching NL games and when to switch pitchers, but overall the casual fan doesn't really care about that too much. Mostly people want to see high scores with lots of hitting. And making a pitcher bat is like giving the other team an out. Why have nine batters in the line up if you are only going to have 8 actually hit.

The DH also extends careers of players. Older or injured players can become a DH and stay in baseball longer. This means your favorite players can stick around for a few more seasons. Also a player with a minor injury could still be a DH and not have to go on the DL and still be able to contribute to the team while resting up a little. Plus, this can help avoid having that idiot outfielder you have mostly for his bat, he can just be DH and you're team will get better and fans get to watch better baseball.

I think the most potent argument against the DH is that the pitcher plays in the field, why shouldn't he have to bat. But when you think about it the pitcher is a special position. He can't play every day, or maybe a closer can pitch one inning a day, but even that would be stressful on his arm. And the pitchers are even relegated to a different part of the field away from the other players. Everyone else sits in the dugout. The pitchers stay in the bullpen until called in. That, and there really is very little expectation for a pitcher to be a good hitter. So why bother.

The other frequently thrown around argument is that having the pitcher prevents the pitcher from hitting batters because he has to bat as well and face the other pitcher. Was there a wave of mean spirited pitchers in the NL or something? In general pitchers try to throw strikes. And pitchers don't try to hit batters. No one really wants to injure the other players, and no one wants to walk. Also, if there really is this type of retribution, shouldn't the pitchers be worried about their teammates. A pitcher is not going to do well without his fielders behind him. So I think this argument is a little bogus.

There are some other arguments against the DH but most of them are not even worth mentioning. Or at least not worth addressing. But if you feel that I'm missing anything big, I'd like to hear about it.

Overall, I think the DH makes the game more interesting and exciting to watch for most people. Like I said before, I'd be happy with either set of rules as long as they are the same for both leagues. I just personally think that the AL has the better rules. And since recently the AL has been kicking the NL's butt, maybe the baseball should just adopt the rules of the dominant league so that the NL can compete. But I think we can all agree, the fields should be the same size.