September Swoon Starts Early…

I had such high hopes for the Orioles this year.  I mean I knew they weren’t going to win the division or even come out in the Wild Card race (this is what you get for playing in the AL East).  But they were pretty good.  I wasn’t embarrassed to be an Orioles fan.

Their starting pitching was doing reasonably well; their bullpen was keeping them in games (a new development this year) so that their hitting could get them over the top late in the game.  And their defense was as reliable as it always is.  I mean could Nick Markakis or Melvin Mora be BIGGER STUDS at their positions?  I think not.  (Yes Brian Roberts is a stud too but he already gets all the glory…)

And I could not possibly love Kevin Millar any more than I do.  In fact I’m considering getting his haircut – the short brown with the blonde shock on top, not the buzz cut he’s been sporting since the middle of last week. I would look silly with that haircut.

But the all-star break came and apparently our starting pitching took that as their cue to take the rest of the season off.  Now don’t get me wrong – a lot of them are fairly young.  And Jeremy Guthrie has been pretty good and pretty consistent (despite having the Mike Mussina curse of not getting any run support).  But Daniel Cabrera has begun to exhibit his Bull Durham side again (million dollar arm; five cent head). He should be SO much better than he is.  He’s got good stuff but doesn’t appear to think very hard about what he’s going to throw to whom and why.  It’s painfully apparent that he needs to have Ramon Hernandez behind the plate because he needs someone to think for him.  And then he needs to trust his catcher.

To his credit, Daniel has exhibited some maturity since last year.  He doesn’t completely melt down once he gets men on base.  He has managed to get himself out of some jams. But he’s got the ability to be the ace on the staff; he just needs to take his job a little more seriously and maybe learn more about how to DO his job.

I feel for the Orioles’ bullpen.  They’ve really been very good this year and right now they’re worn out.  Starters can’t go deep enough in a game to give them a break. We’ve finally got a reliable closer (though I can’t say as I’d be overly surprised if he gets traded before the middle of next week – I would be DEEPLY disappointed but not surprised).

What the Orioles need is to take a page from the Yankees’ book on baseball.  Build the farm system. Meaning build your OWN farm system.  Get guys in and build them and make it so that you have a nice deep pool of talent to pull from. Not develop a nice deep pool of talent to trade to other teams in exchange for their has-been all stars.  The funniest thing I ever heard my friend Joe say was at a Bowie Baysox game: one of the Bowie infielders made a spectacular play (to turn a double-play to end the inning) and Joe says, “Yeah we’ll see him in the big-leagues…playing for Texas…”

But the O’s keep trying.  They are still in games until late and maybe that’s all I can ask for this year. Be sure, I’m no fair weather fan.  I stick by those guys regardless – and it’s nice when they play well and I have a reason to cheer.  I’m turning my 6-year-old into a rabid Orioles fan as well and he is learning the hard lesson of being an O’s fan – loving a team with a big fat payroll but who can’t seem to get out of last place.

I’m desperately hoping that Andy McPhail has a plan.  I’m desperately hoping that we can hang onto Dave Trembley for long enough to provide some consistency to the team.  I hope that Kevin Millar has several good years left in him because I like the levity he appears to bring.  He also knows how to win.  And he’s cute.

Aw c’mon…I gotta have somethin’…