Last night's Orioles vs. Tigers game really got me. It really made me want to find and hug an Orioles fan. But just a little, quick hug. I wouldn't want them sobbing on my shoulder all night and getting me all snotty.It wasn't the worst beat of all time. It was just another walk-off home run loss, the worst kind of loss, but a loss that happens to everyone. The reasons I found it so sad were a) it's the Orioles, and b) they must have really thought they were going to win.
The Os scored 5 runs off of Justin Verlander in the 1st inning. To show you how awesome that is, here's a clip from Verlander's '07 no-hitter. But to start that hot, in a game they had probably already marked in the loss column, and then watch the lead slowly trickle away until a walk-off home run in the 9th, that's just the worst. That's Oilers vs. Bills '93. On a really small scale.
I don't think this loss would hurt as much if it were another team. The Orioles have a special situation that is the most painful, tear-inducing situation in baseball. They have a worse situation than the Nationals, and the Nationals are just gross. The Orioles have the terrible misfortune of being in the AL East. Many, many times throughout the course of the season, they have to go play the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Rays, and the Blue Jays. Those four teams combined have scored over 250 more runs than the combined teams in the NL East that the Nats have to face. What's an Orioles fan to do? You're gonna lose, like, 60 games a year within your division. That's not fun. That's just losing.
So while the Nationals are by far the worst team in baseball, maybe the worst team in any sport, arguably the worst thing in America, they get to play a handful of other teams that are underachieving. They're the team that is hardly a team, more of a novelty item, while the Mets are the real jerk-offs for not getting it done with their high payroll and talent. The Nationals at least have the option to bask in the shadow of more substantial failures than themselves.
Not the Orioles. They just get to try and try and try and never be good enough. They are forever the Cinderella team, but in the 162 game baseball season, being a Cinderella team doesn't work out. You get 15 upset victories and still finish 20 games under .500. It sucks.
I'm sorry Orioles fans. I really am. There's nothing you can do. You can buy Matt Wieters jerseys, and that's very sweet that you've all done that, but you can't go to the playoffs. If you show up for the playoffs, you will not be let in. But you should feel free to take the Nationals out to the park and run circles around them while they drool and try not to topple over. That's fine.
The saddest thing about them is that organizationally they just seem to be completely inept when it comes to developing pitchers. If they had ANY pitching maybe we'd be talking about them as a major league franchise.
ReplyDeleteThey're going to languish in 4th place with studs like Markakis, Adam Jones, Luke Scott, Wieters (supposedly) in their lineup until all their deals are up and they leave to sign with teams like the Phillies ::vomit:: and then they're starting from complete scratch again.
And what did they do at this year's deadline? Trade their closer who was having a great season - a guy they can build around on their pitching staff! Ugh, as if Baltimore needed something else decaying within the city limits.
Dude, I hear Wieters has a sick fastball and 2 other plus off speed pitches. And he's working on a splitter. And He's going to catch himself. Also, they're bringing back The Wire and the next season is going to be all about him.
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