Had barack obama been any kind of a president and any sort of a decent person, one could have forgiven his little show the other day when he released his birth certificate. He gloated that he, at least, has more important things to do than worry about such trivialities. Trouble was, he waited until nearly 4 in 10 Americans, according to several polls, had started to believe the "birthers" were on to something before being goaded into action.
Many in the loyal opposition (talk about a growing group!) had counseled ignoring the stupid approach - i.e., pursueing the stupid birth certificate - to relieving the country of the burden of obama and instead concentrating on the many unforgivably bad things obama had done as the main path to finally ridding the country of its unforgivably bad electoral choice. But when the Governor of Hawaii - an obama supporter - promised to find and publicize the certificate, and then admitted that he could not - the momentum felt by the birthers became palpable. Donald Trump, himself a circus sideshow comparable to obama, jumped on the birther bandwagon and the next thing the crowd of ignarants in the White House knew, almost half the country were believing obama wasn't a legitimate president.
Mark Levin, among others, pleaded with conservatives not to swallow the bitter bait. There were far too many real substantive issues to lay obama and his administration to waste with without reverting to such a peripheral issue. Not too many listened. Thus, obama has his mid-week press conference and used it to tell the country that he is far too concerned with the unfairly high gasoline prices, the unfairly high unemployment rate, the floundering economy, and the country's many and far-flung military adventures, to get involved in such trivialities. He scolded the country for dipping into partisan pandering.
obama is, if anything, audacious to the point of nihilism. Review the list of issues he says are concerning him and taking up his time. He personally caused every bloody one. He had stated publicly that he wants gasoline prices to rise so the country will stop using gasoline and instead turn to his nihilistic alternative energy sources. The country isn't close to being able to switch from gasoline to anything else and especially to "sources" of energy that are not now developed enough to substitute for gasoline and, in all likelyhood, never will be. But he has prevented oil companies from tapping the nation's ample domestic resources under the guise of protecting the environment. I say "under the guise" because we all know that he is actively supporting - using US dollars - the efforts of other nations to tap their own petroleum reserves. Even now he is pouring billions of dollars into Brazil's efforts to tap oil reserves off its coast and in the Amazon basin (talk about the potential for environmental armageddon). The effort has attracted so much US dollars that the oil companies have moved many of their drilling rigs there. Where did they move them from? Why the Gulf of Mexico, of course. They weren't being used there because obama has prevented drilling all over the Gulf in the wake of the BP spill. Even rigs that are in comparably shallow water are kept idle. So the oil companies - with common business obligations like dividends and wages to concern themselves with - have moved the idle rigs from the Gulf to places like Brazil and Africa, where they are desperately needed and where the oil companies can make money. How many Americans are invested in these demonized companies, either directly through stock purchases, or more indirectly through mutual funds and retirement funds? Many many, that's how many. Still, obama and his minions continue to pummel them, to less and less popular acclaim. He is like some college student just finding out about the evils of the business world but too immature to realize that this "evil" is the engine of commerce and the very thing that makes his job the most powerful in the world. Were it not for such enterprises, he and the wife wouldn't be taking these vacations and purchasing all of these high-priced baubles they like to indulge in.
Moving on, he also said at the press conference that he is just worried sick about the high unemployment rate and floundering economy. Well sure he is. Look at all he is doing to revitalize the economy and ramp up job creation. Economists everywhere - even many from the left - have joined together to urge obama to reign in domestic spending and to avoid, at all costs, any new entitlements that the country can no longer afford. The nation is so far in debt that many former buyers of United States debt paper are no longer interested in such things. One of the large debt rating services has cautioned that the day is fast approaching when they will no longer rate US treasury notes AAA. The announcement last week that China was poised to move past the United States as the world's biggest economy don't faze obama, who, with his uber left view of things, sees moving down that ladder as the most positive thing he can imagine. Anyone with any sense knows that the economy will not rebound until something is done about the growing national debt, a debt that is chewing up more and more of the nation's GNP and more and more of its money. Obviously - and even an imbecile knows this - if we are spending all of the tax money we take in on debt payments and entitlement funding we won't have enough to left over to do the things that great contry's are supposed to do. Soon, too soon, the USA will have to decline sending help to international disaster sites, because we cannot afford it. Soon, too soon, the United States will have to curtail foreign aid because it just cannot afford the kind of largesse that, in reality, buys such things as peace. The real problem for the uber left is their absolute refusal to cut income taxes as a way to jumpstart the economy. Poll after poll shows the obvious: beleagureed families cannot pay their taxes at current rates and any effort by uber leftists like obama and harry reid to raise taxes will meet with popular rejection and election day rebellion (withness the Scott Brown election to Teddy Kennedy's senate seat). sadly, obama is so locked-in to the far left view of things that he cannot bring himself to admit that the country will not allow him to raise taxes. Any effort on his part to do so in the next two years will be met with election-day mayhem. He perhaps thinks he can muddle through until after the 2012 elections, then raise taxes with impunity during his four lame duck years. If that is his plan - and who is to say that it isn't - then the people who comprise his victory margin should join him in pushing the country off the gangplank. One hopes that voters are too smart for such pap. (As I complete this essay the news is out that obama ordered osama shot - and some think that will get him re-elected all by itself. I hope not. In fact, within four days of the amazing job by navy seals - the same group he ordered court marshalled after a detainee in a similar operation was punched in the face. Can you believe this guy. Imagine, punching someone in the face who wanted to kill you and everybody else around you - the so-called poll bump he expected was so small as to be totally insignificant.) One thing you can say with absolute certainty about the uber left: as a group they oppose capital economies and oppose efforts to ramp them up. If the US economy does show signs of recovery in the next two years, it will be because it is recovering in spite of obama and certainly not because of anything he will do. My gosh, if obama ever did something rational, like cutting incoome taxes, his soul mates on the far far left would want him drawn and quartered.
The final thing obama said he was too concerned with was our far-flung military exploits. As i said above, as I complete this essay obama has announced that he has had osama shot. In making the announcement, the obama administration has grudgingly admitted that informaton developed using so-called enhanced interrogation methods - very limited use of water-boarding on top Al-Quaida detainees - was essential in developing the intelligence that found the terror mastermind. That admission was like a fresh blast of spring air. The fact is, while he was a senator - remember those very few days - and before that, obama was out front in opposing every policy and method employed by the Bush administration in the wake of the 9/11 disaster. Obama and the uber left opposed the Iraq war, opposed the development of technology enabling our intelligence agencies to monitor international phone calls between US phone numbers and suspected Al Quaida sources, opposed enhanced interrogation, opposed every plan to win in Iraq, opposed every plan to develop new weapons in the war on terror, in fact, opposed the war on terror. But once in office - and while still villifying President Bush at every opportunity - obama and his minions have kept virtually every Bush foreign initiative in place. Virtually every single one. Gitmo is open. Phone monitoring continues for now. The US is still fighting in Iraq and has ramped up the operation in Afghanistan. What obama said as a senator - everything about President Bush was bad - and what he has actually done - are so diametrically opposed that those on the far left have joined the growing across the board criticism of all things obama. Remember when Dirty Harry (Harry Reid) mumbled for world-wide microphones "this war (the Iraq war) is lost!" Remember when Hilary called General Petreus a liar? Remember when Lil Dicky Durbin compared US soldiers to Pol Pot? Now, obama is making President Bush seem like a peacenik. Where Bush threw everything the country had in the (successful) effort to win in Iraq, Obama has US forces fighing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and, soon it seems, Syria and Yemen. Talk about spread thin?
Like we said above: it gets harder each day to fathom how the nation could have elected somebody so obviously ill-equipped to be president. I remember when the late Senator Edward kennedy announced that he was supporting obama for president, not after the primary cycle, but before the primary elections even began. His brother was, until obama, one of the youngest presidents. His policies and his approach were textbook patriotic american and one never doubts that his presidency, had it been permitted to play out, would have been one of the greatest. But John Kennedy was an old-man when it came to experience when he is compared to obama. he had been in congress for several terms and he had been a leader of men during the second world war. he came from a family that had served the nation under many presidents. he grew up experienced and the nation knew full-well what it was getting when it narrowly elected him over vice-president (and future governor of California and President) Richard Nixon. They knew he had no aversion to cutting taxes when it came to stimulating the economy. They knew of his profound anti-Marxist stands on foreign policy issues. But John Kennedy's brother knew that this new young candidate, obama, had none of these experiences. he had to know that he had been an anti-american for his entire adult life. he had to know that he had written an op-ed piece in the wake of 9/11 that insisted the US recognize that its policies were to blame, at least in part, for 9/11. he had to know that he would be anti-military, pro-marxist and against the constitution. Now maybe this last point didn't bother Senator Kennedy; he himself had come to think little of the constitution. But every other point should have given him room for pause. But Senator Kennedy and many other people who should have known better came out for obama anyway. Why? God only knows. I have discussed this issue ad nauseum in an earlier essay. The Republicans had done exactly what every democrat, liberal and independent had been clamoring for them to do for years: nominate a moderate whose pro-liberal pro-democrat stands on many national issues had infuriated many on the conservative side of the GOP. But people like Colin Powell - who was in the forefront of those calling for someone exactly like Senator McCain to be nominated - supported obama anyway. Now, the econmy is nearly doomed, the jobless rate is through the roof, the nation is reeling under high federal taxes with more on the way (obamacare. we haven't even begun to see how heavily taxed we will be under obamacare because obama intentionally backloaded the bill's revenue raising parts until after 2012).
What obama needs to spend his time doing is consulting with every economist who has a passing understanding of the policies that enhance the national good and then implementing those ideas as best he can. they will include tax cuts to stimulate job growth and the rate of tax return into federal coffers. they will include some regulatory relaxation and certainly some intelligent tort reform. this writer is a trial lawyer. I can tell you that there is widespread abuse in the practice of tort law. Here in Maryland, the legislative committee that acts as a gatekeeper on all things that help the plaintiff's bar is made up of - you guessed it - plaintiff's lawyers. I have testified many times in front of that General Assembly committee, chaired by Mr. Valerio, Esquire, he of the very large and lucrative legal practice. Just in recent years - as calls for tort reform grow across america - maryland with its pro-left governor and egislature, has enacted a veritable panoply of new laws to make it more profitable to be a plaintiff's lawyer. I will examine that in a different column. On the whole, people who operate businesses are very good very American folk. During obama's time in office they have been raked over the coals enough to last for a century or more. Put the bad apples in jail when they commit fraud and extortion, embezzlement and theft. But treat the others like national assets. Make the people who can lift the country out of its woes the good guys and try to help them. Its the American thing to do.
I, for one, am glad that the jive concerning the birth certificate has moved off the national stage. I was sure that if there was ever anything to it there would at least be a few souls that would've come forward to say that they were around when obama was born, and the birth didn't occur in these 50 states. its the same reason, really, why there can never be anything to those who think 9/11 was an inside job or that the first moon-landing took place on a sound stage in California. If any of that were true, at least someone on the inside or close to the inside - say an estranged spouse or grown child - would've spoken out. Now, talk to me about Roswell...just kidding. But I have heard some ghost stories that would made believers out of the most out-front skeptic.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Birds Ready to Make a Move?
There is a very strange wind blowing in Baltimore this early April of 2011. It started as a very light breeze around the middle of last summer, around about the time that the team announced Buck Showalter as its newest manager. For the thirteenth consecutive year, the Orioles were in the middle of a losing season, and the people in this old and long-suffering baseball town met the news with resigned complacency.
But a funny thing happened almost at the same exact moment that Showalter strode into the Oriole dugout, clad in the orange and black uniform worn by legends such as Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken and, most poignantly, the greatest manager ever to wear a baseball uniform, the nearly mythical Earl Weaver. This funny thing? The Orioles, these Orioles, the present day Orioles, started winning!
Although they could never recover from the horrendous start to the 2010 season (3-16 at one point) to get anywhere near .500 much less back into the penant race, the improved play under Showalter did raise a few eyebrows. The most improved part of the Oriole presentation during those last months of 2010 was the pitching. The Orioles have been drafting young pitchers for several years now and many of them arrived in Baltimore during 2010. Early in the season they were anything but awesome and some looked overmatched. That all changed with the arrival of Showalter, who, some think, is more than a little bit like legendary - mythical? - Manager Earl Weaver (of course, many others think compairing anybody to 'da Weave' is nothing short of blasphemous).
Both Weaver and Buck Showalter have fiery demeanors and no-nonsense approaches to the great game. They also hate - as in "really hate" - losing. Like Weaver, Showaltre believes that turning a young team around begins with improved fundamentals; in other words, playing the game right, hitting cut offs, backing up throws, running out ground balls, throwing strikes, working quickly, thinking ahead, taking the extra base. Improved defense was a priority of Buck Showalter, as was improved pitching and improved situational hitting. Over the winter, Oriole GM Andy MacPhail made a number of truly enlightened acquisitions, most notably the powerful Vladimir Guerraro, a multi-year All-Star with budding Hall of Fame credentials. MacPhail also coaxed veteran Derek Lee to Baltimore to play first base, J.J. Hardy for shortstop and Mark Reynolds for third base. He has also taken meaningful steps to beef-up the embattled bull-pen. If half the moves pay off, MacPhail will look like a genious.
But none of the individual heroics mean a thing if the club doesn't start to win. That's where the strange wind comes in. After four games, the Orioles were undefeated and in first place inthe AL East. Nobody needs to tell the Oriole fans that four wins isn't anything in the big scheme of things. Indeed, last night the Orioles went down to the Tigers and Justin "Mr. Cy Young in waiting" Verlander, 7-3. Several years ago, when the ultra-stoic Lee Mazilli was in town as manager, the Orioles broke on top from the start and were still in first a day before the All-Star break. But when the second half started they went into a swoon that landed them in next-to-last place and Mazilli in the scrap heap of managers not up to owner Peter Angelos' liking. Many in Baltimore, including anybody who knows anything about baseball, are quick to remind Angelos that the buck stops in his office, and it is no secret around baseball that the owner's inept meddling is one huge reason for the Orioles multi-year swoon. Allowing his rotisserie maven sons to play a part in personnel decisions is only one of the unbelievable errors in judgment that the old asbestos lawyer has made in trying to convince those forced to listen to him that he knows something about baseball.
But a 4-0 start means that the club won't be all but eliminated by the end of April, as they were last season. The really encouraging thing about the start has been the outstanding pitching from both the starters and the bullpen corps. On opening night Mark Guthrie pitched seven wonderful innings in an easy win over defending Division champ Tampa Bay. The next night Chris Tillman threw six no-hit no-run innings and new closer Kevin Gregg got a save as the Orioles again beat Tampa to win the series in a place that has been a house of horrors for the Orioles in recent years. In the series finale, rookie and first round draft pick Zack Britton was phenomanal as the team won again. Brian Roberts hit a three-run homer after knocking in two runs from the leadoff spot in the second game.
The magical mystery tour returned back to Baltimore on Monday for the home opener against the Tigers. A cold winter and a cold and wet March and early April gave way, suddenly, to a warm spring afternoon, and a sell-out crowd roared as Jake Arrieta - yet another of the young guns - kept the powerful Bengal bats at bay for 6 innings in a 5-1 Baltimore rout. With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fifth, Roberts unloaded again with two runners on, leaving the dimutive second baseman with 8 RBI's in four games and leaving him, also, with the league lead in that power category.
Roberts and other Oriole vets - including the outstanding right fielder, Nick Markakis and starter Guthrie - have spoken of late of the difference in the confidence level since Showalter arrived. Before Buck, the Orioles would go out and strive to play well. Since Buck arrived, they seem to expect to win and play hard until the chance to do that presents itself. Even though they lost last night to one of baseball's best pitchers, the feeling was that they were not out of the game despite trailing, 4-0, after three and a half innings. In the fourth, Derek Lee smashed a two-run homer off of Verlander to cut the lead in half. But the powerful Tigers came right back with two of their own in the fifth to make it 6-2. The Orioles again rallied. With two out in the sixth, Vladimir Guerrero whacked a single, scoring Roberts. On this night, however, Verlander had too much. He scattered just four hits over eight innings to get his first win of the season. Brad Bergeson, a late fill in for the flu-ridden Guthrie, took the loss.
Even the loss doesn't dim the outlook he Orioles have this season. Although there is plenty of time to screw up again, this team doesn't have the feel of a loser. With the many solid acquisitions, there is a proven big-leaguer at every position and some of those players - Roberts, Markakis, Guerrero, Lee, shortstop J.J. Hardy and 2010 All Star Adam Jones - are better than average. Luke Scott, who has averaged 25 homers during his three years in Baltimore, including 27 last season, has been left fighting for playing time.
The Orioles haven't made the postseason since 1998 and haven't played in the World Series since 1983. Many fans forgot what the warm and balmy wind of a penant race felt like. In recent years, interest in the team has waned after April. About five years ago they climbed to within 7 and one-half games of the wild card spot in mid-August and fans were pinching themselves. it was a fake. Getting within a full 7and one-half was the high-point of a team on a downbound train. So many fans are holding their breath this season that even a winning April will get the juices flowing full-boar. Watch out Baseball, the Birds might (might!) be back.
Friday morning add on: The "rubber" game of the Tiger series was played last night at Camden Yards. Three different times the Tigers and their lethal bats clubbed their way into the lead. On all three occassions, the Orioles rallied. Trailing 2-0 in the second, Guerrero unloaded his first homer and Lee also knocked in a run to tie the game. Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Luke Scott lashed a double and Adam Jones followed with a two-run homer to again tie the score. But the Tigers scored again in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead.
The Orioles came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the score and then score four more times to put the game away. Roberts singled to lead off the inning and Markakis followed with a walk. After Lee struck out, Guerrero smashed a single to right to score Roberts. An error by Tiger right fielder Don Kelly allowed Markakis to make it to third and Guerroro to second. Kelly had been playing third base at the start of the game, but Jim Leland, with a late inning lead, inserted Brandon Inge to play third and moved Kelly to right. Luke Scott was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Jones, who had already homered. He sent a fly to deep center field on which Markakis scored easily to give the Birds a 6-5 lead, their first of the game. They weren't finished. Showalter inserted the fleet Felix Pie to run for Scott at first base and it paid instant dividends. Mark Reynolds blasted a double to left, scoring Jones from second and Pie all the way from first. Daniel Sclereth was then brought in to pitch to Matt Wieters, but Wieters worked him for a walk, moving Reynolds to second. The ninth hitter of the inning, light hitting Cesar Izturis, inserted into the starting line-up at shortstop after J.J. Hardy's side tightened up during pre-game workouts on the cool and damp evening, smashed a two-out single, scoring Reynolds. When the Tigers came to bat in the eighth, their late inning lead was gone, replaced now by a four-run deficit.
Jim Johnson, injured much of last year, had replaced Jeremy Accardo in the seventh after Accardo had allowed the fifth Tigers' run, returned for the eighth and got the Tigers one-two-three. He retired all five Tigers that he faced. Koji Uehara replaced Johnson to start the ninth, and he also retired Detroit in order.
With undefeated Texas coming to town for a three game weekend series, the Orioles, at 5-1, sit atop the AL East by a single game over the Yankees and Blue Jays, each at 4-2. The Red Sox and Rays are both mired in last place with winless 0-6 records. That's right, the powerful Sox and the defending divisional champs have yet to win, while the Orioles, perennial doormats, lead with a nearly perfect record.
Monday morning update: the Birds lost the weekend series to the Rangers, two games to one, but there is no panic in Baltimore. First and foremost, despite the loss, the pitching continued to be strong. After a Friday night rain-out, the teams played two on Saturday, at a time we used to call "twi-night". In game one, rookie Zach Britton fired seven and two-thirds shut-out innings and Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds each homered - Reynolds' was of the three-run variety - as the Birds rolled, 5-0. The win by the Orioles ended the Rangers' opening season winning streak. In the nightcap, the Orioles broke on top, 1-0, in the second inning on Adam Jones' line-drive home run, but Jake Arrietta, so impressive in his first start - a win at Tampa Bay - was anything but sharp in a 13-1 drubbing. Arrieta gave up six runs to the Rangers in the third inning, erasing the Orioles' narrow lead, then was charged with two more Rangers' runs that scored in the fourth inning. Josh Rupe, in relief, restored order but the Orioles could not take advantage of the opportunity. Then Buck Showalter summonsed Chris Jakubauskas - just added to the roster earlier in the day - and left the new acquisition in as the Rangers took batting practice. All told, the Texas bashers scored 13 times on 13 hits. The rubber game of the series was played Sunday afternoon, and fans looking for another big hit festival were disappointed. Jeremy Guthrie, the Birds' opening day starter, was back from a bout with the flu and showed no signs of distress. He and Rangers starter Derek Holland locked in a classic pitchers duel into the seventh inning - the only blemish being a fourth inning homer by Adrian Beltre. In the seventh, Ian Kinsler smacked a two-run homer to push Texas' lead to 3-0. If anyone thought the Birds would go quietly, they were wrong. With Buck Showalter showing his managerial prowess, the Orioles came within an eyelash of tieing the game. There were two out and nobody on when Mark Reynolds and then Adam Jones drew back to back walks off of the Texas' left-hand submarine pitcher, Darren O'Day. Showalter had Jake Fox ready to hit next and this appeared to be a good opportunity for the Orioles what, with Fox's record of pinch hit homers. Seeing this, Rangers' manager Ron Washington went to the pen and got his closer, Neftali Feliz. Showalter had his proverbial gun fully loaded, however, and when Washington brought in Feliz he countered with one of the games' premier power hitters, Luke Scott. Scott proceeded to work the count full. The next pitch looked for all the world like it would end up tieing the game, but alas, Scott, though he hit it hard enough, did not pull it enough. On the warning track in straight-away center field, the Rangers' fleet outfield, Julio Bourbon caught up with the ball and ended the Orioles' chance.
The Good News is that the Orioles remain in first place.
But a funny thing happened almost at the same exact moment that Showalter strode into the Oriole dugout, clad in the orange and black uniform worn by legends such as Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken and, most poignantly, the greatest manager ever to wear a baseball uniform, the nearly mythical Earl Weaver. This funny thing? The Orioles, these Orioles, the present day Orioles, started winning!
Although they could never recover from the horrendous start to the 2010 season (3-16 at one point) to get anywhere near .500 much less back into the penant race, the improved play under Showalter did raise a few eyebrows. The most improved part of the Oriole presentation during those last months of 2010 was the pitching. The Orioles have been drafting young pitchers for several years now and many of them arrived in Baltimore during 2010. Early in the season they were anything but awesome and some looked overmatched. That all changed with the arrival of Showalter, who, some think, is more than a little bit like legendary - mythical? - Manager Earl Weaver (of course, many others think compairing anybody to 'da Weave' is nothing short of blasphemous).
Both Weaver and Buck Showalter have fiery demeanors and no-nonsense approaches to the great game. They also hate - as in "really hate" - losing. Like Weaver, Showaltre believes that turning a young team around begins with improved fundamentals; in other words, playing the game right, hitting cut offs, backing up throws, running out ground balls, throwing strikes, working quickly, thinking ahead, taking the extra base. Improved defense was a priority of Buck Showalter, as was improved pitching and improved situational hitting. Over the winter, Oriole GM Andy MacPhail made a number of truly enlightened acquisitions, most notably the powerful Vladimir Guerraro, a multi-year All-Star with budding Hall of Fame credentials. MacPhail also coaxed veteran Derek Lee to Baltimore to play first base, J.J. Hardy for shortstop and Mark Reynolds for third base. He has also taken meaningful steps to beef-up the embattled bull-pen. If half the moves pay off, MacPhail will look like a genious.
But none of the individual heroics mean a thing if the club doesn't start to win. That's where the strange wind comes in. After four games, the Orioles were undefeated and in first place inthe AL East. Nobody needs to tell the Oriole fans that four wins isn't anything in the big scheme of things. Indeed, last night the Orioles went down to the Tigers and Justin "Mr. Cy Young in waiting" Verlander, 7-3. Several years ago, when the ultra-stoic Lee Mazilli was in town as manager, the Orioles broke on top from the start and were still in first a day before the All-Star break. But when the second half started they went into a swoon that landed them in next-to-last place and Mazilli in the scrap heap of managers not up to owner Peter Angelos' liking. Many in Baltimore, including anybody who knows anything about baseball, are quick to remind Angelos that the buck stops in his office, and it is no secret around baseball that the owner's inept meddling is one huge reason for the Orioles multi-year swoon. Allowing his rotisserie maven sons to play a part in personnel decisions is only one of the unbelievable errors in judgment that the old asbestos lawyer has made in trying to convince those forced to listen to him that he knows something about baseball.
But a 4-0 start means that the club won't be all but eliminated by the end of April, as they were last season. The really encouraging thing about the start has been the outstanding pitching from both the starters and the bullpen corps. On opening night Mark Guthrie pitched seven wonderful innings in an easy win over defending Division champ Tampa Bay. The next night Chris Tillman threw six no-hit no-run innings and new closer Kevin Gregg got a save as the Orioles again beat Tampa to win the series in a place that has been a house of horrors for the Orioles in recent years. In the series finale, rookie and first round draft pick Zack Britton was phenomanal as the team won again. Brian Roberts hit a three-run homer after knocking in two runs from the leadoff spot in the second game.
The magical mystery tour returned back to Baltimore on Monday for the home opener against the Tigers. A cold winter and a cold and wet March and early April gave way, suddenly, to a warm spring afternoon, and a sell-out crowd roared as Jake Arrieta - yet another of the young guns - kept the powerful Bengal bats at bay for 6 innings in a 5-1 Baltimore rout. With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fifth, Roberts unloaded again with two runners on, leaving the dimutive second baseman with 8 RBI's in four games and leaving him, also, with the league lead in that power category.
Roberts and other Oriole vets - including the outstanding right fielder, Nick Markakis and starter Guthrie - have spoken of late of the difference in the confidence level since Showalter arrived. Before Buck, the Orioles would go out and strive to play well. Since Buck arrived, they seem to expect to win and play hard until the chance to do that presents itself. Even though they lost last night to one of baseball's best pitchers, the feeling was that they were not out of the game despite trailing, 4-0, after three and a half innings. In the fourth, Derek Lee smashed a two-run homer off of Verlander to cut the lead in half. But the powerful Tigers came right back with two of their own in the fifth to make it 6-2. The Orioles again rallied. With two out in the sixth, Vladimir Guerrero whacked a single, scoring Roberts. On this night, however, Verlander had too much. He scattered just four hits over eight innings to get his first win of the season. Brad Bergeson, a late fill in for the flu-ridden Guthrie, took the loss.
Even the loss doesn't dim the outlook he Orioles have this season. Although there is plenty of time to screw up again, this team doesn't have the feel of a loser. With the many solid acquisitions, there is a proven big-leaguer at every position and some of those players - Roberts, Markakis, Guerrero, Lee, shortstop J.J. Hardy and 2010 All Star Adam Jones - are better than average. Luke Scott, who has averaged 25 homers during his three years in Baltimore, including 27 last season, has been left fighting for playing time.
The Orioles haven't made the postseason since 1998 and haven't played in the World Series since 1983. Many fans forgot what the warm and balmy wind of a penant race felt like. In recent years, interest in the team has waned after April. About five years ago they climbed to within 7 and one-half games of the wild card spot in mid-August and fans were pinching themselves. it was a fake. Getting within a full 7and one-half was the high-point of a team on a downbound train. So many fans are holding their breath this season that even a winning April will get the juices flowing full-boar. Watch out Baseball, the Birds might (might!) be back.
Friday morning add on: The "rubber" game of the Tiger series was played last night at Camden Yards. Three different times the Tigers and their lethal bats clubbed their way into the lead. On all three occassions, the Orioles rallied. Trailing 2-0 in the second, Guerrero unloaded his first homer and Lee also knocked in a run to tie the game. Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Luke Scott lashed a double and Adam Jones followed with a two-run homer to again tie the score. But the Tigers scored again in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead.
The Orioles came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the score and then score four more times to put the game away. Roberts singled to lead off the inning and Markakis followed with a walk. After Lee struck out, Guerrero smashed a single to right to score Roberts. An error by Tiger right fielder Don Kelly allowed Markakis to make it to third and Guerroro to second. Kelly had been playing third base at the start of the game, but Jim Leland, with a late inning lead, inserted Brandon Inge to play third and moved Kelly to right. Luke Scott was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Jones, who had already homered. He sent a fly to deep center field on which Markakis scored easily to give the Birds a 6-5 lead, their first of the game. They weren't finished. Showalter inserted the fleet Felix Pie to run for Scott at first base and it paid instant dividends. Mark Reynolds blasted a double to left, scoring Jones from second and Pie all the way from first. Daniel Sclereth was then brought in to pitch to Matt Wieters, but Wieters worked him for a walk, moving Reynolds to second. The ninth hitter of the inning, light hitting Cesar Izturis, inserted into the starting line-up at shortstop after J.J. Hardy's side tightened up during pre-game workouts on the cool and damp evening, smashed a two-out single, scoring Reynolds. When the Tigers came to bat in the eighth, their late inning lead was gone, replaced now by a four-run deficit.
Jim Johnson, injured much of last year, had replaced Jeremy Accardo in the seventh after Accardo had allowed the fifth Tigers' run, returned for the eighth and got the Tigers one-two-three. He retired all five Tigers that he faced. Koji Uehara replaced Johnson to start the ninth, and he also retired Detroit in order.
With undefeated Texas coming to town for a three game weekend series, the Orioles, at 5-1, sit atop the AL East by a single game over the Yankees and Blue Jays, each at 4-2. The Red Sox and Rays are both mired in last place with winless 0-6 records. That's right, the powerful Sox and the defending divisional champs have yet to win, while the Orioles, perennial doormats, lead with a nearly perfect record.
Monday morning update: the Birds lost the weekend series to the Rangers, two games to one, but there is no panic in Baltimore. First and foremost, despite the loss, the pitching continued to be strong. After a Friday night rain-out, the teams played two on Saturday, at a time we used to call "twi-night". In game one, rookie Zach Britton fired seven and two-thirds shut-out innings and Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds each homered - Reynolds' was of the three-run variety - as the Birds rolled, 5-0. The win by the Orioles ended the Rangers' opening season winning streak. In the nightcap, the Orioles broke on top, 1-0, in the second inning on Adam Jones' line-drive home run, but Jake Arrietta, so impressive in his first start - a win at Tampa Bay - was anything but sharp in a 13-1 drubbing. Arrieta gave up six runs to the Rangers in the third inning, erasing the Orioles' narrow lead, then was charged with two more Rangers' runs that scored in the fourth inning. Josh Rupe, in relief, restored order but the Orioles could not take advantage of the opportunity. Then Buck Showalter summonsed Chris Jakubauskas - just added to the roster earlier in the day - and left the new acquisition in as the Rangers took batting practice. All told, the Texas bashers scored 13 times on 13 hits. The rubber game of the series was played Sunday afternoon, and fans looking for another big hit festival were disappointed. Jeremy Guthrie, the Birds' opening day starter, was back from a bout with the flu and showed no signs of distress. He and Rangers starter Derek Holland locked in a classic pitchers duel into the seventh inning - the only blemish being a fourth inning homer by Adrian Beltre. In the seventh, Ian Kinsler smacked a two-run homer to push Texas' lead to 3-0. If anyone thought the Birds would go quietly, they were wrong. With Buck Showalter showing his managerial prowess, the Orioles came within an eyelash of tieing the game. There were two out and nobody on when Mark Reynolds and then Adam Jones drew back to back walks off of the Texas' left-hand submarine pitcher, Darren O'Day. Showalter had Jake Fox ready to hit next and this appeared to be a good opportunity for the Orioles what, with Fox's record of pinch hit homers. Seeing this, Rangers' manager Ron Washington went to the pen and got his closer, Neftali Feliz. Showalter had his proverbial gun fully loaded, however, and when Washington brought in Feliz he countered with one of the games' premier power hitters, Luke Scott. Scott proceeded to work the count full. The next pitch looked for all the world like it would end up tieing the game, but alas, Scott, though he hit it hard enough, did not pull it enough. On the warning track in straight-away center field, the Rangers' fleet outfield, Julio Bourbon caught up with the ball and ended the Orioles' chance.
The Good News is that the Orioles remain in first place.
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