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.
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