The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

I’ll say this much up front: last night’s game worries me. A lot. It’s the kind of game that can easily signal a loose lug nut, and before you know it the wheels are off. I’d hate to see our run come to an end at the hands of the Pinque Sox again.

We all agree that a split is just fine, yes? So two of the next three it is.

Tonight’s task falls to Garrett Olson, who’ll be taking on Jon Lester. Olson lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed 5 runs last time he faced Boston (last year), but he’s a different pitcher now.

And here’s one that jumps off the page: Adam Jones is 4-5 career against Lester

It felt to me, in watching last night, that the crowd was probably 60-40 Sox fans. I saw a lot more orange than usual and heard a lot more pro-O’s chanting than usual. Still way too much cheering for the Sox, but it seems like we’re making off-field progress. Despite what, ahem, certain media members might believe.

Sorry for the lateness on this one — I just got home. Right now it’s 2-0 Boston in the first (ugh) as Daniel Cabrera takes on Josh Beckett.

As I said to the Ungers on Tuesday: if you’re going to be down to the Red Sox, better to get it out of the way in the first inning.

Go O’s…

According to the news coming out of Ravens minicamp, Troy Smith has the early lead on the starting job in ‘08.

This is as it should be.

We’re all familiar with the team’s trials at the QB position. Only the Vinny Testaverde years were stable in any real sense, but the fact that they were bad kind of takes the bloom off that rose. Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl — and I’m a huge fan of The Dilf — but it’d be hard to argue that he was great in any sense of the word.

Everybody else that came through here up til now is utterly forgettable. I think things are about to change.

In trading up to draft Joe Flacco the Ravens have settled on the guy they believe will lead them to a Super Bowl in the coming years. But by keeping both Smith and Kyle Boller around they’ve also clearly settled on not rushing Delaware Joe. Which is very, very smart.

Smith looks like he has the maturity and smarts to step in and start for a year or two. While he does, Boller’s in a position to do what he does best: be the backup. Both of them can keep the seat warm for Flacco, who should step in only when he’s ready. The worst case scenario (if you can call it that) is if Smith ends up looking like a world beater, but that’s not the worst problem you can have.

Add to all that the fact that Cam Cameron is on board to groom these guys — free from the poison tyranny of Brian Billick — and you’ve got the ingredients for a QB renaissance. Or, at least, the ingredients for something better than abject failure.

Better late than never, right?

The more bare-bones the better for this post — I don’t want to jinx a damn thing.

The Orioles go for a sweep against the Janquis tonight. It’s Quality Start Guthrie against I’m Sorry For What I Might Have Done Pettite.

And, yeah — Viva La Lost Season.

At war: the fact that the Orioles are playing .500 ball (basically) through fifty games, and the fact that this is still the Lost Season.

This unexpectedly successful start has clouded my vision, I’ll admit. I was way, waaaaayy premature in mentioning the Why Not? season, and in fact I believe my doing so precipitated a losing streak.

So no more jumping the gun on just how good these guys will be. And yet, even having said that, I won’t cheat myself out of the excitement. The Internet barely existed the last time the O’s were this interesting, and weblog software wasn’t even a bad idea yet. Someone has to track their not-quite-meteoric rise back to respectability, and damn if The Loss Column isn’t chock full of just the right sorts of folks to do it.

It’s not an easy balance to strike, but it is our calling.

Tonight, Brian Burres (did you know he’s from Oregon) takes the hill against Ian Kennedy.

And, don’t forget that I’ll be guesting with the Fighting Ungers on WNST 1570 AM from 6:30-8. Give us a call why don’t you?

I kind of took the weekend off from Loss Column-related matters so that I could attend to playing Wii and having a cookout. I think I needed the refresher.

It helped remind me that I can’t — shouldn’t — focus too exclusively on Orioles-related matters here. They’re the biggest thing going, but Baltimore sports is still about more than that. Even in May.

So, first, the good: major props to the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team, which took down the hated Duke Blue Devils on Saturday in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I championships. Nobody seemed to think this was possible — every knowledgeable commentator I’ve read/heard ranks it as an impressive upset. That the Blue Jays subsequently lost to Syracuse in the finals does nothing to diminish the accomplishment. Whenever a team from Maryland takes down Duke — at any time, in any sport — it’s a victory for us all.

Not only that, but the Blue Jays’ baseball team is battling for a national title at this very moment. I’ll try to remember to dig up and post the results.

Now, on to Gary Williams and his Terps, who chose Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend (they’re pros, after all) to drop the news that troubled-but-talented recruit Tyree Evans has asked out of his commitment and won’t be attending College Park.

For those of you who haven’t followed the Evans story, the gist of it is: Gary wanted to bring him in despite a rather checkered past, and Debbie Yow wasn’t quite on board (or even aware). Know-it-all media types started getting angry, and the whole thing went to hell.

The reaction to Evans’ withdrawal has been predictable enough. Lots of “they never should have gone after him to begin with” and “this is a stain on the Maryland program” and yadda yadda. Lots of armchair moralizing, in other words, from the same people who call for firings when the team fails to make the field of 64.

But here’s the truth: Gary didn’t do anything wrong, and neither he nor the program should be raked over the coals.

Evans is a talented player — on this even his detractors agree — who would have helped breathe life into Maryland Basketball. His JuCo coach vouched for his commitment, and his legal troubles are all at least as old as 2006. The kid looked at Maryland and saw a chance to redeem himself, and Gary was willing to give it to him. Yes, it was a risk. Maybe even a bad idea. But a stain on the program? A shameful episode?

Nonsense.

With this being a holiday weekend I figure the traffic might be kinda light. So, consider this the official Orioles Memorial Day Weekend Open Thread, encompassing three games against the surprising Rays.

Tonight: Quality Start Guthrie vs. Matt Garza
Saturday: Steve Trachsel (who?) vs. Edwin Jackson
Sunday: the DC Cab vs. James Shields

As I said in the comments on the last post, I think two out of three here would be big. And I think it’s very doable, too. I like the way this team seems to respond whenever they’re backed against a wall.

The comments are open for a weekend’s worth of discussion, during which I’ll of course be chiming in.

The action’s in the comments as we look to take two of three on the road from the hated Janquis. Brian Burres — he of the surprising and admirable consistency — takes the mound against Ian Kennedy — he of the great hype and promise.

I’ll actually be settling in with a friend to watch all of this one, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of thoughts (probably once it’s over).

This is a big one, after all. Let’s have at it.