O’s-Nationals Rubber Match
It’s Sunday and as we all know that means the Orioles have no chance at a victory. Just for the hell of it, though, here’s an open thread. It’ll be Quality Start Guthrie against Jason Bergmann.
Fun fact ‘o the day: the Orioles averaged over five runs/game in June.
After reading some reactions to the large O’s crowd at Nationals stadium, someone should start printing up “Nationals Park: The Other Camden Yards” shirts.
Kidding me? Ronnie Belliard to 1) Deliver another loss on a Guthrie gem, 2) Spark up more annoying George Sherrill trade jive, 3) continue the Sunday losing streak to 12 games, and 4) send the O’s home on a weird vibe having won a series against the best team in baseball and then lose a series to the worst team in baseball.
This is why the O’s are a .500 team. Don’t get me wrong, I love this team and you can’t be unhappy with 2 games above .500 on 6/29. But here’s what I’m saying: while this year’s O’s haven’t shown that they are last year’s team (tanking, bullpen implosions, drama, freak injuries, getting owned by the Sox, etc etc), they have shown that they aren’t immune to annoying head-case things like losing on Sundays and never giving Guthrie any run support. Both things are clearly in their head and it’s costing them wins.
And now that Ronnie hot-dogged it around the bases on that home run, I’m willing to say that, yes, there is now a slight rivalry because I can’t wait until next year when he gets one in the ribs.
But whatever, Interleague is done and the boys are back home above .500. Onto the next one.
A lot of positives from the middle game of the series, though: Adam Jones, Ramon going deep, Luke & Aubrey stay hot, Olson with a sac fly and a base hit, Lance Cormier going 4 innings for the save (although at some point, when is it OK to pitch Jamie Walker a little bit?).
I’m done with the Nationals and the National League. The whole interleague thing is stupid, and if I ever have to listen to Buck and Sutton and Carpenter and Hunter ever again I WILL murder my entire family. What a horrendous weekend in every sense of the word.
Anyone else get the idea that maybe there was a let down after the Cubs, that the Orioles came in and said, “Meh, it’s the Nats…we’ll beat’em” and played down to their level, allowing themselves to get beat? Obviously Friday was all about that mickey mouse lineup, but today was just a sad day where we made the Washington bullpen look like solid gold…which it ain’t.
Agreed on all that.
AooR & Dan, Add to that their pitcher the other day (Lannan was it?) bragging about how many “fans” they’ve stolen from the Os, completely straight-faced like he actually believed it.
I say we start calling their stadium what some other person posted here before (about old Oriole fans that might be coming out of the woodwork now they’re above .500) – FairWeather Post Pavilion.
My prediction for the next series: the Royals are f*cking screwed. The Os are coming back to American league rules and are beyond pissed that they let themselves be taken by the Naughts. No Albers and Burres sucks, but this team strives on emotion and are looking for blood.
Let’s hope so…because this could totally be the letdown we were all waiting for. And hey, I’m still ready for the Lost Season whenever the O’s are. BUT we should definitely not underestimate the Royals. Anyway, I’m heading to the game (got front row tickets, too, down by the home dugout) so if anyone else is going, I’m more than happy to meet up early to grab some grub over at Pickles and Sliders or wherever.
yeah that was my term tomas and i’m in full agreement with you. it’s also funny because i went to merriweather post pavillion for the first time in my life last night ha.
could we stop acting like d.c. is a sports town please? people are quick to point out how “passionate” the redskins fans are in articles like the first one that came up when i googled “baltimore d.c. rivalry”. (also funny because i noticed dan the man commented there).
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2007/07/dcbaltimore_rivalry_ridiculous.html
yet with the exception of cleveland and detroit and, ??? it’s rare that a city supports more than one of its teams passionately, all the time.
and in the case of football in particular (i shall not rehash my feelings about football over baseball), the dc/baltimore debate has always rubbed me the wrong way. people act like the redskins fans should be the example.
huh?
i’ve heard people say “let’s see how loyal the ravens fans are when they lose for a while”. well, the ravens have a .400 something winning percentage since they came here and are consistently ranked in the top ten and higher than d.c. and pittsburgh in all the studies of fan “loyalty” i’ve seen regarding attendance percentage, etc. most analysts i see week to week also say it’s the loudest outdoor stadium out there.
also d.c. – when “hailing” the redskins and their superior fans…be kind…rewind…and remember baltimore’s football history is a little bit richer than just the ravens.
kay, thx.
can you tell i have to drive from bmore to the dc beltway every day?
The Baltimore/DC rivalry is only ridiculous because both cities rarely play each other. If the O’s and Nats shared a division, you can bet there would be a rivalry. If the Redskins and Ravens raided each other’s stadium twice a year, you can bet there would be a rivalry (and an angry one, at that).
But this just isn’t the case, and as a result there just isn’t a rivalry. Sorry. If baseball was smart, the divisions would be:
Northeast: Boston/NYY/NYM/Philadelphia/Toronto
This would be the ultimate league. The New York divided rivalry. The everyone hates the Red Sox rivalry. The Mets/Phillies rivalry. The “Toronto happens to be in the northeast” rivalry.
East: Baltimore/Pittsburgh/Cleveland/Cinci/Nats
This is the AFC North rivalry for baseball. This makes it easy to transfer the football rivalry we already have with these cities over to baseball.
Southeast: Florida/Tampa/Braves/Cards/Royals
Cards and Royals can finally have free range to hate on each other. Someone might finally show up for a Marlins game.
North: Minnesota/Milwaukee/ChiSox/Cubbies/Detroit
We can just call this division “The Hate Lakes”.
Midwest: Rockies/Rangers/Mariners/Houston
This is a tough one, but the Rockies and Mariners should be bigger rivals. Houston and Rangers for the battle of Texas.
Southwest: San Diego/Anaheim/Oakland/Dodgers/San Fran/Arizona
This is just a no brainer. California hating California.
sweet scenario greg!
so instead of american v. national it would be more of a east v. west conference dealy?
I still like the idea of having FOUR 4-team divisions within both leagues (add an American League team to Oregon & Buffalo/Upper New England), getting rid of the wild card, having the last place MLB team switch places with the highest rankest Independent League team, and of course … ziplines at 3rd base.
*rankest = ranked
duh
“The circumstances surrounding the team’s Sunday struggles are highly unusual and inexplicable,” team director of communications Greg Bader said. “We believe the situation calls for added assistance from our loyal fans to help the team deliver another Sunday victory. And if the Birds win on Sunday, anyone who does help us break this hex will be rewarded with a complimentary ticket to a future game of his or her choice.”
I know some people (….ahem) have a LOT of problems with Bader, but damn if that isn’t a great idea. What a great gesture! I think it’s safe to proclaim that the Warehouse Gets It. Isn’t it? Also, that means I’m totally there on Sunday.