Good Grief
Ah, yes. A timeless and familiar scene.
And one of the more appropriate visual analogies of Orioles fandom as we’ve come to know it in the last decade or so. We are Charlie Brown; Lucy is whatever cruel thing that is alternately giving us hope and dashing it.
This image came to mind as I was watching the game last night. Brian Matusz turns in another good-enough outing, mini-ManHorse bangs out a 2-run double, Felix Pie makes a great catch, we have the lead, we feel alright.
But then, the proverbial football gets yanked away and a series of all-too-familiar “Orioles” things ensued. Matusz gets yanked at 99 pitches for Brian Bass, who lets up 3 runs without retiring a single Twinkie, Pie makes two ridiculous base-running blunders (like, ridiculous), and as we’ve seen on the road so many times this season, we give it up in the bottom of the 9th and wonder just what the hell happened.
If you want a positive spin, you can say that we learned some things from last night (or reinforced what we already knew). One being that Felix Pie is not a baseball player, he’s an athlete. Sure, he can hit a little bit. He can run fast, he can throw hard. But any baseball ability ends right there. The instincts are glaringly absent and by definition, you cannot teach instincts. I propose this question: would you take Lou Montanez in Pie’s role next year based solely on the fact that he probably wouldn’t make as many mistakes?
Another thing we’ve learned is that the Orioles are definitely keeping a close eye on Matusz. DT is getting some heat for pulling Matusz after retiring six straight and being at only 99 pitches, but I’m willing to bet that Dave would have left him in the game under normal circumstances. So why Brian Bass, then? And why leave him in so long when he clearly had no control? The Dave Trembley topic is heating up and while I’m still supportive of the guy, I’m not as stubborn with that support as I have been in the past.
Don’t get me wrong: I know full well the season is lost, we’re checking out the kids, wins and losses don’t really matter. And we have better things to do as O’s fans than to get out our blunt objects and find a dead horse. In fact, many of us are past venting altogether. We’ve entered Charlie Brown territory now – we just keep coming back, blindly even, to kick that damn football because it’s the only thing to do and because maybe, just maybe, one day we’ll punt that thing a mile.
Well put
I heard Andy (yes, we’re on a first name basis) talk about DT, saying that the players need to play for him. Meaning that he might not be around next year if our boys don’t win games. I don’t know that that’s the best thing because we have all of these young pieces of a puzzle. I think we give DT one more year and I guarantee we turn out better than we did this year. When we go to the 6 man rotation, 5 of them will be rookies! How do you expect to win with that kind of youth? Very rarely is there ever a rookie on an underachieving team that does well, let alone 5. We need to let them grow and experience the AL East. I think we’ll be fine in the long run. Not to mention that we still have the last of the 3 in the minors still.
Think of it this way. Outside of Tampa, we have all the youth in our division. The Yankees are getting older and fatter. The Sox just aren’t as good as we all thought. The Blue Jays are just treading water right now. They want to move the best pitcher in baseball, and outside of Aaron Hill, they don’t have much.
@Kevin – I basically agree, Kevin.
I’d like to give Trembley one more year with a rotation that isn’t thrown together with place-holders, without having to watch how many innings the young starters are throwing, with the young position players having another year under their belt, and the general feeling the players likely would have of “Ok, now let’s do this for real from Opening Day.” Not to mention with a healthy bullpen from Day 1.
I also am in favor of consistency and DT hasn’t shown that there’s any pressing need for change in management, so let’s keep him there for another year. They’re his kids, so to speak.
I can’t believe I’m posting twice in one night about Felix Pie, but here it is. No to Lou Montanez. You need your 4th OF to play CF. How do you feel about Lou in center? Besides, I think that as Pie gains more experience, his tools will help make up for the bumbling. Montanez is a nice guy by most accounts, but that doesn’t mean he’s a major league baseball player.
@Kevin B – plus montanez is like 27. Pie is my age.