The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

The Red Sox are world champions, and I’ve made my peace with it. As much as I dislike that team and their fans it’s both difficult and pointless to keep up the Hate now that it’s over. And besides, as of now the Sox and the Orioles are tied for first place in the 2008 AL East. We may as well enjoy it all winter because it probably won’t last too far into April.

The difficulty here is that The Loss Column, for a variety of reasons, has become known primarily as an Orioles/baseball site. We’ve started to make the transition to covering other sports, and I think it’s going well, but I want to hammer the point home now that baseball is on hiatus.

For starters, we’re going to have regular Wizards coverage courtesy of a new contributor whose name you’ll all immediately recognize. I’ll ramp up my coverage of both the Capitals and hockey in general, mostly because I like it. We’ll talk plenty of Terps basketball and we’ll talk plenty (even more than we have been) of NFL football. And, of course, we’ll stay on top of the Hot Stove season and we’ll have plenty of room to discuss the Tejada and Bedard trades.

We will continue to be, in other words, a “Baltimore Sports Community”. With any luck we can not only hold onto what we’ve got but continue to grow it leading up to Spring Training.

I’m also open, as always, to suggestions. Email me or post in the comments. Mi Loss Column es su Loss Column.

Thanks as always.

Fast and dirty, as I’m on my way out. Viva Josh Fogg.

Floor’s open…if you’re around…

Tonight the Rockies send 23-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez to the hill against Boston’s grizzled, 40-year-old playoff hero, Curt Schilling. This isn’t quite a must win, but let’s be realistic here. If Colorado can’t find a way to get this one they’re in a serious no-man’s land.

This series has all the earmarks of a classic “team on the verge but not quite there” scenario. Usually it takes a team like the Rockies a year or two of falling short to learn how to finally put it together. The Sox, meanwhile, are a few years into their reign and are due for another Series win (which will probably end up being 2 of an eventual 3 before they hit their down cycle).

All of which will be reconsidered if the Rockies win tonight (they’re up 1-0 in the second as I type).

Meanwhile, over in Chicago, DC United open up a playoff run of their own with a match against Cuauhtémoc Blanco and his Chicago Fire. Being able to say more than that about it is really Chris’ department, but I can say I’ll be keeping an eye on things. More knowledgable soccer fans are encouraged to pass along their thoughts.

I’ve got the Rockies radio feed streaming through my computer right now as game one gets underway. It’s Jeff Francis vs. Josh Beckett — fire at will in the comments.

This is supposed to be a dead time for non-playoff baseball teams. No news, no signings, no transactions, no scandals — just radio silence in advance of the hot stove season.

Nobody really thought the Baltimore Orioles would go easy on us, did they?

So along comes big, dumb Kevin Millar and his brilliant idea to relive past glory by digging up the corpse of the Idiots. Cue the fan base firestorm.

I’m right there with those folks who have a…shall we say modified opinion of Millar after this. But let’s take a step back here and remember who the real villian is: Kevin Millar.

He made an error in judgment. He failed to recognize the ramifications of his decision, probably because he didn’t actually give any thought to the ramifications of his decision. A smarter man would have put out a press release that went something along these lines:

I’m humbled and flattered by the offer I received from the Red Sox. I loved playing there and part of my heart will always be in Boston. With that said, I’m a Baltimore Oriole now and my focus and effort this offseason are dedicated to returning a proud franchise to the winning ways that I know are right around the corner.

PR isn’t exactly a science — it’s really just understanding your target market and saying the things that will enhance their emotional attachment to whatever it is you’re selling. Millar, quite obviously, doesn’t get that.

But that’s his fault, and he’ll pay for it however the fans see fit. The fault does not lie with the Orioles, despite what so many haters want to believe. It’s not their place to tell their employees how to spend their free time, and I’m glad they feel that way. Responsibility should lie with the players to do the right things, and until they go hurting people or breaking laws we need to give them that freedom. They’re adults, after all.

So take it out on Millar all you want, but don’t use this as more fuel for Angelos hatred or MacPhail doubting. That’s just more of the same tired thinking that has helped land us where we are.

Last night…ugh. I was up on the club level at the Verizon Center and a bunch of frontrunning Pink Sox yahoos were screaming things like “You’re in Boston now!! What’s up!!” For anyone with lingering doubts as to why all right-thinking Americans hate the Red Sox and their fans, there you go.

At least the Caps-Penguins matchup was fully awesome. Moving on to today’s slate:

It’s an eight-something first pitch in the deciding game of the ALCS, with Jake Westbrook taking the hill against Dice-K. When the Indians lose this one you can all go ahead and blame me. I jinxed the hell out of the Tribe when I put up that stupid post about how this Red Sox squad wasn’t a memorable one. Idiot.

The Ravens are in Buffalo with their b-squad looking to step up on the road. The Bengals host the Jets, while Pittsburgh travels out to Denver for Sunday Night Football. Down I-95 in Raljohn the Redskins host Arizona.

Should you find yourself in need of any context for that Bills-Ravens game, I present you willisistrash.com. Awesome.

And in case you need a break from football, Baltimore’s own Bucky Lasek and the rest of the world’s top skaters will wrap up the AST Dew Tour season today in Orlando. Lasek, alas, will not win his third consecutive Dew Cup — that honor has already been wrapped up by carrot top Shaun White.

It’s a rematch of Game Two tonight as Curt Schilling takes on Fausto the Great at Fenway.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the score as I take in the Capitals-Penguins match down in DC. On my way out the door in five minutes as a matter of fact…

Take the floor and run with it, folks. I’ll check back in later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Some of you may have noticed that not every comment shows up immediately. One potential reason is that if you include more than one hyperlink then your comment automatically gets held in an approval queue, and thus won’t show up until I say “OK.” I don’t want to discourage anyone from linking up a storm, just know that if/when you do it then your thoughts might have to wait awhile.

On Joe Torre: I still think he’s nothing more than a solid baseball guy who lucked into a great situation. I can’t imagine any decent baseball mind not finding the success he found in New York, given the players he had. Am I wrong?

I ask because I’ve found a new respect for him in light of how classy he’s been over the past few days. So if someone can make the case that he’s truly a brilliant strategist, and a game-changer, then I’d love to hear it.

Which leads us to Drew’s point that the Orioles should back a Brinks Truck up to Torre’s front door.

Why?

Torre was an average manager at best in every stop before the Janqs. Nothing in his track record suggests that he could build a team like the ‘08 Orioles into a winner. I actually feel as good with Trembley as I would with a guy like Torre. Maybe even better.

I have a habit, in conversation, of referring to “Lou Parcells” and “Bill Piniella.” I interchange those names as a way of pointing out my feeling that both of those guys are way, way overrated. Both, like Torre, won championships on the backs of ridiculously talented players. There’s something to be said for managing talent and ego, but there’s much more to be said for guys who can make more out of less.

Until convinced otherwise, I’m standing my my assertion that Joe Torre is in the former category.