Baltimore Sports Then and Now

Team president Andy MacPhail may not have noticed yet, but the barn is definitely on first for the 2010 Baltimore Orioles.

Less than two weeks ago, Baltimore Orioles president Andy MacPhail said that the team was in no hurry to hire a new manager because “it’s not like the barn is on fire right now. The players are doing a nice job for Juan [Samuel].”

Over the last two weeks, the Orioles have won just two of 13 games and suddenly there is again reasonable doubt as to whether the Orioles can muster enough victories over the final two months of the season to avoid eclipsing the modern record for baseball futility established when the New York Mets went 40-120 during their inaugural 1962 season.

So, my question to Mr. MacPhail is whether the barn is burning now?

The energy the team showed early in the tenure of interim manager Juan Samuel has disappeared.

Since staging a dramatic comeback on July 20th to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-10 in 13 innings, the Birds have managed just one win in eight games and been outscored 52-20. Read the rest of this entry →

Miguel Tejada and the Orioles have been just missing during the first week of the season.

If there is any consolation from the tough start for the 2010 Baltimore Orioles it might simply be that they at least can’t match the start of the 1988 Birds.

Of course, that squad set a Major League Baseball record for futility by dropping their first 21 games on their way to a miserable 54-107 record.

The 2010 Orioles already have one victory, but following their three-game home sweep at the hands of the only team in the division predicted to be worse than the O’s, things are not looking bright in Baltimore.

Entering the season, everyone knew that the Orioles were facing a difficult April schedule. The Birds play 13 games this month against the three teams favored to finish ahead of them in the AL East, the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox.

In addition, they have a tough six game road trip to the West Coast where they will play at Seattle and Oakland.

The three home games against Toronto seemed like the best chance the Orioles would have during the month to create some momentum. Read the rest of this entry →