Tonight the Orioles sit at 2-12 about to take the field against the Seattle Mariners hoping to force a rubber match for tomorrow. 2-12, never in my wildest, darkest, nightmares would I have thought to see the Orioles be 2-12 it just defies explanation. Everyone is just sitting, waiting, hoping to see the Orioles bats break out of their collective slumber. But how long can we wait?
It is getting rough in Baltimore.
I am, quite possibly, the biggest Orioles fan at my workplace. Normally this gets me little attention outside of opening day and maybe the odd mention. But with this, I have been asked no fewer than five times a day since the Orioles notched their fifth loss: “What is wrong with your boys?”
Listen people – I don’t know! No one knows. They aren’t hitting, the bullpen is spotty, last year’s Rookie of the Year candidate just got busted back to the minors. Our closer, second-baseman, third-baseman and left-fielder are all injured. Half of the infield is out of position we aren’t getting any bounces. No line drives are finding grass and every mistake the Orioles make immediately seems to result in nine runs.
Peter Schmuck wrote, only half joking, that the Orioles might be cursed. Whatever may be curisng them, I don’t know. Perhaps there is some twisted supernatural cabal that is pulling the strings. What remedy do they require? How shall we give them satisfaction? Sacrifce? I nominate Ken Rosenthal. Perhaps we just need to make sure Ceranno gets a LIVE chicken for a change?
On a blog that is now defunct, I once wrote of the eerie fact that the last Orioles post-season victory coincides with the public announcement of mid-century troubadour John Denver’s death.
Of course all of this is silly. The Orioles may have started out rough, really rough, but the seaosn is long and this adversity will just make our come-back all the more amazing and Hollywood-esque. The 2010 Baltimore Orioles may not end with the stuff of feel-good Disney produced inspirational sports movies starring Denzel, Matthew and some kind of Wilson – but I sincerely doubt that the Orioles will end up in 1899 Cleveland Spiders territory. At least, I hope not – right?
