Thanks to the hot start by the Baltimore Orioles, they have recieved a considerable amount of attention on the national stage. Of course, they will keep continuing to get it — if they win.
However, if they start losing or begin to resemble a squad that is reminsicent of the past 13 years, then obviously one outside the Mid-Atlantic region will care.
That being said, most of the pundits out there are not only noticing the the Orioles’ improved pitching, defense and clutch hitting, but they are giving much of the credit to one man.
Buck Showalter.
It’s safe to say right now that Buck Showalter is the public and yes, marketing face for the Orioles. He been seen in commericals for MASN, his mug is all over Baltimore, whether it’s outside the warehouse or on a billboard; moreover, he probably got the loudest cheers of anyone during Opening Day.
He calls out his rivals in the media and the Oriole fans love it.
We all know his track record with the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. He made them into winners, although he never managed in a World Series with any of them. However, both New York and Arizona won a championship not too long after he left them.
Now, he’s trying to do the same thing for the Orioles.
Showalter had a considerable aura over the Orioles over final two months of the 2010 season. Think of it, the Orioles were a horrible team – close to being historically so, until Showalter showed up.
Now, even though Showalter had pretty much the same talent that both deposed managers Dave Trembley and Juan Samuel had; however, I think he shook up the players — to an extent.
Really, while Showalter’s record with the Orioles was impressive, the team’s play could be attributed to some of the players performing well above their norms, a healthy roster – the return of Brian Roberts, Koji Uehara (very critical), Gonzalez – in addition, to the starting pitching performing much better halted a train wreck. Also, the batters seemed to have a plan at the plate and hit much better in the clutch, plus in key situations in game.
In addition, a lot of base running gaffes we saw under Trembley and Samuel seemed to decrease greatly under Showalter.
They looked prepared to play games after August and the record shows that.
Let’s hope the Orioles keep it up.
