Baltimore is a fantastic baseball town. A town deeply and passionately rooted in Os history. Winning history. From 1960-late 90s the Os compiled the BEST winning % in all of baseball w/3 World Championships, 6 WS appearances, a bevy of division titles, and 2 Wild Card appearances. The Oriole Way was THE model way to emulate as teams aspired to success. From 1992-1999, virtually EVERY game at Camden Yards sold out. The fans came in droves. Then immediately after the Os won the AL East- going wire-to-wire- and having one of the most dominant seasons in MLB history in 1997, the losing came. And it kept coming. Owner Peter Angelos all but destroyed this glorious franchise. It started when he forced Davey Johnson to resign- the same day he won manager of the year in 97. He meddled. Great baseball execs (like Pat Gillick) could no longer work for him. No premier baseball GMs wanted to come work for him. He thought he could do things his way. He even continued to pay generous salaries as the Os remained a mid-upper market team for quite some time. From 98-11 this once proud Os franchise, steeped in a rich winning tradition, had no more than 79 wins in a season and endured year after year of futility, epic September collapses, fire sales, and league-wide mocking. The Angelos way wouldnt and couldnt work. Then, amid growing fan displeasure (including a massive Free the Birds organized fan exodus in the middle of a game), Angelos caved and made one of the best decisions in the history of his ownership: he hired Andy MacPhail towards the end of the 07 season to completely oversee baseball operations. And MacPhail immediately went to work, doing things that for years the Os front office/Angelos guys couldnt: dismantle the team by making trades, increasing international scouting and ramping up scouting for amateur scouting and draft evaluation. His mantra of grow the arms buy the bats would begin. And it wouldnt be overnight. He repeatedly talked about how difficult winning the daunting AL East would be, especially with the behemoths of the Yankees and Red Sox. Teams like the young and suddenly incredibly successful Rays. People said success wouldnt be possible. Baseball execs said there was no way the Os would be competitive, much less aspire to an AL East title. Not even some of the most loyal fans believed success could actually happen, especially while Angelos was still in the shadows. MacPhails first major, and perhaps signature move of his tenure, would be to first trade the Os best asset and bargaining chip in Erik Bedard for young prospects Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, and George Sherrill to name a few. This trade is turning out to not only be one of the very best trades in Orioles history, but perhaps could eventually go down as one of the best in baseball history. He also made trades to acquire the likes of JJ Hardy and Chris Davis. He had a plan. A plan to build the team from the ground up. Included in that plan was bringing in a successful, proven manager who would be the right fit for raising up a young, unproven team. That man would be none other than Buck Showalter. A manager who had won everywhere he went, building teams from the ground up who hadnt won in a long time, including the Yankees of the late 90s. Buck would immediately bring an attitude. A resolve. A no-excuse, no complaining, an I dont care what league were in, what team salary we can afford, attitude. Both MacPhail and Buck continued to talk about staying the course. MacPhail stepped down after 11 and in came the exec who built the winning Expos teams, and eventual dominant Red Sox teams: Dan Duquette. Duquette brought w/him a host of shrewd and incredibly sharp baseball scouts and assistants. Then the magical 2012 season. A winning season. 93 wins. The AL Wild Card winner. The 15 years of losing was finally over! A magical run in the postseason fell just short to the hated Yanks. Then 2013. A good season. A season filled with high hopes. Another winning season. Fell just short of the playoffs again. Then the 2014 offseason. An offseason that was widely criticized, not just by local fans who hoped for more activity, but by baseball execs and media nationwide. Why did the Os seem to be sitting pat and satisfied w/the current roster? Amid the criticism, Buck would proudly and emphatically say, I like Our Guys. And why would anyone doubt that Buck knew what he was doing after all he had already proved? Still, fans hoped for some activity. Then at the 11th hour prior to spring training, Buck and Duquette pounced. One of the moves was bringing in Nelson Cruz, who has turned out to be the MLB bargain of the year. 2014 would start out slower than hoped, but once the heat of summer began, the Os began to heat up as well. And did they ever. After treading water at 26-27 at the end of May- and even 6.5 games out of first place at one point- the Os have since reeled off an eye-popping 65-33 record, en-route to running away w/the division, while burying teams in the rearview mirror. And all this with injuries. Lots of injuries. Key injuries to arguably the BEST players in MLB at their respective positions, Matt Wieters and Manny Machado. Other injuries to key guys- All-Stars like JJ Hardy and Chris Davis. Then the Chris Davis suspension. But the team kept rolling. Steam rolling like a juggernaut. Thank you, Peter. Thank you for relinquishing control. Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Dan. And thank you, Buck, who I believe is not only one of the most underrated managers in MLB history, but the 2nd best manager is Os history. Only behind the Earl. And now? The once thought improbable, impossible AL EAST DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP!! The Orioles, the ORIOLES are AL EAST CHAMPIONS!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 03:10:15 +0000
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