The Orioles have been one of the worst organizations in sports the last 10 years. But what I witnessed yesterday was one of the most inexplicable collapses I have ever seen any team suffer in any sport.
With one out in the 9th inning, Jeremy Guthrie, a former first-round pick of the Indians smartly grabbed off of waivers this winter, was working on a 3-hit, 5-0 shutout of the Red Sox. The O's were looking at an improbable series win in Fenway, despite not having their top 2 starters pitch and going against Schilling and Beckett. The O's were about to even their record at 19-19. It looked like a chance for the O's to build some real confidence in their Quest for 82.
On an 0-2 pitch and nobody on base, Guthrie got a weak pop-up in front of the plate. Just when it looked like Guthrie might complete the shutout, Ramon Hernandez dropped the pop-up, allowing the runner to reach first. Then, for some unknown reason, Sam Perlozzo went to the bullpen, despite the fact that Guthrie had only thrown 91 pitches. Three hits, three walks, and an error later the $42 million bullpen had given up 6 runs, leading to a 6-5 loss.
In my 30 years of being a baseball fan the only 2 bigger collapses I've seen were the '86 Red Sox in Game 6 of the World Series and the '03 Cubs in Game 6 of the NLCS. Obviously those were much more important games but for a fan base looking for some hope, any kind of hope, this was devastating.
A loss like yesterday either completely makes or breaks a team. There's rarely an in-between. Either the Orioles will be unified after yesterday's game and get hot, or they will be completely demoralized and go into a deep funk. Given the losing atmosphere that surrounds Camden Yards under the Angelos regime, I expect the latter.
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2 comments:
Right on, with collapse theory. Mora and Payton almost came to blows after another sorry loss yesterday. 2 more months till Training Camp!
5 in a row, and now the 1st base coach and 25th man are going after each other. And they're backing off on putting Baltimore back on the uni's! Sell the freakin' team! I'm tired of counting down to Ravens training camp in freakin' May!!!!
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