time. And it’s already been two years.
Every time the Orioles blow a save around here – and it remains to be seen how many nights they’ll actually have a lead in the 9th inning moving forward – we’ll think of that era when every night was Angus Young, lefty lights out and cold beer.
(Sometimes, there was even pie, but I don’t wanna get Jonesy started – he’s stuck here a little while longer!)
But just like AC/DC delivering three chords, Zach Britton delivered three outs. Thunder and struck out!
Then, it was have a drink on me!
Unlike Machado, whom the Orioles could’ve wisely purchased long-term early, or Davis whom they foolishly did late, your future here never would’ve seemed to last even this long once they had to start paying you real money. Between the injuries and the timing and the Orioles inability to function like a normal Major League Baseball team, it’s weird that you were here this long and the team wound up paying you a bunch of real money after you delivered for pennies on the dollar in your youth.
But that’s the way it is for pitchers. And that’s certainly the way it’s becoming for closers, who have become the “running backs” of MLB. You know you need to have one but you don’t want to pay them and you want to always think it’s a short-term return.
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But as you pointed out, your seminal “non moment” in Toronto will be marked as the beginning of the end. Shot down in flames.
And the precipitous fall of this once-storied franchise over the last two years, while you’ve battled for your health, will be best left in your rear view mirror. The scene in the bullpen and the lack of bats that night in The Dome? The lost opportunity for you to go pitch for a contender last year? The Achilles injury and the ridiculously poor timing? The fact that they ever quit on you as a starter and put the finger on you into the bullpen?
All ancient history.
Now, it’s your turn to stand up and be counted! You can go get a ring on the biggest stage on the American sports landscape. Listen to the money talk, Zach!
I’ll always wonder – like perhaps you will, when it’s all over – how your career would’ve gone as a starter. Most wise MLB teams would’ve never have sent you to the bullpen. I’m guessing Arrieta would’ve been bullpenning around here as well if he didn’t get his cranky freedom card punched for the North Side of Chicago. I’m sure it’s not lost on you what became of your rookie class of power arms – including Matusz, who somehow made almost $14 million playing baseball mostly unsuccessfully and is now on a farm somewhere while you are still chasing more money and a ring in a city
