While most of us are fast asleep in the middle of the night, the Orioles continue to win on the West Coast.
Look at those AL East standings this morning, and you can still play fantasy games about what would happen if the team could go 13-9 over the NEXT 22 games. And then again. And so on…
That’s nearly a .600 clip, and that would make for quite the interesting summer here in Baltimore. (I’m still not convinced that if they win people will really pay money to come back to Camden Yards, but that’s for another day…)
And they’re really not finding easy ways to victory. Last night, after a poor outing and questions about Adam Loewen’s health, it took a five-run comeback and an 8th inning homer by Brian Roberts to lead them to a late-night win.
On Wednesday night, they got one of those rare efforts from Daniel Cabrera (eight innings, five hits , five strikeouts and ZERO walks) that leads them to believe he could be a Cy Young candidate.
Sure, it’s early, but over the first month of the season, the young Orioles have proven to be quite resilient and exceedingly fun to watch and cheer for and root for. It’s almost like old times!
But, other than Nick Markakis and Luke Scott, the offense leaves a lot to be desired, but at least they’re playing together and with some heart. It seems like they’re enjoying coming to the park a major underdog every night and Dave Trembley looks like a leader they’ve lacked since Davey Johnson.
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On paper, they’re not very good. But in reality — over 22 games — I don’t think you could expect much more from the team.
Now they head halfway home to Chicago for a four-game series against the White Sox (at one of my favorite ballparks, Comiskey Park…click link for video), who have gotten off to a similar start for Ozzie Guillen. Their 12-9 start is good enough for first place in the AL Central.
So, if the Orioles come back home on Tuesday night will the people start returning to the ballpark?
I’m putting together a little mixer on Thursday morning before the 12:35 start against Tampa Bay.
It’s a little too early for the weather report, but I’ll be writing more about going to the game over the next week.
In the meantime, I hope you join us at Looney’s Pub in Bel Air tomorrow for one of the greatest sports days of the year — the NFL Draft! It’s simply the best!
I’ll be writing about the draft later tonight, and spending the day in Owings Mills today with the scouts doing my traditional “envelope” signature.
8Everyone who will participate will write the name of the player he thinks will be picked FIRST tomorrow by the Ravens. And that DOESN’T necessarily mean with the No. 8 pick.
It’s our own little “mock draft.” The point here is simple: even THEY don’t know who they’re really going to get (although George Kokinis and Eric Decosta have proven to be almost clairvoyant over the years!).
And on Monday night, we’ll take our post-draft party to White Marsh for the very first time as Decosta and a bunch of the Ravens’ scouts will join us front and center at DellaRoses’ on The Avenue.
Hope you can join us for that as well. It’s always a lively conversation about the War Room and how the picks came off of the board. It’s one of our highlight shows every year!
I’ll be at the Harford Live! bash at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. If you’re heading over for the beer and food, stop by the WNST booth and say hi!
We know that we have a zillion WNST folks in Harford County…it’ll be fun!
Hope you have an awesome weekend!
8My mock draft will be coming later tonight here on WNST.net…
