Thursday, September 13, 2018

Thursday and the Orioles


I tried to watch the Orioles game last evening. I had tickets to the game against the Orland Athletics, but decided not to drive into the city to watch the team get squashed. 

The Orioles play mostly playoff bound teams for the rest of the season. 

I tuned into the game during the second inning and the score was 0-0 with the Orioles looking competitive against the playoff bound Athletics. 

And then the third inning arrived. It was a third inning that never wanted to end for either team. After the top half of the inning, I found a movie to watch.

It was another frustrating game, for Orioles fans, with the final score having the team in the loss column again and by a shutout, 10-0. All of the scoring occurred during the top half of the third inning which saw the Athletics score 10 runs. The starting nine for the Athletics all scored before the Orioles recorded even one out. In all, 15 Athletics went to the plate during the Athletics at-bat. 

Did I mention that the Orioles managed only one hit during the game? In all they sent 28 men to the plate during the ENTIRE game. The Athletics sent 15 during just the top of the third inning alone.

And that was the tale of the game. As the camera panned the empty stadium, a place where I have personally experienced so much enjoyment, I saw that many of the Orioles faithful, like myself, are already looking forward to next season. The announced attendance was over 10,480, but most of those were season ticket holders, like myself that stayed home hoping for the team's fortunes to change during the offseason. 


The Orioles now sport a league worst record of 41-104, .283. Seventeen games remain until the season mercifully ends. Eleven of those games are against playoff bound teams! Six of the games are against rivals with losing records. I remain hopeful that the Orioles finish with only 115 losses, but I am becoming less hopeful. They need to go 6-11 .353 for the rest of the season and I cannot find 6 wins during the next 17 games. 

Statistics say the Orioles will go 5-12, .294, but looking at the teams they are playing, I fear it is more likely they will end the season in total collapse with by finishing 3-14, .176, and ending the season with a dismal 44-118, .272 record which will secure 7th place on the all time list of worst seasons in modern MLB history just behind the 2003 Detroit Tigers who were 43-116, .265. 


It was sad not to get the playoff ticket offering from the team this year. I am not expecting one next year at this point either. 

There are only two more Thursdays in September, meaning I will write an Orioles update only twice more this season--if I decided to actually write one at all. 

Dismal. I remember the season started with a win. And it has been a disaster from there.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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