Not much good can come from a week when the Red Sox captured their third World Series title in the last 10 years. But as the optimistic Baltimore Oriole fans that we are, let’s try to find some.
The obvious: the Orioles have absolute studs all the way around the diamond (and so do the Royals?) and the league has taken notice. Tying the Royals for a league-leading three Gold Gloves, J.J. Hardy, Manny Machado, and Adam Jones all were voted the best defensively at their positions.
While it was no real surprise that Chris Davis, and to a lesser extent, Matt Wieters, did not win, everyone’s favorite sports term comes into play when discussing Nick Markakis–“snubbed.”
Markakis, who posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage (meaning he had no errors all year), lost to Shane Victorino, of the Red Sox (of course). As former Red Sox shortstop, Nomar Garciapara pointed out, Nick plays a much tougher right field position in Camden Yards compared to the short-porched right field in Fenway Park.
While you can’t win ‘em all, the Orioles have made Baltimore proud, bringing home three Gold Gloves for the second year in a row.
The second “win” of the week is that Oriole fans can find comfort in the success the team had against the eventual World Series champions. The birds posted an 11-8 record against the Sox, the most wins against them by any team. The O’s were also just one of four American League teams to finish with a winning record against Boston during the regular season (the others were the Royals, Rangers, and Tigers).
Although we weren’t able to end the Red Sox season like in 2011, we did plenty of beating up on them throughout the year.
The only other potential silver lining – former Baltimore fan favorite Koji Uehara got himself a ring!
I can’t think of a better way to start off the 2014 season than at home against Boston. See you at the yard on March 31st!
2 Responses
awesome keep it up
Yes Eli, there is always next year!