Even with a fresh coating of snow on the field at Camden Yards this week, the smell and feeling of Orioles baseball is in the air. Tens of thousands will attend FanFest 2015 this weekend at the Baltimore Convention Center, there has “finally” been a trade to quiet those fans thinking the front office wasn’t doing enough, and two dozen of our guys in orange have been in Sarasota, FL at camp shaking off the winter rust. Fans are doing the same.
Official Spring Training is 22 days away and for the Orioles’ faithful, it can’t get here fast enough. Reports of Manny Machado and Matt Wieters progressing with their rehabilitation has been encouraging, as well as the club agreeing to arbitration deals with a handful of players, including Chris Tillman and slugger Chris Davis, who will still have one more game to serve of his suspension as the new season begins in April.
Orioles fans are eager to finish what they started last year, watching their team take their first AL East Division title since 1997, as well as reaching the ALCS. But that’s where the bad taste comes in and the fans’ stomachs turn a bit. Those last four games of the season, the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, proved to be more momentum (or as some KC fans put it: destiny) than our Orioles could handle. It was a lousy way to end a season – swept out in a flurry a blue and white batting and defense.
The last two games in Camden Yards were tough. Game One featured extra innings as the Orioles bullpen held fast until the top of the 10th when the Royals drove in three runs. Dejected, the fans left, myself included, feeling that something had turned out of our favor. It was just enough change in the wind to put that little pit of doubt in your gut.
Game Two was another close game, but the Orioles were showing what they had been plagued with all season: leaving men on base, especially at third with less than two outs. The bullpen again had Kansas City on the ropes but let them get away in the 9th, devastating the Oriole Park crowd. I personally couldn’t help feeling that the writing was on the wall as the Orioles had the difficult task of trying to take at least two of the next three games in Kansas City. I hate being right about stuff like that.
It was tough watching those last two games. They both ended with the Orioles losing 2-1, both featured strong performances by the starting pitchers, and yet both had Kansas City’s incredible, if not super-human, defense and some more clutch hitting. I remember switching the channel seconds after the last out. I couldn’t bring myself to read the paper or any blog or website. All I could see were squandered opportunities and frustration. But the team and its American League Manager of the Year Buck Showalter kept their heads up, acknowledged shortcomings, and gave themselves a well-deserved pat on the back for completing such a magical season.
So now here we are, almost perfectly equidistant from the unceremonious ending in October and the always highly anticipated Opening Day at Oriole Park in April. Birdland’s faithful flock has plenty to look forward to this season, including having our injured All Stars back in the lineup. The pitching rotation is always something that sets the fans’ hair on fire, but if we can have strong performances from our constants like Tillman and Kevin Gausman grows in his potential, we could be looking at a pretty formidable front part of the rotation.
Grab that Listerine and take a big swig. Spit. There goes 2014.
Now you’re ready for another magical season.
I’ll be there Opening Day on April 10th to watch our AL East Championship banner drop.
It’s only 72 days away. But who’s counting?
