THE WEST COAST VIEW: August 12

Though it may not have looked pretty at times, the Orioles wrapped up a successful 4-1 week in the California portion of their west coast road trip. Fans can gripe all they want about Saturday’s loss in which the O’s coughed up a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning, but ground was actually made up by the Birds in the playoff chase this week.

The Red Sox went 3-4 while the Rays dropped all five games they played. Baltimore is now just 1.5 games back of the Rays and 4.5 back of the Red Sox in the AL East. The A’s are even with Tampa Bay while Cleveland and Kansas City are a few games in the rear view mirror right now.

The Birds still have a prime opportunity to grab a few more games against some inferior competition this week. Three games against the Diamondbacks in Arizona followed by three back home against the Colorado Rockies should have the O’s licking their chops before the real fun starts. That “real” fun will start next week with nine straight games against the Rays, A’s and Red Sox.

All of a sudden, September will be here.

For all the flack players like Taylor Teagarden, Wei-Yin Chen and Jim Johnson are taking over the past week, these Birds are still in prime position in mid-August. The Orioles have a better team than they did last season, and are a few games better than they were at this time too. The only issue that they face is that the rest of the American League is a little better as well.

The Red Sox and Rays are providing great competition in the always-tough AL East. The O’s still have nine games left against Boston and seven more against Tampa Bay. The wild card competition is much stiffer too. Not only do the Orioles have the Rangers, A’s and Tigers to compete with outside the division, but the Indians and Royals are sticking around as well.

For those who missed it yesterday, Adam Jones was the victim of a disgusting and vile act in San Francisco. A fan decided to toss a banana at Jones from the stands during the ninth inning. AJ took to his Twitter account yesterday to display his frustration with the incident. He added that the backlash he received for voicing his displeasure may cause him to leave social media altogether. If you remember back a few months, Chris Davis had similar issues having to deal with fans questioning him about PEDs on Twitter and he went ahead and disabled his account.

Giants’ authorities have already announced that they are going over footage of the incident to see if they can pinpoint what happened. It’s a shame that some fans these days can’t go to a game and be happy with enjoying the atmosphere and the action on the field. It’s also too bad that this goofball has slightly tarnished the name of a fanbase that I’m sure doesn’t deserve it.

I had the great opportunity to check out Petco Park in San Diego last week for the Wednesday matinee between the O’s and Padres. It was my first trip to the stadium for a game. The experience was enjoyable, and the park was great, but I realized something that many Orioles fans don’t come to grips with until they live out of state or away from Maryland. Oriole Park is really fantastic. It’s a stadium that started a revolution of new ballparks around the country. I haven’t been to every stadium in the nation, but I’ve made a few trips to some parks that I can compare certain ones and form an opinion.

Camden Yards has no peer.

Petco Park really reminded me of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia (although it smelled much better). Phillies fans have themselves a nice little stadium up there, but Petco offers just about the same experience without having to go to the city of Philadelphia. Instead you get to be in beautiful San Diego. Every part of Petco, from the structure of the park to the sightlines in certain areas screamed copycat to me. The stadiums actually both opened in 2004.

My fiancé and I are on a mission to see the O’s play road games in at least two ballparks each season. Last year we went to Anaheim and Texas. The second park we will get to explore this season is actually one we are quite familiar with living in Arizona. We’ll get to see the Birds three times this week, starting tonight at Chase Field.

As I said, a lot of these stadiums are just copies of one another and all of the newer parks take something from Camden Yards. Returning to Baltimore at least once a year to see a game there is always on the to-do list as well. Nothing will ever compare.

The other thing that caught my eye last week about Petco Park was how much orange was in the seats. I watched the game on Tuesday night and could hear chants of “Let’s Go O’s!” from San Diego. I counted a number of cartoon bird hats in the stands as well.

When I arrived for the game Wednesday, I realized that Tuesday was no fluke. O’s fans turned out in large numbers in San Diego. While it was likely much tougher to see because of the whole black and orange colors in San Francisco, I know there were a ton of O’s fans in the Bay Area this weekend as well. It’s great to see Orioles fans turning out in numbers to see the team on the road. I am sure I will see plenty of people rocking the orange in Phoenix this week as well.

Orioles Player of the Week

CF- Adam Jones: Despite having to deal with a banana being flung in his direction on Sunday, Jones enjoyed a great week on the west coast. AJ hit .571 with two homers and eight RBI while posting a 1.470 OPS. It’s a good thing the O’s locked Jones up to a long-term contract or he may want to find a permanent home out west, where he obviously loves playing.

American League Player of the Week

DET (3B) – Miguel Cabrera: Not only did the reigning AL MVP hit .429 and drive in 11 runs over the week, but he also went deep four times. The more impressive feat is that two of Cabrera’s four homers came off Mariano Rivera. Miggy is also the first player to homer in consecutive at-bats off Rivera.

National League Player of the Week

NYM (1B) – Ike Davis: After the Mets demoted Ike Davis in June, things looked awfully dim for the first baseman. Since his return to the majors in early July, Davis has shown he still has a big league swing. Davis hit .538 with an on-base percentage of .727 last week. His Mets may not be great, but they haven’t been the laughing-stock of years past either.

Be sure to tune in for my weekly appearance on The Coach’s Buzz on CBS Sports Radio 1300 tonight at 7:15 pm. You can also now view some more of my thoughts on the Orioles at MASNSports.com every Thursday where I will guest blog throughout the rest of the season.

That’s this week’s West Coast View. Go O’s!