For the posters who thought the Orioles would win 66 games or fewer -- have you changed your mind?

[Frobby]

This post is not intended to be snarky or gloating. I am just curious whether those posters who were most negative are feeling at all reassured by how the team has played so far, or whether they still believe 66 wins or fewer is a likely outcome.

Those who said the O's would win under 65 in Tony-OH poll:

atomic
333WCamden
Jon
Orange King
postal
Skeletor
Whitty_BDB

Those who said the O's would win 66 or less in TonySoprano's poll:

acslater
atomic
Baldimore, hon
Barnaby Graves
Catch 8
deuce
hgizzle
nevadaO
Skeletor

[Pedro Cerrano]

Only 59 more wins to go!

[playbaltimorecom]

66 games or fewer is tough but this is still a bad team. The pitching is ahead of hitting right now and has always been if you watch the MLB. There should be no surprises. We played the Yankees and found new and creative ways to lose.

If you really think this is a playoff team or even a .500 team then you think some other team in this division will lose 100, that is the only chance.

So no, I haven't really changed my mind (not sure they will only win 66 though unless pitching staff implodes or they insert Gregg into the starting 5).

I have been surprised how hot Matt Wieters have been though, that is a pleasant surprise. I also like Paulino's bat off the bench. Win or lose it looks like they are playing as a team and that is all you can hope for after a lackluster offseason.

[SammyBirdland]

We played the Yankees and found new and creative ways to lose.

By making their starters play extra innings instead of putting in their backups in the 8th?

[Moose Milligan]

We haven't hit July-August yet. I don't think they win anything higher than 70.

[OFFNY]

.
This is one thread that is bound to get bumped a lot throughout the season ........ I just hope that it gets bumped a lot because we are winning a lot, not losing a lot.

[kman123]

It's kind of early to say "I told you so." I think they could be a .500+ team but their success really hinges on our pitchers being consistent.

[ScottP]

The pitching is ahead of hitting right now and has always been if you watch the MLB.

They say you build a team with strength up the middle, and it appears they have that; however, when the hitting does catch up to the pitching, I'm afraid it's really going to expose our weakness at the corners.

[Tony-OH]

One of the keys is to limit long losing streaks like the one the Orioles were in the midst of this time last season. I still think this team is probably a 72-75 win team, but it could surprise and end up around 82, which would be very nice!

[CaptainRedbeard]

It's kind of early to say "I told you so." I think they could be a .500+ team but their success really hinges on our pitchers being consistent.

It's pretty clear Frobby's not saying "I told you so." He's trying to see if there's enough optimism to be found in the first 11 games to change the minds of the fans who were the most down on the O's chances before the season started, specifically because there's still plenty of time for the Orioles to revert back to being awful and lose 100 or so games.

[kman123]

It's pretty clear Frobby's not saying "I told you so." He's trying to see if there's enough optimism to be found in the first 11 games to change the minds of the fans who were the most down on the O's chances before the season started, specifically because there's still plenty of time for the Orioles to revert back to being awful and lose 100 or so games.

Correct. He begins the thread by saying it is not an I told you so, so my comment was misguided. Moving on, we had a hot start last year and IIRC there was quite a bit of optimism here(to get to .500, not to contend) but that quickly faded away. I think this year the team is looking much stronger. We didn't make any dramatic roster changes but we have improved on things like OBP and we have more pitching depth this year. The emergence of Wieters this year is/will be big for us as well. While many here may cite last years hot start to discredit the start this year I think we are looking at a better ball club because we sealed the little cracks. We still have some large holes to fill* but the added depth should help us throughout the season.

* = that didn't sound how I wanted it to.

[TonySoprano]

It's too early for this, and you risk invoking the infamous Frobby jinx on the team.

As a reminder
2011 W L WP
APR 12 13 0.480
MAY 12 16 0.429
JUN 11 14 0.440
JUL 7 20 0.259
AUG 12 17 0.414
SEP 15 13 0.536
tot 69 93 0.426

Exhibit B...
2008 W L WP
MAR 0 1 0.000
APR 16 11 0.593
MAY 11 16 0.407
JUN 15 12 0.556
JUL 10 16 0.385
AUG 11 17 0.393
SEP 5 20 0.182
tot 68 93 0.422

[srock]

66 games or fewer is tough but this is still a bad team. The pitching is ahead of hitting right now and has always been if you watch the MLB. There should be no surprises. We played the Yankees and found new and creative ways to lose.

If you really think this is a playoff team or even a .500 team then you think some other team in this division will lose 100, that is the only chance.

So no, I haven't really changed my mind (not sure they will only win 66 though unless pitching staff implodes or they insert Gregg into the starting 5).

I have been surprised how hot Matt Wieters have been though, that is a pleasant surprise. I also like Paulino's bat off the bench. Win or lose it looks like they are playing as a team and that is all you can hope for after a lackluster offseason.

I disagree this is a bad team. I would call it a pretty good team in a division of (potentially) 4 other great teams.

There are two factors that will make or break this season (and I mean playing around .500 ball):

1. Starting pitching holds up over the long haul
2. MFY, Red Sox, Tampa, and Toronto

Orioles offense won't be a deciding factor when its all said and done. The offense is good and potentially great, but most likely will end up around 10th best in baseball. It will be pitching that keeps us happy or breaks out hearts.

[Mayor McCheese]

When I was out in vegas early this year, I took the over 69.5

Only 63 more W's to go!

[weams]

One of the keys is to limit long losing streaks like the one the Orioles were in the midst of this time last season. I still think this team is probably a 72-75 win team, but it could surprise and end up around 82, which would be very nice!

If that happened, Dan Duquette would have been a truth teller.