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I'm just tired


SilentJames

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I wrote a post during the world series last year basically begging the Orioles to give me a winning baseball team while I was still young enough to enjoy it.

I'm 29. :laughlol:

I am getting to the point that I have far more important things to spend my time on. All the books I could read, all the essays I could write. The money I would save!

Trust me James ....You still be able to enjoy it at 40. Anyway I've been suffering with the team a lot longer. I have watched from a distance for a long time. Dont attend games and havent since Angelos got cheap in free agency after A Belle. I watched as the team has been stuck in baseball purgatory while one bumbling idiot after another was hired to be the GM. The Orioles have made progress in development, drafting, and actually have a few good players in the bigs....But they have a long way to go. I personally wasnt fooled by the fast start and looking at the K's ,hit into Dp's, and high failed RISP basically told you this team was riding a stellar bullpen and a few good SPs.

I believe DD is trying to get better players without mortgaging the future that looks bright ...Yet still just a light at the long end of a tunnel.

Im still not convinced that Angelos will open up the check book and that the team has the ability to go get difference makers. As witnessed by action like

1) Not cutting Gregg

2) have like 6 DH type guys

3) Thome trade (who looks done at the plate to me)

Im in show me dont tell me mode....When the Orioles regardless of who the GM is makes a real splash in the trade market and actually signs a free agent or two that other teams actually covet I'll be convinced. I personally feel you allowed yourself to be caught up in this mirage that is a team still slightly over .500.... But to me all the signs of a monumental collapse are there for anyone that has their eyes open. I still cant wait to see Angelos and hopefully the Angelos family go. The curse will still exist as long as they are involved.

Just my .02 :o Hang in there...But lower your expectations!

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The OP is one of the saddest I've ever read on here.

I don't consider myself a Lollipopper or a Debbie Downer. I aspire to be cautiously optimistic, but never to get too overly excited when things are going well, or too down when the team doesn't perform well. Right now, I look at this team and think it could be 2005 redux, but that is just one of many possible outcomes. You can't predict what happens next, you just have to let it unfold. Did anyone see 34-23 coming the day Buck took over as manager? Did anyone think in mid-August last year, that we'd be beating the contenders in September? I'm not saying I expect a strong finish from the O's this year, I'm saying that I'm going to watch, hope, and not presume failure. I'm not tired after 47 years as a fan, because I know by now that the variety of possible outcomes is infinite, and just when you think you have this game figured out, you find out you don't. That's what keeps me from getting tired of being a fan of this team.

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The OP is one of the saddest I've ever read on here.

I don't consider myself a Lollipopper or a Debbie Downer. I aspire to be cautiously optimistic, but never to get too overly excited when things are going well, or too down when the team doesn't perform well. Right now, I look at this team and think it could be 2005 redux, but that is just one of many possible outcomes. You can't predict what happens next, you just have to let it unfold. Did anyone see 34-23 coming the day Buck took over as manager? Did anyone think in mid-August last year, that we'd be beating the contenders in September? I'm not saying I expect a strong finish from the O's this year, I'm saying that I'm going to watch, hope, and not presume failure. I'm not tired after 47 years as a fan, because I know by now that the variety of possible outcomes is infinite, and just when you think you have this game figured out, you find out you don't. That's what keeps me from getting tired of being a fan of this team.

This is a great post. This is where I'm at with this team. One game at a time. I will say, on a negative note, that one thing that is consistent are the gloom and doom threads on here after nearly every loss. I can honestly say the site is frustrating me more than the team. Nothing against this OP in particular.

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All this and we're still over .500? One game guys... one game.

Not for much longer at this pace. And, just look at how many games over .500 we were a month or so ago. We've seriously fallen down the hill, roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble.

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We've lost 14 of our last 20, many by blowouts and in pretty much all of them the offense has been terrible.

Now the bullpen is coming back to earth, Hammel might be hurt and the Calvary got cut down like Custer at little big horn.

You don't have to be the Amazing Creskin to see things aren't headed in a positive direction. If it makes me negative to simply take notice of these facts, then call me Mr. Negative.

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Perhaps it's because I've been abroad (Germany) for the past month and, beyond checking box scores, haven't witnessed the slide up close, but I'm actually pretty optimistic about the team going forward. Machado and Schoop are hitting well and may not be that far away, Bundy is Bundy, and Hoes and Avery are beginning to look like legitimate major league options and could make an extremely effective platoon next year. Chen has been solid. Hammel, although unhealthy, is a gift. Davis, for all his weaknesses, is cheap and effective. For the first time in years, there's an actual foundation to work with.

,

Just as important as our progress, is the regression of the rest of the division. We are still the weakest team in the division, but the gap isn't nearly as wide as it was. The other teams aren't the unassailable colossi they once were.

That's not to say I think we're going to compete this year. Unless Peterson turns water into wine, this season is over. We absolutely should not be buyers. My biggest fear for the remainder of this season (other than freak injuries) is that DD will do something stupid and trade Schoop/Hoes/Avery for a rental pitcher.

In the near future:

C: Wieters

1B: Davis/Reimold

2B: Hardy

3B: Schoop

SS: Machado

DH: Reimold/Davis

LF: Hoes/Avery

CF: Jones

RF: Markakis

That looks pretty good to me, and that's without adding anything external.

SP: Chen

SP: Hammel

SP: Britton

SP: Matusz

SP: Arrieta

SP: Tillman

SP: Hunter

SP: Bundy

SP: Gausman

A lot of potential there - hopefully Peterson is able to harness it - but adding an arm this offseason is probably a good idea, especially since the free agent class is so deep.

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I'm not tired after 47 years as a fan, because I know by now that the variety of possible outcomes is infinite, and just when you think you have this game figured out, you find out you don't. That's what keeps me from getting tired of being a fan of this team.

I'm with you on this. Good post.

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Agree about the future Scrat! I like what Duquette is doing here, I like the solid crop of young players we have that will come of age next year and hopefully if we do finally bring in some impact free agents soon, we could be well on our way to permanent relevance in the AL East.

I was really just refering to this year. I think we are seeing reality set in and the inevitable O's slide to the cellar has begun. But that doesn't mean I'm not optimstic about the future, I am, just this season...........not so much.

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We've lost 14 of our last 20' date=' many by blowouts and in pretty much all of them the offense has been terrible.

Now the bullpen is coming back to earth, Hammel might be hurt and the Calvary got cut down like Custer at little big horn.

You don't have to be the Amazing Creskin to see things aren't headed in a positive direction. If it makes me negative to simply take notice of these facts, then call me Mr. Negative.[/quote']

Taking notice of these facts is actually called being intelligent or observant. Now, dwelling on them, harping on them, seemingly reveling in them,refusing to see any of the positive facts, and seeing nearly every individual loss as absolutely predictive of an imminent collapse is my definition of an actual "Mr. Negative".

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We've lost 14 of our last 20' date=' many by blowouts and in pretty much all of them the offense has been terrible.

Now the bullpen is coming back to earth, Hammel might be hurt and the Calvary got cut down like Custer at little big horn.

You don't have to be the Amazing Creskin to see things aren't headed in a positive direction. If it makes me negative to simply take notice of these facts, then call me Mr. Negative.[/quote']

Just as the bullpen was sure to come a bit back to Earth eventually, this hitting slump won't last forever. The evidence is pretty overwhelming that the team's hitters are better than they are playing right now. So what makes you "Mr. Negative" is your assumption that the parts of the team that have overperformed will falter but that the parts of the team that are underperforming will just continue to underperform.

In the end, the starting pitching will decide how our season finishes. If Hammel is seriously hurt and the younger pitchers don't step up, it won't matter whether the offense wakes up, which I strongly suspect it will.

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Just once I'd like to see someone on this team get emotional. I know it wouldn't mean much, and yes I know they do care. But just to see that they are as fed up with the losing as I am would be comforting.

But no. You almost never see Buck come out of the dugout and nuke an umpire. You never see any of the players (other than Jones) show any emotion at all. Can't help but feel that they are already playing out the string and ready to head home in October.

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It's just pointless.

My optimism won't make the team win, and even if it does nothing really changes in my immediate life save for another t-shirt to buy.

Its not like some fantastic second career is coming out of my ramblings on here or in my blog. I'm essentially writing the same thing, over and over again and have been for SEVEN YEARS.

I know my wife is tired of my mood being affected by the Orioles and baseball in general. I know the team is trying to win, I know all is being done can be done but I'm tired of the seemingly cosmic barrier in the way of any success.

My wife is tired too. We've been married for 10 years and she said, "You sure did a great job of hiding your Oriole obsession when we were dating."

All I will say is that I went to one OriolesHangout Night in 2010 and there was a buzz among the attendees about you being there among several people. "I heard Silent James is coming. Is he here?" It was clear to me that you are a much loved member of this community and a winner regardless of the mountain of losses.

A few weeks ago, I went into a pizza place in the city and all eyes were on the television in the corner. It was early in the game against the Pirates. I thought they were watching the Euro Cup. "How did Roberts get on?" I asked. "Singled," someone said without turning away from the screen. I haven't seen that level of interest here in a long, long time.

Here's to the essays you will write in the future.

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