Keith Law is not impressed (in 2012, but he is in 2014)

[Fan4Life]

This is correct. His position really isn't inconsistent on this. I think if the O's manage to repeat their success from this year in 2013, you'll see Keith start to change his tune.

Having said that, I do think there's a bit of a "they don't do things the way I think they should be done, therefore they're doing it wrong" attitude here.

But to change his tune, he'd have to admit is talent vlauation process is flawed.

[CharmCityLights]

It's late, and I'm too cheap and lazy to have any software beyond MS Paint, but this thread makes me imagine this:

So awesome. Thanks.

[OFFNY]

From Twitter:

keithlaw ‏@keithlaw

Yes they are, but I still don't think they're that good, sorry. ?@lissalisa29: @keithlaw how wrong are you about them O's playoff bound?

https://twitter.com/keithlaw

I'll give the man credit - he refuses to back down. Never mind that the O's have won 92 games, sit tied atop the AL East, and are one game back from the best record in the American League - they're just not that good.

What a clown.

Kick his ass, Burg.

O

[jets4ever]

What's a Keith Law?

He's a former employee of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Don't let what he says bother you.

[Going Underground]

Who cares what other people say. They brought out retired generals during the Iraq war and most of the things they said turned out to be wrong. They need to put people on to fill up airtime or magazine space. Pundits are most of the time wrong whether it is about politics,war or even god forbid baseball.

[Ampontan]

I was just pointing out that we have benefited the last two weeks from player weak teams from Boston and Toronto - certainly weaker versions of these teams than existed in the past and earlier this season. Do you disagree?

No, but the season is longer than two weeks and the Orioles aren't the only teams in the AL, much less the AL East, to have played the weak sisters of Boston and Toronto. And we weren't laying down for the Red Sox before their trade, either.

[adam_jonzin']

I think they could win the World Series and he'd still have this same snotty attitude. Really a team you diss on all seasons makes the playoffs? I don't know how far we're going once we're there but we've had people like Law saying we're lucky and crap like that all year. Is it really so hard to say I'm wrong for some of these sportswriters?

This has already been confirmed. Keith Law is a rodeo clown. At this point he is simply not backing down - a sign of arrogance, not intelligence.

[Slappy]

What's a Keith Law?

This should clear it up.

[Three Run Homer]

The Orioles may have been lucky at the start of the season. Now we are just good. Real good.

Exactly. The miracle is that the O's were even in contention on August 1. Since August 1 there has been nothing fluky about this team. If Law wasn't so much of an egomaniac maybe he could recognize at least that much.

[howboutthoseos]

Exactly. The miracle is that the O's were even in contention on August 1. Since August 1 there has been nothing fluky about this team. If Law wasn't so much of an egomaniac maybe he could recognize at least that much.

The problem is that he doesn't actually watch the team or seemingly know anything about its evolution. A week or so back, someone asked him on Twitter who would start a 1-game playoff for the O's. He replied matter-of-factly, "Chen." If he actually knew anything about the team, he would know that Chen has been trending downwards, while Tillman, Gonzo, and probably Saunders have been better over the past few weeks and months. But it's all just numbers to him, seen through his particular unfeeling prism. Summation: He knows nothing about the team and why it has succeeded, and it shows.

[Wee-Bey]

Personally, I'm wondering if a few of the people that were assuring all of us here that the O's were going to collapse on this very board will admit they are wrong.

[Slappy]

Exactly. The miracle is that the O's were even in contention on August 1. Since August 1 there has been nothing fluky about this team. If Law wasn't so much of an egomaniac maybe he could recognize at least that much.

Under-appreciated for certain. Since August 1:

Record: 37-18

Run diff: +62

Pythag: 35-20 (over full season 103-59)

27 of 55 games, or about half, were against one of the teams still alive for a playoff slot (NYY, TBR, DET, CHW, TEX, LAA, OAK).

There's not much you can point to that's fluky about the past two months.

But Keith is like that. He even trashed the 2006 Cardinals AFTER they won the World Series! At some point you have to realize that games are played one at a time on the field and you can't get lost in the forest of stats for the leaves of individual games.

[Can_of_corn]

Personally, I'm wondering if a few of the people that were assuring all of us here that the O's were going to collapse on this very board will admit they are wrong.

I will freely admit that I thought the team was collapsing when Nick went down the first time.

This team early in the season didn't make sense the only things they were good at was hitting home runs and the bullpen.

[Goober Noodles]

I honestly could not care less what one ESPN MLB analyst thinks. Seriously. Who cares?

[Going Underground]

I had them for 67,wins not losses. Perhaps I am dyslexic.