The Magic is Gone ("Perspective" thread merge)

[Tony-OH]

It is one thing to be mad and upset after a loss.. A whole other thing to then come on here and make macro judgements and grandiose statements based on that loss. This seems to be happening after every loss these days. To me the fact that these types of posts are met with criticism is part of what makes this board what it is. If those types of posts are simply left unchallenged then this board could quickly devolve into the Sun Board as one big giant reactionary mess...

As for your perception that SJ is talking down to other fans, I didn't necessarily get that but condescension is often in the eyes of the beholder.

Who said anything about leaving them unchallenged? I just explained the best way to challenge those threads or posts. My issue is with the constant snide comments from some people and an even bigger issue I have with people complaining about the threads when they it in their power to just ignore them. And an even bigger pet peeve of mine is when people start saying things like "This is what OH is turning into" when its clearly a few posters and not the entire board. There are always going to extreme view points from both sides (overly pessimistic and overly positive) but for the most part, like with politics, more people tend to move towards the center. As for SJ talking down to other fans, if you don't see that then I don't know what to tell you. He rarely posts on here unless it's to offer his houlier than thou snark.

[Dipper9]

What kills me is less than two years ago people would have been jumping up and down if the Orioles won 81 games in a season. Now we're sitting here in August, 12 games over .500 and in playoff contention and it's garbage.

1) I don't know who said its garbage, but if they did, then that's ridiculous.

b) Its a matter of perspective. The Pirates haven't had a .500 record since the Clinton Era, but do you REALLY think Pirates fans will be okay with winning 90 games and missing the playoffs with where they currently stand? Hell No!

[SilentJames]

This is something I will totally cop to.

Am I being a bit condescending? Hell yes I am.

What I did in this thread is no different then the dozens of threads that have been proclaiming doom every other week. you can see my post count, combined with my join-date, and see that I am not nearly as prolific as many on here and there is a reason for that - I largely just ignore it.

Honestly though when I turned it on today during my normal morning ritual and saw "the magic is gone" ( this is not meant to "call out" that poster, not in the slightest) and it set me off.

I don't even think there is anything remarkably optimistic about my post either. I'm not even saying we WILL make the playoffs, we could easily miss the playoffs I openly concede that. My opening post was based in fact, and the fact is that no matter how much a kick to the nuts that game was last night we are virtually in the exact same spot as we were this time last year.

I'm not asking people to get happy and expect sunshines and rainbows. I'm just asking people to chill the hell out and look at what is actually in front of them. Last night sucked, but there are many more games to play. We can talk about the emotional roller-coaster all we want, but come on people there are limits. Think, be logical. Be realistic.

[Redskins Rick]

This is something I will totally cop to.

Am I being a bit condescending? Hell yes I am.

What I did in this thread is no different then the dozens of threads that have been proclaiming doom every other week. you can see my post count, combined with my join-date, and see that I am not nearly as prolific as many on here and there is a reason for that - I largely just ignore it.

Honestly though when I turned it on today during my normal morning ritual and saw "the magic is gone" ( this is not meant to "call out" that poster, not in the slightest) and it set me off.

I don't even think there is anything remarkably optimistic about my post either. I'm not even saying we WILL make the playoffs, we could easily miss the playoffs I openly concede that. My opening post was based in fact, and the fact is that no matter how much a kick to the nuts that game was last night we are virtually in the exact same spot as we were this time last year.

I'm not asking people to get happy and expect sunshines and rainbows. I'm just asking people to chill the hell out and look at what is actually in front of them. Last night sucked, but there are many more games to play. We can talk about the emotional roller-coaster all we want, but come on people there are limits. Think, be logical. Be realistic.

Any loss sucks, but 7-6 walkoff, isn't a 11-0 dubbing.

[Guest]

This time last year:

62-53, one game behind Tampa Bay, six games behind NY

This year:

65-53, two games behind Tampa Bay, five games behind Boston

For the love of God people chill out.

All year, seemingly after every loss there has been at least one thread talking about how "the season is over." Or, "should we fire 'so-and-so'."

people have been trying to shovel dirt on this team for three months. Here are some facts:

Fact:

We are in the playoff race, last night's loss did not change that. Stop acting like it did.

Fact:

The Orioles will NOT win every game from here on out.

Fact:

The Orioles will most likely lose a couple games they "should've won."

Fact:

There is nothing going on with this team, currently, to indicate they are suddenly going to start losing more games then they win.

Fact:

On this raod trip the Orioles are currently 4-2. One more win means another winning road-trip.

Opinion:

People need to get stronger. If you are going to lose your chill over a bad loss in the context of all of the above facts I suggest a regimne of mood stabilizers, or at least scotch.

Why do people keep bringing up last year? You mean the same Rays team that played half the games without Evan and we only finished 3 games ahead of them. 2013 RedSox > 2012 Yankee team. Last you gave the O's bullpen a lead they won give them a close game and it stayed like that. The 2013 Orioles are nothing like the 2012 Orioles.

[TiredofLosing20]

As for your perception that SJ is talking down to other fans, I didn't necessarily get that

As for SJ talking down to other fans, if you don't see that then I don't know what to tell you

Am I being a bit condescending? Hell yes I am.

Sheesh, my snarkometer is clearly broken

[ShaneDawg85]

Why do people keep bringing up last year? You mean the same Rays team that played half the games without Evan and we only finished 3 games ahead of them. 2013 RedSox > 2012 Yankee team. Last you gave the O's bullpen a lead they won give them a close game and it stayed like that. The 2013 Orioles are nothing like the 2012 Orioles.

That goes both ways. This offense is better than last year's. I think the current rotation is better than the best one from last year. The defense is surely better. The bullpen is slightly worse, but who really expected they would match it? Who I ask?

[Redskins Rick]

Why do people keep bringing up last year? You mean the same Rays team that played half the games without Evan and we only finished 3 games ahead of them. 2013 RedSox > 2012 Yankee team. Last you gave the O's bullpen a lead they won give them a close game and it stayed like that. The 2013 Orioles are nothing like the 2012 Orioles.

I like the current starting pitching better.

The defense is clearly way better.

The W-L is nearly identical.

5 All-Stars on this year's rooster.

[Dipper9]

This is something I will totally cop to.

Am I being a bit condescending? Hell yes I am.

What I did in this thread is no different then the dozens of threads that have been proclaiming doom every other week. you can see my post count, combined with my join-date, and see that I am not nearly as prolific as many on here and there is a reason for that - I largely just ignore it.

Honestly though when I turned it on today during my normal morning ritual and saw "the magic is gone" ( this is not meant to "call out" that poster, not in the slightest) and it set me off.

I don't even think there is anything remarkably optimistic about my post either. I'm not even saying we WILL make the playoffs, we could easily miss the playoffs I openly concede that. My opening post was based in fact, and the fact is that no matter how much a kick to the nuts that game was last night we are virtually in the exact same spot as we were this time last year.

I'm not asking people to get happy and expect sunshines and rainbows. I'm just asking people to chill the hell out and look at what is actually in front of them. Last night sucked, but there are many more games to play. We can talk about the emotional roller-coaster all we want, but come on people there are limits. Think, be logical. Be realistic.

Even though you mention that you're not calling out my thread, I gotta say, this post is quite frankly funny to me. Funny in that the thread that you say "set you off" specifically mentioned ONE thing....that this 2013 team does not have that same "magic" feeling that last year's team did. Yet you either did not read the post, or just chose to ignore it, because it was not all doom and gloom. I DID mention that I still have hope and this IS still a good team. The point was simple, and yet you and others focused only on the negative.

[Tony-OH]

Sheesh, my snarkometer is clearly broken

I've known SJ on here for a long time.

[Redskins Rick]

Yes, but the Red Sox, Rays, A's, Rangers weren't all ahead of them at this point last year. That is the problem to get into the playoffs.

Roy, they are only two games back of the wildcard race and a bunch to play still.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/wildcard.jsp

Not to mention, only five back of Boston and how many head to head to they have left to play against Boston?

[Dipper9]

I like the current starting pitching better.

The defense is clearly way better.

The W-L is nearly identical.

5 All-Stars on this year's rooster.

Better than the overall 2012 team, perhaps. Better than the team that led the majors in August and September and dashed to the playoffs? Nah, it will be pretty hard to match the 2012 Orioles record for August and September.

[Dipper9]

Roy, they are only two games back of the wildcard race and a bunch to play still.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/wildcard.jsp

Not to mention, only five back of Boston and how many head to head to they have left to play against Boston?

I think we have either 7 or 9 left against Boston. You DO realize that everything else being equal, we'd have to win 7 of the 9 to gain 5 games against them, right?

[radar303]

This post will be viewed by some as reactionary, but please bare with me.

This has been a fun season, and its far from over. We've won more than we've lost, the offense has been very exciting at times, and the defense has been spectacular. I've enjoyed the 2013 season and still hold out hope.

That said, I don't think the Orioles are going to make the playoffs this year. We are a good team, but we don't have that magic that we had last year. Last year we were a team of destiny, a team on a mission. This year, Boston has that mojo. The Orioles are winning game for sure, but the amazing comebacks, the walk-offs, the late inning heroics, the extra inning magic, the one run wins, its all missing this year.

We'll win between 85-90 games, and we'll be in this race to the end, but I just don't think it will be enough to make the playoffs.

I just get these kind of predictions. Do you want the team to lose so that you can appear to know in advance what is going to happen? Why not just enjoy the ride and not get twisted up to what you think will occur rather than what is. We all can assess what went wrong(or right) at the end. Doom and gloom does not make for a happy life. Predictions are worthless.

I hear people say all of the time "they won't win". When I challenge them if they are fans of the team. I hear "I am the biggest fan, but my viewpoint(or expert opinion) is that they don't have this or that". In other words they would rather be right than be a fan. Just makes no sense. Who cares what (perceived) shortcomings they have. I just want them to win. I can evaluate AFTER the season.

Perfect example of this was the Raven's season from last year. Doom and gloom all year. I heard and read countless times "If they play that way in a playoff game, they can NEVER win it all". If the Super Bowl game(Raven's vs San Francisco) had been a regular season game in week 12, the boards and the radio call in shows would have crucified that VICTORY. Not consistent enough, let the other team back in the game, got lucky, poor tackling and 30 other reasons that gave CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE that it was impossible to play that way and WIN. Same vibe as this years Orioles effort.

Predictions, too many of them, most are not accurate and SERVE NO PURPOSE. It is a downer and what happens IF they get in the playoffs..... a retraction or more whining that they can't win in the playoffs?

I like the team and want to be positive, it does me no good to view them as probable losers. Just don't understand WHY fans of the team PREDICT them to do fail. What good does it do?

[Redskins Rick]

Better than the overall 2012 team, perhaps. Better than the team that led the majors in August and September and dashed to the playoffs? Nah, it will be pretty hard to match the 2012 Orioles record for August and September.

Let's not jump the gun, there is a ton of games left to be play.

While 6-4 in their last 10 isn't spectacular, but its' also not bad, and they won their last two series, which is the key, keep winning series's and it will all work itself out.