How long can YOU put up with losing.

[NewMarketSean]

I still want to see improvement this year. Pretty major improvement.

To me this season feels a lot like 2004. That year, the team was 36-45 at the halfway point, same as this year. But in the second half they played well, going 42-39. Both the hitting and the pitching were significantly better in the second half. I believe something similar can be achieved this year. Put it this way, if the team ends up 70-92 I will consider this season to be extremely disappointing.

I expect a winning record next year, and will be very disappointed if that doesn't happen. Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz should all be here most of next year and that should be enough to propel the team to a winning record.

But to answer the question you asked about how long I can "put up" with losing, the answer is, as long as it takes. I am a lifelong fan of this team and nothing is going to change that for me. I will tune in, watch the games, and hope for things to get better, no matter how long they continue to lose and how many times they disappoint me.

I do agree that the pitching could get on track like it did in 2004. But only when Tillman and Arrieta are here. It's not gonna happen with Hill and Berken in the rotation.

[BringBackMagic]

Forever.

This is my team. I don't jump because they're losing. I lament, but they're my team, and I'm sticking by them, even if they suck until the day I die.

Well said.

[Satyr3206]

The losing is over in 2010.

The Baltimore Orioles will win 85 games next year.

I think it will be 89 if 2 of the Big 3 make at least 25 starts.

[Orioles West]

I am not talking about abandoning the team. But 2010 will be the 4th year AM has been GM. If the players he's brought to Baltimore are showing no improvement in the standings then I will be saying that something needs to change.

The Orioles may be able to turn that damn worm by 2010, but it could take longer. Based on the shipwreck that Andy inherited, I would personally give him to 2012 to see where the Birds are overall. I think he is trying to rebuild the organization at every level and not simply get us over .500 for a year.

I don't think changing GMs and Managers like underwear is ever a real answer, it was that approach that dug the hole AM is trying to get us out of.

-Don

[El Gordo]

This is a thread that warrants an answer from everyone who responds to the thread. We're not talking generalities here...I want specific answers from people about themselves.

OK...so it's been 12 years since we've had a winning season and this year is going to be lucky number 13 by the looks of it.

I know we're in year 3 of "the MacPhail Experiment" and AM has always said this is a long-term rebuilding plan. HOWEVER...I am neveretheless disappointed that we are STILL one of the worst teams in baseball. Record-wise, there is no improvement.

OK, we have more positions filled long-term than ever before, but we're still not getting results where it counts -- the standings.

For me, if 2010 is another downer year like 2009 has been thus far, and we're still 15-20 games out of first place by the All Star Break, I will have had enough.

You can tell me how high PLAYER X's OPS was for last month until you're blue in the face...but until we put it all together and improve in the standings, we're really just treading water.

So I guess what I am saying is that I want to see improvement in the standings, not just in an at-bat or a pitcher's start...but over the ENTIRE course of an entire 162 game season.

How about you?

My how time flies. I could have sworn that this is likely to be our 12th losing season not the 13th. Also didn't AM take over June 18 2007? That's 2 years and about 3 weeks by my watch.

[Hank Scorpio]

I still want to see improvement this year. Pretty major improvement.

To me this season feels a lot like 2004. That year, the team was 36-45 at the halfway point, same as this year. But in the second half they played well, going 42-39. Both the hitting and the pitching were significantly better in the second half. I believe something similar can be achieved this year. Put it this way, if the team ends up 70-92 I will consider this season to be extremely disappointing.

I expect a winning record next year, and will be very disappointed if that doesn't happen. Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz should all be here most of next year and that should be enough to propel the team to a winning record.

But to answer the question you asked about how long I can "put up" with losing, the answer is, as long as it takes. I am a lifelong fan of this team and nothing is going to change that for me. I will tune in, watch the games, and hope for things to get better, no matter how long they continue to lose and how many times they disappoint me.

Took the words outta my mouth, probably refined them a bit, corrected a few misspellings, then posted my thoughts right here.

Well done.

[ChaosLex]

There are times when I desperately want to give up on this team, but I just can't. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're still my team and they will be until the day I die.

As long as I can b*tch and complain about them on here, I'll survive.

[Sanfran327]

I only lose interest in the context of one season. The guy on here with the 'OsFanThruJune' handle sums it up for me. It's right about this time of year when I start missing games and losing interest: we're on a long, likely very crappy road trip on the west coast, games are too late for me to stay up and watch, and summer activities are starting to eat up my weekends. I still follow every game on my blackberry as I get 3/6/F scoring updates, and I generally read a post-game wrap if I missed a game, but I start putting the O's lower and lower on my list of priorities.

I told my friends at the beginning of the season that my goal was to watch 150+ games this year, and I had every intention of doing it. I really thought that this offense was going to keep me interested. But even that has spoiled over the past few weeks. Quite simply, this team isn't worth my time after a certain point. I reserve 4+ hours of my day, as a 27-year-old man, living alone, in the prime of my life, for THIS team? Are you effing kidding me? I've been doing this for 5 years now since I've been out of school and back into O's network range. And every single time, this team craps the bed by late June and becomes unwatchable. I really looked forward to those 150 games this year, but I'm not going to watch reruns of the same damn show night after night. Right now, I'm limited to prioritizing Bergesen's starts, and that's it. I'm no longer going to clear my schedule for the other 80% of our games.

Hopefully, this will pick back up later on THIS season. Bet your ass I'm going to watch this team again when Tillman and Arrieta come up. But until then, I just can't keep wasting my time. I have too much other fun stuff to do at this point in my life, and the O's just piss me off too much to devote 648+ hours a year to watch them stink it up all summer.

[Satyr3206]

I only lose interest in the context of one season. The guy on here with the 'OsFanThruJune' handle sums it up for me. It's right about this time of year when I start missing games and losing interest: we're on a long, likely very crappy road trip on the west coast, games are too late for me to stay up and watch, and summer activities are starting to eat up my weekends. I still follow every game on my blackberry as I get 3/6/F scoring updates, and I generally read a post-game wrap if I missed a game, but I start putting the O's lower and lower on my list of priorities.

I told my friends at the beginning of the season that my goal was to watch 150+ games this year, and I had every intention of doing it. I really thought that this offense was going to keep me interested. But even that has spoiled over the past few weeks. Quite simply, this team isn't worth my time after a certain point. I reserve 4+ hours of my day, as a 27-year-old man, living alone, in the prime of my life, for THIS team? Are you effing kidding me? I've been doing this for 5 years now since I've been out of school and back into O's network range. And every single time, this team craps the bed by late June and becomes unwatchable. I really looked forward to those 150 games this year, but I'm not going to watch reruns of the same damn show night after night. Right now, I'm limited to prioritizing Bergesen's starts, and that's it. I'm no longer going to clear my schedule for the other 80% of our games.

Hopefully, this will pick back up later on THIS season. Bet your ass I'm going to watch this team again when Tillman and Arrieta come up. But until then, I just can't keep wasting my time. I have too much other fun stuff to do at this point in my life, and the O's just piss me off too much to devote 648+ hours a year to watch them crap the bed all summer.

You have it figured out down to the hour? Rep to you, wish I was that organized.

[Mackus]

I want to see improvement over the 2nd half. Hopefully a winning record, but that will depend on who's here.

As to when I will start thinking that MacPhail's plan has failed, that will be when the main pieces are all up and adjusted and still not doing well. If in 2010 and 2011 we aren't playing well even though Wieters, Reimold, Snyder, Arrieta, Tillman, and Matusz are all up and through what would be a decent sized adjustment phase, if those guys just collectively end up coming up short, then I will think MacPhail's plan whiffed. That probably won't be until 2011 though.

As to when I will stop following the Orioles, that will be when I die.

[NewMarketSean]

The Orioles may be able to turn that damn worm by 2010, but it could take longer. Based on the shipwreck that Andy inherited, I would personally give him to 2012 to see where the Birds are overall. I think he is trying to rebuild the organization at every level and not simply get us over .500 for a year.

Agreed. But at some point, doing that will mean improvement at the MLB level.

[Fan4Life]

This year is like every other year for the last 11, we all start of hot and passionately interested. We follow the team at a micro level. As the season progresses, and the losses mount, the interest level begins to fall off. During this process we go through the typical roller coaster affect where we have moments that make us proud and give us hope, only later to return to disappointment.

For me, it's 2 things.

The current pitching staff isn't going to take as very far, bullpen included. It really wasn't designed to, as we're looking over things to see what we have. Thus far the results are, Not Much.

We need at least one Big Bopper - Perhaps Weiters will evolve into this type of hitter, but how long can we wait for that? Tex would have been the right guy at the right time but, just wasn't right. Not sure the best solution here, but we need one.

[NewMarketSean]

Well, at some point, I do think that O's fans (at least the ones who are left) should be concerned about the extended losing and the effect it has on the fanbase and on a bigger scale, the impact of businesses downtown and MASN.

An Orioles team that lose 15-20 years in a row is not going to be able to survive in this city and whoever owns the team at that point may believe the grass is greener elsewhere.

[Orioles West]

Agreed. But at some point, doing that will mean improvement at the MLB level.

Yes, I'm just thinking it may be 2010 to see that, but could just as likely be 2012. Especially if we're banking on some or all of the Big Three to take charge of the front end of the rotation.

-Don

[TonySoprano]

I still want to see improvement this year. Pretty major improvement.

To me this season feels a lot like 2004. That year, the team was 36-45 at the halfway point, same as this year. But in the second half they played well, going 42-39. Both the hitting and the pitching were significantly better in the second half. I believe something similar can be achieved this year. Put it this way, if the team ends up 70-92 I will consider this season to be extremely disappointing.

I expect a winning record next year, and will be very disappointed if that doesn't happen. Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz should all be here most of next year and that should be enough to propel the team to a winning record.

But to answer the question you asked about how long I can "put up" with losing, the answer is, as long as it takes. I am a lifelong fan of this team and nothing is going to change that for me. I will tune in, watch the games, and hope for things to get better, no matter how long they continue to lose and how many times they disappoint me.

Well, if we follow your 2004 analogy: this offseason we'll make yet another high profile trade with the Cubs, be in first place for most of the first two months, and then fire the manager in early August.