Hold on while I catch my breath...what year. 2010 was supposed to be the year that the magic returned. Instead it almost chased away what little magic was left. I predicted a return to respectability for the Orioles this year, although I did say that if the ball bounced the right way they could be a very good team that would possibly contend. However if it bounced the wrong way, the Orioles could actually regress further into the doldrums. We all know which way that ball bounced to begin the season. The Orioles lost Brian Roberts, Felix Pie, and the entre back end of the bullpen to injury. Dave Trembley was seemingly under heavy duress from the beginning, and was eventually let go on June 4th. That of course was after the O's started 2-16 and quickly became the laughingstock of the league. And all of that was only in the first two months! However things steadily went up from there. While the wins didn't suddenly start magically coming, Juan Samuel did an admirable job for his two months as manager. The O's also started getting some of their injured players back such as Roberts and Pie towards the end of July, which effectively proves the theory that a lot of the struggles had to do with injuries.
The Orioles' final record was 66-98; if you remove that from context, it's pretty poor, and about the status quo for the Orioles in the past few years. However as the title states, there's more than meets the eye with regard to the O's. In my opinion August 3rd was the Orioles' true opening day this year, as that's the day that Buck Showalter made his debut as the Orioles' manager. After that, we saw smooth sailing the rest of the way. The Buck-O's won 65% of the rest of their games; that translates to somewhere around 100 wins out of 162 games. That's playoff baseball folks. The team that had a fighting chance to break the '62 Mets' record for futility didn't even lose 100 games. Furthermore, the way that they finished the season will never be forgotten in these parts. The Orioles (under Buck Showalter) took it to every opponent that they faced, and in doing so they ensured that the smirk was wiped off of the faces of the rest of the league. I'm a writer, but first and foremost I'm a Baltimore Oriole fan; and I'm proud of the Orioles. I feel that I can hold my head high knowing that while things didn't quite work out the way we thought, they worked out.
So what's next?! The season's not technically over until after the world series, at which point free agency begins. Over the course of time we'll go over what the Orioles need and what they're going after, however I feel that it's safe to say that Buck Showalter found more than a few nuggets during the final two months of the season. What used to be called Orioles Magic seemed to be absent for quite awhile this year. However it came roaring back with avengence. Does something magic happen everytime you go? You bet your bottom buck it does, and don't you ever forget it.
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