I feel somewhat badly for Juan Samuel. While the record does indicate it, I think he did an admirable job as the Orioles' interim manager. This is not to say that the Orioles are throwing him under the bus in anyway, as Andy MacPhail was very up front about the fact that Samuel's stint as manager could be three days, three weeks, or three months. It was fairly obvious from the beginning that barring some sort of miracle run, Samuel wouldn't be the long-term solution. However it still has to be a bit sobering for him to manage the team this weekend in Kansas City all while knowing that when they return to Baltimore he'll once again be nothing more than the third base coach.
For a third straight outing, Brian Matusz failed to deliver expected results. In this case, he went 3.1 innings and gave up five runs. The Orioles spotted him a 4-0 lead, however a big fourth inning chased Matusz early. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with him, however it's definitely something of concern. I suppose at this point the Orioles need to allow Buck Showalter to come in and assess the situation before making any decisions. I personally don't think that Matusz is headed to the minors or anything along those lines, but ultimately the manager has to be involved in those decisions.
Trailing 5-4 in the eighth, the Orioles sent Corey Patterson up to the plate with two outs, and he proptly knotted the game at five with a homer. Ty Wiggington sacrificed Brian Roberts home in the top of the 11th, and Alfredo Simon closed things out in the last of the inning. So I guess the question at hand is whether or not this team played with that kind of moxie last night in honor of their soon-to-be ex-interim manager. I would think not, as odds are they just grinded out a tough win on the road. However my point is that Juan Samuel has done a lot of things for this team, and I hope that his contribution isn't lost in the shuffle. I'm firmly on board with the hiring of Buck Showalter, because I always wanted an experienced manager to lead this team. However Samuel will hopefully get a chance to manage in his own right down the line with another team. Gary Thorne of MASN said that the Toronto Blue Jays have expressed some interest in Samuel being a potential candidate. While his record was far from good, I honestly think he has what it takes to win in this league.
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