There are two kinds of fans in sports; those who are overly critical, and those who see things through rose colored glasses. I'm not sure which is better or worse, however you can generally see either kind of fan coming a mile away. Thus far in 2010, the overly critical fans have predominantly been who we've heard. However it's obvious that those folks might soon be quieted, as 'dem O's appear to be a totally different team under Buck Showalter. Thus far in the series with the White Sox, the Orioles have guaranteed themselves at least a split. If they can beat Chicago this evening, they would finish the homestand at 6-1. Even the fan that sees things throught the rosiest of glasses wouldn't have predicted this back in May!
Obviously the team's playing better because of Buck Showalter, however the question is what's so different about Showalter that Dave Trembley (and Juan Samuel) didn't have? That I don't know. I liked Dave Trembley because he was a solid baseball man who had been a minor league coach for years. I felt that the Orioles could have grown and blossomed under home. However perhaps he wasn't the greatest motivator in the world. (I don't know this as a fact, I'm just throwing it out there.) This is not to say that Trembley simply told the team to go out there and win today each game, however the mark of a great coach is being a good X's and O's guy, and a leader of men (see Joe Torre, Vince Lombardi, John Wodden). Thus far, Showalter has come across as just that kind of guy. I'm certainly not comparing him to Vince Lombardi, however he's certainly given the team a shot in the arm.
In previous weeks or months in the season, yesterday would have been a game the Orioles would have lost. Felix Pie homered in the second, and Chicago tied it in the fifth. Two or three weeks ago that probably would have been the end of the game because Guthrie would have hung a fastball over the plate, and that would have been that. However as I said, this is a different team. Instead, the O's put three runs across in the sixth and Guthrie went eight innings and gave up one run. Having said that, Chicago did put two across on a Ramon Castro homer in the 9th off of Alfredo Simon. So again, the O's found themselves going through some in-game adversity. Having said that, Simon's problem is that he was trying to use all of his pitches. As a closer, you only need to throw one pitch: heat. Instead, Simon tried to mess around by throwing sliders off the plate, and that ultimately haunted him. However, he did manage to get one final out, giving the Orioles a 4-3 victory at home.
After the game Buck Showalter made his first roster move as the Orioles' skipper, sending Troy Patton back to Norfolk and recalling Craig Tatum. The Orioles will close out the homestand tonight against Chicago at the yard before heading out to Cleveland for three, and then onto Tampa for three next weekend. One has to hope that the team can keep up this pace in those cities, however they need to take things game-by-game at this point. The moment you look forward to the next day is when you start to struggle and you might take a hard loss. Let's just hope they keep this up so that we can continue hearing those rose colored glasses fans coming out of the woodwork.
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