Orange Koolaid Anyone?

Alright so I've been drinking the orange Koolaid for a while now this season, and I have got to know. If you weren't drinking it before are you drinking it now? If not then, WHY THE HECK NOT? Let me break this down for you. Right now the Orioles sit at 62-53. At this exact point last year we were 45-72, 2010 we were 41-75, 2009 47-67, 2008 58-62. Heck let's look back to when we last won the division in '97 at this point we were 73-42. That's only 9 games away from where we are right now and we finish that season 98-64. Look we have 47 games left in the season and we sit 5 1/2 games out of first place behind the Evil Empire and currently in the second wild card spot behind the Rays. Say we split the remaining games and go 85-77. When was the last time we finished in contention this late in the season and over .500? Heck tell me at the beginning of the season if someone told you we would finish with that record you wouldn't be laughing at them and saying "Yeah right". So I ask you again "Why aren't you drinking the Koolaid yet?"
Can this team tank the remaining 47 games? Sure. I mean they have a tough schedule left. Heck the rest of this month we have the Red Sox, Tigers, Rangers, Blue Jays, White Sox, and Yankees. Can we lose some of those games? Yeah, but I think we have proven this year that we can hang with these teams, and in years past we have finish strong in September playing the role of spoiler. Which lets face it that's all we had to play for.
The moves we have made this season aren't flashy, and big name signings but seem to be exactly what is needed. We needed to fix our fielding woes since we lead the league in errors. It seems we have done that in picking up and putting McLouth, Quintanilla, and Ford in the field. You add to that bringing up Machado and our fielding has been much improved.
That brings me to my next topic here. I was concerned with the bringing up of Machado because in years past we have brought guys up and they never panned out. Now I'm not about to crown the guy a Hall of Famer, but he has been quite impressive. In 4 games he is hitting .375 with 3 HR 7 RBI's and 5 runs scored. Heck in the 6 hits he's recorded he has the 3 HR's a double and a triple (which was his first major league hit). So 5 of his 6 hits have been for extra bases. There's been the haters saying yeah but it was against the Royals pitching. Yeah well who else put up those kind of numbers this past series? Yup keeping looking because no one did.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Orioles Magic is back. This team is in competition to make a push for the off season. Will we go far? Probably not but who knows. That's why they play the games right? I said it last post, I haven't even been following the Ravens training camp because I'm fixated on the O's. We have never had an Orioles team in competition and a successful Ravens team. It looks as tough we may have that now. Football season is right around the corner, but until then LET"S GO O'S!!!

How Bout Dem O's Hon

Can't get enough of that Baltimore expression these days! The O's in the win column again last night sweeping the Mariners putting them 4.5 games behind the Evil Empire (Yankees) and tied for the final wild card spot with the A's. I'm telling you I am loving how this season is playing out so far.
One thing I wanted to get to was the roster moves the Orioles are completing today. They are calling up one of their 2 top prospects today in Manny Machado. I'm not too sure about this move. The first thing that comes to mind is "Is he ready?" I guess you never know until you put him in there. The other thing that has me worried about is, will moving him up this early ruin him? We've had guys come up that we thought were ready and they have fizzled out and didn't become what everyone thought they were going to be. Then again everyone's diferent and this is turning into a different orginzation than years past. With different front office personel and coaches. We'll see. I hope he does become what everyone thinks he will be and become a starting infielder for us. Word is he may be starting at third tonight, making a slide to the right from his usual spot at short stop. God knows we could really use someone with a glove over there at third. We are leading the majors in errors and a good chunk of those coming from third. Betemit and Reynolds just aren't getting it done in the field.
Another move that may happen today is the promotion of the Orioles second top prospect Dylan Bundy. He has swiftly moved through the minors this season starting in A Delmarva and then to AA Frederick. Now it looks as though he is moving again and this time to AA Bowie. In 19 minor league games so far this season he started 19 games posting a 1.92 ERA and in 84 1/3 innings has struck out 103 batters and 19 walks. Pretty impressive. Very curious to see how he does up in Bowie!
Don't have much time now so I'll keep up on any more news I hear and pass it along.

O's start a series tonight against the Royals. Let's start another sweep!

Still out there?

Alright so it's been some time since my last post. To be exact my last post was back in March. You had the NFL season close and the end of the season buzz started to fade. Giving way to the increasing excitment to the start of the MLB season. I have to apologize for the break. We've been busy with summer stuff and the start of our product review blog which has taken off faster than we could have imagined. So I've been spending some extra time with that. Also honestly I've been enjoying this baseball season that the Orioles have provided us. I keep saying I hope the Orioles can keep this up and not let things slide like they ave in seasons past. So far they haven't let me down. My hopes for a strong finish continue to grow since in years past they have played the role in beating teams with winning records. The problem was we already had 80-90 loses by then. I like the little acquisitions they have made in Thome and Quintanilla. Just bringing a guy like Thome with his personality and experience your giving these young guys something they haven't had since Kevin Millar was in town. Wei Yin Chen has been a great surprise coming over considering most of the talk before the season was about Wada. Then you had Hammel who was lighting it up on the mound until he was injured. Hoping he can make it back and give us a little extra push. Alright am I drinking the orange cool-aid? YES and by the pitcher full at that. After 14 straight losing seasons I have been dying to see this team back in the mix and I think that time has come. I'm not saying they're taking it all but it's nice to be back in the mix.
Now that football season is about to get going I will definitely be more active. The Ravens have their first preseason game this week and I will try to break down some of the things I see in that game. I'll tell you what. In the past couple years I would have been all about football since the O's are usually out of it but this year I have been all baseball.
Please excuse any grammar or spelling errors as I'm typing this on my phone while I'm waiting for my wife at the park and ride.