masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWell, what a special night at Camden Yards and what a special team. It was a night 17 years in the making, and the Orioles and their fans can claim supremacy again in the American League East.

It was pretty much perfect, wasn’t it?

The Orioles players deserve credit for so many reasons. For overcoming injuries and adversity. For playing so hard and bringing their best every night. For taking charge of this division out of the All-Star break which began with a tough West Coast trip. For…Well, what a special night at Camden Yards and what a special team. It was a night 17 years in the making, and the Orioles and their fans can claim supremacy again in the American League East.

It was pretty much perfect, wasn’t it?

The Orioles players deserve credit for so many reasons. For overcoming injuries and adversity. For playing so hard and bringing their best every night. For taking charge of this division out of the All-Star break which began with a tough West Coast trip. For understanding what last night meant to the fans and for taking the time to celebrate with them.

Yep, pretty awesome night.

os-celebrate-al-east-sidebar.jpgNow we begin to find out how manager Buck Showalter handles the rest of the regular season, which has 11 games still to play.

He will want to rest some players, but not provide too much rest. He’ll want to keep them sharp. Now he can begin to set up his postseason rotation and start to plan to try to win 11 games starting Oct. 2.

The crowd was amazing last night. But that was just the start. I’ll never forget those amazing crowds in October 2012 and we are going to get more of that here real soon.

The Orioles won 8-2 last night over Toronto. Of course, a few weeks ago we all knew that Alejandro De Aza, Steve Pearce, Jimmy Paredes and Nick Hundley would drive in all the runs in the clincher and we knew that Ubaldo Jimenez would get the win in that game, right?

Of all the special moments from last night I can still see the smile on Jimenez’s face when he said this:

“I just want to be part of the team. Doing that tonight, I feel a part of it. Really happy… It’s pretty sweet. I told you it was going to be sweet.”

How can you not be happy for the guy?

Finally, I am so happy for all the Orioles fans that stuck with this team through all the losing seasons. I once heard misguided media in this town say back then that “no one cares about the Orioles.”

That was never true and the team had legions of long-suffering fans when it was the AL East doormat. Now those of you that were always there are finding out how special the winning can be.