masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgToday marks the one-year anniversary of the Orioles clinching the American League East at home and setting off a wild on-field celebration shared with the fans who were in no hurry to leave Camden Yards.
Merry Clinchmas to everyone.
Manager Buck Showalter was challenged today to share his most vivid memories from that night.
“I’d have to think about it,” he said. “You never assume any of it until it happens, until the last ball is caught and you step on first. Because we live in that world,…

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Orioles clinching the American League East at home and setting off a wild on-field celebration shared with the fans who were in no hurry to leave Camden Yards.

Merry Clinchmas to everyone.

Manager Buck Showalter was challenged today to share his most vivid memories from that night.

“I’d have to think about it,” he said. “You never assume any of it until it happens, until the last ball is caught and you step on first. Because we live in that world, we have to, that you never assume anything.

“There would be more than one.”

I suggested Nick Markakis standing in the outfield and taking in the moment – slowly raising his head and looking at the video screen that pronounced the Orioles as division champions – after a broken thumb kept him out of the 2012 playoffs.

“Markakis? Oh yeah,” Showalter said.

“I think just kind of sitting back and watching everybody after the game, coming back out on the field with the fans and how proud I was of them and everybody in the organization.”

News was scarce from today’s media session. Miguel Gonzalez threw again on flat ground, as I wrote in my last blog entry. He extended the distance to at least 90 feet and is expected to throw from 120 on Friday.

Gonzalez throwing white side.jpg“He and Wally (Dave Wallace) and Richie (Bancells) are going to sit down and see where we are and see if we’re going to speed the process up or not,” Showalter said. “I can tell from his face that he’s feeling good.”

The Orioles are left to wonder whether Gonzalez undersold the injury while struggling in the second half. Does Showalter believe that’s the case?

“If I was a betting man, knowing Miguel, yeah I do,” he replied. “Miguel, that’s one of the things that you like about him. There are no excuses. He feels like that he can compete and give us a chance to win like most pitchers do that aren’t 100 percent.

“I could tell in the first inning that something was going on with (Joe) Kelly last night, and I’m sure you all saw it. He got better the next inning or two and then it came back again, the shoulder. But Miguel, we kept asking him because of the fastball command, something that’s always been a real asset, something that he’s good at.

“When you see that with him … and it wasn’t that he was walking people. He was just trying to go in, and the ball was leaking out over the plate. When he went in, he missed either way in or for a strike. That’s usually when you can tell this time of the year if the fastball command is a challenge for pitchers, if they’re tired.”