I think that most people my age in this area have very similar stories with regard to the Orioles. Our parents raised us as O's fans and we grew up idolizing Cal Ripken Jr. I'm no different, as Cal was my boyhood hero, however I liked him for a slightly different reason. The best memories of my life were spent at my grandparents' house in Rising Sun, Md., which is about 15 miles from Aberdeen. My dad and my uncles passed their love of this team onto me, and I was told that Eddie Murray and...
During a seemingly off-the-cuff speech as a part of Thursday's on-the-field-ceremonies, Cal Ripken Jr. pointed to the Orioles dugout and encouraged this year's team to "enjoy September." He was talking to the players, but he may as well have been talking to the fans, as well. If there's anything that 14 consecutive losing seasons should have taught the diehards who have been with this team through it all, it's to enjoy the moment and not take it for granted.
What does it mean to enjoy...
Of all the milestones the Nationals have passed in this special season, none means more so far to their long-suffering fans than Monday's 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Nats' 82nd win of 2012 guaranteed their first winning season since moving to Washington. That's a treasure for the fans who stuck with the team through its lean years since 2005 and those who remember the expansion Senators.
To quote the Eagles, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969."
That was the last time...
Hindsight is never wrong and there is more than one path to winning. But for the Nationals, the willful awfulness of 2008 and 2009 are paying off. Without the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the Nationals wouldn't be as good as they are, and it isn't just Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Having the first pick overall means a team has the first pick in every round. A.J. Cole was the first pick of the fourth round of the 2010 draft and one of keys in the Gio Gonzalez trade.
Early on, the Nationals...
Tuesday night's "laugher" of a game as MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko so aptly dubbed it was also the first time in team history that six home runs were hit. Or rather, I choose to see it as the first time we ever heard the subhorn go off six times (plus one for good luck since they sound it after each win) during a Nationals game.
Washington decided early on last season to nix the home run fireworks that shot up after a crushed long ball and replace it with something unique, a brand...
Owing to good luck and a fortuitous schedule, I have the honor of my regular turn in the MASN rotation falling today, as the Orioles wake up in a first-place tie with the New York Yankees - on Sept. 5.
It was only several weeks ago that the Yanks had a 10-game division lead and it hardly mattered. That the Orioles were winning and in contention for the wild card was plenty of reason for joy. Nobody at that time, at least to my recollection, seriously considered the possibility of contending...
I've never complained about Mark Reynolds' crazy high strikeout totals, but it's definitely the popular thing to do in Birdland. All the cool kids are doing it. Power hitters go down swinging a lot; it happens. They swing hard and miss often, but when they put the barrel on the ball, it typically travels hundreds of feet.
After hitting two bombs in the Bronx on Sunday, Reynolds struck out three times in Rogers Centre on Monday. Last season, Reynolds led the American League in strikeouts...
Last week, against all common sense, I tuned my radio to a sports talk station. The host, supposedly a native of Rockville who claimed he knew the area, added his voice to the ad nauseum discussion of the pending end of Stephen Strasburg's brilliant 2012 season.
His point: Nationals fans have been supportive of general manager Mike Rizzo's decision on Strasburg because "D.C. just isn't a baseball town." He claimed "real" baseball fans - like those in New York, St. Louis and Boston...
Prior to writing for Birds Watcher, I covered the Orioles for another outlet in 2010-11. After what I still feel was the greatest closing act of all time last September against Boston, I wrote that I felt that game juxtaposed the fortunes of the two franchises together in some strange way for the future. (Shout out to my high school English teachers, as I was paying attention all those years - who else could work juxtaposition into a sports column?).
I suppose that, at the time, I did in fact...
The St. Louis Cardinals are not only the reigning world champions, but they are in a tight race with the Braves and Dodgers for the National League wild card. They probably still hold out hope that they can catch the Reds, which is why taking three of four from a team like St. Louis at this point in the season is as impressive as it is crucial.
And there is no better test of the Nationals' starting rotation - the best in baseball - than the Cards. They are the most potent offensive team in...
It's been one interesting week since my prediction that the Nationals would make the playoffs with the best record in baseball. It didn't seem so bold at the time, given their 6 1/2-game lead over Atlanta in the National League East and their two-game lead over Cincinnati for the major leagues' best mark.
It's amazing, though, how a losing streak can rock some people's faith. Five days later, it seemed I was talking some people down from the ledge. The terms "choking" and "cracking...
A lot has been made of the poor attendance over this current four-game series against the White Sox. Despite being in the heart of a playoff race and playing another first-place team, the Orioles managed to draw fewer than 15,000 fans on all three nights. Today's game, with the 12:35 p.m. start time, promises to be even more sparsely attended.
Why?
Bloggers and fans have said for years that if the Orioles were winning, the fans would return. The swaths of green seats seen on television...
On Sept. 1, 2011 the Boston Red Sox had the best record in the American League, a 1 1/2-game lead over the Yankees for the AL East and a nine-game lead over the Rays for the wild card. On that same date, the Atlanta Braves had a nine-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL wild card. Both teams ended 2011 by missing the playoffs.
One year earlier, the Braves entered September with a three-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East. That season, the Braves fell into the wild card,...
The past week has been as good a time as ever to reflect on the 2012 baseball season. The kids are back in school, Labor Day's next week, the dog days of summer are behind us, and we've got just over one month of baseball left. That's where everything stands.
To break it down, the Nationals are four games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East standings and are still the best team in all of baseball record-wise despite their five consecutive losses. Might I also add that...
It's hard to watch the Orioles' success this year and not hearken back to the well-worn phrase that we, as fans, are fortunate to call our birthright: Orioles Magic.
True, it's tinged with nostalgia, coming as it does from a bygone era. And equally true, it's often been uttered with tongue planted firmly in cheek over the past 14 years of losing. But it's a great phrase both because it's ours and because it works. When baseball is as much fun as this, a word like magic doesn't sound...
Few people in this world are as unique as my mother, now 74. Often, I marvel at her peerless insights into human nature. Other times, her devil-may-care unpredictability makes me want to scream.
Davey Johnson, the Nationals' excellent skipper, is a lot like my mother.
Here are seven ways they are alike:
Unpredictability: My mother's behavior and schedule are impossible to pin down. She could be anywhere at any time. For my sons' birthday parties, she might show up before, during or after...
I've convinced myself that I suffer from a very mild case of seasonal depression. For as long as I can remember, "back to school" has always been the worst phrase in the English language. I'm 24 and haven't been in a classroom since 2010, but there's something about the end of summer that brings me down just a bit.
From the first moment I hear the smooth tones of Joe Angel and Fred Manfra broadcasting from spring training in Sarasota, I can almost feel the Baltimore humidity back in my...
With the Orioles on the road lsat week, I took the opportunity to visit one of my favorite places, and one of the jewels of our home region: the Delmarva shore. For the record, the seashore is one of the few places on earth that rivals a ballpark for my attention. There's nothing like braving the surf during the day, and then quite literally sittin' on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away as you watch Orioles baseball outdoors at dockside restaurants.
During my time at the shore,...
The month of August - and July before it - have been the two best months in the history of the Nationals franchise. The Nationals have a winning record for every month of this season. But so far they are a combined 33-18 for these past two months, even after the weekend disaster in Philadelphia.
In 2005, there was the magical month of June when the team went 20-6. But what followed - a 9-18 July - was misery. It is important to remember the history of the franchise in order to gain some...
The Orioles are masters of the five-game win streak. After stringing together a then-season-best four-game win streak in late April, the O's have posted five-game win streaks in every month since.
The Orioles' five-game win streaks are more different than they are alike, although some patterns have emerged. Here are five facts about the O's five-game win streaks:
* All but one of the Orioles' five-game win streaks have included two extra-inning victories. Among these are two extra-inning...