Cliche Warning: The Kids Are Alright

O's score a moral victory and an actual victory to boot

By Matthew Taylor

Apparently some of the 16,000-plus fans at last night’s game were unhappy that the O’s decided to bench a few regulars in favor of younger players.

The arguments expressed in today’s edition of The Sun remind me of Peter Angelos’s rationalization back in the late ‘90s for not trading away aging, high-priced players in exchange for young talent. In short, the thinking goes, the fans paid to see the big names no matter how poorly they’re doing. I would argue instead that I want to see the guys with the most passion regardless of their pay grade.

One game doesn’t prove anything, even if it was a 3-0 shutout victory over a first place team and a potential Cy Young candidate. Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue with Dave Trembley’s decision to light a fire under his moribund team by revamping the lineup. The players practically tell you that themselves, whether they intend to or not.

Just compare the comments from Wednesday night’s 18-6 loss with those that came after Thursday’s 3-0 victory.

From Wednesday:

Jay Payton: "It's pretty miserable, to be honest with you. It's bottom of the barrel right now. I don't think it can get a whole lot worse than it is right now. ... I've been with six different teams and I've never been through anything like this."

Melvin Mora: "This is the worst [stretch] ever in all the years I've been here and the worst ever in my life. The worst."

The lead of this story says it all: “Wednesday’s game was a perfect example of what happens when a team going places meets one about to go on vacation.”

From Thursday:

Brandon Fahey: "It was a blast. All the backup guys, we're all out there and we all played hard. It was a blast, maybe the most fun game of my life."

Jon Leicester: "I'm having a good time out there and trying to keep our team in the game. I was just trying to get them to swing the bat early, and the defense was amazing for me."

After an error-filled contest the night before, you simply had to watch some of the O’s early defensive gems on Thursday, including Luis Hernandez’s diving snare of Vladimir Guerrero’s third inning grounder, to know that for one night at least, the names on the jersey didn’t matter.

There's No "I" in Team

And there's only one "t" in Jeter, a fact that obviously was lost on a fan behind home plate at last night's O's game.

In other news from last night:

-The O's and Yankees are responsible for the rule change that cost the Birds a rain-shortened win. Or are they?

The AP and The Washington Post tell somewhat different stories about rule changes.

From the AP:

"Before 1980, the score would have reverted to the start of the inning, giving the Orioles a 6-4 win. But the rule was changed after a game on Aug. 13, 1978, when Baltimore led 3-0 after six innings and the Yankees scored five runs in the top of the seventh. "

From The Post:

"The game fell under a new rule enacted this offseason, which states that if weather halts a game mid-inning it becomes suspended and resumes from that point. If the game was official (with five innings in the books) and was called after a completed inning, it would have been over.

Had the game unfolded last season, the Orioles would have won. Under the old rule, the game is taken back to the last completed inning, and the result stands."

-Some player reactions to the umpires' decision to keep playing in the downpour:

Melvin Mora

"He just tried to make Jeter hit so they can score one run and they can get out of here. That's what I think," said Mora, making a comment that could draw attention from the commissioner's office.

Mora said that he couldn't even see the ball cross home plate, and told Tschida that before Jeter's at-bat.

"I just asked [Tschida], 'You don't think it's too wet?' And he just started yelling at me and cursing. I said, 'You don't have to curse at me for asking a question.' And he was upset. I said, 'This is worse than when you stopped the game when we were winning. Why aren't you going to stop it now? I can't even see the ball.' And he was just cursing and cursing and cursing, and I was like, 'OK, this is not good.'"

Chris Ray

"I've never pitched in rain like that before," Ray said. "I was just trying not to throw the ball to the backstop. When they called it in the seventh inning and we had something going and it wasn't raining nearly as hard, and then it's pouring down rain and we're just out there in terrible conditions."


Compiled by Matthew Taylor