Baltimore Orioles Soundoff

Well Orioles fans, if you read my last column and hope crossed your mind, I hope you were somewhere out of the country, or at least out of reach of a TV so you didn't have to witness this weekend's joke of a series against the Cleveland Indians.

The Orioles found every possible way to lose. Even when it looked like a little league team could finish out the game, the O's were clever enough to find a loophole and lose. In fact, they not only found ways to lose, they found new and exciting ways to lose. Ok, well it is exciting if you are an Indians fan.

Indians fans got to see their team come back from a 4-1 deficit in the 8th inning. They got to see their pitchers give up only 15 hits in 28 innings. Most importantly, they got to see their team--in the hunt for the wild card--win when it had to most. In a word, clutch.

The Orioles had no life in them. Melvin Mora scowled again. Miguel Tejada isn't coming up with the big hits. Sammy Sosa is still striking out in every possible big situation. Even the fiery Eric Byrnes is hard pressed to contribute in any significant way.

The starting pitching is actually keeping the Orioles in ballgames. The relievers are taking them out. In what was supposed to be one of the most dominating bullpens in the majors before the season is a running joke with no punchline.

The Orioles have one consistent relief pitcher. Tim Byrdak wasn't even with the club to start the season, but he is the only pitcher to come out of the bullpen and get people out consistently. Jorge Julio can't, if Todd Williams gets a three-ball count he is useless, Steve Kline is a joke of all jokes, and it goes on and on.

The Orioles hitting, well the hitting is another story. The hitting isn't a joke, it isn't funny at all, it's pitiful. Only Luis Matos and Javy Lopez are having any success at the plate and they are scattered in the lineup at 8th and 4th respectively.

The Orioles lineup has too many guys in a slump at the same time. Has someone put a curse on their bats? Must have happened sometime during the injuries to Lopez and Matos because they are hitting. As for the rest of the team, they complain they aren't seeing the ball well, that is obvious. But the whole team at the same time?

That is ridiculous. Isn't it?

This team finds every concievable way to fall apart. Here's looking at you Peter Angelos. Sell, sell, sell, please, for the love of the Orioles, sell.

You are a curse, Mr. Angelos. Since your reign started, the Orioles have gone from bad to worse. This year looked so promising, and now it is dead. Every time the Orioles begin to see a rainbow, the sky darkens and it rains for days.

Wherever the Orioles play, a storm cloud follows close above them.

The Orioles are like a drowning child, struggling to find the water's surface, and you Mr. Angelos are like the bully who pushes them back into the infinite abyss.

They wont' win under you.

This may seem like a frustrated Orioles fan's rants. And don't get me wrong, it is. But I speak for Orioles nation when I say, something is wrong. Something is wrong, Mr. Angelos. And you can't fix it.

It is time to pack it in, cut your losses, fold your hand, cash in your chips and surrender the team.

Isn't Cal Ripken in the market for a new franchise?