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Mild Enthusiasm Springs for Nats and O’s
By Jamie Mottram | April 6, 2009
No expectations can be a good thing, especially as played by The Stones, and I think it is for this year’s model of the Nationals and Orioles.
Neither is expected to sniff .500, and, with that pitching, nor should they be. After a combined 14 straight losing seasons (1998-2008 for the O’s, ‘06-08 for the Nats), including the Nats’ epically bad 2008, hope is all they need.
Both lost over 90 games last year, but at least Baltimore had a ML-caliber offense. That same group remains intact, with the solid core of Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts and Adam Jones awaiting the addition of Matt Wieters someday soon. They still don’t have any pitching though.
It was the Nats that looked sub-Big League, and they’ve made strides to address that. Signing Adam Dunn was big, as is the return of Mr. Walk-Off and Nick Johnson. Benching Elijah Dukes doesn’t help, though, and adding Scott Olsen and Daniel Cabrera isn’t much of an upgrade.
Still, the beauty of baseball is that any team can do anything. That’s the beauty of any sport, really, but, as Curtis Granderson points out in his Big League Stew debut, it’s happened a lot lately in the Pastime (see: Detroit in ‘06, see also, Colorado in ‘07 and Tampa Bay in ‘08). And the O’s and Nats don’t even need to take it that far to appease their faithful.
All they need to do is replicate the Nats of ‘05 or the Orioles of ‘89; come from nowhere, with no expectations, to contend until summer’s final days. Neither made the playoffs, nor would they anytime soon thereafter. But it was a glimpse of something better, that they wouldn’t always be stuck at the station. That, someday, they’d be on that train. They must be, right?
(Photo via Harrison Keith, who’s at Camden Yards for Opening Day.)
Topics: Infinite Sadness, Nationals, Orioles | 5 Comments »
April 6th, 2009 at 4:32 PM
“Still, the beauty of baseball is that any team can do anything.”
False. Not just any team can sign Mark Teixeira.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Good point. Also, I really wish I was at Camden for Jones’ two-run, lead-taking triple off of Sabathia. That must’ve been fun.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:47 PM
I was reading ESPN and did I miss something…..
“Bonifacio singled, stole a base and scored in the first, then did it again in the third. But his best moment came with a runner on in the fourth, when he drove Jesus Tavarez’s 3-2 pitch to deep center. Milledge retreated and dove but failed to come up with the ball, and Bonifacio flew around the bases and slid home ahead of the throw.”
Did Freddy Kreuger change his name to Jesus and only tell ESPN?
April 6th, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Today was one of the best experiences Ive ever had at Camden.
Seeing CC chased early so he could make it to G&M for crabcakes. Adam Jones (the triple was a rocket)introducing himself to America. And the boos raining on Teixeira should be life-altering for that turd. Then throw an 0-fer on top of it.
Also fun to see a Bruce Vlanch look alike and his wife being escorted from the upper deck for fighting with 4 O’s fans.
Guess who paid $400mil to not make the playoffs?
April 6th, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Watching Zimm get two straight errors and set up Ramirez’s grand slam was neat. It’s probably too much to hope that they’ll get their act together in time for my visit to the park on opening day.