As a franchise, firing your manager signals two things to your fan base:
1) This season marks the beginning of our quest to rebuild frantically in order to use it as an excuse for our inevitable suckdom.
2) Our team is now going to be less competitive than Jonah Hill in a triathlon so in order to keep you interested, Elliot Yamin or other reasonably famous people will possibly be signing stuff at the gate every Tuesday game from here on.
After two-and-half seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Dave Trembley was fired on June 4th after guiding the Orioles to a paltry .278 winning percentage through the club’s first 54 games.
Largely a victim of being in the wrong situation at the wrong time, Trembley never managed to win more than 68 games with the anemic Orioles, despite expectations each season that the Orioles would improve on the disappointment of the previous one.
Trembley’s dismissal actually came as little surprise to O’s fans as Trembley had recently come under fire for his mismanagement of the pitching staff, lack of disciplinary tactics, and possibly for looking a little too much like William Shatner.
Now the Orioles are on a quest to find a way to somewhat compete in one of the toughest divisions in Major League Baseball history, as the American League East has produced a different World Series contender in 2009, 2008 and 2007.
At this point, digging the Orioles out of futility seems like an insurmountable task. But Baltimore fans are always hopeful owing to the formidable, young offense that the Orioles have that seemingly possesses all the talent in the world, but just can’t put it together consistently.
The Orioles have never been known as a team that has put up banner after banner for winning divisions and pennants, but they have a long history of talent and for being one of the more respected franchises in baseball.
Cal Ripken Jr., Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer are some of the names that typify Baltimore lore and stir in Orioles' fans memories of competitiveness and a winning percentage higher than Joe Mauer’s batting average.
The Orioles of the 2000s, however, have been a far cry from a force to be reckoned with; especially competing against the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox on a regular basis.
There are many reasons for Baltimore’s lack of success over the last few seasons. To enumerate them would only add insult to the myriad of injuries that Orioles’ fans have undergone over the years but there are serious issues that should be addressed promptly if the O’s are ever going to undergo a revival.
Baltimore has not been fond of quality pitching for about the last ten years or so. The Orioles have not had a legitimate ace since Erik Bedard, and continue to either cough up leads or dig themselves holes early in ball games due to an increasingly inconsistent pitching staff.
Despite talent at the plate, the Orioles need to develop some form of consistency if they expect to even get their record back over .500 over the next few seasons. But if Orioles' fans are patient, they could see signs soon.
Because if the Orioles could have learned anything from Dave Trembley is that they should live long – and eventually they might prosper.
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