The Stats Go Marching ... (09/07)
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September 8, 2012 108 StitchesThe New Oriole WayThe Orioles’ storybook season added another amazing chapter on Thursday night, as the O’s pulled off a startling four-run comeback after blowing a five-run lead in the opener of their huge four-game series against the Yankees at Camden Yards. This is Baltimore's first meaningful baseball September in more than a decade, and on the night that the Orioles unveiled a statue of Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr, they erupted for six home runs to move back into a tie for the American League East lead. The Orioles have finished under .500 for 14 consecutive years and have lost 91 or more games in nine of the last 11 seasons, including each of the last six years. But if the season had ended yesterday, the Orioles would have been postseason bound, which represents a remarkable turnaround under General Manager Dan Duquette and Manager Buck Showalter. Credit also has to be given to former GM Andy MacPhail, who hired Showalter in 2010 and laid the groundwork for this team. The Orioles’ record right now is impressive enough, but how the O’s have reached this point has been fascinating. Defying the odds I first met Showalter during the 1992 season, when he was in his first year as the New York Yankees manager and I was the Assistant GM of the White Sox. It was after midnight, maybe two hours after a late-April night game at Comiskey Park, and my office phone rang with an internal Caller ID listing "visiting manager's office." It was Buck, and he asked me if I could help him, as a game played earlier that night by an upcoming Yankees opponent was being replayed on a satellite channel, and he wanted to watch it from the clubhouse. We were already taping the game ourselves, so I went over to the visitor's clubhouse and showed him how to view it. After that late-night conversation, I knew his clubs would always be prepared.
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Surprise Me!
The key to being able to make the moves Showalter has made is to have players available when those moves are deemed to be necessary. That is where Duquette deserves praise. He obtained relievers and spare relievers (in Norfolk) for the bullpen. He made sure the Norfolk roster had replacement position parts (McLouth, Ford, Tolleson). He found players when the Orioles were in need (Pearce, Quintanilla) and they played well, if only briefly. He not only found starters (Hammel, Chen, Gonzalez) from elsewhere but, as you mentioned, he held on to players (Tillman, Machado) who have been key during the last two months. Like probably everybody else, I expected the Orioles to fold (as they appeared to be doing in June/July) and be long out of the race by now. Lately I've been suspecting they may actually finish first in the AL East. Showalter appears to have kept them on an even keel so that they could rebound from serious defeats.
Great points, you are dead on. As I said in the column, Duquette's staff did a really good job finding players and taking chances.