Why is this man smiling?

It's been almost exactly 3 years since Dave Trembley took over the Orioles in June of 2007.

Then the common thought process was "Hey, there's no way anyone's going to beat the Red Sox nor Yankees... so just keep the seat warm."

Well since then the Rays have shown that a team not in the Northeast can win the division and at this point, even the Blue Jays are contending.

Meanwhile the Orioles are 187-280 under Trembley... almost 100 games UNDER .500 in not quite 3 seasons!

That's an even .400 winning percentage that is falling like a rock with the Orioles in a 5 game tailspin.

Look, nobody was expecting the Orioles to remind anyone of the great Earl Weaver teams this year... but there ARE some talented players on this squad. Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters were supposed to be the nucleus for an exciting team. And veterans like Ty Wigginton, Cesar Izturis and Kevin Millwood were supposed to help the young kids mature.

Instead the Orioles are on pace to go 47-115... which would not only be the worst record in baseball since the 2003 Tigers... but be the worst team in Baltimore Oriole history (yes, worse than the 1988 team that started 0-21 and finished 54-107.)

That would be the most losses in the HISTORY of the franchise dating back to the days of the inept St. Louis Browns.

Dave Trembley could lead the Orioles into its absolute darkest hour.
The franchise that was once the model of consistency and winning ways could hit its low point in 2010 under Trembley's watch.

Why is this man smiling?
Because with the team having an off day, it seemed 60/40 he was going to get fired... and so far he hasn't.

Maybe he'll turn it around.
Maybe they will avoid the worst record in team history.

Keep smiling.

Orioles... you could have been a contender

The Orioles could have helped the Red Sox playoff push with a pair of wins against the Twins.

Naturally they lost the first game 12-2 and were down 10-2 after 3 innings of the second game before losing 12-6.

Thanks for the help.
One more loss and they clinch yet another losing campaign.
Once again the Orioles play out an irrelevant season.
Their 11th in a row.

Normally an Orioles fan could shrug and say "What are you going to do in a division with the Red Sox and Yankees?"

But not this year.
This year there is the indignity of see the bottom dwelling laughing stock formerly known as the Tampa Bay Rays on top of the division... and doing it with a payroll $24 million less.

So now Oriole fans have the knowledge that like Terry Malloy, they could have been a contender.

There are many reasons why.

I think the biggest reason is managerment was complacent when Ripken was playing all of those games and Camden Yards was a novelty. I mentioned that last year.

And obviously the front office made some terrible moves both by holding onto veterans too long (hello Brian Roberts) and getting rid of useful players (good bye John Maine.)

Maybe the front office just had trouble wrapping their arms around the idea that they weren't contenders as they dealt young players for Kris Benson and Sammy Sosa and signed Miguel Tejada.

Maybe they just screwed up the draft as Nick Markakis is the only #1 pick of their last 16 #1 picks that has worked out.

Markakis is a nice player... but hardly a corner stone of a franchise.

I guess it all has to do with ownership and Peter Angelos... the man who took one of the marquee franchises of my youth...

A franchise that from 1960 to 1989 had a winning record for 25 out of 30 seasons including 18 seasons in a row...

A franchise that in that run won 7 divisions, 6 pennants and 3 World Series titles...

A franchise with remarkable managerial stability...

A franchise with a rabid fan base and a ballpark that was the envy of all of baseball...

And he ran that franchise into the ground.

Andy McPhail is going to try to do to the Orioles what he did with the Twins, but that might be hard with Angelos running the show.

So the question needs to be thrown out to Orioles fans...

Is Angelos completely to blame for this mess? What do you think NumerOlogy?

Is he just a scapegoat, Orioles Insider? Are there other factors?

Hey Roar from 34. Have the arrival of the Nationals been a factor at all with Orioles fans?

Let me ask you SC at Camden Chat, do the glory days of Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray seem like 1,000 years ago?

Keep in mind, Wayward Oriole, Yankee fans chanted "George Must Go" in the early 1990s. If the Orioles won a few on Angelos' watch, would you cheer for him?

Be honest, Dempsey's Army... how much does it stink watching the Rays blossom and not the Orioles?

Well, the Orioles day will come again some day.
And here's hoping when that day comes, they will have brought back the smiling bird!