Official 2012 Baltimore Orioles Thread

[Bang]

This was a dream season. As a LONG suffering O's fan, I was going to be proud of this team no matter the outcome of game 5. While the loss hurt, I actually have an optimistic feeling going into next year. When was the last time you could honestly say that as an O's fan? 1996...1997? These guys battled every game and looked liked they belonged.

Wish spring training was tomorrow...that's how jazzed up I am about getting the 2013 started.

totally agree.

What a fantastic and totally unexpected summer.

Folks who want to be pissy about losing to the Yankees in the ALDS can go pick up their preseason predictions and comfort themselves with everyone picking us to be the worst team in the majors.

Thanks, O's! I'm going to enjoy this offseason, even if it didn't end the way I liked. No bitterness, no anger.
I'm very happy with the team. I'd like to buy them all a beer. (Except Machado. til he's old enough.)

~Bang

[pjfootballer]

Hey guys. I was disappointed last night that we lost. Funny, but I'm not mad at all. But all in all, this season was great. I mean, we all thought we'd be wishing at the end of the season that we'd make at least 70 wins and just stay out of last place.

We won 93 games, finished 2nd place in the division, beat the TWO time defending AL champs in their house and took the #1 seed Evil Empire to the brink of elimination. All in all, a very surprising and successful season.

I just want everyone to join me in giving the team a round of applause. My July through October meant something for the first time in a long time.

Let's give them a round of applause

[TD_washingtonredskins]

PJ, I love the #know winning in your sig. I guess in the end our team matched Galcolb's huh?

[Die Hard]

Virtually all my sports teams have been a miserable failure for so damn long... I have to enjoy small victories like these... even though I anticipate we`ll lose to the Tigers

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

virtually all my sports teams have been a miserable failure for so damn long... I have to enjoy small victories like these... Even though i anticipate we`ll lose to the tigers

brother!!! Lol

[abdcskins]

It was a great season. No regrets at all. Of course losing to the Yankees sucks, they have gotten our number in the playoffs always. I hate them so much.

They key now is to build from this. Some decisions to make. Does Reynolds come back? McLouth? Does Reimold get a chance at left field? Do we try to get another starter? I sort of like Hammel, Chen, Gonzalez, Tillman, and Matusz/Arrieta/Britton. I have to admit that Matusz out of the bullpen was awesome, maybe keep him there. Who is at second base? I hope Flaherty gets a chance. Maybe move Hardy to second, Machado to shortstop, and pick up Chase Headley? It is clear that we need a good bat, someone who can drive in runs.

Great year O's!

[TheDoyler23]

Virtually all my sports teams have been a miserable failure for so damn long... I have to enjoy small victories like these... even though I anticipate we`ll lose to the Tigers

Savor it now. The Tigers will finish what we started. Age will take care of much of the rest very soon.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Looking ahead, how would Hardy project as a 2B? That would give us the option of adding the best 2B, SS, or 3B available.

[Die Hard]

Savor it now. The Tigers will finish what we started. Age will take care of much of the rest very soon.

The Orioles didn`t start anything.... they lost. Winning a few games in a series isn`t starting anything. Even the World Series champions will have lost games in every series.... so what does those losses count for? What did they ``start`` exactly?

You make mention that the Yankees are old. They absolutely are. But if age is detriment... how do you explain the young Orioles losing to the geriatric Yankees then?

Don`t get your hopes up because you had a breakthrough season. The Rays did that a few years ago... and look how that turned out.... they didn`t even make the playoffs this year. Just count on the Yanks being in the playoffs. That`s about the only thing that`s as close to a certainty in MLB.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Move along DH...I'm sure there is some Captain mourning you need to be doing before Loss 2 begins.

[Die Hard]

Move along DH...I'm sure there is some Captain mourning you need to be doing before Loss 2 begins.

The Yanks were going to lose to the Tigers with Jeter. His injury doesn`t change the inevitable.

[TheDoyler23]

The Orioles didn`t start anything.... they lost. Winning a few games in a series isn`t starting anything. Even the World Series champions will have lost games in every series.... so what does those losses count for? What did they ``start`` exactly?

You make mention that the Yankees are old. They absolutely are. But if age is detriment... how do you explain the young Orioles losing to the geriatric Yankees then?

Don`t get your hopes up because you had a breakthrough season. The Rays did that a few years ago... and look how that turned out.... they didn`t even make the playoffs this year. Just count on the Yanks being in the playoffs. That`s about the only thing that`s as close to a certainty in MLB.

Taking the Yankees to 5 is likely going to prevent them from using CC in 3 games in the ALCS. The O's have already helped the Tigers.

The Yankees are beyond geriatric..actually, the most important Yankees are geriatric. Arod is smashing into the wall, and when he gets to something like 18 homers next year, he'll get 6 more million bucks! 34 in total. You can't guarantee Rivera will still be effective with a year on the shelf and being 43. Not 33 but 43. Jeter's magical season just ended, and not a lot of 39 year old guys stay healthy. Kuroda is 38. Tex has declined in the past 3 seasons and is going to continue to decline. No guarantee they retain all three of Cano, Swisher and Granderson after next year. They traded for Pineda, who will probably be in the pen in a few years because of his labrum (nice trade, btw way to ignore tell tale signs of injury!).

The Yankees do have an immense amount of experienced talent, and signing a bunch of professional 'end of the line' types has worked pretty well, which is why I recommend that you enjoy it now. The Yankees got to where they are by better than expected production from limited vets. They beat he Orioles (mostly) fair and square. CC is a frigging war machine in a short series and our bats just didn't get it going. Hardy and Reynolds were playing hurt and we didn't have Markakis (who CC hit and broke his hand). It happens.

Feel free to roll your eyes at the 'lucky' Orioles. It'll be better that way.

[Die Hard]

Feel free to roll your eyes at the 'lucky' Orioles. It'll be better that way.

CC isn`t good enough to take this team to the Series. They can`t hit. And the pitching isn`t good enough to overcome that.

Baltimore played out of their minds this year. Who is to say they haven`t already maxed out. You`re assuming that year-to-year, that the only followup to a result is guaranteed improvement. So you think there`s no where to go but up... and as we`ve seen from teams in every sport... improving upon a previous season result is far from a given.

[fullnelson9999]

The Orioles moved from being the worst fielding team in baseball to being the best team after Machado was called up. He was also a pretty good hitter on the road. All signs point to him being pretty good. Hammel was hurt. Markakis missed a lot of the year even before September. As a rookie, Chen was good. And with an added bat to take pressure off of Jones, he should have a good year next year too.

There's not much pointing towards this team being bad next year. And DH, as for your Rays comparison, they were still a good team this year even though they didn't make the playoffs.

I'd say the O's are gonna be around for a while.

[TheDoyler23]

CC isn`t good enough to take this team to the Series. They can`t hit. And the pitching isn`t good enough to overcome that.

Baltimore played out of their minds this year. Who is to say they haven`t already maxed out. You`re assuming that year-to-year, that the only followup to a result is guaranteed improvement. So you think there`s no where to go but up... and as we`ve seen from teams in every sport... improving upon a previous season result is far from a given.

The Orioles will score more and allow fewer runs next year. The record may not improve as they won lots of 1 run games.

They also had a constant rotation flux, which looks to be much more stable in '13. JJ Hardy and Mark Reynolds had a worse '12 than projected. Markakis missed a chunk and Reimold missed practically the entire season. Davis was probably the only starter that played over his head. The pen will probably regress a bit, but more consistent starting will help.
Machado over Betemit is an upgrade and we'll see Bundy at some point. Injuries can happen to any team.

So that's a deep,solid rotation, excellent pen, good offense, excellent defense, outstanding manger and a winning team.