#Oritrolls

The two main players I will be watching are Hammel and Matusz.

Hammel has been on injured for over a month now and recently did well in his rehab start with Frederick ( Five innings pitched, three hits, no walks, struck out seven).  Showalter has been announcing his starters on a day-to-day basis trying to preserve the arms of LHP Wei-Yin Chen and RHP Miguel Gonzalez. It will be interesting to see how Hammel is incorporated into the starting “rotation.”

Matusz has struggled as a starter and many have seen him as a huge disappointment. However, his numbers against lefties are top-notch (.179 batting average, only three home runs out of 15 total given up). Can he be that role-playing shutdown left-hander the Birds need deep in the season?

Some may wonder why I named this blog what I did. “#Oritrolls.”

This is a name that was given to the team when they spoiled the Red Sox’s season last year, knocking them out of the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. The team has since continued to “troll” with the rest of the league as almost no one can explain their success.

First, the definition of troll from the laughable at times website, urbandictionary.com.

“One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark of such an argument via the use of ad homonym attacks (i.e. ‘you’re nothing but a fan-boy’ is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevance to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue.”

While this may seem confusing at first in relevance to the Orioles, let me explain.

There is almost NO straightforward explanation to the Orioles’ success this year, other than a strong bullpen and a 58-0 record when leading after the seventh inning.  The Orioles have managed to create arguments within their own fanbase as to why no one is coming to the ballpark because their success is so unexplainable. The Orioles are such good trolls, they troll themselves and their fans at times, it is amazing.

They have guys like Nate McLouth, Lew Ford and Taylor Teagarden contributing at times to the roster. McLouth is the new everyday number three hitter for the Birds. If that isn’t the Orioles’ version of self-amusement versus the rest of the American League, I don’t know what is.

The players have bought into Buck’s winning mentality and the Orioles have just kept on winning.

That is fine by me. I don’t care how they come, if the team is winning, I will be watching.

Call me a fair-weather fan if you want, but for someone that has grownup most of his life watching pitiful baseball, it is great to finally see the Orioles winning and playing meaningful baseball when the Ravens are just about to kickoff their season on Monday Night Football.

Yes, it took that long to mention the Ravens.

So start a trend and join me as the #Oritrolls look to keep up the #OritrollsMagic against the Toronto Blue Jays tomorrow afternoon.

Follow me on Twitter @Jeff_Kryglik.