When assessing the 20 questions that the Orioles must answer as they formulate their own plan for 2013 and beyond, one of the questions I posed was whether the top end of the AL East was leveling a bit or coming back to the pack. It seems a question worth asking, as the Red Sox, fresh off the heels of their 2011 season ending meltdown followed it up with an even more disappointing season in 2012. As a result of their misfortunes the Sox were willing and able to dump over $100 million worth of future payroll commitments on the suddenly viable Dodgers. In freeing themselves of those contracts, Boston was also forced to part company with a debatable (or arguable) amount of elite talent. It seemingly stands to reason that the Red Sox would be willing and able to put that now freed up money back to use, if and when the situation calls for it; but considering the numbers of prospects that the Sox dealt to bring some of that highly priced talent into the fold in the first place, it might be quite a while before they’re able to put back together a nucleus that a few big splash signings might successfully compliment.

The case of the Yankees was more curious still, because of the lingering and long-term commitments that they already have assigned to aging stars moving forward. The Yankees, having paid better than 90% of all luxury tax payments in the history of MLB’s luxury tax era, have stated a commitment (or at the very least a concerted desire) to get themselves below the echelon of having to pay luxury taxes in the years to come. It seemed like a difficult position to believe, considering the decisions they’ll have to make on stars whose contracts are expiring in the next year or so, including Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. Despite Cano’s struggles this postseason, he remains one of the most prolific hitters in all of MLB and arguably the Yankees best offensive talent. Getting themselves below the luxury cap would seemingly suggest a need to allow Cano and others to walk by 2014.

Before we begin however, to celebrate the Yankees’ struggles and what appears to be their unceremonious demise, before we can revel in the meltdown of Alex Rodriguez in these playoffs and the 5 years and $114 million plus commitment that the Yankees still have to him we’re already seemingly getting the signal that Rodriguez career in the Bronx might be coming to an end. Of course Rodriguez’ full no trade protection will be a factor in whether or not he’s traded this off-season, but speculation is already rampant that A-Rod may be set to follow the likes of LeBron James and take his talents to South Beach.

On the surface this would seem to be more Yankees folly worthy of celebration from fans elsewhere, but in reality it may be a glimpse into exactly what the Yankees mean when they talk about slashing salary.

The Yankees after all are baseball’s undisputed revenue kings. In stating their desire to avoid baseball’s luxury tax many of us may have been guilty of misreading their intentions. The Yankees’ desire to cut payroll seems less an effort to save themselves inordinate expenditures in an attempt to buy another decade or so worth of contention and more of an effort to avoid paying into a system that rewards the teams unable (or more aptly unwilling) to spend freely and an effort to stop padding the pockets of owners who never put their luxury tax earnings to work in actually trying to improve their clubs.

When the Red Sox signed Daisuke Matsuzaka after posting a record posting fee of over $51 million then coupling it with a $52 million contract, many looked at it as $103 million plus in expenditures (and they were right). But not all $103 million expenditures are created equally. The $51 million that Boston paid to post for Matsuzaka was money spent but not salary, Therefore only about half of the $103 million spent to land the gyro-baller was considered payroll and therefore subject to the luxury tax computations. Likewise if the Yankees ship A-Rod to the Marlins this off-season and even if they absorb as much as $100 million of his future earnings to do it, they’ll still have unburdened themselves from about $30 million per year of salary and as a result will have moved much closer to their stated goal of establishing a payroll below the luxury tax echelon, even if they take on Heath Bell and 2 years worth of his contract at $9 million or so per.

The long and short of it being that the Yankees will have the opportunity to shed “payroll” obligations and avoid luxury tax while still spending like the Yankees always have and perhaps more. One or two more of those types of trades (albeit on much more modest contracts) and the Yankees have the money at their disposal to re-up Cano and Granderson if they choose along with Raphael Soriano and could still make a splash in free agency while also accomplishing their goal of avoiding the luxury tax by 2014.

The other questions that both the Yankees and Red Sox will have to answer for themselves is which free agent players will be worth the price of poker in the coming free agent classes, and whether it’s still prudent to offer big money to aging free agents in the post steroid era of MLB. Figuring out the answers to those questions will be the biggest determining factor in whether the Yankees and Red Sox will be able to exert their financial dominance over the pack moving forward. But in the event that they choose to try, the means to do so are there, as are the financial means of both clubs despite rampant speculation to the contrary.

It has certainly been a “storybook” season for the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. No matter how their postseason run ends, there will be memories that will last for a lifetime.

I had an itch this week to compile a list of the top ten storylines for the season. It wasn’t an easy task, but here goes.

10. The ultimate reclamation

It isn’t SO crazy to think a team would have given OF Nate McLouth another chance in 2012. The former Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star was at least playing Major League Baseball, even if he hadn’t had a particularly good season since 2009.

Lew Ford was another story altogether. Ford went a full five years between Major League at-bats before being called up to Baltimore after ripping the cover off the ball at AAA Norfolk.

McLouth has been a significant contributor since being called up in August, taking over the every day LF spot and batting leadoff since Nick Markakis got hurt. Ford hasn’t contributed quite as much, but has come up with three big home runs when inserted into the lineup against lefties.

It has also lead to Tweets like this throughout the season…

9. “Why Not Again?”

Perhaps not the most significant story of the year, the story of Steve Johnson has likely been the most heart warming for Charm City in 2012.

I pulled this picture from Steve’s Facebook page…it’s probably three or four years old. I’d be willing to bet that at this point in his life, he’s probably embarrassed by things like this.

A Kingsville native, former St. Paul’s star and son of a former Orioles pitcher (and current broadcast analyst) made some of the more significant starts of the 2012 season. It’s Hollywood quality stuff. Even more amazingly, Johnson picked up his first big league win on August 8, 23 years removed from the exact date his father picked up HIS first victory during the Birds’ incredible 1989 campaign.

The Johnson & Johnson connection wasn’t the only inevitable comparison between the ’89 and ’12 O’s, as the cartoon birds, no name players and general disbelief of the respective campaigns was impossible to ignore. It even had me singing along…

8. What a dumb great trade.

SB Nation compiled reactions to GM Dan Duquette’s decision to deal SP Jeremy Guthrie to Colorado for SP Jason Hammel & RP Matt Lindstrom before the season. Here are a sampling…

This from Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal was perhaps worse…

For what it’s worth, most of us would probably be forced to admit that we didn’t think much of the deal at the time. Guthrie had been the organization’s only quality pitcher for years and was very popular thanks to also being a stand up individual. How were we to know that Hammel was going to put together an All-Star season (when healthy) and Lindstrom would be a reliable option in the back of the bullpen before helping to land veteran Joe Saunders in a trade? And how were we to know that on the other end of the deal, Guthrie would implode in Denver before being sent to Kansas City?

Certainly the deal has turned out to be quite the feather in Duquette’s cap, as has the signing of SP Wei-Yin Chen-who has pitched to a 4.02 ERA and 1.261 WHIP over 32 starts? The only real question mark for Duquette has been Tsuyoshi Wada, who needed Tommy John surgery before he could make a pitch. The way things are going for this organization, you almost assume he’ll be Stephen Strasburg in 2013. (Okay…not really.)

7. I’m not so sure about this.

“Nick Markakis batting leadoff when he returns? I don’t know…”

I probably don’t need to show you August. Ah hell, I’ll show you August.

Markakis’ effort (before being sidelined in September) was especially crucial following the loss of OF Nolan Reimold, who hit .313 in 16 games to start the season in the role. Without Reimold, the Birds attempted to use a group of players including OF Endy Chavez and even briefly a return of 2B Brian Roberts, but none could hold down the role until Markakis. The Orioles are now hoping Markakis can somehow get back before the season ends.

6. These guys…of course!

While Hammel and Chen were obviously “hits” for the Orioles’ rotation, the other 60% didn’t pan out so well. Opening Day starter Jake Arrieta, former #1 overall pick Brian Matusz and veteran Tommy Hunter struggled mightily over the season’s first few months before ultimately finding their way back to the minors for seasoning (all have since returned and offered solid efforts out of the bullpen).

In their place, the Birds turned not only to the aforementioned Johnson, but more importantly gave the ball to two pitchers have provided a level of stability that could have been expected by absolutely no one, perhaps even themselves.

Chris Tillman was at least viewed recently as a significant prospect in the Orioles’ organization. After being acquired from the Seattle Mariners as part of the Birds’ haul (along with Adam Jones and George Sherrill) for Erik Bedard, there was a thought Tillman would ultimately prove to be part of the “cavalry” of young Orioles pitchers former VP of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail regularly spoke of.

But after 2009 (5.40 ERA 1.554 WHIP in 12 starts), 2010 (5.87 ERA 1.528 WHIP in 11 starts) and 2011 (5.52 ERA 1.645 WHIP in 13 starts), it appeared as though Tillman was all but done in Baltimore.

And then this happened.

Of course it did.

Perhaps even more improbable was Miguel Gonzalez, who was all but abandoned by the Boston Red Sox following 2009 Tommy John surgery. Executive Director of International Recruiting Fred Ferreira signed off on Gonzalez to the Birds after seeing him throw just nine pitches (according to SI’s Albert Chen). Perhaps we should have expected the man who discovered Vladimir Guerrero knew what he was doing.

And just like that, Chris Tillman and Miguel Gonzalez saved a rotation and very likely a season.

I feel like there’s someone else we should thank…

Of all of the decisions made by Dan Duquette upon arrival, perhaps the decision to make Rick Peterson (a fixture of the “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics) the team’s Director of Pitching Development has immediately paid the most dividends.

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During the dog days of summer there are two American past times to partake in.  One of course is taking in a Major League Baseball game.  The other is heading to the theaters to see some summer blockbusters.  This year’s MLB season has paralleled the summer blockbuster season so perfectly that I decided to give my take on both.

Here are the best comparisons between the two to date:

Avengers (LA Angels)- This team got off to an incredibly slow start but have made up some of the ground.  They are now one of the better teams in the American League and are above average at this point; just like the movie.  However, this team has its very own “Hulk” in Albert Pujols and “Captain America” in Jered Weaver who is unhittable more often than not.  So how can they not do well?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Boston Red Sox)- Just like the movie, this team has been the butt of some jokes.  If you compare the idea of the movie to the Red Sox off the field issues this season, they are quite comparable.  That being said, the movie wasn’t entirely bad and similarly the Red Sox find themselves still at .500 and within striking distance of the wildcard.  With some players getting healthy and maybe a trade, Boston could turn a bad idea into resurrected season.

The Amazing Spiderman (Miami Marlins)- One of the most anticipated movies of the summer and one of the most talented teams (on paper) headed into the season have both disappointed.  Both reboots (the Marlins rebooting themselves in a new home), Spiderman’s cast and Miami’s roster had all the promise in the world but just didn’t work as a finished product.  Miami is now cutting its losses and shopping its players, most notably, Hanley Ramirez being traded to the Dodgers this morning.

Prometheus (Washington Nationals)-  Both invoking high anticipation levels and silently becoming sleeper picks before their premieres, the movie and the team have met and far exceeded expectations.  The Nationals starting pitching has been the driving force for their season just as Prometheus’s special effects made it shine.  The Nationals are poised for a postseason run and Prometheus is expected to make a splash at the Oscars.

Magic Mike (Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates)- These teams were written off as non-contenders to start the year along with Magic Mike being designated as the quintessential, no-good “chick flick”.  Well both these teams have surprised and if you can get past the male nudity scenes in Magic Mike, it’s a surprisingly good drama that’s also been brought up in Oscar considerations.  We will see if these teams can get past the other great teams out there to get to the playoffs, just as Magic Mike is trying to overcome the rest of the summer blockbusters.

The Dark Knight Rises (New York Yankees)- The Dark Knight Rises was one of the best films of the summer so far and the Yankees have been one of the best teams.  They both were saddled with high expectations due to previous performances and have lived up to them.  Both have All Star casts and both had a “twist”.  For the Yankees it was trading for Ichiro.  I cried at the end of the Dark Knight Rises but I will probably cry for a different reason at the end of the Yankees season; because we might be seeing them win a World Series…ugh.

Battleship (Houston Astros): Both are bad.  Not much more to say.

The Orioles just wrapped up the first half of their 2012 season and hit the break at 45-40. They just wrapped up a 3-4 road trip and were able to muster only a Steve Pearce 3-run homer in their last three games against the Angels. Luckily for the Orioles that home run was good enough to back Miguel Gonzalez’s great effort in his first Major League start and the Orioles avoided being swept in Anaheim. Jim Johnson saved that game for Gonzalez and now leads the American League in Saves. He is one of the big reasons the Orioles are above 500.

It’s easy for Orioles fans to feel bad about how this team finished the first half of the season. Three of the five starters that started the season in the Orioles rotation are now pitching for Norfolk, the hitting has been absolutely pathetic (they are tied for the 2^nd worst OBP in the American League), they lead the American League in errors and they finished the first half of the season being shut-out in their last two games. Not exactly things which make you feel good about yourself as you head into the second half of the season.

Oriole fans shouldn’t be discouraged though because this team has shown something that no Orioles team has shown in the last 15 years, resiliency. They have definitely been a resilient bunch. They battle hard, have shown the ability to come from behind and for the most part are never out of a game. For this week’s what had happened was I wanted to look back and give you my top three Oriole victories of the first half of the 2012 season.

#3

My top two games of the first half were pretty clear cut but choosing number three was a little bit tougher. I could have picked a couple of Jason Hammel wins because he was very dominant in the first half of the season, but I thought that one of Wei-Yin Chen’s starts was more important. For number three we go back to May 10^th. The Texas Rangers were in town and had just plastered Orioles pitching for 24 runs in the first two games of their four game series. The Orioles bashed back in the first inning that day going back to back to back in the first inning for a 3-0 lead. Colby Lewis settled down after that and no hit the Orioles for the next five innings. Chen was able to outpitch Lewis and was still on the mound in the seventh when the Orioles finally extended their lead to 6-1. Chen pitched 7 2/3 that day and gave up just two runs before turning things over to the bullpen in the Orioles 6-5 victory.

#2

Number two showed the Orioles ability to comeback in 2012. The Orioles did a great job of scoring runs late in games in the first half of the season and lead the American League in homeruns in the seventh inning or later. They set the tone early in the season with a couple of big comebacks in Toronto, but there was no bigger comeback than the one they pulled off at home against the Oakland A’s on April 29^th. A’s starter Bartolo Colon took a four hit shut-out into the ninth inning and it looked like the Orioles were headed for a disappointing 2-0 loss. Two infield hits, a double and Wilson Betemit’s three-run homer would turn a loss into a victory and give the Orioles momentum heading to New York. Hardy and Jones’ singles were infield singles and Colon didn’t help himself by throwing the ball down the right field line. The Orioles would go on to win five of the next six games against the Yankees and the Red Sox.

The best part about the baseball season is that because of its length, in most cases the cream rises to the top. Make no mistake, they could end the season a month earlier and accomplish the same thing. There are teams that have gone from last to first in a year, (1987 Minnesota Twins, 1991 Atlanta Braves) but those were good teams that came together and stayed around for a while because of a solid nucleus of players. The 2012 Baltimore Orioles have been fun, but this may be coming to a crashing end.

When the Orange Kool-Aid was spiked in May, I was the voice of reason. I have always thought August 1st was a good date, as at that point, the contenders and pretenders tend to sort themselves out. Although, I will not stick a fork in our birds right now, because they do have a month to right the ship. Let’s have fun a do a progress report.

In this look, I want to compare the Orioles of this year to the last 5 winners of the American League East. The 2007 Red Sox, 2008 Rays, 2009 Yankees, 2010 Rays, and 2011 Yankees tell an interesting statistical story of what it takes to win the division. Frankly, I know that statistics do not tell the whole story, but in baseball, which is ‘stats driven’ it lets you know where you need to be as a team.

Let’s start off with what I think is the most glaring issue with this team, the defense. In the last 5 seasons no division winner has committed more than 102 errors. That was the New York Yankees off last year. Right now, the Orioles our on pace to commit over 145 errors for the year. That means that Orioles would allow ¼ of an out more per game than the Yankees of last year. No division winner in this span has ranked lower than 4th in the league in this category. As of now, the Orioles are last.

The range for earned run average over the past 5 years is between 3.73 and 4.26. Although the Orioles team staff ERA is right in line with the range of winners at 3.85, there is more to the story. Looking deeper into the numbers the staff ERA has gone up every month of the season. After a wonderful 3.03 in April, they went to 4.16 in May, and 4.25 so far in June, which is the red flag.

Let us turn to the offense and simply look at batting average first. Taking the Tampa Bay Rays from 2010 out, no other team has hit at a clip less than .260. The Orioles are at a .244 team average right now, and as we have seen lately, it isn’t getting any better. Everyone remembers than Tampa team for having an excellent pitching staff, with no hitting. Even they hit for a .247 average.

Lastly, looking at the OPS the Orioles .716 is .20 points lower than lowly hitting Tampa team from 2010. Frankly, if you look at the class of the division over the time, the Orioles need to get the OPS up to the .800 range.

Obviously these numbers are not the, all answers to everything, but it gives you a start of where the Baltimore Orioles need too be to win the division. At this point they do not seem to be measuring up.

I wasn’t in Baltimore for most of this past weekend, so I didn’t get a chance to witness the Orioles and Phillies live and in-person.

But I read enough e-mails and saw plenty of Twitter outrage to know what happened Friday through Sunday.  Philadelphia baseball fans took over the ballpark in Baltimore for three days.

So…that surprises you?

It shouldn’t.

And, frankly, it shouldn’t even anger you.

For starters, there’s no way to keep them out.  Second, the Orioles themselves – the front office, that is – are thrilled to see upwards of 135,000 people make their way into the stadium.  The color of the t-shirt they’re wearing doesn’t bother the organization one iota.  If you think the Orioles’ brass is miffed with the overflow of Phillies fans in the house, you’re nuts.  Out of town fans spend American money just like hometown fans would if they bothered to show up and support the Birds.

I understand why it irritates the common fan.  It’s just not pleasant to have 27,000 of “their” fans in the place and 13,000 of your own on a Friday night.  I get it.  But I’ve stopped fretting over it.  This is the way it’s going to be here for a long time to come.  Sorry to be the guy delivering that dose of reality to you, but Boston, New York and Philadelphia fans will take over the ballpark when their team comes to town.  There just aren’t enough die-hard Orioles fans left to fill all 45,000 of those seats night-in and night-out.

The Orioles success on the field this season isn’t anywhere near enough to turn the tide on the situation involving visiting fans.  It’s going to take years and years of winning and “doing the right thing” from the desks of the front office folk before a new generation of Baltimore baseball fans start bleeding orange to the point that it gets them to the stadium 15-20 times a season.

The best thing you can do right now is the same advice I gave you back in early May when the club got off to that blazing start and we had a certain segment of the fan base up in arms over “bandwagon” Orioles fans who were suddenly back in the fold because the team was winning.

Stop worrying about who is a fan, who isn’t a fan, what fans are actually coming to the games and what fans aren’t…and just watch the team play good baseball and hope they continue to do so.

It’s been so long since we’ve actually had a decent team in Baltimore that I find myself on most nights just settling in to (hopefully) enjoy a team with a reasonable chance of winning.  I’m still looking smarter-than-ever because I’m the goof in town who said they’d win 78 games…but no matter how many they win, I know for certain this brand of baseball that we’ve watched over the first 60 games is far more pleasing than the garbage teams the organization has made us support over the last six years or so.

Just watch the games.  Cheer for the team.  And stop worrying about other team’s fans coming in and taking over the stadium.

It’s not going to change.

Not for a long time, anyway.

Time for my weekly review of the top three sporting events of the weekend and my one non-sports related event . I’m not sure how I squeezeed in a non-sports event this time. It was a busy sports weekend with a lot of extra baseball thrown in. In case you didn’t know the Baltimore Orioles have the best record in Major League Baseball. I think that kind of gives you a hint as to what my #1 sporting event is going to be. Here we go!!

#3

The Washington Capitals 3-2 win over the Rangers to even their best of seven series 2-2.

Give the Capitals credit they have fought hard for everything they have gotten in this postseason. It’s not easy to change the way you play the game sometimes. Dale Hunter finally has his team believing in his system and it’s starting to pay off. The Caps have grinded out every game in this year’s playoffs. Each game in their first round series was decided by one goal and three of the four games in this series have as well (the exception was game one). Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green scored goals in the Caps 3-2 win. Green’s Powerplay goal in the third period was the difference. It’s the 13th time that the trio of Ovechkin, Backstrom and Green have all scored goals in the same game. The Caps are 13-0 in those games. The last time those three all scored a goal in the same game was back in 2010. The m0st impressive thing about the Capitals victory was the way they bounced back from a three OT loss on Wednesday night. Washington has now turned the series into a best of three starting Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

#2

The 138th running of the Kentucky Derby. It was such a great race on Saturday afternoon. I’ll have another came all the way from the #19 post to catch Bodemeister and complete an improbable victory. No horse had ever won the Kentucky Derby from the #19 post position but I’ll Have Another and jockey Mario Guttierez did everything right.

Gutierrez got a great break out of the gate and then ran the horse into perfect position to make a run at Bodemeister in the stretch. I felt bad for Bodemeister’s trainer Bob Baffert. The best moment of the whole day was when they showed Baffert walking with his son Bode before the race. Baffert is recovering from a heart attack that he suffered six weeks ago. Even Baffert admitted after the race that I’ll have Another just ran a great race. You don’t often hear trainers say they are ok with finishing second but that’s exactly what Baffert said afterwards. I’ll have Another Trainer Doug O’Neill wasted no time after the victory proclaiming that I’ll Have Another  was coming to Baltimore for the Preakness in two weeks.

Tell me that O’Neill (the man in the middle) doesn’t look like a guy you would just like to hang out and have a beer with! Here’s my favorite hat from Saturday.

This week’s version of What had happened was… is dedicated to the reason why we all watch sports. For the improbable comeback or the outcome that just makes you shake your head. The reason why I continue to watch sports is because the outcome is never predetermined. The more I watch sports the more i am amazed at the outcome of some games. A bounce here or a bad hop there can change everything. With that theme in mind, here are the top three sporting events of the weekend, and of course one non sports event that affected me.

Before we get to the top three the Los Angeles Lakers get an honorable mention for their 16 point, 4th quarter comeback against Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon. It’s only an honorable mention because those kinds of comebacks are commonplace in the NBA.

#3

The Boston Red Sox were cruising to a 9-0 lead over the Yankees on Saturday Afternoon. I’m sure the Red Sox still felt pretty good even though Mark Teixeira got the Yanks on the board with a solo home run in the sixth. No one in Boston was prepared for what would happen next. Nick Swisher’s grand slam and Teixeira’s three run shot cut the lead to one in the seventh. Then the two came through in the eighth with two run doubles to give the Yankees the lead. Not only did New York come all the way back, they cruised to a 15-9 victory. The Yankee comeback included five walks and an error. I still contend that the biggest difference between the Yankees and the Orioles is their discipline at the plate. Yankee hitters make pitchers work for every out they get, and very rarely swing at balls out of the strike zone regardless of the situation. I love the picture below. That’s a lot of crooked numbers on the scoreboard.

#2

We always talk about how important face offs are in lacrosse. Saturday afternoon at UMBC Retriever face off man Phil Poe showed us one of the greatest examples of how imprortant they can be. Winning face offs in lacrosse can be just like playing make it take it in a one on one basketball game. you score, get it right back, score again, get it right back, and it just keeps on going. UMBC and Albany were locked in a see-saw battle all day long. The Great Danes went on a fourth quarter run that built a 12-10 lead to 16-11 with just over six minutes to play. That’s when Poe started his own little game of make it take it.  Poe’s first win led to Scott Hoppman’s goal that cut it to 16-12. The next face-off was true make it, take it. Poe won the face-off, sprinted into the Albany end and scored eight seconds after Hoppman’s goal to make it 16-13. Poe won the next face off and the Retrievers converted again on a man-up situation to make it 16-14. Poe’s fourth straight win set up Matt Gregoire’s goal and cut the Great Danes’ lead to one. You guessed it, Poe won his fifth straight face off and when Dave Brown drilled a laser beam into the Albany net the Retrievers had come all the way back. Poe not only won every face off, he also scooped up every ground ball as well. Five face off wins, five ground balls for Poe and five goals in a span of 2:18. All of it wouldn’t have mattered if the Retrievers couldn’t finish the job. Scott Jones did that 2:17 into OT to give UMBC an improbable 17-16 OT victory. Check out the highlights below courtesy of UMBC

As usual, the Orioles have started the season strong and have thusfar played well and been fun to watch. But unless I and every other casual observer are dead wrong, the Orioles will hang in there thru May, falter in June or July, and be completely out of contention by August. It’s a really good feeling to look at the standings and see your team on top, but the last time I did that in the month of September was before I even had my driver’s license. And now this year, my 30^th birthday will come and go while the Angelos reign of terror continues.

That may be a corny segue, but reigns of terror are tonight’s real topic. Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen put both feet in his mouth again last week by telling Time magazine that he admires Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The history in a nutshell: As a young man, Castro and his lieutenant Ernesto “Che” Guevara led the bloody communist overthrow of Cuba’s government in 1959. When it was over, Castro made himself Cuba’s President, and still holds the office to this day. Tens of thousands of Cubans were tortured and killed during and after the revolution, and many others fled to the United States and settled in Florida. Today, the city of Miami is the epicenter of Cuban exiles and their descendants, many of whom still dream of the day when Cuba is free again.

The Miami fans were furious, and Guillen subsequently apologized and was suspended for five games by the Marlins (not MLB). Granted, if Guillen were the manager of the Mariners or the Twins or the Brewers, there may not have been such a level of anger from the local fanbase. But should there be?

As I started thinking about this, the first person that came to my mind was Marge Schott. If you’re younger than me, you may not even recall who she is, as I barely remember her myself. Marge Schott was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999, and is noteworthy as the first woman to buy a major league franchise. In many ways, she actually parallels Peter Angelos in that her legacy of philanthropy and community involvement is mostly overshadowed by her pitiful management of her team and other controversies. She was alleged to have frequently thrown around the n-word, said that she didn’t like her players to wear earrings because it “looked fruity” (apparently that’s a gay slur), and stated publicly more than once that Adolf Hitler had been a good leader for Germany but “went too far”. Schott and Angelos also have the commonality of firing manager Davey Johnson after a season in which he took their teams to the playoffs.

Schott was suspended by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig for the entire 1993 season (that’s over six whole months) following her Hitler comments, which brings me back to Ozzie Guillen. If there is anything in this world that I hate, it is double standards. If Marge Schott had the book thrown at her for praising a genocidal dictator, why does Ozzie Guillen get a pass for doing the same thing?

Stop reading. Google up “Angelos Castro Selig” and click the images tab. Can it be? For those who don’t remember, back in 1999 Peter Angelos and Bud Selig arranged to have the Orioles play two exhibition games against the Cuban national all-star team, one in Baltimore and one in Havana (the visiting teams won both contests). The events were touted as gestures of good will and attempts to create more friendly US-Cuba relations, but another main goal was undoubtedly to get more access to Cuban players for MLB teams (which never happened). Peter Angelos, having been one of the top campaign contributors in the country to then-President Clinton and Congressional Democrats, had no trouble getting the government’s blessing to do all this in spite of America’s longstanding Cuban embargo. The aforementioned photograph is of Fidel Castro sitting in the stands in Havana and chatting with Peter Angelos and Bud Selig, who are seated on either side of him.

So obviously, Bud Selig doesn’t exactly have the standing to condemn Ozzie Guillen for kissing up to Fidel Castro, which is probably why he relied on the owners of the Marlins to do it. Now, I am not one who believes that we should run around punishing people for being offensive. By its nature, offensive speech is what the First Amendment was written to protect, and the second thing that I absolutely hate in this world is political correctness.

But I want consistency.

Back in 1999, Bud Selig armtwisted Marge Schott into selling her controlling interest in the Reds following her second round or pro-Hitler comments. And then last year, he oversaw the ugly removal of Frank McCourt as owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The big difference between the two was that while Schott’s ouster was purely personal, McCourt’s was due to shady business practices; specifically that he was “siphoning team revenue for non-baseball use and had completely alienated the Dodgers’ fanbase.” according to MLB’s court briefs.

Does that sound like somebody we know?

MASN pulled in $159 million in revenue last year, so you can do a little arithmetic and figure out about how much it has made since its creation seven years ago. We all remember the promises Peter Angelos made about using that money to improve the team and how this was finally going to give the Orioles the resources needed to compete with Yankees and Red Sox. And yet, since MASN was created, the Orioles annual payroll has averaged just $78 million- not significantly higher than it was before MASN and less than half of what New York or Boston paid in that same time period. Of course, operating expenses and lots of taxes accounted for some of it, but one still has to ask “That money wasn’t invested in the Orioles, so where did it go?”

Bud Selig was willing to kick Marge Schott and Frank McCourt out of the owners’ club for conduct that was immoral but not technically illegal. What Angelos has done with MASN isn’t technically illegal either; after all, he is a lawyer and he brokered the deal with Selig’s blessing. But now that we’ve had time to see it in action, there can be no question that what Angelos has done is highly unethical. He’s siphoned revenue away from not one but two teams for non-baseball purposes. He’s alienated the fanbase. He’s fixed it so that Comcast customers who aren’t even baseball fans are paying for his channels. And all the while, Bud Selig stood by and let it happen.

It’s the same thing that happens when the government plays favorites with private industry; different entities are allowed to play by different rules. This leads to a lack of true competition, and the end result is that the consumer is denied the full potential of what the free market could produce. Those who benefit from the unlevel playing field think that it’s just fine and are happy to leave it that way, while those who suffer because of it either accept it and work around it or just stop caring. It’s why less than half of America votes these days, and why Camden Yards is usually empty unless the Yankees or Red Sox are in town.

Bud Selig is too chummy with Peter Angelos to hold him accountable for getting rich by wrecking the Orioles, the same way he’s too chummy with Fidel Castro to say anything about Ozzie Guillen. Selig has failed to enforce his own standards equally, and we Orioles fans have suffered thru 15 years of pathetic losing baseball because of it. We all know that Cuba needs to be rid of Fidel Castro and the Orioles need to be rid Peter Angelos, but Major League Baseball also needs to be rid of Bud Selig.

That’s it for 2011, huh?

Over already?

Wow, seems like just yesterday (or so) when I was in Sarasota with Glenn Clark, hunkered down in an outrageously posh satellite-trailer that served as a de facto media workroom in the parking lot of the Orioles spring training complex.  And that was March.

Here we are now, brushing up against January and preparing for (we hope) a Ravens Super Bowl run and, within 7 weeks if you can believe, discussion about pitchers and catchers as they prepare for yet another (losing) baseball season in Baltimore.

Time sure flies when you’re having fun.

Well, for five months a year, anyway.

I hope you all have a safe, enjoyable New Year’s weekend.  We’re obviously all going to be glued to the TV at 4:15 pm on Sunday to see the Ravens take on Cincinnati.

I assume you’ll be hungover.

I hope the Ravens aren’t.

Consider this edition of Friday Mud a tasty start to your holiday weekend.

And you don’t even need to drink a glass of warm milk two hours before you read it.

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>  Did you hear the great story about Oregon football player Mark Asper?  Wednesday night he and the Ducks were at a dinner as part of their Rose Bowl festivities and the father of one of Asper’s teammates started choking on a piece of meat.  Asper applied the Heimlich maneuver and dislodged the piece of meat and a health emergency was avoided because of his quick work.  Great story, huh? Anyway, several teams and colleges quickly sent along notes of congratulations and small gifts to show their appreciation for his life-saving work.  The San Diego Chargers sent a football signed by the entire team and a nice card with a personal message.  The Golden State Warriors also sent along a compliment-filled note and a team jersey with Asper and the number “1″ on the back.  The Red Sox provided a card with the words “Congrats on knowing the Heimlich, please USE THESE as often as you can in 2012.”

>  So…a listener from Timonium named Theresa reached out to me via e-mail last week and offered me a scathing keyboard-tongue-lashing about a few of the pictures I’ve posted recently here on Friday Mud.  “I can’t speak for everyone,” Theresa wrote, “but I’m appalled at your continued inclusion of those girls from Central Connecticut State as part of your Friday blog.  These are college girls — and they don’t deserve to be objectified in the manner that you’re doing it.  I respectfully ask that you stop including photos of those young women in your Friday blog.”  Well, I must be getting old…and soft…because I’m going to agree to not include any Central Connecticut volleyball players here.  Seriously. I’ll link a photo and I guarantee — in fact, DOUBLE guarantee, that it’s not a girl from Central Connecticut.  (I know what you’re thinking…”Drew, come on, we’re going to click on that photo and it’s going to be a girl from Central Connecticut.”)  Nope.  Not a chance.  Here you go Theresa, THIS RIGHT HERE is just for you.

>  Did you like the Ravens uniform combination last Sunday…the black pants and the purple top?  I gathered that a lot of folks didn’t like it.  I did.  You know what other color combination looks great, to me, anyway?  Royal blue and black.  For some reason, I’ve always thought those colors went great together.  Here, let me show you what it looks like and you tell me.  CHECK IT OUT and tell me…do you think it looks good?

>  Hey Theresa, you like apples?

>  I’d love to pick the Ravens to win this weekend.  Really, I would.  But I don’t trust them on the road.  Just when I get ready to type the words “I think the Ravens are going to win in Cincinnati”, I get visions of Jacksonville, Seattle and San Diego in my brain.  Too many road stinkers for me…too many lay-up games turned losses for my liking.  Sorry — Bengals 24 – Ravens 10.  I hope to hell I’m wrong.

>  The Philadelphia police have been very concerned about female Flyers fans speeding recklessly as they enter Broad Street off of I-95 and approach the Wachovia Center.  They’ve even gone as far as placing THESE WARNING SIGNS up on the roads leading into the arena to give the female fans a chance to slow down.

>  There are two ways to identify a Steelers fan.  One is…they always wear a yellow top.  The other?  Well, as you can see RIGHT HERE, this guy is definitely a Steelers supporter.

>  OK, the time has come to unveil the two finalists for my “Top 10 Winners of Professional Sports ” in the last 20 years.  I’m doing this a little differently than originally intended.  I was going to just list my #2…and then the following week, the #1.  Instead, I’m going to reveal the final two — and you decide who you think is #2 and #1.  Obviously, just by the fact that he hasn’t been listed yet, Michael Jordan is one of the finalists.  What can you say about #23 (and #45 for a year)?  He’s just a great winner, period.  But is there someone else who MIGHT (and I say “might”) be a better winner than Jordan?  I think the answer to that is yes.  Maybe.  This man is a 3-time champion.  And a 9-time All-Star.  He won more games than anyone who ever played his sport. If you wonder whether or not this guy is a winner, you’ll want to take a look at his playoff stats — and then you’ll get it.  So, no more delay. You want a winner?  A great one?  RIGHT HERE he is, folks.  Don’t think he’s great?  CHECK OUT THE STATS.

>  I hear the Orioles had a big sale last week prior to the Holidays, where they put most of their merchandise and novelty items out for fans to buy as gifts.  A friend of mine went to the sale and sent me THIS PHOTO to prove he was at Camden Yards.  Yep, sure looks like an Orioles sale.

>  The Shoot Section (the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth)

I don’t want to go into all the details here — I’ll save that for Monday.  But starting next Monday, I’ll have a 4-part “interview” up at WNST.net that was conducted by a listener.  I think you’ll find it interesting.  We covered a lot of territory…my history with the Blast, my move to WNST, the Orioles, the Ravens, “the lawsuit” and much more.  I went into it a little apprehensive, because the person who interviewed me has been both a listener, reader and critic of mine over the years, but he handled it all fairly and I think you’ll enjoy the series next week and learn some behind the scenes things that maybe you don’t previously know.  It all starts on Monday at WNST.net.