There’s something about going on the road that might help the Orioles.

Playing at home certainly didn’t do them any good, I think that’s safe to say. 

But getting away from Baltimore and trying to settle things down in the relative anonymity of Oakland and Seattle might very well be the tonic for Dave Trembley’s club.

This much I know:  They aren’t going to lose 8 of 9 all season long. 

In other words, it WILL get better.  It might not get A LOT better, but it’s bound to be better than this. 

All that said, the team WILL eventually have to return to the cozy confines of Camden Yards on April 27 when the Yankees come to town.  And that gives the Birds roughly 12 days to figure out a way to do TWO things:  1) Figure out a way to win some home games.  2) Figure out how to get people to come to the games in Baltimore.

For the Yankees series (and the following series vs. Boston), attendance shouldn’t be a problem.  After all, 60% or more of those in the stadium will be fans of the other team. 

Eventually, though, when the New York and Boston cash cow leaves town, the reality of the situation will once again settle in — like it did this week with Tampa Bay here.  The Orioles are struggling to sell tickets.

I know the team’s PR chief provided Peter Schmuck with a bunch of excuses for the lame crowds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week:  “We had good crowds vs. Toronto in the opening series” — “The weather was iffy” — “Tampa Bay isn’t a good draw” — “The team isn’t playing very well”.

What the PR chief didn’t mention is that the club has done two things this season that have once again inconvienced fans.

And at least ONE of those should be remedied right away…if not both.

Quietly, the “Scalp Free Zone” has been eliminated by the Orioles.  Publicly, they’re blaming the local government, claiming some kind of new ordinance that prohibits the sale of tickets on city property.  Privately, my “bird in a tree” (code word for the one person in the organization who actually DOES talk to me) tells me the O’s shut down the scalp-zone to protect their new day-of-game ticket price surcharge. 

If so, that makes sense, because from a business standpoint, if a fan can walk 200 yards and buy a ticket for face value or less, it completely defeats the purpose of the hoodwink’ish day-of-game ticket price increase.

But make no mistake about it, scalp-free zone or not, raising ticket prices for the fans who decide to attend a game is WRONG.  Period.  I said it on the day it was announced and I’ll say it again now.  And tomorrow.  And next week.

And when the O’s front office brass gives that lazy, arrogant excuse of “it’s a common practice around the league to have a day-of-game ticket surcharge”, I’d offer the snarky, prickish reply of:  “yeah, a lot of teams have a common practice of WINNING too…why don’t you guys adopt that practice too?”

After years of losing and disembracing the Baltimore community, the O’s have – honestly – done a much better job over the last few seasons of trying to make-up with the folks in this market who formerly attended games in droves. 

However, they always seem to make a good move…and then a bad move…and a good move…and a bad move.  And so on.

The ticket price surcharge – combined with the closing of the scalp-free zone – does nothing except send THIS message.

“You f**king people are going to buy our tickets the way WE want you to buy them.  You will pay what WE want you to pay.  And if you don’t buy a ticket in advance, you’ll pay more when you do come to the ballpark because WE are going to dictate how and when you buy a ticket.”

Close your eyes.  Can’t you just see the O’s bigwigs sitting around with their feet up on their desks at Camden Yards and uttering that phrase above? 

I sure can.

Their PR chief nearly said as much earlier this year when he tried to defend the club’s new policy of charging fans more money for buying tickets on the day of the game.  “It rewards fans who buy early.”

And punishes fans who don’t. 

If they REALLY wanted to reward fans, what they would do is this:  If you buy a $24.00 ticket in advance of the game, it costs you $21 (or whatever they deem a reasonable discount).  That’s a REWARD.  You get a ticket discount for buying EARLY.  That’s one of the benefits afforded to season ticket holders.  Buy in advance, pay less money.

Buying on the day of the game should not equal a PUNISHMENT.

So you know where I’m going with this:  On April 27, the club should announce they are discontinuing the day-of-game ticket surcharge.

All they have to do is – gasp! – tell the truth:  “We screwed up.  And rather than wait around all season to see how it pans out, we’re going to do the right thing right now and just admit that we screwed up with this over-zealous ticket policy.”

Tiger Woods did it.  “I screwed up”.

The Orioles should do it.

It won’t make up for the 1-8 start and the 0-6 homestand.  It won’t make up for Garrett Atkins failing to dig that ball out of the dirt in the 8th inning on Tuesday night.  It won’t make up for Felix Pie running into an out in the 7th inning with 3-0 lead in the 7th inning of that game.  And it won’t make up for Dave Trembley using Matt Albers in the 9th inning of Monday’s game when he had no reason to be in there. 

But it WILL make up for the fact that this fan base in Baltimore has been beaten, bloodied and left to rot on the sidewalk and all the club did over the winter was announce that anyone who comes to the ballpark on a whim this year gets penalized by paying MORE money.

Just say “we made a mistake and we’re going to remedy it.”

That’s all.

It’s the right thing to do.

There are a bunch of other things they should do to help change the culture a little bit.  Having the manager put on a headset and do a live-interview on MASN during Wednesday broadcasts is something that should stop immediately.  And here’s something I would recommend to them that might help create a little leadership and accountability in the locker room:  I’d have a player or two come in to the post-game press conference every single night and be available for questions ON TV.  The Ravens (and all NFL teams for that matter) do it.  The coach comes in and faces the music.  Then 3-4 players trudge in against their will and field questions. 

Why are the Orioles players absolved from public accountability?  I don’t know why they are, but they shouldn’t be.

And if your answer is, “a lot of the players don’t speak English”, I say:  bring in an interpreter. 

The club should stop pussyfooting around with these guys.  If they’re going to keep losing, they’re going to have to face the reality that THEY are as much responsible for their woes as the manager and his staff. 

They have 12 days to figure out some methods of accountability.  The Yankees come to town at the end of the month and some things need to change.

Most importantly, the club needs to start thanking the fans who come out and support the team during these down times. 

Free t-shirts and bobbleheads and floppy hats are nice.

But money talks and bulls**t walks.

Eliminate the ticket price surcharge. 

It’s the right thing to do.