Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 2, 2012

Losers no longer, Orioles set sights on winning titles

After 14 straight seasons under .500, Baltimore isn't content to just make it into the AL playoffs.

The Associated Press

BALTIMORE — It's been a zany, unpredictable season for the Baltimore Orioles, so perhaps it's only fitting that the magical moment when they clinched a playoff berth occurred while they were aboard a chartered flight forced to land short of its destination.

Instead of spraying each other with champagne -- the intended celebration earlier Sunday -- the players acknowledged their accomplishment by exchanging handshakes. And that was OK, because Baltimore considers securing a wild-card spot to be nothing more than a stopover on its journey to the World Series.

After 14 straight losing seasons and four consecutive last-place finishes, no one would blame the Orioles for being content with an 81-81 record, much less a wild-card berth. Yet the players believe there is no boundary to what they can accomplish.

The next objective is winning the AL East.

"That's where we set our sights for a while," said Manager Buck Showalter. "Getting into the playoffs is a byproduct of playing good baseball."

Baltimore entered play Monday tied for first place with the New York Yankees with three games left. The Yankees host Boston, a team the Orioles swept over the weekend, and Baltimore was poised for a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Getting to Florida wasn't easy. The plane was headed to St. Petersburg when a fire in the galley forced an unscheduled landing in Jacksonville. After a lengthy delay, everyone reboarded and the flight was completed.

Somewhere along the way, the Orioles ended their playoff drought when the Los Angeles Angels lost the second game of a doubleheader to Texas.

"Everybody responded as you could imagine," Showalter said. "It was very professional. It's more of a firm handshake and a knowing look."

Earlier Sunday, the Angels staged a dramatic ninth-inning comeback after the Orioles beat Boston, 6-3. And thus the champagne in the Baltimore clubhouse went unopened.

"We held serve. We did what we could do on the field," Showalter reasoned. "So it's get back in the locker room and go to our next challenge."

There hasn't been much the Orioles (92-67) haven't been able to overcome this season. They lost three leadoff hitters to injury, only one pitcher remains from their opening-day starting rotation and they've won 31 games in which they got one hit or fewer with a runner in scoring position.

They also reversed a culture of losing and revitalized a city that had turned its back on baseball and the owner, Peter Angelos.

The Orioles topped two million in attendance this season for the first time since 2007. The excitement level at Camden Yards over the weekend conjured memories of yesteryear -- the place was sold out Saturday and 41,257 came Sunday.

"I'm happy for the players and the fans," said Dan Duquette, who's done a remarkable job in his first year as vice president of baseball operations.

"We were in the hunt when the kids went back to school in September and now we're going to play some meaningful games in October."

 

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