heres one orioles fan

Here's one Orioles fan.......

.....who is NOT happy with the supposed "blockbuster" deal. I have

always liked and respected Ray Miller, who has faithfully served as

pitching coach for the O's during, what, 22 different managerial

reigns?

He's quoted as basically saying, "You get me eight runs a game, and

I'll figure out the rest." I'm sorry, Ray, I've seen the pitching

roster. Our ace is Sidney Ponson....for the 2nd straight year! Thank

goodness we picked up a couple of decent middle relievers (they should

hope they'll get paid by the hour on the mound....)

Sammy Sosa won't hit 50 home runs total in his entire time in

Baltimore, no matter how long it may be. He's 36, he's 26 away from

600 HR's, then what's next? He knows he's coming to a team with

absolutely no chance of winning the World Series, now and for the

forseeable future (i.e.--until Angelos sells!!), and he loafed on the

Cubs last year, just a year after being so close to the Fall Classic.

Unless Rafael, Javy and Miguel can keep him in line, I'm expecting

this to be the colossal failure of the Orioles this decade, as Albert

Belle was in the 1990's. There were none in the 70's; in the 80s the

failure came when we brought back Earl Weaver. Unfortunately, we

couldn't shave five years off the age of our 1986 lineup. And let's

not even talk about 1988....

For my money, my three all-time favorite Oriole teams (that I can

remember, so 1966 and 1970 don't count) are 1) 1983 (of course), 2)

1979, and 3) 1989. And let it be said the 1989 team had more grit and

guts than few teams I've ever seen. They should have never been close

to winning a division in the final week of the season, yet, there they

were.

I've been an Oriole fan since I started listening to Chuck Thompson

and Bill O'Donnell in the early 1970's when WFLS in Fredericksburg,

Virginia was a radio affiliate. I named my cat Al Bumbry. I suffered

through the A's and Yankees years, reveled in 1979, was stunned to

lose a 3-1 lead at home, and, would you believe it, actually missed

the final out of the '83 Series (I was working at my first job at the

time every Sunday afternoon, and game 5 was on a Sunday, back when the

games weren't all played at night).

I could go on and on and on about my favorite players, so let me just

come up with a dream lineup and bench...and pitching staff. (When I

compare this pitching staff to 2005's, it will be dreaming!)

Manager: Earl Weaver (of course)

Pitching Coach: Ray Miller

1st Base Coach: Billy Miller

3rd Base Coach: Cal Ripken, Sr.

Bench Coach: Johnny Oates

1st Base: Eddie Murray, Boog Powell

2nd Base: Rich Dauer, Bobby Grich

Shortstop: Cal Ripken, Jr, Mark Belanger (sorry, Miguel, not yet)

3rd Base: Brooks Robinson, Doug DeCinces

Catcher: Rick Dempsey, Elrod Hendricks

Outfield: Frank Robinson, Ken Singleton, Al Bumbry, Brady Anderson,

Paul Blair, John Lowenstein, Gary Roenicke

Starting Rotation: Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Mike

Flanagan, Mike Mussina

In the Pen: Scott McGregor, Eddie Watt, Tippy Martinez, Milt Pappas,

Hoyt Wilhelm, Tim Stoddard, Gregg Olson

Designated Hitters: Rafael Palmeiro and Lee May

There are other "great" Orioles (I define that by saying they played

well in the Orioles team concept, though they may not be in the Top

100 all-time in any MLB stats), like Merv Rettenmund, Terry Crowley,

Sammy Stewart, Mickey Tettleton, Mike Boddicker, Ross Grimsley, and

today's Melvin Mora.

Yeah, I know our outfield isn't "Mantle, Ruth, and DiMaggio", but I'm

certainly proud to be an Oriole fan!! :)

Sammy Sosa, though?

I don't see him making this lineup anytime soon.

OH----and another thing.....

Just thinking......

When we were battling the last time for the pennant, 1997, if we had

NOT traded Curt Schilling and Steve Finley away in the late 80s,

(remember Glenn Davis??), how many of you think Florida would have