Do you have a favorite sports team? Have they spent the last five years or so kicking you in the teeth and expecting you to like it? If so, you might be an Orioles fan. Ever since Cal Ripken saved baseball after the strike, it’s been nothing but a string of bad moves. I had thought earlier in the season that bringing in Aubrey Huff was the worst thing they’d done, but that’s because Jaret Wright has spent so little time in uniform that I forgot about him.
So, the Orioles gave up a promising young pitcher who is now working in the Yankees minor leagues. What did we get in return? We got a guy with one good season (15-8, 3.28, 159 K’s in 2004), only 60 career wins, and a history of injury problems.
Not only that, but we took an aging, overrated starter off the Yankee payroll, and replaced him with a young reliever. It’s like Angelos is a Yankee fan.
And what have we gotten out of Wright? Three starts. Twelve hits, nine walks, and eight earned runs in 10 innings while losing all three games. Wright should be ashamed of himself. There’s not a human being on earth who couldn’t lose all three of his or her starts this season. He should return his paychecks.
What’s especially discouraging is the Orioles have been showing some heart lately. I watched the game the other night when Bedard and Dice-K battled for seven, then the Red Sox went up 5-1, then the Orioles actually came back and won. They came back again against the Sox last night, and they’ve tied it late against the Yankees tonight (Game’s still going, tied 6-6 in the ninth. Although Bradford may be blowing it as we speak, hitting Cabrera in the middle of the back then giving up a double. Shoot. I didn’t even finish typing that sentence before Jeter knocked in the winning run. Still, they put up a fight.).
In conclusion, Peter Angelos is a jerk.