"But there is some good news. Two of our runners almost managed to get to first base. . . and we did hit 17 foul balls."

--Bad News Bears, 1976

Wow - what a devastating stat... there doesn't seem to be too much hope, either.

Any ounce of compassion I had for Millwood for his hard luck earlier in the season is LONG gone.

Either he's mailed it in (which is understandable, if not acceptable) or he's completely lost all effectiveness and should retire.

A Famous quote..... from a Great Movie

The mind is a strange thing, men.
We must begin by asking it…

…What is losing?
Losing is a disease…

…as contagious as polio.
Losing is a disease…

…as contagious as syphilis.
Losing is a disease…

…as contagious as bubonic plague…

… attacking one…
… but infecting all.

But curable.”

Curable... only if we fire certain individuals! And bench others!

so what else is new? this is just the news I wanted to see after a grueling 14 hour work day.

Has there ever been another organization where every one of their prospects crapped out like this? From top to bottom this organization is broken. Andy should give Buck Showalter any and everything he wants so he can try to salvage some of these young guys before they are beyond repair.

Jeff--

Your point - made is plain disgust -- is actually very well taken. A couple of serious points in reply:

1) I'd rather read stories on top baseball competitors and games. Why don't you head to NY, Atlanta, etc. and report on games that matter? That would be a better read.

2) The real Baltimore baseball story is the history of how the Angelos regime turned winningest franchise of the 70s/80s into one of the worst teams of the 2000s with no serious hope of revival for at best until 2015 (if you're an optimist). WHERE IS THIS ANALSYIS from the Baltimore Sun? (I've seen it attempted in Orioles Hangout and reprinted on the Sun's comment boards....but the Sun owes readers its own serious effort at this.)

CaptiveFan, I'd also LOVE to see The Sun do a nice story on how Peter Angelos has run this franchise into the ground.

Not holding my breath though.....

The horror, the horror (quoting commander Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (the movie, played by Marlon Brando, from Book by Joeseph Conrad "Heart of Darkness). Sad to say how it applies to the Orioles today. Oh those sweet memories of the Earl Weaver plus Brooks Robinson days.Where have they gone, long time passing, and long time gone.

But we play in the AL East. How can we be expected to compete with the juggernauts like Toronto and Tampa Bay? I mean look at their revenues and markets they play in compared to ours. It's so unfair.

How can we expect to pay for so many scouts like those two teams?

This team has officially run out of excuses. They are either not trying to put together a winner or nobody in authority has any idea how to do it.

Anyone who has bought season tickets under the Macphail regime should give Angelos a taste of his own medicine a bring a class action fraud suit. This team has had no intention of winning and selling people a product that you know is defective and deficient and claiming otherwise is fraud.

Millwood has been phoning it in for a month at least. I know he got discouraged early, but he's supposed to be a professional, how bad does he have to get before the send him down for a while? Good thing Andy knows just what to do to fix things, right? How can MacPhail's effort here be seen as anything other than a spectacular failure?

I guess the next milestone will be the Os being mathmatically eliminated (believe it or not they still have a chance. A snowball's chance in hell, but its a chance) from playoff or wildcard contention. My guess is pretty soon.

As a Jays fan it's too bad we can't play the O's 162 times a year!!! On a serious note, until MLB makes changes to a hard salary cap and possibly expand the amount of teams that make the playoffs it's going to be very hard for smaller teams like the Jays and O's to be successful

Jeff,
I am a 1st time poster on you blog. I have followed the O's since they came to Balto. in 1954 and this is by far the worst season I have ever experienced. This team is even worse than the one that started 0 & 21. I can't tell you when I have watched a game on TV from beginning to end. I have attended a few games this year because I like baseball but I haven't stayed until the end on any of them. The big problem is there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. This organization from top to bottom has developed a losing culture and they need to change that mindset before things improve.

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Jeff Z's reply: Thanks for posting Stan and hard to argue with your point.

The losing culture that has been hanging around Camden Yards has been re-enforced by Andy MacPhail this season. I have been a supporter of "the Plan" because I believe this organization needs a complete overhaul. I thought this was being done, but it is painfully clear that we are not much better off than we were at the beginning of the millenium. I believe we have better young pitchers in the organization than we have had in a long time, but other than that, I see way too many holes and no attempts to fix them. The scouting and developmental side of the organization is a joke by major league standards. They don't spend the money on the field, they don't spend the money in development or scouting. If you really pull back the curtain and look at this organization as a business, it is a house of cards. I don't see the Orioles righting this ship for several years if at all. This, like the Pirates and the Royals, was a once proud and historical franchise, but mismanagement and greed have turned it into the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. It is a sad thing to see. It is a shame that I will not be able to raise my son to be a fan of this team, once built on fundamentals and class. I would not wish this type of pain on anyone, let alone my own flesh and blood. In today's hi-tech world, you can choose to be a fan of any team you want, regardless of where you call home.I will encourage my kid to pick a team that is more concerned with winning than anything else. It will make baseball a lot more enjoyable for him than it has been for me the last 13 years.

Tony P.'s comments are so on point: but the public trust violated by this Os regime extends beyond his son. As a long-time youth coach in the 80s/90s I pointed to the Os examples of excellence repeatedly. The Os teams were a source of upbeat chatter throughout B'More and Md. - "how 'bout them Os!?"

All destroyed over the last 13 years. Why? And in failing to surgically investigate and raise the issues is the Baltimore Sun part of this losing culture?

There are real issues to investigate, report on and discuss. But the Os and Sun leave us to speculate.