Great achievement by Buck Showalter. Nobody could have seen this coming. We all knew Buck is a very capable manager, but this is nothing short of amazing. He's brought hope to the fan base, but more importantly, he is raised the bar not only for the players but for the GM and the ownership. Next year is make or break for Peter Angelos. I don't think Buck Showalter will settle for a mediocre team next year. MacPhail better watch his back. His contract might not even be renewed next year.

I vote Buck for GM and Cal Ripken Jr for manager.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100831&content_id=14136334¬ebook_id=14161044&vkey=notebook_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal&partnerId=rss_bal

What garbage Kakes is.

I guess the usual suspects who post in here when the team does poorly are shaking in rage so bad they can't write. Because they just wanted to complain.

If you are angry, it's because you know i am right.

There seems to be a lot of head scratching on the part of the media that had previously told us in a condescending matter that changing the manager won't change the results. It's high time they stop scratching and man up once and for all and admit that they were WRONG. There is no way around it, this team was obviously playing well below their capabilities and when they finally have a manager that they care to play for you see the results.

I will agree that there were issues that were not Trembley's fault, and I don't clame that the team would have had a .600 winning % this year. There were devastating injuries and the young players were not going to be perfect every time out. That having been said I believe this team would be around .500 had Showalter been the manager from day one.

I am not a McPhail hater but I have always said that his biggest mistake was keeping Trembly when it was clear that the team quit on him in August and September if last year.

Mike...if you read (at least as far as Pete goes) the argument was that changing managers at the beginning of the season would have done nothing, especially with all the injuries and other distractions.

Would Showalter have done better than Trembley early on? I think so, but they still probably would have been under .500 for him.

This is one thing MacPhail got right. Waiting to make a change till it could actually make a long term difference. Buck now has two months to evaluate and come into next season strong and prepared to make some kind of run...at very least getting these guys above .500.

great column, pete!