And the hottest team in the American League is … the Baltimore Orioles?
Yeah, go figure. Imagine what could have been had the O’s pulled the trigger on poor Dave Trembley in April instead of waiting until June. Buck Showalter would have had this team in first place before the ink dried on Trembley’s pink slip.
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All right, that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration. Still, lesson No. 1 in life is “don’t dispute fact.” The fact is this: Showalter’s bunch is 5-1 since he took over on Aug. 3, and their pitching has been rock solid.
What the heck is going on in Birdland? The O’s were 32-73 when Showalter took over — an absolute mess of a team heading for the franchise’s lowest win total since baseball went to a 162-game schedule. There’s no way a new manager clears that up. The Birds, at some point, will come back down to earth.
And yet, should we be surprised at Baltimore’s recent surge? This is what Showalter does: take bad teams and turn them around. Buck’s managerial methods are a reflection of his own development. He was a career minor league player who never ascended past Triple-A, but ultimately — through preparation, hard work, attention to detail and an emphasis on scouting — Showalter became a first-class manager who built winners in New York, Arizona and Texas.
For a franchise looking to rekindle “The Oriole Way,” Baltimore has chosen the right guy to steer the ship. They might not be a playoff team in the near future, but Buck’s boys won’t be outclassed again.
