Friday, April 6, 2007

Finally...

We're in the win column.

One of my favorite announcer "catch-phrases" is the one uttered at the end of winning Orioles games by play-by-play man Joe Angel. At the end each game, Angel tells you that "the Orioles...are in the ___ column."

Obviously, if the O's are losers, he tells you -- in a rather dejected voice, usually -- that "the Orioles...are in the loss column."

But when the Birds are victorious? It's a little brighter: "The Orioles...are in the WIN column!"

Much better.

And tonight -- finally -- I got to hear those words. After starting the season 0-3 -- with an ugly series-ending loss to the Twins on Wednesday night -- the Orioles picked up their first win of the season.

Making it even sweeter was the fact that the win came in Yankee Stadium -- and against former Oriole Mike Mussina.

Listen, I was a 17-year-old Orioles fan back in the spring of 1988...so I know all about losing streaks to start a season. Whenever I even hear the words "oh-and-twenty-one" I reflexively wince in pain.

So -- for 20 seasons now -- I've always savored that first win of the season just a little bit more.

And tonight both the Orioles and the Phillies got it. So I can rest a little easier.

* I know I knocked Directv's new "Strike Zone Channel" a bit in my last SportsBlurb.com column (which you can read here: http://www.sportsblurb.com/baseball/game.asp). But I have to say that after a few more nights of checking out the channel, I think it can work. Sure, they sometimes switch too quickly from one game to another -- but I think I've figured out the key to watching the channel: you have to have another game on at all times on a second television. Seriously -- the Strike Zone channel works pretty well when you can flip back and forth between their updates and cut-ins and another game. I hereby retract my criticism for the time being.

* Was that really David Riske shutting down the Tigers in the 9th inning tonight to register a save? I realize I'm late to this waiver wire party, but I can't imagine that Riske will succeed in this role -- even for a short time.

* There was something rather ironic about 44-year-old Jamie Moyer defeating that group of Marlins youngsters to give the Phillies their first win of the season, wasn't there?

* OK, the delay tactics by Seattle manager Mike Hargrove earlier tonight were just outstanding. Paul Byrd and the Indians, however, were not as pleased. After all, they were just one out away from making the game official...which would have likely resulted in a Cleveland win. But Hargrove had other ideas -- and perhaps a minute-by-minute weather forecast -- and was able to get himself a ppd. Very nice. Am I the only one who thinks there might be some bad blood between these two teams over the weekend?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jody.......given your recent ripping of TQ stats , may I ask have you revisited now that the site is mostly up and running ?
I would suggest that the owners were rather foolish to try to reinvent the wheel so close to opening day , but I think some patience should have been administered.
David Riske , the surname says it all, but how do you see Al Reyes working out for Tampa

Jody Madron... said...

Our league moved on to CBS after the TQStats debacle, and we never looked back. Perhaps it would have been easier/wiser to wait it out for a few days, but many of our owners played out the end-game portion of the auction in such a way that they were counting on having the ability to make transactions. And TQ wasn't giving us that.

I don't know what to make of the Tampa closer situation. Currently, in one league, I have both Salas and Stokes...so I have a bit of an investment in seeing Reyes fail. But I have no idea if that will happen. Just as I have no idea if the Rays will put any closer in a position to save enough games to grab a firm hold on the job.