Major League Baseball

Orioles have chance to play spoiler

Published Sep. 3, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Bob Klapisch

It’s no longer realistic to think Buck Showalter holds a grudge against the Yankees for his 1995 firing — too many years have passed, and the man responsible for his ouster, George Steinbrenner, is gone. But Showalter still feels a lingering emotional tie to the first team he ever managed, enough that he’ll probably enjoy his role in determining who wins the AL East.

Starting Friday, the Orioles’ next six games will be against the Yankees and the Rays. And if you still consider the Red Sox meaningful contenders, 15 of Baltimore’s final 28 games will be against teams in the hunt.

This will be Showalter’s chance to break some hearts, or at the very least, prove to Orioles fans there’s hope for 2011 and beyond. So far, he’s been able to partially drain the swamp he inherited from Dave Trembley and interim replacement Juan Samuel: The O’s had the worst record in baseball (32-73) when Showalter arrived, and while they’re still hopelessly in last place in the AL, they posted a winning record last month (17-10).

That was the first time the Orioles had been above .500 in August since 1997. Since 2000, Baltimore hasn’t had a winning August and just one winning September/October in 20 attempts.

No wonder why it felt like Showalter had taken the O’s to an alternate universe: They won eight of their first nine games with their new manager, although it didn’t hurt that the White Sox and Angels, two of Buck’s victims during the run, were mired in slumps at the time.

The Yankees and Rays, however, are steamrolling toward October. The Bombers have won six in a row, including a four-game sweep of the A’s. Oakland had a fleeting chance of puncturing the Yankees, taking an AL-best 3.56 ERA into the series. The A’s pitchers, in fact, were head and shoulders above the league in August, with a 2.83 ERA that was nearly a run lower than the Rays’.

The result? The Yankees scored 31 runs in four games, sending the A’s to a fast exit to the offseason. So on the face of it, the odds of the Orioles disturbing either the Bombers or the Rays are slim. Matt Garza, in fact, is preparing payback for the beating he absorbed from Baltimore on July 20, when he allowed seven runs (including four homers) in 6 1/3 innings.

On Thursday, Garza told the O’s via the St. Petersburg Times, “I’m going to shove it down your throat this time,”

The fighting words would probably resonate more if the Orioles were within reach of the wild-card. But Showalter has a longer-term rebuilding plan to think about. He could’ve waited until the offseason to start the makeover, and in doing so, copied the Mets, who’ve mindlessly stuck with Jerry Manuel during a downward spiral.

The O’s, however, saw the upside of hiring a full-time replacement in midseason.

"I'm glad that I listened to them because they made some good points," Showalter told reporters. "I'd hate to be going into October/November not knowing what I know now. I'm completely on top of the 25 guys here and I try to get as much information as I can to make good decisions for the offseason. When my opinion is asked, I want to be ready."

There’ll be plenty of choices to make about the Orioles’ younger players, which is mostly what the O’s are comprised of. Going into the final month, they had 77 games started by a pitcher in his first or second year in the majors, none of whom was older than 25. So it remains to be seen if Showalter has the patience for such long-term rebuilding, given his history with the veteran-laden Yankees.

Still, Showalter wants Orioles fans to understand he wasn’t hired to mimic the business practices of the big-market franchises. He correctly pointed out, “You have to stay true to who you are. Tampa Bay had a lot of first-round picks before they realized who they are. It’s not easy to build a team like that, everyone wants instant gratification. But baseball isn’t like that.”

For now, Showalter accepts the more subtle blessings as they come along, like August’s winning record, getting the rest of the AL to stop taking the O’s for granted. Mostly, Showalter wants his players to be accountable, and understand they’re being watched and evaluated.

One first-week anecdote (which Showalter says was over-blown) describes how he stood in the middle of the clubhouse and read off the names of the Orioles’ Triple-A and Double-A prospects to his floundering major leaguers. The message, however skewed as it was recounted, was still clear enough: No one gets a free ride in last place.

“The accountability factor isn’t always comfortable for ballplayers,” Showalter said. ”I wanted my guys to remember someone is always ready to take your job.”

Showalter swears, however, he wasn’t looking for shock value. "All I did was educate myself on the (minor-league) kids," he said.

Ready or not, the O’s are plunging head-first into the jaws of the race in the East, which is another way of saying, Buck is about to learn if September will be nearly as kind to his players as August was.

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