Well then! That was a doozy! I decided to not post in the comments today and just watch the game, try to be relaxed about it. Instead I sat there in stunned silence most of the time, observing the quick three errors, the 10-0 Yankee lead, Giambi's dominance of the Orioles, Brian Roberts striking out four times, blah blah blah blah.
I share most of the thoughts from the game comments. I'm sick of this garbage. I hate losing. I especially hate it now that we got a few months of winning to remind us what that's like for the first time since '97.
A couple of things are clear. The Red Sox and Yankees weren't scared of us when we were tearing up the league and racing to first place. They said as much. So why be scared of them as they attempt to reclaim their 1-2 spots? As ridiculously simple as it is, there is a solution to the losing: stop losing.
And I know there are 102 things that make us the underdog against Boston and New York, but I don't care. I saw the Boston Red Sox come back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS to win eight games in a row and their first world championship in 86 years. As unlikely as it all was, and as unlikely a source, the 2004 Red Sox inspired me to look forward to the 2005 season because quite obviously, any damn thing can happen. When the O's got off to that start this year, we believed it. I know I believed it, because I've seen crazier things happen than the Orioles going to the playoffs. I've decided I'm very firmly not ready to throw in the towel. Make a trade or two (we're finding out who's expendable in a hurry - I won't name names, but I will sarcastically comment that it sure is a good thing we didn't trade Julio and whomever for Mike Cameron, huh?), use the All-Star break to regroup, get healthy and make your run. It's entirely possible that we can not only win the wild card, but win the division. Stupider, dumber things have happened, and I'll tell you, it would be a stupid and dumb and glorious thing for these Orioles to be AL East champions.
We've got a four-game series with the Red Sox before the break. BAD NEWS FOR THE RED SOX!