“Joe, you do not know hypnotism.” “Sure I do. Watch this. Chicken.” *cluck-cluck*
Wow. Just wow.
I bought my first Orioles season tickets for the 2010 season believing that good times were coming. It didn’t turn out that way. The Orioles started bad and continued bad in 2010. They switched out the manager twice. So long Dave Trembley, hello Buck Showalter and his pod people Orioles. They played well to end the season and to give hope for 2011.
I, too, still had hope, so I bought season tickets for 2011. That season started well, then June hit and it turned awful fast. But the Orioles did finish out relatively strong. And it did give us #theLegendOfBobbyAndy Game 162. That stoppage of the dreaded Boston Red Sox gave us hope for 2012.
Once more, I go all in for the Orioles and get season tickets for 2012. This time not too hopeful. The Orioles started out strong sweeping the opening series with the Twins but getting swept by the dreaded Yankees. It seemed we were destined to be terrible. Yet, they kept winning series by series, game by game. By the All-Star break they were competitive in the division although their Pythagoras Number was abysmal, more runs scored against them than they had against other teams.
Last night, they beat the Boston Red Sox and Pythagoras down to earn their 90th win of the season. It’s been a long time for the franchise to have a winning record. And finally, Baltimore has embraced this team’s run.
I used my final season ticket for this year last night with The Seed, and it was one of the best final series season I have seen. (I missed last year’s final tilt because Boston.) The crowd was electric and when Ryan Flaherty hit that first inning grand slam, the crowd erupted knowing that it was going to be a rocking night. Chris Tilman pitched a hell of a game so much so I didn’t know that it was a 1 hit affair. We were jumping and jumping until the final out.
We wanted fireworks, and we got them.
It was a very successful season. I don’t want it to end. I wish I had tickets for the rest of the weekend.
Thanks, Orioles, for the memories.
