it's almost octOber

shadows have low tilt. breeze has chill. hamptonites are back in town, crowding nyc taverns. on 4 train, a mets fan looked emotionally exhausted last night. he and wayward O we got off at same stop. wayward O and despondent Mets fan had following exchange:

t.w.O.: "did it go final?"
d.M.f.: "yeah."
t.w.O.: "man."
d.M.f.: "let's not talk about it."
t.w.O.: "ok."

and he disappeared into the friday night going out crowd. he wasn't going out. wayward O was going out. wayward O has no dog in this fight anymore, except Go Cubs and Go Whoever is Playing Yankees and Red Sox. maybe a little Go Mets, too.

and now, a mere 21 hours later, the phillies are desperate for a run and the so are the padres and the brewers all looking to take down somebody with 'em. somewhere d.M.f. is probably doing some voodoo dance as Nats try to hold off phillies in bottom of 9th.

Ruiz pops out of Belliard and Nats are handing out so much pain!

meanwhile, thanks to some hideous defense from bobby abreu, orioles can at least say they made a difference going down stretch. thanks to a couple of bad routes by bobby abreu and some cool-headed defense and clutch hitting from the young savior, and perhaps the most fittingly ironic melvin mora bunt of the year, Os solidified yankees' position as division runners up.

of course, in true oriole fashion, Os handed yankees opponent of their dreams. but at least this year October seems to have started a couple days early.

saying bye bye fOr year

wayward O went up to bronx last night for 12-0 drubbing. just to say farewell* to team in person, kind of. it was nice to see "first team"** out there; wayward O mistakenly thought that meant Orioles would have fighting chance.

during 6-run janqui fourth, mora and huff couldn't catch grounderz. they were hard-hit balls but three of 'em ... a liner and two grounders ... and none caught.

seats costed $60 a pop.

yankee stadium is down to last 100 ballgames or so ... depending upon how many playoff games. the place has stately charm, but it's really quite a mess. lots of crud everywhere. lots of it on wayward O's seat. seat was so filthy t.w.o. had to sit on cardboard deal you get when you buy concessions.

guess how much 24 oz. coors light costs from vendor? first correct guess wins a prize. and -- this was highlight of night -- only at yankee stadium:

that kills wayward O .... iccce creaaaaaam of theee fyooooOOOOOO-ture!

five bucks. a buck more than camden tards.

at one point wayward O's lovely girlfriend asked wayward O, as yankee celebrations abounded, "are you sad they're losing?"

"don't even go there right now," was all wayward O could say.

and after 6-run rally wayward O went to get beer and yankee fan said to wayward o, "tough night."

in reply, wayward O said, "tough ten years."

ten years is blink of eye in overall expanse of this great and beautiful game that we all love and some of us must endure pain before we can experience victory.

back in mid-90s when wayward O would visit bronx, hostile yankee fans were threatened by Orioles and there was lots of venom. now they just kind of tolerate Os fans like you would a retarded cousin.

meh. he's harmless and i only see him for a few hours a year.

that might be saddest part of it all. wayward O will know Os are good again when yankee fans get sour again.

prior to season wayward O predicted big year from curtis granderson. he's become wayward O's favorite ballplayer. it is too bad bonderman was ailing and tigers don't appear to be able to upend yankees. especially because it gets the traitOr another chance to glom on for a world series ring.

now that would be depressing.

* this doesn't mean wayward O will cease to blog about orioles it just means no more trips to the yard this year

** sort of

the trembO in full

yerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Out!

Balt. Sun photo

no, sir, it is you who are out!

i do verily beg to differ with you, sir, since it is in fact you who are out.

jay gibbOns' big chance

what do gibbons, rafael palmeiro, troy glaus, rick ankiel, jason giambi, sammy sosa, mark mcgwire, guillermo mota, barry bonds, gary sheffield, jason grimsley, countless minor leaguers, and so many others in the majors have in common? a couple things...

1) we're pretty certain they used steroids or hGH, maybe after it was illegal
2) they've been linked in some concrete way to said substances
3) so far, none has given a full, public accounting

there is a smaller group of players -- most famous among them david ortiz, miguel tejada and alex rodriguez -- who have been whispered about but who have never been linked to steroids and they are not part of this group.

so what does wayward O want from gibbons now that he clearly will never play in the majors again? wayward O wants gibbons to differentiate himself from this sorry lot by standing up in public like a man and giving a full accounting of his cheating ways.

don't do it for yourself jay ... do it for the thousands of screaming ten-year-olds who went to camden to root for you to hit home runs. when they're older they'll appreciate your candor.

wayward O is very sympathetic to players who used steroids and other now-banned substances before they were banned and sees no need to punish any such behavior. however, gibbons, it appears, continued to use and mask after baseball's wake-up-late policy was enacted.

on another note ... was it:

-- the new york times
--- espn
-- the daily news
--- the networks
-- and everybody else

who said george mitchell's little "probe" was impotent? yes. all of them...

the former senator from maine is the man behind the curtain, friends. he's getting it out there in ways no mere baseball player considered possible.

he got the irish to sit down and talk. did the meathead baseball players think they were going to outsmart or outlast him?

vOid his deal

lol

jay gibbons took steroids

gee, really?

best thing that's happened to orioles in three weeks.

kick him to the curb.

diaspOra, part 4

Name: Paul Kirby
Location: Silver Spring --------> MARYLAND
Status: Os fan
Gear Choice: pen, paper
Wayward O Says: in case yOu missed it -- yes. you missed it. wayward O says YEAH this letter printed in saturday's wash post:

Thousands of Post readers have been Orioles fans for years and still attend many
games. And for many Post readers who live in Maryland, including those in Howard and Anne Arundel counties, the Orioles are the home team, with Baltimore closer than Washington.

Please reconsider your decision to not dedicate one of your reporters to covering the Orioles' home and away games.

-- Paul Kirby, Silver Spring

paul kirby. just another stout Os fan with a high tolerance for agony and no tolerance for tom boswell and his pinheaded sports biases. paul kirby ... you are not alOne.

fenway is the chamber Of pain

no matter how painful, wayward O brings you the incites you need to cling to your sanity as an Os fan in the face of a very painful late-season swoon. today, wayward O catches up with red sox fan and sometime blogchat buddy ted williamsburg to hash out the events of last night:

Ted Williamsburg: You want to talk about It?
The Wayward O: Sure
The Wayward O: my team failed to procure a hit in last night's contest versus your team
Ted Williamsburg: That's true
Ted Williamsburg: Did you watch any of it?
The Wayward O: i saw it on the radio ....
Ted Williamsburg: TV On the Radio?
The Wayward O: lost Os broadcast in jersey but picked up 1080 a.m. out of hartford
The Wayward O: for nyc home stretch
Ted Williamsburg: The kid's curve and change up were filthy
Ted Williamsburg: And he was throwing 'em for strikes on 2-0 counts
The Wayward O: yeah.... he struck out scott moore on 3 consecutive change ups
The Wayward O: at one point
The Wayward O: in addition to the fireworks at fenway, I saw the fireball
The Wayward O: no lie, cuz. i was at exit 8a on NJ TPK and the whole sky flashed this weird red / orange color
Ted Williamsburg: Weird
The Wayward O: and joey ramone came back as a shark off rockaway
The Wayward O: so all in all .... not your average day
The Wayward O: you know what's cool about the Os?
Ted Williamsburg: No. What's that?
The Wayward O: they're not just bad ... they're galactically bad
Ted Williamsburg: They're like "30-3" bad
The Wayward O: they have taken the art of sucking to levels not seen in decades
Ted Williamsburg: You mena since the '87 O's?
The Wayward O: 88 ---- yeah
Ted Williamsburg: Sorry
Ted Williamsburg: No disrespect
The Wayward O: s' alrite
The Wayward O: oh i just watched the pedroia play on the videos
Ted Williamsburg: That was sick
The Wayward O: it was a nice play -- now dustin and clay can get a room
The Wayward O: instead of just pointing at each other with obvious longing
The Wayward O: i kid. that shit was mint.
Ted Williamsburg: I couldn't believe how quickly he got up and unloaded that ball
The Wayward O: it seems like there's always one of those ridiculous plays in every NO No
Ted Williamsburg: There has to be, that's how you get a no-no
The Wayward O: hey .... how's lestah?
The Wayward O: i mean i know we'll see today
Ted Williamsburg: Cancer free, but kinda spotty on the hill
The Wayward O: hypothetically speaking, would you trade the no no for a series win?
Ted Williamsburg: Of course
Ted Williamsburg: Wait .. do you mean World Series or weekend series?
The Wayward O: this here series
The Wayward O: not world series
Ted Williamsburg: Yeah, probably
The Wayward O: i don't think i would honestly
Ted Williamsburg: I can't afford to give away wins right now
Ted Williamsburg: My magic number is 22 with 26 to play
Ted Williamsburg: Clock's ticking
The Wayward O: yeah but now your boy clay thinks he's da man. and if you think you're da man, it's easier to really be da man
Ted Williamsburg: [declines comment]

please gOd

"I was just saying, 'Please God, kill me.' I wanted the Earth to open and for me to go and, poof, sand just to go on top. This was the last thing we were waiting for, especially when they hit it to me. Bad things are happening to us right now. But I'm glad we got this one." -- Melvin, Os third baseman, via Sun

"When that inning started, I said, 'Please God, don't start another one. We don't want to be in the same situation as what happened last time.' What can I say? Our pitchers are trying to make the best pitches they can. Right now, we're in a tough time." -- Miguel, Os short stop, via Sun

"I’m really excited about what I’ve heard from MacPhail so far. Don’t worry, I haven’t chugged the Orange kool-aid. Everything sounds great, but I still need to see the actions to back it all up. (Especially the whole bit of Angelos staying out of baseball operations. Oh please God let it be true.)" -- Heathir, Os fan, via Orioles Magic

"Please God let us get someone." -- Tom, former Os blogger, 2005

"Please God, let us get a hit today." -- Wayward O, via Wayward O