Random Tasks

I'm no fan of Peter Angelos, and I will be there to call him out even after he doesn't put the toilet seat down after using the bathroom, but Drew Forrester over at WNST, you know the station that the O's hope will be destroyed by a falling asteroid, has confirmed from 3 different sources associated with the Orioles that Baltimore will be back on the road jerseys in 2008.

Angelos has done more damage than putting Baltimore back on the road jersey will fix, but if this is indeed true, Angelos has done something he's never done before -- listen to the fans and give in to their demands.

And he deserves credit, however insignificant this move may be in the grand scheme of things.

Having Baltimore on the road jersey may not mean much to most people, but for those who live inside the Baltimore Beltway, it means the world. If rooting for the home team is based on civic pride, it's nice to see the city where the team plays represented on their uniforms.

Before the Nationals arrived in Washington, Angelos turned the Orioles into a regional team, even more so than previous owners had done after the Senators left Washington in the early 70's. He removed the "Baltimore" from the official team logo. Instead of BAL on the scoreboard at the Yard or on TV, it read O's.

What putting Baltimore back on the road jerseys signifies is that the Orioles are no longer the Mid-Atlantic region's sad sack of losers, they are Baltimore's sad sack of losers. And when there is no winning on the horizon, small changes like this are huge.

No, it's not going to translate into wins, or even increased attendance at the yard. After all, Baltimore will be on the road jerseys. (But don't put it past Angelos to have the O's wearing their away jerseys at home if it makes him money!) But it does restore some of the severed bond that had been created when the O's became the Mid-Altantic region's team as opposed to Baltimore's team.

And in the end, this will make Angelos money. Those Baltimore road jerseys are going to sell like hot cakes when they are first released. I will be buying one of them as soon as I can get my hands on one. But if Angelos is going to be doing something to make money, at least he'll be making fans happy while doing it.

Now, back to the depressing stuff.

Go figure. The Blue Jays, who had lost 10 out of their last 12, just swept the Orioles. And to think that I once thought that the Orioles would sweep them, or at least take the series from them during a 9 game stretch against the Jays and Nats, 2 teams worse than the Orioles. But that's not so true anymore.

Next up are the Nationals, who many die-hard O's fans look to beat up on this weekend. But think again. The Nats have won 5 out of their last 6 games while the O's are in the middle of a 5 game losing streak and still reeling from the now infamous Mother's Day Massacre. Many players and fans are wondering when Perlozzo will be fired as well. So there's a good chance that the team is not just thinking about the game this weekend, always a good thing.

Back to Perlozzo.

He needs to go. There is no doubting that. And with today being an off day, now is as good a time as any. As replacements go, I hear Bob Barker is free.

It really doesn't matter who the Orioles replace Perlozzo with, as long as he is replaced. They can name an interim manager in Trebblehorn or Juan Samuel, but in the offseason, Aneglos needs to parlay the Baltimore-on-the-road-jersey thing into another good move and totally overhaul the front office and management staff and replace them with new, young blood that has no previous connection to the organization.

It's time to purge the losing culture that has infected this team from top to bottom. And if a fish rots from the head, meaning Angelos, the least he can do is try and do all he can to make things better. I know he doesn't have the motivation to do anything, shit, I'll be surprised if Perlozzo is ever dismissed in the middle of the season, but Angelos is a good business man, and even he should be able to see that this company, I mean team... or organization, needs a shake up.

And while you're at it, get a bunch of new players too.