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Revival of winning attitude, comebacks, wins and sweeps have this year's O's thinking big
It's easy to look at the Orioles' record and see just how different this year's team is from last year's, but it wasn't until last night that I realized how much the overall mentality of the entire club has changed.
On MASN's postgame show, O's Xtra, I interviewed Kevin Millar and suggested that it must be comfortable going into game 3 of the Houston series knowing that no matter what the result in the finale, the O's had won the series. Millar's face turned very serious as he explained how huge the upcoming series finale was. He told me, "We're going for the sweep."
Going for the sweep? What? I never thought of that goal. Last year, the O's would have been ecstatic to win a series, any series---not this year; the Birds want to win every game, not just series. It's called a winning mentality, and it's how players on playoff-caliber ballclubs think. It's sad that after covering this team for 5 years, this mentality was completely foreign to me, and the whole exchange with Millar caught me off guard.
Apparently Dave Trembley talked to his players about this issue earlier in the homestand. The skipper told me he felt there was a sense of complacency with this club in years past. He said it's time for this team to step up to the next level and challenge themselves to come away with some series sweeps. The Birds have had 6 opportunities to do that this year and have lost in the respective series finales each time.
Not last night. The O's swept the Astros. Maybe this is the beginning of that "next level" for the Birds. Could that level lead to the playoffs? If there's one thing this team believes, it's that there's no harm in thinking big.
Never any harm with thinking big. That's what I always say to those that think we are doing that nasty "r" word...I don't want to hear it. We have a team in place that is capable of beating anybody on any given day. Playing the Red Sox in Boston? So what. I hope teams realize now that they're not going to just come in the Yard and a game against us will be a cake walk. Even when we come to your town, you better prepare for us, or you'll be sorry.
I know it may be a little early to start printing out "World Series Champions" T-shirts, but down here in Virginia there are still doubters everywhere when I sport my O's gear. I say look at the standings. The O's AREN'T in dead last place, they are less than 10 games away from first place, and they are on record pace for comeback wins. That means it ain't over till it's over. Too many Boston bandwagoneers down here won't believe that, but I'm with them all the way till the end. And attitudes like Millar's keep me watching. Now my wife is into baseball too. Even if we miss the playoffs this year, there's not a fan out there (a TRUE fan) that can't believe that this isn't a HUGE step forward. Sure you'll have those that say "there we go again, another wasted season", (like my mother; she laughs whenever I tell her I'm going to an O's game), but REAL fans will look at this and see that we are not far from where we would like to be.
Stay tuned...