After Cubs series, O's still elect to continue season, beat Tampa Bay

Yep, exaggerating to make a point with that headline. I do feel the large, large majority of Orioles fans put the club's series at Wrigley Field in its proper perspective. Maybe the remaining five percent of fans that - yet again - overreacted to a loss or two, can now come back in off the ledge. Baseball teams lose games, even to teams that are not good. They even get swept sometimes. Even by teams that are not good. They even have losing road trips, although it took the Orioles almost until September to have one. They even see a nine-game division lead shrink by a few games sometimes. I've been blogging long enough and hosted enough sports-talk radio over the years to know a small percentage of fans can overreact in a large way. But it is a small percentage. Their overreactions can seem loud though. I think this time some of that crowd was even heard by the players. After last night's game, J.J. Hardy said: "Think everyone else was pressing a lot more than we were. We had three rough games at Wrigley, but honestly we came in today and I don't feel like anyone was even thinking about that. Except everyone else. Everyone else was kind of pressing, but I don't think any players were." Adam Jones said: "It's three games. Hip, hip hooray. It's not the end of the world. People around here thinking it's the end of the world because we lose three games ... The strength of this team is the ability to forget. Something happens, move on. That is the strength of this team." Sometimes when I question a fan that has gone off the deep end, they respond by saying I am not open to their criticism and they are a "realistic fan." Let's take stock of what some of the "realistic fans" have said here on this blog in 2014: * The Orioles are nothing more than a .500 team. * The Orioles starting pitching is not good enough. * The Orioles can't survive the loss of Matt Wieters. * The Orioles cannot consistently win with an offense that relies so heavily on the home run. Well, those fans don't have a very good batting average, do they? During the 2012 season when I hosted a late-night show on 105.7 the Fan, it seemed like I spent half of every show hearing from fans who said the O's winning that year could not last. My pleas for them to enjoy it however long it would last and revel in the best Orioles season in years, fell on some deaf ears. I sure hope that is not happening for some of you again. If it is, there is probably nothing we can do to help you at this point. How did the Orioles respond to blown saves in New York and Oakland? How did they respond to Manny Machado's suspension? How did they respond to losing Wieters for the season? How did they respond to a tough West Coast road trip out of the All-Star break? How did they respond last night? Criticism here is welcome. It is particularly welcomed when it is reasoned, well-thought criticism. It actually adds to the baseball discussion and makes us think. Bring that to the table any day, any time. But some of what we read and hear on the radio after a few losses has become as tiresome as it has become inevitable.