Anthony Amobi: Amid struggles, O's still deserve fans' support

Good morning everyone, I'm Anthony Amobi and this is my first entry as a guest blogger for MASNsports.com First and foremost, I'm a hardcore Orioles fan and have been through thick and thin. It's a been rough time for us fans over the past 13 years; however, I'm an eternal optimist and believe better days are head for Orioles fans. I'm a native of the Washington, D.C., area and currently reside in Maryland. Growing up, I was introduced the Orioles as a teen and I've been a fan ever since. I started Oriole Post as an extension of my fandom and it is essentially a hodgepodge of opinions, news and photos centering on the team we love, for better or worse. Along with fellow blogger and good friend James Baker, we're in the sixth season of covering the Orioles. Now, the topic on everyone's mind is what happened with the Birds yesterday with the Evil Empire, also known as the New York Yankees. I was frustrated - as was pretty much everyone who wore black and orange - with the Orioles, who were defeated by the Yankees 6-3. Once again, the Yankees had them against the ropes late in the game; however, the offense engineered an amazing comeback off closer Mariano Rivera and the bullpen didn't allow New York to do any more damage before the rain delay. After the crazy weather passed, the Yankees stormed back in the top of 11th inning, scored three runs in the frame and won. They did what they do best: find a way to defeat their opponent when they see an opening. In the end, it seems the like the Orioles buried themselves. A lot of what happened in the decisive inning resembled what we have seen over the last decade on the field despite the changes to the roster. The Orioles committed critical errors in the frame, made poor decisions on the field and found a way to lose. It is disheartening to have seen the Orioles lose games in such painful fashion at Camden Yards seemingly invaded by a sea of blue. I went to both games this weekend and it was beyond painful to sit see the guys you root for get beat down by a rival. The best way to quiet the so-called Yankees fans that invade Camden Yards is to beat their team - consistently. The Yankees are like the big, bad, bullies of the schoolyard; meanwhile, the Orioles are like the frumpy kid who is picked on constantly. They try to fight back and quickly find out they need a lot of help if they want to defeat their nemesis. Well, it's no mystery that the Yankees pretty much owned the Orioles for the past several seasons. We're all frustrated at the situation and ponder how the Orioles can defeat their rivals on a regular basis. The Orioles are getting there. However, it will be a climb. At 8-12, they are not quite as bad as they were last year, but the Orioles are nowhere close to being contenders. I do know that a week into the season, we, as fans, were excited at the possibilities that 2011 might bring after a 6-1 start. However, it seems after Zach Britton's amazing outing against the Rangers two weeks ago, the Orioles have struggled. They are 2-11 since. We all know the offense has been struggling as a whole, the bullpen has blown some performances and the starting pitching has had its ups and downs. With the Red Sox in town starting Tuesday, the Orioles just need to continue to grind it out and find a way to win. We, as fans need, to support them. Anthony Amobi blogs about the Orioles at Oriole Post. His observations about the O's will appear this week as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.