Let's Go Streaking!

As much as I love the silliness of the blog's title (and the picture to the right), I'm talking about baseball. My Orioles ended quite a terrible streak - nine straight losses. Brian Matusz pitched well, and super-sub Ty Wigington knocked the ball over the yard in the win over Oakland.

This streak reminds me of a previous awful Orioles streak - in July of 2008, the O's ended a streak of 15 consecutive losses on Sundays. The streak was so bad, team management tried this ploy:

In an effort to reverse their struggles in Sunday games this season, the Orioles have announced the first-ever "We Win, You Win" promotion at Camden Yards. The team is encouraging fans to come out to provide extra support for the ballclub at the Sunday, July 6 game vs. the Texas Rangers at 1:35 p.m. If the Orioles defeat the Rangers that day, all fans in attendance will receive a complimentary ticket in the same seating category to any future non-prime game.

The O's lost on July 6, July 13 and July 20 before beating the Angels on July 27.

That season through June 30, the Orioles were 40-27 ... in all games not played on Sunday. The team's 1-12 mark on Sundays was bad. That season, the Orioles had a final record of 68-93. Yuck.

Speaking of streaks, the Orioles are on their way to their 13th consecutive season of missing the playoffs. After back-to-back appearances in 1996 and 1997,the O's have not played baseball after the first weekend in October. Maybe they signed a non-compete clause with the Ravens and Art Modell.

What a fall from grace. The Orioles won 100 games in back to back seasons in 1979 and 1980. They won the Word Series in 1983, and missed out on the playoffs on the last day of the 1982 season - Don Sutton and the Brewers outlasted the O's and Jim Palmer. After the historically bad season of 1988 (remember 0-21?), the "Why Not?" Orioles of 1989 nearly made the playoffs before being edged out the the Blue Jays during the season's final weekend.

The O's moved into Camden Yards in 1992, and after a few years of mediocrity, landed in the post season in 1996 and 1997. Then, Davey Johnson was run out of town, Jon Miller was run out of town, and you already know the rest of the story.

Good bye for now.