10 Toughest Things About Being a Baltimore Orioles Fan

As the child of a Baltimore native and lifelong Orioles fan, I was born to root for my hometown birds. Even when the Nationals jumped in and ripped fans away from the greatest ballpark in the majors, I stayed loyal to the Orioles, just as many devoted Marylanders have. That is why it hurts to see the Orioles this way.

My dad loves to tell me stories about the glory days, when Earl Weaver was manager and Brooks and Frank Robinson were leading the Oriole Way as Baltimore took home three World Series and were a force to be reckoned with in the American League. As much as Philadelphia and Atlanta fans love to boast their incredible pitching staffs with multiple aces, many forget that the Orioles boasted a staff that had four 20 game winners in 1971: Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, and Dave McNally.

I am too young to have ever been alive for the Orioles winning a World Series. I was young enough that I don't even really remember watching the Orioles go to the playoffs for the last time in 1997.

There is a glimmer of hope in Baltimore that will always burn brightly and that is the fans of the Orioles. The diehards still cheer for Oriole Magic, despite all of the losing. I can only hope that the 2011 season is rock bottom for this team, which is more talented than what is showing up here.

While we wait for things to turn around, here are the 10 toughest things about being a fan of the Baltimore Orioles.

1. The Losing

The magic number is 14. That's how many consecutive losing seasons the Orioles will have once they lose five more games this year.

As I said before, it was 1997 when the Orioles last made the playoffs and had a winning season. Since then, it's been disappointment after disappointment. 2005 seemed like an upswing when the Orioles held first into the middle of the season, but collapsed and spiraled into a streak of even worse seasons.

I've got some more numbers for you. Five, Four, Five, Three, Four. Those are the draft spots for the Orioles in the last five years. That shows that the Orioles haven't just been bad. The Orioles are in the top five of being bad. If they continue the way they are going right now, they will get the number two pick in 2012 (at least they can't be as bad as the Astros).

The final number to consider is 100. The Orioles are just 23 losses away from the futile finish that will add to the misery of being an Orioles fan.

2. Where Is Cal Ripken Jr.?

Cal Ripken retired 10 years ago and is a legend that will always be remembered as a hero for the Orioles and one of the greatest shortstops all-time and one of the greatest Orioles.

What concerns me is that he has only been a legend since he retired. I understand that he has children and his commitment to family is extremely admirable, but the most time I've seen him since I saw him say farewell in 2001 was when he went into the Hall of Fame and that had nothing to do with the present team.

The most prominent former Orioles in the system are Mike Bordick and Brady Anderson, which is great, but it's time for Cal to step in and provide some help. Whether it's in an instructional role or a front office role, Cal needs to be a leader in the franchise going forward because they lack credibility from the current guys who have no real ties to the Orioles.

It would also be the perfect birthday gift for Edward Norton.

3. The Starting Pitching

I think the accompanying picture says it all. When the Orioles have to turn to Jo-Jo Reyes (who Jon Heyman of SI has referred to as the worst player in baseball) as an upgrade to the pitching rotation, there is a serious problem.

The young starters have been horrible this year and have all taken steps in the wrong direction. Zach Britton's early dominance was erased by a two start stretch where he had one inning (COMBINED!) and allowed 13 earned runs. Brian Matusz's ERA is creeping closer to 9.00 as he continues to struggle to regain his 2010 form. Chris Tillman still struggles to keep his pitch count down and Jake Arrieta lets up home runs to everyone. The list goes on and on, but it's really just more of the same.

There are rare flashes of greatness and the addition of Tommy Hunter should help, but this is unreal. I can even say that it's hard to watch Jeremy Guthrie because he pitches well and his offense refuses to let him win, so he soaks up a majority of the team's losses.

There is a big problem and it needs to be fixed.

4. Injuries

Remember Brian Roberts? He was a terrific second baseman who set records for his ability to hit doubles and was a key spark in the leadoff spot in the order. Now he's been relegated to the 60-day DL because he can't shake his concussions.

Roch Kubatko of MASN made a great point this past week when looking at Dr. Lewis Yocum. He is the guy whose kids are probably getting sent to college entirely thanks to the Orioles considering he has pretty much dealt with everyone on the team. If it isn't Yocum's name in the news, it's probably Dr. James Andrews. The two specialists have ended the seasons of Jake Arrieta, Luke Scott, top pitching prospect Dan Klein, and Jason Berken, while diagnosing injuries to Chris Davis and probably a few others that I'm forgetting.

You can't blame the Orioles organization for the plethora of tough luck injuries that have crippled the team's growth, but this is just getting ridiculous. The Orioles could become a better team almost entirely from within with these guys.

5. Kevin Gregg and Mike Gonzalez

When Mike Gonzalez joined the Orioles before the 2010 season, he was supposed to be the expensive closer that could shut down opposing hitters in the ninth and at least preserve the few wins the Orioles could muster. He quickly became a pariah when he blew games consistently in the early part of the season. He has recovered slightly in his new role as a situational lefty, but it was bad when he closed.

The Orioles decided to turn to veteran closer Kevin Gregg this season and he has done more of the same. When Gregg comes in, people brace for impact because runners will get on base. Jim Palmer's "Captain Chaos" nickname describes Gregg's disaster save opportunities that feel blown before he even let's up runs.

Saturday's extra inning collapse was just enough to throw me over the edge against Gregg. He had some tough luck, but should have been able to get three outs against the Angels with a two run lead. Instead, Gregg allowed a walkoff sacrifice fly to record his only out, allowing three runs to score in the inning.

6. Vladimir Guerrero

I'll admit that I was on board with the Vladimir Guerrero signing when it first happened, but he has become just the latest in a string of failed attempts to get something out of a former superstar.

There are a lot of players that the Orioles have acquired that were once great and flopped in Baltimore. Albert Belle, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro (steroid edition), and Miguel Tejada (as 2010's third baseman) are just a few Orioles that were once something special and instead became sore spots on the history of the franchise.

Vladimir Guerrero is one of the greatest hitters of his generation, but that was before. He is now one of the aging veterans that is making money based on status rather than performance.

7. Player Development

There are two things that the Orioles need to be good to become a successful franchise: scouting and player development.

I'll admit that I am a fan of the Orioles scouting department in recent years. Brian Matusz, Matt Wieters, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Zach Britton, and others are great examples of the Orioles finding very talented players. The problem is that they haven't all grown into the potential that they have.

Wieters is the best of the bunch, an All-Star in his third season who will almost surely earn his first of many Gold Gloves after the 2011 season. Beyond Wieters is failure.

Matusz has taken leaps backwards in 2011 and the others are no longer in the rotation due to failure (and injury, but they were failing too). I can't explain what has gone wrong, but there is just a problem in the system that is impeding their ability to adjust in the majors.

The other failure is the lack of position players in the upper minors. There aren't really any position players making any sort of push to be in the majors at Norfolk or Bowie, which is a huge concern. Frederick is loaded with talent, but those players seem years away.

8. AL East Goliaths

Buck Showalter has made some excuses in the past that the Orioles are fighting at a disadvantage because they don't have the payroll of teams like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and he has every right. Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and Toronto have the toughest hill to climb to not only win the division, but also capture the elusive Wild Card, which is pretty much saved for the AL East runner-up.

The Orioles have been bullied by the Red Sox and Yankees over the past few years, but it goes back as well. The painful memories of the Jeffrey Maier incident in the 1996 ALCS against the Yankees (which was much more painful than the one that Cubs fans can't shut up about) and the Mother's Day massacre against Boston in 2007 (which was not surprisingly resulted in the team depriving Jeremy Guthrie of a win) are just two of many examples of the Orioles failing to conquer their Goliath.

Unless there is a drastic realignment, the Orioles have to deal with it, but fans will continue to tell the fans of all non-AL East clubs that there team is only winning because they aren't trapped under the two biggest budget teams in Major League Baseball.

9. Tampa Bay Rays

As much as it sucks that the Yankees and Red Sox are winning, it is almost worse (key word: almost) that the Tampa Bay Rays won the division two of the past three years and made the World Series in 2008.

The fact that a team with a smaller payroll that was just recently an expansion team rose from worst to first is just rubbing it in the Orioles' faces that they could be there too. Oriole fans are reminded by the success of the Rays and even the Blue Jays that there is room to improve and things aren't being done properly.

10. Lack of a Star

When you look around the division or the league, it's clear that the Orioles are lacking something. They don't have a face that any fan in America could name.

Adam Jones is good and will likely be a two-time Gold Glove winner after this season. He could also be a .300 hitter with over 100 RBI, but he still doesn't pack the punch of a CC Sabathia, Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, or Evan Longoria.

Jones is the closest the Orioles have and they need someone that is truly an elite player. Whether that player comes from within the organization (Dylan Bundy or Manny Machado?) or outside (Prince Fielder), the Orioles need to have that leader to take the leap to stardom and success.