Orioles lose in front of smallest crowd in Camden Yards history

[madinmaryland]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/12/AR2010041204530.html

BALTIMORE -- With one big swing to lead off the bottom of the first inning Monday night, Félix Pie homered to give Baltimore a lead and hope that this would finally be the day when the offense awoke.

Instead, what followed was more of the same for the Orioles, who continue to waste good starting pitching performances because of an inability to score runs.

Tampa Bay Rays starter Matt Garza allowed one earned run in eight innings against Baltimore for the second time in less than a week as the home team dropped its fourth straight game, 5-1, in front of an announced 9,129, the smallest crowd in the 19-season history of Camden Yards.

The previous smallest crowd was 10,130, last May 26 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Orioles gave them little to cheer about beyond Pie's two hits and another solid outing by Jeremy Guthrie, who allowed three earned runs in seven innings.

..snip

It really is that bad in Baltimore this year.

[Auggie]

1. I remember the Cleveland team playing in front of 3 to 4 thousand

back in the early '70s. Or, as one wiseass New York Sports Anchor put it...

"... before a crowd of 78,000 empty seats."

That had to do more with a terrible ball club than a terrible economy, something factored into the Oriole's woes.

[madinmaryland]

2. If I had been there last night, I probably would have stayed the entire nine innings.

No worries about beating the crowds and traffic out!!

[MadBadger]

3. Its awful

Pie lead off the game last night with a home run, and then no cheering to be had the rest of the way. This season is shaping up to be the worst yet.

They usually start off slightly below average to average then fall off and suck after the all star break. Now this year, they just suck.

[Auggie]

4. Are we seeing less parity in baseball than ever before?

Seems the Orioles mostly fielded competitive teams in years past.

[madinmaryland]

5. If you consider 70-75 wins as competitive. They haven't had a winning season

since Robby Alomar spit in the umpire's face against the yankee series in the late 90's

[Auggie]

6. Mmmm... time is flying by

Seems like yesterday

[Divine Discontent]

7. wow.. they are just bad. and that attendance... wow.

goodness, when was their last playoff home run? Eric Davis in '98 against the Indians?

[madinmaryland]

8. They were last in the playoffs in 1997 when they were led by Davey Johnson!

12 straight losing seasons from 1998-2009. Second only to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

[MadBadger]

9. Well their last playoff game was in 97, sooo...

[Divine Discontent]

10. yes, the year before, when he had cancer, that's right, he had done chemo & came in and hit a HR

can't believe they've been bad silent since 98.

[MadBadger]

11. A Few Years ago, Nearly halfway through the season they were in First in the AL East

But then like clockwork come August they fell apart.

[Divine Discontent]

12. pull Mussina outta retirement

heck, Jim Palmer too...

[madinmaryland]

13. Jim Palmer is still anouncing for the O's. I think it must be killing him to see them

like this. Even Cal Ripken seems to have gone into hiding.

[nickgutierrez]

14. Kind of a shame, because this is the first interesting Orioles team in a long time

Jones and Markakis are the start of a really nice outfield, and Matt Wieters is a very nice young catcher.

[MadBadger]

15. The Only interesting part now is how many games they will lose.

[Yavin4]

16. Good! I Hate The O's

I grew up in Washington, DC, and the O's prevented a team in DC for years. That's how I became a Yankees fan.

[madinmaryland]

18. Then why aren't you a Natinal fan?

:shrug:

[Yavin4]

22. Too Little

Too late. I moved on.

[madinmaryland]

26. Heh! From your posts here, you are a fair weather fan and not a REAL SPORTS FAN!

I think we all noticed that last fall!

:rofl:

[Yavin4]

29. A Cowboys Fan in MD

Is calling someone else "fair weather"? Wow, that takes Cheney-like gall.

[madinmaryland]

30. Heh! I used to be a Cowboy fan in NY/CT and growing up, a Cowboy

fan in Ohio. That's called consistent!

[MadBadger]

21. Whoopy Doo Front Runner.

[Yavin4]

24. Don't Worry O's Fan

When the Yanks come to town, you'll get a crowd.

[Condem]

17. You guys are all missing the point...

...Baseball is dying. A very slow death. It started the year free agency started... then the divisional play-offs.. now, four hour games. It's a fucking stinking bore. A seven month snooze. The only thing fucking longer is heinous NASCAR. Another sport in its death throes. Thank fucking God. God help the idiot who can sit through a nine inning game on TV.

[madinmaryland]

19. Thanks for blaming the Players Union for ruining baseball.

Douche!

[Condem]

20. Running baseball or ruining it, mad.

Only a 143 days until college football. Get down on your fucking knee and genuflect over that fact, heathen.

[madinmaryland]

27. Off to ignore you go, douchebag.

[MadBadger]

23. You are Dead Wrong on all accounts

Baltimore loves their baseball and the only reason nobody shows up anymore is cuz they suck. Nearly 49,000 people showed up opening day because people thought this year may be the turn around. The Fans here still care and dont give a damn how long the game goes.

[flvegan]

25. This is like...sarcasm, right?

[hughee99]

28. On the upside, the Orioles set a record in that they only disappointed 9,129 paying fans. n/t