Orioles Show Fight In Comeback Win As Their GM Threatens To Quit On Another Season

In the movie “Major League” the upstart Cleveland baseball team - whose owner had bailed on them and was content for them to lose to save money and relocate to Florida - put a cardboard likeness of said owner in their clubhouse and ripped a piece of clothes off it after every surprising win.

One can’t help but wonder if this Orioles roster is doing something akin to that, metaphorically, with an image of their chronically inept chief baseball exec Mike Elias in their minds as they charged back in another bizarre game to beat the Phillies, 6-4, at Camden Yards and get within 1.5 games of the final Wild Card spot.

“They know where were at this point in the season, and where we’re at in the playoff chase,” rookie manger Criag Albernaz said of his team after the win. “And every win is huge, especially against a really good team like that.”

Elias also knows what time it is – August is nut cutting time for MLB GMs, and Elias never has any conviction in his team’s ability to accomplish anything real when this calendar flips, hence gems like this that came out of his mouth before first pitch Friday: “We can’t sink all of our chips into 2026.” This from the same conman who promised a roster that would be atop the mighty AL East back in February when they begged people to renew their season-ticket Birdland Memberships.

Instead of pretending he has any inclination to meet those goals, he sells aggressively in August or he buys on the most extreme margins of the fringes at the deadline, and lives to tell his bosses all the money he’s saving them and how brighter days are ahead next year or the year after. Elias admitted he is actively engaged in expansive talks and will no longer rule out movinghis first-ever pick and a first-overall pick, Adley Rutschman, who we’ve been telling you would be shopped all over the league since June. So prepare accordingly.

It’s remarkable this shallow grift has lasted this long, and one senses this team loves to spite him, making him look like a fool with the ways they usually collapse when he addresses the media, and this time, the way they surged back. Was it a big middle finger to one of the worst in-season roster managers in modern sports history? Makes you wonder.

It was another team effort. The pen was stellar yet again and Gunnar Henderson delivered a rare clutch hit with two outs and runners on to drive in the game winning runs. They completed July with a 15-8 record, though we know Elias’s mind has already turned to 2027.

“It’s obviously been tough,” Henderson told the MASN broadcast after the game, “but to come through for the team in that way, it’s obviously huge for the team, and also for myself.”

Slow Start

Starter Brandon Young was not as sharp as he’s been, and the Phillies, unlike the Orioles, weren’t intimidated by that left field wall that Elias butchered twice. Philly manufactured two runs in the first, keyed by an unlucky infield hit by Trea Turner. Turner homered his next time up and JT Realmuto did the same in the sixth.

Young ended up giving up those four runs over 5 2/3. His season ERA still stands at 3.31, and he’s been an unmitigated joy for the most part in a season largely devoid of it. Will be interesting to see if he falters and tires late.

One thing the Orioles don’t do is hit starting pitching, if you haven’t been paying attention and everybody has their best start ever against them so failing prospect Andrew Painter of course became the latest to join the club. He was sporting a 4.56 ERA at AAA but cruised through six innings and struck out six. Even after this gem, Painter’s MLB ERA this season sits at 6.72, so that tells you how things have gone for him up here.

The Orioles managed to tie it 4 by getting to the bullpen, with Jackson Holliday jumpstarting the comeback with yet another hit (he’s having an excellent July), and the guy carrying them right now – recent AAA recall Christian Encarnacion-Strand – came through with a two-run double in the 7th off Orien Kerkering, who is an absolute menace against righties.

Then Henderson – among the worst in MLB this season with RISP and two outs – came through with a triple to score two (Pete Alonso was hit by a pitch), pumping his first after he slide into third and acutely aware of his past failures in those sports.

“Huge triple,” Albernaz said. “Tough lefty match up. Great at bat … Big for Gunnar, and big for us.”

The ballpark came alive. Another wild, late-inning rally.

At this point, you have to wonder if Elias was smirking and shaking his head. He’s ready to throw in the towel on this group, same as always. He’s itching to land more prospects, he’s not motivated to help this team out.

But it says here that even without Rutschman and Trevor Rogers and Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Ward, they won’t be much worse than they have been, if at all. They have a way of making this guy eat his words. He gave them plenty to choke down again Friday.

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