O's Fire Mazzilli

[spursfor]

NAHEIM, Calif. -- The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Lee Mazzilli on Thursday with the team mired in an eight-game losing streak and still reeling from Rafael Palmeiro's positive drug test.

The Orioles have made bench coach Sam Perlozzo the interim manager for the remainder of the season.

The announcement was made just two hours before Baltimore's game at Anaheim.

Coming into Thursday, the Orioles were 51-56 and 10½ games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

The Orioles finished 78-84 in 2004, Mazzilli's first season, and this year appeared on course to ending a run of seven straight losing seasons.

Baltimore got off a solid start and on April 23 gained sole possession of first place in the AL East, ahead of the defending champion Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

The Orioles stayed on top through June 23. Baltimore was in second place, just one game back, on July 15 -- the day Palmeiro became the fourth player in baseball history to collect at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers.

But Baltimore then went on the skid that cost Mazzilli his job. From July 16 through Wednesday, the Orioles lost 16 of 18 -- including their last eight in a row -- to fall into fourth place behind division-leading Boston.

Perlozzo, 54, is in his 10th season with the Orioles, spending his first five as third base coach before becoming bench coach in 2001.

Perlozzo is in his 19th season as a major-league coach, having also served on the staffs of the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners. He was a manager in the Mets system from 1982 to 1986 and compiled a 364-263 record, winning three league championships and never having a losing record.

[HotAssComic]

They set him up to fail... poor Lee. Really like this guy. But how do you send him out to battle in AL East with Sidney Ponson as his Ace... Sidney Ponson!!! Insane, used Lee as the scapegoat.

[tlongII]

I can't believe Baltimore stayed in the race as long as they did.

[Horry For 3!]

They set him up to fail... poor Lee. Really like this guy. But how do you send him out to battle in AL East with Sidney Ponson as his Ace... Sidney Ponson!!! Insane, used Lee as the scapegoat.
Sidney Ponson :lmao

[atlfan25]

Erik Bedard is their ace.

[HotAssComic]

and he's been MIA... they hung Mazilli high and dry... trade deadline came and went and didn't even try to add a pitcher.

[timvp]

Raffy and his steroids continue their destructive paths.

[N.Y. Johnny]

I feel sorry for Mazzilli, he shouldn't have ever left the Yankees to coach for Angelos in Baltimore..he was doomed from the beginning , Angelos don't give them two nickels to rub together for shit.

[spursfor]

Anyone else think theres been too many distractions such as Raffy, Sammy, and Roids that didn't help the team either.

[FromWayDowntown]

I was in Baltimore over the weekend and heard some interesting discussion of Mazzilli's firing. Mostly, the talk was that Angelos never wanted to hire Mazzilli, that he preferred Sam Perlozzo all along, that his GM's talked him into hiring Mazzilli, and that when the team cratered after the break Angelos got his chance to promote his guy.

Lots of talk in Baltimore that the Orioles need to hire an old school Oriole from the Weaver/Cal Ripken Sr. era to manage that club. Baltimore doesn't let go of familiarity easily -- it's been a while since an old Oriole managed there; Rick Dempsey's name kept coming up. As an Oriole fan from way, way back, I think there could be better choices, but seeing a movement back to old Orioles baseball -- back to when the Orioles were among the most dominant teams in the big leagues (mid-60's to early 80's) -- would be nice.

[spursfor]

Maybe they should hire Larry Bowa. I think LB would light a fire under guys like Ponson, and Sosa to make them more productive.

[N.Y. Johnny]

Maybe they should hire Larry Bowa. I think LB would light a fire under guys like Ponson, and Sosa to make them more productive.


I don't think there's much to light on Ponson,..the guy just sucks and isn't an ace at alll.
Sammy Corka is at the end of his line now too.

I like Tejada from the O's though...he's a good player.

[FromWayDowntown]

I think the Orioles have some talent that can play big for a contender. Tejada is a flat-out stud. Mora has been terrific for the Orioles, too. Roberts is certainly serviceable at least at 2B. For the next couple of years, guys like Javy Lopez and Jay Gibbons can play roles.

The bigger problem is that the Orioles have gone away from the Oriole Way of yesteryear, which depended on having those types of bats, but also having good/great pitching. Granted, the game is much, much different now than it was in the 70's and 80's. But the Orioles have spent most of their free agent money (and have burned valuable prospects in trades) to get bats. If they want to compete in the AL East though, they need arms as much as anything. The idea that a team can actually compete for an entire season with Ponson anywhere near the top of a rotation is laughable. Bedard has been pretty good when healthy this season, and Lopez can be an okay mid-to-end of the rotation guy on a good team. But they have nothing beyond those two that's worth a damn (really) and they haven't done anything to really address that problem. The Orioles of the 60's, 70's, and 80's were built around guys like Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Scott McGregor, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone, and Mike Boddicker. They had a couple of offensive stars like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, and guys like that. But mostly, those teams were a bunch of fundamentally sound role players who did what they were supposed to do defensively, and didn't have to do much offensively because the pitching staff was so good. That paradigm can still win in baseball today -- look at teams like the A's and Astros.

I've never understood why Angelos doesn't see that his money would be much, much better spent pursuing pitching and not more and more bats.