Peter Schmuck, The Internet and the Groundswell of Those Who Want Sam Gone…

“It is the middle of May and, quite amazingly, one inning has created such a quantum shift in perspective that Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo's job security is suddenly a hot topic of conversation on all the fan Web sites and -- presumably -- in the club's front office.” – Peter Schmuck, 'Thanks to Hindsight, Manager's Status Cloudy'

Well, I am a blogger (obviously), and I often check out Orioles Hangout, Camden Chat, Oriole Magic, and the many other excellent blogs that cover the team. In conjunction with the so-called mainstream media (ala, the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post), I check them out daily for the latest in news concerning the Orioles, and sometimes find them a value resource than what I read in print.

Last night, I read Peter Schmuck’s article, “Thanks to Hindsight, Manager's Status Cloudy”, and for the most part I enjoy his work; however, but yesterday, and he perhaps a few other media members seem to have taken fans to task for wanting Sam Perlozzo deposed of as the Orioles’ manager.

Do the fans not have the right to be angry with Sam Perlozzo?

Is it just because you’re part of the media and have ‘access’ that we don’t, you seemingly have the right to pontificate about how you feel and degrade us at the same time?

Look, I didn’t want him fired (I am in the minority); however, when 95% of people want him gone, the public just might be right.

However, are you just wrong and way off-base when you start to insult fans, like Peter happens to here:

“If Guthrie hangs around for the entire ninth and throws 105 pitches (or, for the mathematically inclined, about 50 percent more than his previous longest outing of 2007) and then ends up getting a magnetic resonance imaging test Thursday, I'm guessing all the same message board geniuses would be calling out Perlozzo for burning Guthrie up.”

Um, actually, he makes a reasonable point, but everything is circumstantial when it comes to sports and human performance, especially on the major league level.

The bottom line is this: Sam Perlozzo is the manager of the Orioles; therefore, captain of the ship, so he has to take the blame, and on Sunday he made some poor decisions that led the loss against the Red Sox.

He took out Guthrie with one out in the 9th inning, even though he was up by 5 runs and had dominated the Red Sox all day.

There might have been an understanding if a runner reached base, he might be yanked from the game. However, that train of thought is asinine, especially since Guthrie had only thrown 91 pitches and shut down one of the premier lineups in the sport today.

That’s the problem in baseball today and is indicative of over-managing.

Jeremy Guthrie deserved to finish the game, and Perlozzo should have given him the right to do so – that’s why fans are upset, Peter.

The team is not doing the little things right on a consistent basis, and this will handcuff the Orioles.

I think what happened in Saturday's game in terms of leaving Leicester was even more disturbing, but Sunday's game just got me absolutely furious.

There are a litany of other examples, but the bottom line is when you perform in front of an audience and depend on fanfare to support a team, or entity, then you will be criticized – whether it is in favor of you, or not.

Heck, the whole sports talk and media industry feeds of the anger of the fans, so what happened Sunday made for good conversation and more importantly, listeners for the radio shows, and readership for the websites and newspapers.

It makes for a great, little circle...

Peter, you were a little off base in insulting the fans, bloggers and those who have message boards. The growth of the internet and podcasts, have given people like myself and others a forum to analyze, praise, but also criticize and perhaps at times, vent.

It’s also given fans another outlet to follow their favorite team and also open a gateway of new opportunities.

Well, there might be reason why everyone was in shock about the loss Sunday and repeating the same thing over and over on the various sites and boards – um, perhaps because the fans are right…