This season should have turned out
better than this. Much
better.
Not just for the Orioles as a whole
– that much is a given – but for the relationship between Steve Kline and the
city of Baltimore.
Steve Kline could – and should – be
a fan favorite here. Or maybe I
should put that in the past tense.
But he's a blue-collar, everyman kind of guy and this town normally eats
that up.
But Kline’s early-season struggles,
combined with the interview he gave to Rick Hummel back in April, essentially
turned the marriage between Kline and the Orioles into a union that would make
the Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston marriage look normal in comparison.
From my perspective – and I’m
confident this is fairly representative of the collective opinion of fans here
in Baltimore – the biggest problem
with Kline is that he feels like nothing is his fault.
Oh sure, on the surface, he seems
like a stand-up guy when he openly admits that he’s had a horrible year. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll
see that he also spreads around a lot of blame to help explain why he’s been so
horrible.
Some of the excuses we’ve heard this
season have been laughable. These
include:
- My manager doesn’t know how to run a
bullpen. (In fairness, under Lee
Mazzilli, this was absolutely valid.)
- The umpire called “phantom balk” on
me…and so I thought it would be a good idea to get ejected.
- My leftfielder and shortstop were
unable to catch a blooper – and that’s a ball that would have likely been caught
in St. Louis…so that was why I gave
up all those runs.
- The umpire blew that call at first
base – even though I was late in getting over to cover the bag.
- And my personal favorite – and I’m
quoting directly from the Hummel article here – “Everybody in the world thought
they were bunting again… but (Byrnes) swung and hit it out of the ballpark. I
threw the pitch right down the middle, letting him bunt, thinking it was
National League style, you know.”
The other thing that bothers me
greatly about Kline is his body language – you can just see the frustration when
things aren't going his way.
And that’s just not what fans around
here are used to. Even though the
Orioles are suffering through their eighth straight losing season, most fans in
this city were raised on the philosophies of Earl Weaver, Ray Miller and Cal
Ripken, Sr. And one of the things
those men consistently taught their pitchers was to never, ever, under any
circumstances show your emotions on the mound.
So when Orioles’ fans see a manager
or pitching coach come out to the mound to visit Kline, we’re shocked to see a
player who looks as if he is openly pouting – almost as if to say, "Why are you
coming out here?"
And whenever you see Kline get upset
over an umpire’s call – or a poor defensive play behind him – a barrage of hits
is almost certain to follow. (Just
like Weaver, Miller and Ripken said it would happen if you showed the other team
you were upset.)
In fairness, I should point out that
Kline hasn't pitched nearly as bad in the second half of the season. Of course, he's mostly been used in
non-critical situations, but still – the numbers have been a bit better.
And I’ll also point out that Kline’s
take on the ownership situation here (as described in the interview with Tim
McKernan) is accurate. The owner is
never around -- he's always at his law office -- and it seems like the co-GMs
still have to get his approval on nearly everything. So they have to try and track him down
and hope that he's available.
It's a pathetic situation, really –
and the fans are fed up with it.
Attendance is down…television ratings are microscopic…and all the while,
the team just keeps on losing.
So in some respects, it’s easy to
understand why Kline feels like coming to
Baltimore was a mistake. Heck, I’m sure there are others who have
signed with the Orioles who feel that way…only they haven’t said so
publicly. This truly is a
dysfunctional franchise, and there’s not a lot of optimism that the situation
will change any time soon.
It’s also worth pointing out that
Kline’s emotions were likely thrown out of whack this spring, due to his wife’s
miscarriage. The truth is, that
piece of the story wasn’t widely reported in
Baltimore…and there are very few
fans willing to cut Kline much slack as a result of that misfortune.
As I said at the very beginning of
this piece, this was a move that should have worked out brilliantly. Steve Kline is precisely the kind of
player that would ordinarily become a cult-like figure in this town.
But when all is said and done, the
only person Kline has to blame for this not working out is himself. Just take another look at that interview
with Hummel, and you’ll see he gave the fans here more than enough material to
work with in the daily court of opinion that is sports talk radio.
Two quotes in particular were what
sealed Kline’s fate: “I feel like I’m going through the motions right now,” and
“There’s nothing worse that getting booed at home…St. Louis fans are too good
for that. They understand the game
more than most people.”
Again, I can sympathize with Kline
about the booing – that’s hard to deal with, and he had likely never experienced
it before. But when you’ve been in
a new city for roughly two weeks,
it’s just not a good idea to talk about how much better the fans were in your
old city.
And the last thing any professional
athlete – let alone one making $5.5 million over two years – should say is that
they’re just going through the motions.
At a minimum, fans are entitled to 100% effort on the field, and to admit
you’re not giving that, well…that’s never a good idea.
But the truth of the matter is,
Kline still could have turned things around even after the Hummel
interview.
All he had to do was perform as
expected – just get left-handers out in the late innings. That’s all. If he had done that, he could have
popped off every few weeks and no one would have given it a second thought.
But Kline’s performance was
awful…and his body language was even worse. If you’re going to get shelled while
you’re on the mound wearing an Orioles uniform, at least take your beating like
a professional. Don’t throw temper
tantrums and get thrown out of games…don’t disrespect your manager – no matter
how bad he may be…and don’t complain about a call when you were too slow in
covering first base.
I have no idea what the future holds
for the relationship between Steve Kline and the Baltimore Orioles. But given Kline’s hefty salary – and his
2005 performance – it’s unlikely that the Orioles will find a willing trade
partner unless they agree to eat nearly 100% of Kline’s 2006 price
tag.
In a way, I suppose I feel a bit
like Kline – I’d still like to see this work out. Good left-handed relievers are tough to
find. And I suspect that with a
fresh start in 2006, things could work out better.
But the best thing for everyone
involved right now would be for the 2005 season to end as quickly and quietly as
possible.
Jody Madron is a Baltimore-based
freelance writer whose work regularly appears at
sportsblurb.com and
baseballnotebook.com.