| |
 Wounded birds Poor start in '99 has Orioles, manager Miller hurting
Posted: Monday April 26, 1999 02:37 PM
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Ray Miller has evidently had enough of merely throwing his hands up in disgust. Now he's throwing his hand against the wall, such is his frustration over his underachieving Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are a mess. Despite owning the third-highest payroll in the majors and arguably the best right-handed hitter in the game, Baltimore has sputtered to a 4-14 start that has left Miller and the once-proud franchise in wounded condition. After Orioles pitchers issued 14 walks Sunday in an embarrassing 11-10 loss to Oakland, Miller slammed his right hand against a wall and ripped his players in a brief, profanity-laced session with the media. "Obviously I'm frustrated," he said, hiding his fractured hand under his desk. "I feel sorry for the fans. You pay that much money to see a game, you expect to see professionals play. Today some people weren't professional. By that I mean the ability to throw the ball over the plate. Fourteen walks is inexcusable." Mike Timlin walked two and suffered his first blown save by allowing a three-run homer in the ninth inning. Timlin, one of 12 new players brought in this season by new general manager Frank Wren, confirmed Miller's viewpoint about where culpability for the horrid start should be directed. "He calls the shots but we throw it, we catch it, we hit it. It's in this room," he said. "We're not doing anything well right now." Ultimately, however, the manager is the one held accountable for the team's performance. And Miller may soon lose his job if the Orioles don't begin to justify the $78.5 million that owner Peter Angelos is paying to field a team that was expected to contend for a playoff spot. Wren said Monday that the Orioles aren't about to give up on the season, or Miller, after just 18 games. "What you look for in baseball is trends. Right now we're in a bad trend," Wren said. "What we need to do is try to find out how to turn it around. That's what I'm talking about today with my staff. ... I'm certainly not going to make any public personnel decisions at this point." Asked his opinion of Miller's actions and words Sunday, Wren said, "With everybody calling for Ray's head, now is not the time to critique the manager through the media." Angelos handpicked Miller for the job after accepting a controversial resignation from Davey Johnson in 1997, less than one month after the Orioles' second straight appearance in the AL championship series. Baltimore stumbled to a 79-83 finish last year and has not done anything thus far to indicate that a different cast of characters will produce better results. Albert Belle hit his fourth homer Sunday and leads the team with 14 RBIs. But he's drawn 19 walks because Miller can't find a consistent bat to put behind his cleanup hitter. Jeff Conine, subbing for the injured Will Clark at first base, was hitless in the No. 5 slot Sunday and is batting .152. "The bottom line is there are people being paid pretty well out there and they're supposed to produce," Miller said. "They're not."
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
