Wins Are More Fun Than Losses

This just in: watching your team win a baseball game is far more fun than watching them lose. Six straight. Again. OK, so the Orioles have been brutal to watch, and for some reason, I find myself still watching.

For instance, on Tuesday, I worked late, and so the Orioles got down by three runs on my drive home. When I got home, I put my kids to bed and had some dinner, and by the time I tuned into the game, it was 8-0. Furious, I flipped off the TV, and sat down to do something else.

A few minutes later, however, I found myself glancing at the blank screen.

Why? Why did I care? Why was I not content knowing that the Orioles were getting their brains beat in again in excruciating fashion? Why couldn’t I just let them do it, and check the box score the next day? After all, I had no problem distancing myself from the hurt for the final game of the 2014 ALCS.

The answer is: because I’m stupid. There can be no other answer. I turned the game back on, and watched the remainder of the 11-2 skulldragging.

By the time last night’s game came on, I was pretty down. The Orioles’ last win was sandwiched between two six-game losing streaks. I had actually forgotten the team’s last win without having to look it up (having thought it was the Mets game they won, not the Royals game they won).

The game was, therefore, a huge boost to this very sad fan. The Orioles got behind by four runs, and starter Kevin Gausman got sent to the showers early. Instead of packing away the bats and sending 10+ men to the plate for consecutive outs (a move the Orioles have pretty much perfected during this terrible stretch of games), they struck back for four runs, capped off by a home run from Chris Davis.

More impressively, the Orioles bullpen didn’t give the lead right back (another staple of this terrible stretch of games) in the next inning. In fact, the bullpen held stout, and the game went to extra innings. I have to admit being reminded of the 18-inning affair in Tampa from 2013, where the wind was officially knocked from the team’s sails. But it was not to be.

Chris Davis summoned his heroic alter-ego, and hit a ball so far into the center field bleachers, that a poor, unsuspecting napping man probably needs a new pair of pants.

The only real reminder of a bad team was poor execution during the celebration. If you watch closely, you can see Caleb Joseph grab the orange cooler of water and then completely whiff when Davis arrives at home plate. Seriously, not a drop from the cooler lands on Davis. Completely inexcusable.

Davis had one more winning move in store: in the post-game interview, he walked around the camera man, so that he could view the tunnel to the dugout. It was a veteran move. The move of a man who likes to enjoy a Dangerously Delicious pie on his own terms.

And this is why watching winning baseball is more fun than watching losing baseball. After a win, I have the ability to laugh at the sleeping man, the cooler incident, and appreciate a light-hearted post game interview from Buck Showalter. I don’t have to turn off the TV and stare into the blank screen with angst, wondering why I let the fate of 25 overgrown boys and their silly little game affect my mood. It’s just easier for everyone this way, isn’t it?