Orioles must take lesson from Nats

During Major League Baseball's all-star break, the Washington Nationals fired manager Manny Acta, which was no surprise.

Now it is time for ownership in Baltimore to do the same with Dave Trembley, although everything that has happened with the Orioles is not his fault.

He works for an owner, Peter Angelos, who really doesn't know a thing about professional baseball -- which I have said in a column here many times.

However, Trembley is just not getting any enthusiasm out of his players as they entered Saturday's game in Chicago against the White Sox in last place in the American League East with a record of 40-49, 15 games out of first.

Friday night, Sox slugger Jim Thome blasted the Orioles with a pair of home runs and seven RBI as they beat Baltimore 12-8.

With the fast-approaching July 31 trade deadline, the Orioles could play a big part in this year's dealings.

Every year there is talk of Brian Roberts going to the Chicago Cubs; however, that could very well not be the case this year as the Cubs traded for Woodbridge native Jeff Baker a few weeks ago.

However, Roberts could still find himself, along with third baseman Melvin Mora, on the trading block.

Both Roberts and Mora have huge contracts, and paying huge salaries is something Angelos just does not want to do. Mora is also looking at a possible bonus with the O's if he continues his stay.

First baseman Aubrey Huff is also on the block, along with relief pitcher George Sherrill. There are rumors Sherrill could be headed to the Florida Marlins.

But let's get back to Trembley.

Since taking over the duties as manager for the O's, the team has gotten no better. As stated earlier, they are floundering around in last place, again, and there are no signs of this team getting any better any time soon.

As I have stated before, Angelos would do the team and the city of Baltimore some much-needed good if he would sell the team.

Former all-everything Oriole Cal Ripken Jr., has stated many times he would like to purchase the team, but Angelos has deaf ears.

The O's have not had a decent team since the 1997 season and have allowed managers like Davey Johnson to get away.

Baltimore's baseball team needs a facelift and it begins with Angelos and ends with Trembley.

Speaking of new managers, Jim Riggleman is 0-2 entering play Saturday as the new skipper of the Nationals.

Acta needed to go, that's no secret. But the Nats are a terrible, terrible team and the late Billy Martin could probably do no better.

This team is a long, long way from producing a winner and the seats at Nationals Park continue to be empty.

Jeff Christian is a freelance columnist and appears each Sunday in the News & Messenger. He can be reached at christianjeff@ rocketmail.com