Bringing this back because the man on the right has suddenly become a lethal set-up man.

Okay, so the plot tonight was arguably closer to Return of the Jedi since the little guys won, but you get my point. I’m not going to go on a Star Wars tangent. Especially not an Expanded Universe tangent. The Orioles came back with a vengeance, winning tonight’s contest 3-2. Wei-Yin Chen went 6 2/3 innings tonight before handing things off to Darren O’Day. Matusz then came in for four incredible outs before Jim Johnson redeemed himself and slammed the door shut.

Brian Matusz has been stellar in the postseason so far. I’d just like to point that out because he’s become the site mascot here because he’s my favorite person on the team to draw. Go mascot Matusz, go!

Offensively, the Orioles probably should have had more runs than they did – J.J. Hardy, for example, didn’t realize that Jeter was unable to field a ball at shortstop and stopped at third instead of running home. In the end, however, the three runs were enough because the Yankees only managed two (one of which I really do have to give Ichiro credit for because I was impressed). Tonight belonged to Orioles pitching.

The series resumes in the Bronx on Wednesday. I think we all could use a day off to get our nerves back under control before watching more baseball, to be honest.

Especially in the Bronx.

A disclaimer: this is an extremely nerdy theory and should not be taken as fact. In fact, if you take this article seriously, I judge you.

This is Hobbie. Hobbie is a professional wounded person.

Matt Hobgood was drafted by the Orioles in 2009 as their first-round pick. They had high expectations for him and he hasn’t really performed since, constantly being off the field due to injuries. He’s had conditioning issues, to be sure, but there has to be a bigger reason why he’s never on the field.

It hit me today when he was retweeting all of his condolences tweets for his latest surgery. Someone addressed him as ‘Hobby.’ Suddenly, it all made sense.

There is a minor Star Wars character named Derek Klivian – he appears briefly on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. If you read the X-wing comics and novels, however, he becomes quite an important person, an ace pilot who nevertheless has a talent for crashing and getting hurt in strange ways. For whatever reason, he has the childhood nickname Hobbie.

I put two and two together. Hobbie. Hobbie is always hurt. Matt Hobgood is always hurt…and apparently nicknamed Hobby. It just makes perfect sense. This is why you should never, ever nickname somebody Hobbie/Hobby, okay?

Seriously, don’t do it. They grow up to have a horrible fashion sense, constantly get rejected by people they flirt with, get injured in the stupidest ways possible (and therefore miss crucial action all too often), and end up having a somewhat pessimistic view on life.

And this is why, ladies and gentlemen, I should always be doing my sportswriting when sick.

Oh, cool.

Happy Friday, everybody. We still suck at baseball.

It’s only a 25% chance that we’ll lose that many games, but that’s still one in every four scenarios. It’s not too encouraging. On the flip side, the Orioles only have to win more than sixty-three games to overcome that fate, and they did pull that off last season. The article where this percentage came from is speculation based on numbers, and it’s actually a really great read. It makes an interesting point – can a team even afford to rebuild completely in this day and age, or should they try doing so whilst remaining a competitive force? For the Orioles, mired in the AL East, any form of rebuilding requires the team to…well, not be competitive. They don’t have the money the other clubs do (especially the Big Three, the Sox, Yankees and Rays) and they don’t have a very expansive fanbase. (We’re loyal, but there aren’t too many of us.)

How are the Orioles supposed to find success if they don’t have the resources the Big Three have? It’s definitely going to take a lot more than just pure GM genius. Duquette’s good, definitely. He’s doing the best he can with the scant resources we have. The problem is that even if Duquette’s playing it smart, the team will probably still suck for some time. Fans don’t like that. Fans always want the quick fix, the immediate solution. As we get more and more used to immediacy in this highly technological world, we assume that everything should come right away. We’ve forgotten how to wait.

Here’s a really nerdy way to look at this. Remember the ending of Return of the Jedi, when Luke redeems Vader and Lando and Wedge blow up the second Death Star? The original trilogy ends there, with the death of the Emperor. However, all that really does, when you think about it, is create a power vacuum for the Empire. There’s millions of Imperials out there who could step into the Emperor’s place. People realized this and the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born, with authors filling in the gaps left by the movies. It takes a long time for the New Republic to truly establish itself. It doesn’t happen when they defeat Emperor Palpatine. There’s a lot of books explaining the post-Endor universe.

Dan Duquette is in a similar situation to Mon Mothma after the Battle of Endor.

Let’s say Dan Duquette is Mon Mothma and his troops have just blown up the second Death Star, with many Bothan scouts dying to get him this information so he could do so. He now has to work to permanently establish the Orioles as if they are the New Republic. This is a much more difficult task than it sounds. Duquette has to court the fans, the citizens of the New Republic, and convince them to work with him and support him as he rebuilds the Orioles into a consistent winner. Establishing a team, just like establishing a new government, takes time, and the fans need to accept that.

Welcome to the Baltimore Orioles Expanded Universe, folks. There’s plenty of stories here, so you won’t be in need of entertainment. All you need to do is stay loyal and stay patient. Good things will come to pass.