Mattcrush

What is a Mattcrush you might be asking yourself? First we must define what a mancrush is for those who do not know. Do not go looking for the word on webster.com (i already tried for a laugh) because you won't find it. So my own definition of the word is one man's infatuation with another man due to a powerful career, his sexual prowess, his godly athletic abilities, etc. A Mattcrush is an Oriole fan's infatuation with Baseball America's #1 prospect, Matt Wieters.

If you are a baseball fan or have watched ESPN the past few days this name is not new to you. But you may not know what the so called "Joe Mauer with power" is all about. After the start of this season for Mauer (in 26 games this season Mauer already has 11 homers to go along with his .407 avg and 32 RBIs) one would think Wieters will hit 50 homers. Wieters totals before being drafted on 2007 are amazing. At Georgia Tech in his career he batted .345 with 35 homers and 198 RBI. With a slugging percentage of nearly .600 you can tell the guy has power. This isn't a gruelling 162 game schedule, at GT he played in 60 (59 starts), 68(all starts) and 57(all starts). He was also their closer for a while, sporting a 95mph fast ball. They wised up and kept him behind the plate.

Orioles fans thank god for that. Now we have a potential rock behind the plate(his avg fielding percentage was .994) to go along with our many young starters. Ironically enough all at one time or another have played with Wieters. So it will not take long to build a chemistry with one another.

Speaking for myself I can honestly say I do not have a mancrush with Matt. Although I can honestly say I was drinking the kool-aid that Nick Markakis was serving. When he first came up and people began to doubt him I was the one who was patient and getting on all the doubters that he would become a .300 hitter (at the time he was toying with the Mendoza line, .200 for those who don't know). Now my glass is heaping, overflowing with Markakis Kool-Aid. As one fan called him the Greek god of RBI. I can't say as though I disagree with the testament, he is after all the team leader in RBI with 39. Huff and Jones are right on his heels. It is this part of our lineup in the present that is not having any issues.

Wieters will improve the bottom half of our lineup(he is batting 7th tonight). To start the season our 1-4 hitters have been our most productive. Once you get to 5-9 its hit or miss. To quote one dedicated fan, "We could have 7 players with 20+ homeruns this season." Not so fast Antoine. This is the man with the BIGGEST Mattcrush of them all. He would drink his bath water, its that bad. He believes that Wieters would be one of those 7. I can't say as that he is the only one who is excited. Tonight's game against the Tigers could be the first non-prime game sell out for the Orioles since 2002. A sell out where a majority of fans will be cheering for the O's, wow. All due to one man. "Even atheists believe in Wieters," says a fan on an Orioles message board. Why not? Last season, his first season in the minors Wieters batted .355 with 27 homers and 91 RBIs between class A Frederick and AA Bowie. Orioles GM Andy MacPhail has been quoted saying he would like to de-hype Wieters, then again he did make the announcement during the broadcast of the Blue Jays game on Tuesday. Needless to say, an excellent marketing move by Mr. MacPhail. The phones in the ticket office have been ringing off the hook ever since.

Barring a possible rain out tonight will be the beginning to what we all hope to be a beautiful friendship. One that hopefully results in a winning season in the coming years. As for the thoughts of Wieters on his own hype, "I just play baseball. I play for these guys, and these fans, and everything else just...happens...I don't think I'm better then anyone else."

Get ready Matt, tonight you are going to see 40,000 faces of people who think otherwise.