Angelos can only blame himself

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Just when you probably thought things couldn't get worse for the Baltimore Orioles after nine losing seasons in a row, they have.

Much worse.

Owner Peter Angelos said over the weekend he has no plans to sell the club anytime soon, which should be more than enough to make remaining fans of the Orioles sob in their suds and swallow crab shells -- the hard kind.

Prayers aren't always answered, apparently.

By comparison, the loss of Miguel Tejada for the season or the rehiring of Lee Mazzilli as manager would seem minor. In the 14 years that Angelos has owned the club, one of the proudest franchises in baseball has become one of its most laughable.

And having destroyed baseball in Baltimore, King Peter I did his best to ruin any prospect of it coming to Washington. Fortunately, he failed, but he got his pound of flesh anyway when the lunkheads who run Major League Baseball bought him off with the creation of a regional sports network that pours millions into Angelos' already bulging pockets.

Now we have no recourse but to watch most Nationals and Orioles games over the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. With apologies to Bob Carpenter and Don Sutton, the Nats' good TV commentators, we should shudder inwardly each time we tune in.

It seems quaint now that Orioles fans used to complain about absentee ownership back when New York financier Eli Jacobs owned the club. Heck, even his predecessor, high-powered D.C. criminal lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, was better for Baltimore than Angelos.

Being no slouch as a barrister himself, Angelos was totally upbeat when he met with reporters Sunday during his first appearance at Fort Lauderdale Stadium in three years. He also slipped pointed questions with the skill of a good boxer trying to stay upright against, say, Joe Louis.

"I'd like to give the fans a winner," he said. And of the criticism that rains down on his bald dome from all sides, he insisted, "Of course it bothers you ... but you have to deal with it. I am the managing partner [of the ownership syndicate], so I have to take the heat."