SEATTLE — SEATTLE -- When the Seattle Mariners' charter plane touches down at BWI Marshall Airport this evening, there will be a homecoming of sorts.
Sam Perlozzo, the Mariners third base coach and Cumberland's favorite son, will step back onto Maryland soil for the first time in months.
As for the dueling heartbreaking and heartwarming memories, the swirling emotions he is anticipating, Perlozzo doesn't expect to deal with them until he walks into Camden Yards, or perhaps not until pre-game introductions tomorrow night.
He doesn't know what the reaction will be because, frankly, he's not sure which Sam Perlozzo will be remembered.
Will it be the dues-paying, fun-loving coach who toiled for a decade in orange-and-black for one shot at his dream job? Or will it be the embattled manager who posted a dismal .427 winning percentage and was unceremoniously canned last June halfway through a three-year contract? Perlozzo acknowledged he's curious about how his former city, players and fans will treat him during the Mariners' four-game series starting tomorrow at Camden Yards.
"I'm not going to sit here and say I haven't thought about it; I have," Perlozzo said from the Safeco Field clubhouse this week. "There are a lot of great people around that city. I made a tremendous amount of friends. The fans have been great, and I would hope the fans would appreciate the things that I did over 12 years in Baltimore."
When Perlozzo took over for Lee Mazzilli on Aug. 4, 2005, he never envisioned being with another team so soon. When the interim tag was removed that October and he signed a three-year deal -- the Orioles are still paying him approximately $500,000 this season -- he believed he would turn this once-proud franchise around. He still feels that way.
"The only thing I wish I did different? I wish I would have had some more time," Perlozzo said. "I still think I could have made a difference."
There's no question in his mind when it all began to unravel: Sunday, May 13 in Boston -- forever to be known as the Mother's Day Meltdown. The Orioles were winning 5-0 with one out in the ninth and rookie Jeremy Guthrie pitching a three-hit shutout when a runner reached first on an error.
Attempting to protect his inexperienced right-hander who had thrown 91 pitches, Perlozzo pulled Guthrie for setup man Danys Baez and then closer Chris Ray.
