"I think that's progress on one level," MacPhail said. "What I would say is, that's one of the separators you have to determine. If it's an organizational issue, it would manifest itself in the younger guys and not the guys who have been in the big leagues for eight years."
Even so, that does not take Trembley off the hook, and he knows it. The club's focus on fundamentals was one of the subjects of a team meeting before Monday's series opener against the Boston Red Sox, and don't think it wasn't the subject of a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion in the front office.
"I understand about responsibility," Trembley said. "When the players do what they should do, all the credit should go to them. When they don't, the responsibility and accountability goes elsewhere."
Trembley addressed the series of key base-running mistakes during his pre-game media briefing Monday, though he didn't really outline any solution to what has become a chronic problem. The Orioles, according to club officials, easily lead the major leagues in making outs on the base paths.
"It's certainly not something you want to put on a highlight film or use as an instructional video," Trembley said Monday. "What you learn from it is, that decision that was made wasn't the right one. They were aggressive mistakes, but they were out-of-control base-running decisions. I don't like to give away outs."
The challenge for Trembley is to create an environment in which that doesn't happen in the second half of the season. It will certainly help if the Orioles become more competitive, because it's easier to keep the focus on situational baseball when the games mean something, but it is the responsibility of the manager to instill a team ethic and demand that it be honored.
Trembley said Tuesday that he does not feel pressure to correct the problem to protect his job security.
"No, I don't," he said. "If I'm going to be evaluated on one particular element, I don't think that's particularly pertinent."
Just in case, the next time he holds a team meeting, he might want to leave the players with this thought:
The job you save might be mine.
Listen to Peter Schmuck weeknights at 6 on WBAL (1090 AM).
