And Joe and Linda Bench of Chesapeake City agreed they have faith in MacPhail.
"I think he has the right idea," said Joe Bench. "It's just going to take awhile to improve when coming up through the farm."
Still, everyone was not totally enamored of MacPhail's decision to rehire Trembley. Mary Haynes, 51, and an Orioles fan for 25 years, noted the team needs just two more losses to reach 100 this season.
"I think it's time for him [Trembley] to retire," she said. "He's been all right, but they need fresh eyes and ears. I was surprised they kept him, [given] his record over the last two seasons. It's been a little miserable."
Ryan Dieter, 12, and a student at Patterson Mill, said bluntly: "He's not very good. I'd have fired him and found someone else who's better."
And Kris Eddy, a machinist from Forest Hill, also had issues with the Trembley news. He said only half-jokingly, "Maybe we'll get 100 wins next year, if they allow us to count consecutive seasons."
Eddy pointed to the lack of good fundamentals on the team and said that since Trembley came up from the minor leagues: "You would think he would be good at teaching fundamentals. I would have liked someone else. I'm OK with it, but all in all, he needs to get his stuff together."
And perhaps the most insightful criticism came from Baltimore city police officer Mark Buckette, a native who has been watching the Orioles since before they moved from 33rd Street.
"I'm here early and I see warm-ups," Buckette said. "They look lazy and sloppy."
Buckette said he has "no problem" with Trembley because "he can't play for them. If the players don't hold up their end of the deal, what are you going to do?"
But it is the manager who is supposed to instill the fundamentals and set the tone that leads to victory. As Mary Stroop, a Howard County native and retired pre-school teacher said in assessing Trembley's team: "They don't seem to have a fire under them. If I had done my job the way they're doing theirs,' I wouldn't have been employed for long."
