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Peter Angelos' Baltimore Orioles are to baseball as asbestos is to lungs. They could suck the oxygen right out of Earl Weaver.

Joe Girardi appeared to be next in line to manage the O's until he withdrew on Thursday. (Getty Images)

Sam Perlozzo? His only mistake was accepting the managerial job in the first place. Under Angelos, it's a career-killer. Seven different managers in 14 years, and if Angelos owns the O's another 14 years, there is every chance that he'll rip through another seven managers.

That's why the most important thing happening with the organization this week is thousands of miles away from the wretched baseball team, where Andy MacPhail, the new chief operating officer, promised in a warehouse news conference Wednesday in Baltimore that he has full authority to run the baseball operation.

As in, Angelos will not interfere.

As in, Angelos will not step in and kill trades.

As in, Angelos will not veto free-agent moves that the baseball people want to make.

As in ... this is the Last Best Chance for what once was a model organization to recapture even a small portion of the credibility that washed away years ago.

For one of the few times in a history of utter incompetence, there actually is reason to believe Angelos may back off: He and MacPhail worked together on the owners' negotiating team when negotiating the most recent Basic Agreement with the players, and apparently developed a reasonably close and trusting relationship.

Now, if Angelos does pull the football away when MacPhail tries to kick, it becomes official that the Orioles will have no hope until Angelos sells the team.

I put this to Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons before Wednesday's game. Gibbons is in his seventh big league season, all with Baltimore. The Orioles are all Gibbons knows, which pretty much is like claiming you're an actor when all you've got on your resume is America's Funniest Home Videos.

"I think there are a lot of people to blame," Gibbons says. "You start with the guys in this room here in the clubhouse. Myself, and the guys around me. When you're not performing up to expectations, that's what happens.

"I've been here seven years, and this is my fourth manager. And we've had a few general managers.

"It seems like we're headed in a better direction. I don't know if you can blame Peter Angelos directly. He's spent a lot of money and we're not getting the job done."

Perlozzo may not be the only manager to get sacked as the summer heats up and the contenders are separated from those clubs that are simply gawdawful:

•  In Texas, manager Ron Washington is on the griddle because players are angry that the long-time Oakland coach is attempting to instill some of the Athletics' small-ball philosophy. The situation mirrors Perlozzo's in that the team fired a manager who grated on the players (Buck Showalter; in Baltimore it was Lee Mazzilli) and hired a long-time coach who was a favorite among players -- then the players turned on him. Survivor? For now, yes -- if only because the Rangers will look like idiots if they allow the players to run off two managers in two years. Though, it wouldn't be the first time owner Tom Hicks would be fitted for a dunce cap.

•  In Seattle, against all odds, Mike Hargrove avoided the "first manager fired" tag despite being the overwhelming choice this spring. When club president Howard Lincoln publicly put Hargrove and GM Bill Bavasi on notice by saying they were on his "hot seat" last winter, it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Survivor? Maybe -- if the Mariners navigate their way into the playoffs (and even then it's not a guarantee because Ichiro Suzuki is a free agent this winter and Ichiro is not a Hargrove fan). If not, Hargrove likely is out. And if there is a collapse down the stretch, Hargrove still could get sacked before the finish line this year.

•  In Cincinnati, rumors were flying a month ago that Jerry Narron wouldn't make it. But those were overblown despite the Reds' highly disappointing start (he had signed a two-year extension through 2008). Survivor? Yes, because general manager Wayne Krivsky's style is not to blame the manager and it will take more than one disappointing season for Krivsky to drop the hammer.

•  In Colorado, Clint Hurdle's inexplicable five-year run continues despite the fact that the Rockies have never nosed above .500 under his watch. More inexplicable was the fact that the Rockies signed Hurdle and GM Dan O'Dowd to two-year extensions in April. Survivor? The Rockies have had a nice four-week run and are now three games over .500. That's either the beginning of a new era for Hurdle ... or a set-up for a crushing fall if Colorado goes too far south in the not-too-distant future.

•  In Kansas City, manager Buddy Bell perseveres despite being out-manned night after night, and he's in an untenable situation. But he precedes general manager Dayton Moore, and when a GM inherits a manager, that usually makes the skipper very vulnerable. Survivor? The Royals currently are on pace to avoid their first 100-loss season since 2003, which should be enough improvement to keep Bell around for 2008.

Meanwhile, back in Baltimore, MacPhail's first move should be to embed a stick of dynamite in the roster and light a match. The culture of losing under Angelos, a lawyer who made his fortune litigating asbestos claims, has permeated everything and everybody.

How's this for accountability, or lack thereof: Most of these same Orioles were around when Perlozzo replaced Mazzilli two summers ago, and back then Perlozzo was the people's choice.

It didn't even take two full seasons for the players to turn on him. They would be better served by a trip to the mirror than an extra round of batting practice.

This is a clubhouse lacking both accountability and leadership. The Orioles should have traded Miguel Tejada to the Angels for right-hander Ervin Santana and infielder Erick Aybar last July when they had the chance (the Angels thought they had a deal, Angelos killed it at the last minute).

Now, Tejada's power is mysteriously declining. After slamming 30 or more homers in four of five seasons between 2000 and 2004, he's hit seven so far in 2007.

"I'm only going to comment on the pitching because that's what I am, the pitching coach," says Leo Mazzone, the lifelong friend of Perlozzo's whose contract runs through next season. "I know that going into last night (the beginning of the current trip) our starters' ERA was ranked third in the league and we were fifth overall.

"I'm very excited about the pitching staff."

When pressed, Mazzone only says, "It's too emotional for me to make a comment."

It's emotional for a whole lot of lifelong Orioles fans as well, folks who deserve far better than Angelos has delivered over the years. The problem isn't in his spending money -- the Orioles' payroll this season is $93 million. It's in horrible personnel decisions and in the way his organization is viewed by those in the game as well as by those who watch it.

As former GM Syd Thrift once said famously when he couldn't get anybody of consequence to consider coming to Baltimore, "It's like we're spending Confederate money."

Joe Girardi, last season's NL Manager of the Year, appears ready to accept the Orioles' money -- real or Confederate -- and MacPhail certainly could do worse than hiring a tough and demanding skipper. There are two kinds of players here: Those who should be gone in a major housecleaning, and those who need a good, swift kick in the rear end.

Girardi can deliver that.

"I've met him a couple of times," Gibbons says. "I know he's a good baseball man.

"It's an interesting name if we were to get him."

"Interesting" is what passes for pulsating excitement around Baltimore these days. Because as it was for the better part of 20 seasons, Cal Ripken Jr. again will be the highlight of the summer for Orioles fans.

Too bad he's no longer playing. See ya in Cooperstown.