Jim Joyce apparently wanted to see a wet t-shirt contest

The first thing a kid is taught when he pitches in Little League is to throw the ball over the plate. If a Major League pitcher can't do that, why is he in the Major Leagues?

I'd send Parrish to the minors on the first shuttle out, bring up a replacement and tell him if he can't throw strikes he's gone too...enough of this coddling. These guys make way too much money to not do the job.

They should post a banner over the bullpen dugout saying "Caution: Flammable"

Roch, how come this game gets supended, and not reverted back to the last complete inning? The Mets and Cards game was called Wednesday after 5-and-a-half, with the Mets up 2-0. They had another game scheduled today in New York, so they certainly could have picked that one up without any scheduling problems (I know they were rained out today, but they couldn't have known that in advance). What is the rain-suspension rule -- is it, as I suspect, whatever benefits a NY team?

Lenn Sakata behind the plate.....great line! I remember that game well.....It was on Channel 2 that night..............

Didn't Trembley know more rain was on the way? He should have used Ray earlier or not at all. Now that Ray has warmed up and been used, can we use him again tonight?

i agree completely with your sentiments on Williamson. Not only can he pitch more often, but he pitches well. Why do we never use him?

You have to believe Parrish is getting sent down, don't you?

dad says trembley left in parrish to show the front office he's done. like, hey, this is what i have to work with....... i understand using walker and bradford the first two games. gaming to secure the series, and then save ray for tonight, and try to provide parrish a stage. but hey, let's go, have someone else up besides ray!!!!! at this point in the game you have the beast ready to submit, why start licking it?? bring in parrish, but you know he's struggled, have someone else to follow; especially after seeing the first three pitches of the inning. at the very least someone should have been up and warming, someone other than ray!!!!! not convinced on trembley, but i am convinced on macphail..... this season is now an interview.... send parrish and danny cabrera to AAA for the REST of the season. bring up anybody. cabrera is too cocky, needs to come down a notch, or two...... i agree with mora, (still think he plays dumb at times) jeter should have never hit. i told dad the rain hung that slider, it's tough to pitch in the rain. he says it's tough to hit in the rain, too. ok then, next year ray makes the pitch....

Will Gary Roenicke be moved to third... I was at that game and it was awesome. Man it was cool when we were good. Now, the difference between winning and losing is whether Freddie Bynum can steal home or John Parrish can throw a strike. Oh, how fall we have fallen. Where are you Kiko Garcia?

Take a look at CamdenChat.com and see if they're giving out any free passes. Nope, doesn't look that way. Also - NSFW language on the site. We're kinda rude and crude that way.

Roch -- OK, I'll concede that Millar's bat would be missed, especially because he's had a great game, but at the time, that run on third meant a lot. Plus, you don't lose a whole lot of offense with Gomez, at least when you compare him to Millar. It's not like you're pinch running for Ryan Howard or Justin Morneau. It's Kevin Millar.

well if the mgr is on a 40 day trial, so should a bunch of these players...i'll know the FO has the stones to turn things around when they start making decisions on guys like gibbons and parish and huff and the lot of them...parrish should be nowhere near a major league mound right now. Trembly should know that. and mr ray just has no out pitch. He's a mess.

Blame Parrish control problems on the rain. The umpires yet again have made a dirty attempt to throw a Yankees game by allowing play to continue.

Trembley gets no pass for tonight's handling of the bullpen.

Why not send Leo out to talk to Chris Ray during the downpour. Maybe that at least plants the idea in the umps head that maybe they shouldn't be playing. Chris Ray and the defense are at a disadvantage in that situation.

With this bullpen, Williamson should be pitching every other night, not every other week.

O's are now 0-12 the last 2 years when Ray enters in the 8th inning! Parrish has sucked for years and we keep him. Williams sucked for 2 years and we kept him. Yet Williamson doesn't get a shot?! And people can complain about the 42 mil all they want, Walker and Bradford have blown alot FEWER games than Ray,Williams,Birkins and Parrish. As for the rain give me a break. Parrish walks guys every night now rain is the excuse?! And Chris Ray isn't getting Jeter out tonight,tomorrow,Jan,Feb,March,April,May,etc.

Jeff - enjoyed your commentary on Cabrera earlier tonight. Well put.

Kevin and Peter - best daily coverage of O's minor league teams is on Orioleshangout.com. Covers every game and provides up-to-date statistics on every player.

Was shocked to read today that Alan Mills, now age 40, is pitching for Erie(AA). Still throws in the low nineties. Maybe he could pitch the eighth.

The rain will stop, Chris Ray will get the job done and the O's will score a thrilling come-from-behind walkoff win in the bottom of the ninth.

np: "Still Raining, Still Dreaming," Jimi Hendrix Experience

A long time ago, if the game had been stopped, the score would have reverted back to the last completed inning and the Yankee rally would have been wiped out. But the rule was changed to not have that happen. In other words, because the Yankees went ahead, they will not lose their lead to the rain, and the game will have to be continued if it is not finished tonight. I remember many years ago the O's won a game in the circumstance where the rain wiped out a team's go ahead rally in the top of the inning. If this game is suspended I think it will be the second time this year a game has been suspended like this.

Now, I am willing to give Trembley more beneift of a doubt than Perlozzo. I assume he wants to give everybody at least one chance and he did so with Parrish tonight. However, I think Parrish has shown that his early season success was a fluke. I really can't stand it when the momentum is given right back by throwing bases on balls.

A classic case of a manager trying too hard - bringing in a guy who can't throuw strikes ( a walk an inning) to game with wet grounds is just plan not a good move. He get s a mulligan - Ray imploding isn't his fault - but did anyonr have any confidence Parrish was going to throw strikes after you saw 2-0 to Posada? My opinion - he is trying to make an impression - and it's woring in many ways - but this has to leave a stain on his chances for managering next year - this isn't rookie ball where you try to get guys moving - it's the majors...very frustrating as the fan base would've been energized after sweeoing the Yanks - and we're left with this? UGH!

Trembley shouldn't get a free pass. The decision to bring in Parrish is as bad as any decision Perlozzo ever made. The fact that Parrish is still on the team boggles my mind. He's been terrible for 2 months now.

Seriously, why do they stop the game in the 7th when the O's have 2 on and a rally going, but let the game continue for the yanks in the 8th, when clearly, the rain was ridiculous?? Way to go Mora for putting up a fuss - it's about time someone spoke out about the yankees' special treatment....ugh.

Have to say the only rain song I can think of is "It's Raining Men" - it'd be great if it was raining umpires who weren't Yankee lovers...

Trembley blew it with the cal lto Parrish. This is the first game in awhile where the bullpen had to do the job without the benefit of Bradford and Walker, and we see what happens.

Frankly, I don't get it. Why in the hell is Williamson and his 3.95 ERA, NOT sent out in favor of Parrish with his 5.46 ERA?

It still baffles me why Cory Doyne was sent down? To pitch in the international League All Star Game as the best releiver in the league? My God we could have used him to night. Would Parrish have Doyne's stats in AAA? doubtful. And Ray just looks worse every appearance.

I think its time to send Parrish down, and trade Ray. Bring Doyne back up and give Bell another chance to pitch. To think Britton could have been ptiching for us tonight instead of Parrish.

Trembley was lucky to get six runs out of as weak a lineup as he made tonight, and the bullpen implodes. The ghost of Moe Drabowsky just rolled over in his grave tonight watching this one upstaris.

First off, the reason why the game would be suspended instead of just called early (like the Cards/Mets game) is because of where it stopped. The Cards/Mets game stopped in between innings, but the game being played right now is still in a half-inning, meaning it wouldn't be fair to call the game now.

Jeter should have never come to the plate then. There was no way any pitcher, not even Johan Santana, was going to to throw an accurate pitch with a downpour that heavy.

Hey, come on, show a little faith! The Yankees bullpen is a disaster. Yeah, they got Rivera, but that's the 9th...we still have six outs to get three runs, very doable against those arsonists.

Roch - What happens if they suspend the game and the rosters are different when they resume play at the end of july? Can we use players we get via trade in the game?

Roch,

Have you asked anyone why Williamson isn't pitching? He certainly would have been a better option than Parrish. He should have been ready in the wings in case Parrish decided to be, well, Parrish. And when Baez was active, I would have always felt much more comfortable with Scott Williamson over Baez. Why Scott isn't getting more of a chance is really confusing, particularly as bad as some of the above mentioned pitchers have peformed.

Why bother blaming the umps--they didn't put us in the position to blow the game? The pitching coach should have visited the mound or Ray should have stalled if they were that worried. Ray failed to locate his pitch AGAIN--rain or shine. Regardless of who is managing, the bullpen is an utter disaster. At least one of the two architects behind this past offseason will be gone no matter how tactful MacPhail wants to be. I agree that Trembley had a poor game tonight but the players continue to work hard.

Just when I thought [the bullpen] couldn't get any worse, they pull something like this, and completely redeem themselves... they may be historic in their ineffectiveness.

I'll give the umps the benefit of the doubt in that they stopped play earlier for a downpour that didn't last as long as it took to roll out and then retract the tarps. Maybe they figured it would blow over quickly again. But the bullpen has given away games all year regardless of the weather. My guess is Parrish would have been awful under a clear blue sky and Ray would have failed his duties once again as a closer. And to think a rare game where they scored more than 4 runs will most likely be lost by the bullpen AGAIN. Tough to be a fan these days when I'm so down on all these players.

They never should've resumed play after only twenty minutes knowing full well that more downpours were on the way.

WHERE IS ARTHUR RHODES WHEN YOU NEED HIM? OH HELL HOW ABOUT DICK DRAGO?

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY WE STILL CARE SO MUCH ABOUT THIS TEAM ,WHEN THE TEAM COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THEIR FANS??? !!!!!!!!!!!!!

FLAOSFAN,

Actually, that game years ago that caused the rule to be changed, in the '70s, was against the Yankees...they had the rally to go ahead in the top of the inning, but then the rains started and the score reverted to what it had been at the end of the most recently completed full inning.

I still remember Earl Weaver going out and spending forever talking to the pitcher when the sprinkles started falling, and then arguing for a while when the ump ordered him back to the dugout...by the time he was done jawin', the rain was poundin' down and they had no choice but to bring out the tarps....

np: "Let It Rain," Eric Clapton

Someone else made the obvious comment -- why didn't the Orioles stall? Given the quantity of rain, it was pretty clear that the game was going to be called. Gamesmanship was in order. And yes, Parrish should be on the first bus out of town -- the man has no business being in the big leagues and that's something I've been saying for years. Bad enough to walk the first guy... but the first two??? Please... he should have been hooked right there, damn the consequences.

Someone else made the obvious comment -- why didn't the Orioles stall? Given the quantity of rain, it was pretty clear that the game was going to be called. Gamesmanship was in order. And yes, Parrish should be on the first bus out of town -- the man has no business being in the big leagues and that's something I've been saying for years. Bad enough to walk the first guy... but the first two??? Please... he should have been hooked right there, damn the consequences.

Roch,

Good point about Perlozzo. I'm surprised people aren't still blaming him. If it was his fault that pitchers didn't execute while he was managing, what is there to stop it from being his fault now ?

It's absoultely insane that they didn't call that game earlier.

Wasn't there talk last year about Branden Fahey being the emergency catcher ? I say let him finish out the game and send Hernandez to first. I'd pay just to see that.

Roch,
Pass on these thoughts. Trade Parrish. He has not been cosistent and effective. Put hme in easy situations and trade in July.
Include Giggon, Huff, Bako, Traschel and get young talent. Time to unload dead wood. Trashel looks to be tiring and may be time to get some value.

Roch,

Was Chris Ray actually being groomed for the role of closer, or did he inherit the position by default after B.J. Ryan left for "greener" pastures in Toronto?

At this point, I think we should try to get Kyra Sedgwick for the role.