I just hope these guys turn out better than the ones we got for Sid a while back...

You better not argue Roch. Buy low Sell High is the right strategy, Steve gave us a couple good starts but was a time bomb waiting to blow up.

Get an out!! Great Ceasar's Ghost! Here we go again! I can't see the game, was Crisp's infield single in the 7th playable?

No, DS, it was a foot race between Crisp and Walker with Millar fielding the ball. Just a well placed dribbler.

No jokes yet about Rocky Cherry's name? You must be preparing something big...

In any case, at least we have our best Rocky since Coppinger.

wow...they actually got 3 outs in the 8th without giving up runs. Trembley should get ejected every game...

Frankly, I was getting to where I hoped the Orioles would hold on to Trachsel as well as he was pitching, given the all the uncertainty surrounding the pitching staff.

That said, the trade looks pretty good on paper, as MacPhail got a couple of players who actually look like they might be useful pieces to the puzzle. And with the $4.7 they save not having Traschel's option on the books for 2008, they'll have some money to look for another starter.

Call it lighting a candle in the dark.

Well, the game's moving to the bottom of the eighth with the O's holding a tenuous 9-6 lead. Walker was really on in the seventh, but was snake-bitten by a dribbler to first and a cued shot off the end of the bat to right.

As I write, Bradford got a comebacker to the mound for the first out and after putting a couple on base, got Big Papi to ground into a DP to end the inning. So I'm hoping for the best, but since it's the O's at Fenway, I've also prepared for the worst with the following (it will be usable at some point anyway, if not tonight): Oriole Magic is back, unfortunately, it's the kind that 500 years ago got people burned at the stake.

William R,

I'd say the Giants-Orioles trade with Ponson was a wash.

Even though the three the Orioles got in return didn't pan out to much, neither did Sid for the Giants — or the O’s when they reacquired him the next season.

The three Braves the Orioles got in return for Surhoff in 2000 stings a little more.

This is going to suck...I want to see the Orioles win, but I DO NOT want to do anything that helps the Yankees (Blech!).

Hope the Devil Rays can keep up with they did tonight and sweep the Yanks. That will make me feel better when the O's sweep the Red Sox :-)

Now if Toronto would just play nice and lose to Seattle...

Call me silly ... but if plunking Youkilis with a pitch inspires the Red Sox to willfully put Ramon Hernandez, the Orioles’ worst hitter, on base (with a runner already on first) — hit Yuke again.

Jeez, the dude’s a double-play machine.

Tell me, which team is in first place and which is mired in a nine-game losing streak again?

Great trade

Trachsel definitely not in Orioles future plans, these two guys adding depth to the organization.

I wonder if Moore will be a trade chip or actually be a prospect with Rowell struggling defensively at 3rd.

Baez blowing a game is a cliche.

Roch,

The only thing that disappointed me about Trembley's ejection was that he didn't go kick some dirt over home plate. If there was a time to get run it was right there.

Bullpen made it more interesting than it should have been, but at least the losing streak is finally over. I was nervous there.

Great googly woogly, it's OVER! Mora did his level best to keep it going but IT"S OVER. A WIN! DT's first as full time mgr (only he watched from the locker room).

Another ugly game tonight, but at least we don't have a double digit losing streak, at least not until we get home and we can worry about enduring a double digit home losing streak. Let's hope the pressure of choking to the Yankees gets to the Sox, and we steal a few more wins. Bring on the September call ups. With regards to Trachsel, at least we got two players that might actually contribute, more than I can say about any of the fire sale trades of the past 9 years.

Did anyone else have a panic attack in the bottom of the 9th?
The Orioles are lucky they won tonight, otherwise they would have received a bill in the mail for my replacement tv. Let's hope tomorrows game we can get an 18 run lead to give the bullpen a little breathing room? (Just in case they blow the lead again and again and again and again).

I might need to bust out my father's anxiety medication again. I can't take the stress!

Halleleujah!

This was a steal. I would have taken a bag of turnips for Trax at this point - anything to get the kids into the rotation consistently.

Trachsel was much better than I expected him to be, but there's no way we should be trotting him out there every 5th day.

Moore seems to be all or nothing. In 321 ab's this year, he has struck out 100 times. Almost half of his hits have been extra base hits. Anyone know how good he is defensively? He does bat left-handed. Jim Hunter just said he's starting tomorrow night against the Red Sox. His path to the majors was blocked by Aramis Ramirez.

If he pans out he may be just more than a stop gap til Rowell gets here. I'm still not convinced that his position is 3rd base.

Cherry's a big guy. 6-5 and 225 lbs. Throws hard and averages more than a strikeout per inning. Well worth it to see him pitch in September as well.

This just may be another sign that
MacPhail really does have a plan!

Read with interest Connally's article on late season collapses earlier this week.
It was scary to hear Flanagan say that the now completed losing streak was "just a blip on the radar screen". More of the status quo. Duguette will definately be leaving after the season , if not before(Pittsburgh). For sentiment, I would hate to see Flanagan fired, so maybe he could just be relegated to a lesser role.

Liked much better what Trembley said about the team needing players who are mentally prepared for what it takes to make a late season push. He also talked about "the makeup of a person - we have to have gamers". To me this is a clear sign that he believes we have some players, maybe several, who are not gamers and should not be here next year.

It's admittedly been a bit too depressing for me to write, but I thought I'd check in nonetheless.... I'm grateful to Trachsel for his contributions to the O's this year. He pitched well more often than not and showed the cool-headedness of a veteran. I was particularly impressed with how he often worked the outer half of the plate without compromise. The season could have been worse (as if that's actually possible) without him. What we got in return, while not overtly promising, does sound mildly intriguing. Let's see them play!

This losing streak has at least proven to everyone(especially, I hope, Andy MacPhail) that we are not one or two players away from competing and should make drastic changes for next year. With that in mind here are some changes for September and into next season.

First, put Luis Hernandez at shortstop for the remainder of the season. Miggy seems to have found his stroke, but is killing us defensively, on the bases, and has long ago lost his desire to succeed here. Let him DH for the rest of the year. See how he responds. If he balks(likely) and doesn't react well, then you definately trade him in the off-season. Hopefully he continues to hit this month, thus increasing his trade value.

Secondly, play Melvin against left-handers only for the remainder of the month. I didn't see his comments about our fans, but it's just another sign that he does not want to be here and should be dealt. His lack of hitting since May, his bonehead plays, and his pouting has become too much to take. Once you trade Miggy, I'm pretty sure Melvin will waive his no-trade clause. Problem is getting someone to take him and getting something of value in return.

These two have been the leaders here for several years. Look where that has gotten us. They need to be removed. Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, and Erik Bedard should become the new leadership of this team.

Lastly, there is only one major free agent I would go after. Aaron Rowand. He is a GAMER. There's no way we are getting Torri Hunter or Andruw Jones. Overwhelm Rowand. Sixty million for four years. I know that's 15 mil a year, better than Matthew's money. But signing him is about more than his talent, which is pretty damn good. It's about getting guys who want to win and will do whatever it takes to get there. It's about changing the losing stench that surrounds this team!

If we trade Miggy and his $13 million contract during the off-season, could we not then eat the remaining two years of Danny Baez' contract($12 million) and actually save a million in the process?

Sure Trax was a pretty decent pitcher for us...he wasn't blowing away anybody...but he was a master at using his average stuff look SOOOO hittable that he got batters to be over-aggressive...it is amazing what a pitcher can do once he realizes what happens when a batter applies a 90 mph fastball swing on a 80 mph curve...the one thing I've gotta say about Trax is, based on his pitch selection, he has an uncanny ability to read batters...I wouldn't rank him as good as, say, Jim Palmer was...but it just boggles my mind when I see so many rookies see batters pull foul fastballs in fastball counts and then throw them a fastball strike...Trax had the nice ability to recognize where the batters' timing was at based on where he made his stride and where he fouled off pitches on what kind of pitch when...why do I know this?...cus inveritably on the next pitch he'd make the right pitch selection...he'd get burned by your occasional master of faking his timing by guys like, say, Manny who is known for deliberately swinging and missing badly on certain pitches just to set himself up for the next pitch (a trick BTW he seems to have learned from Albert Belle in Cleveland who was also great at that)...

...all that being said, Trachsel's BABIP has been soooooo above-average this year that it's hard to imagine that he wasn't pitching with a ton of luck behind him...the fact that we got a young 3B prospect who has a pretty fair shot of being a productive MLer is a nice return...the fact that we got a throw-in on top of that is even better...this kind of move doesn't always work out...but, it reminds me of the kinds of moves you hear coming from Minnesota where there always seems to be some degree of decent-to-moderate upside coming back...and their philosophy seems to be that, if you make, say, 10 of those kinds of deals, perhaps 1-2 of them turning into legit MLers...and the rest are either parts for trades later OR contribute to varying degrees...and, every now and then, you run into, of course, the best Rule V pick in history, Johan Santana's...or even a throw-in like Francisco Liriano...

I may get yelled at here...but for those who argue tejada has become a terrible SS, let's not forget that Cal was hardly the greatest SS. his range was limited but fortunately he was always well positioned. he just couldn't always get to the slightly tough ground balls. Tejada has struggled, sure. but his offense has picked up nicely and he's hitting the ball hard every single game now. hopefully he works on his footwork in the off season, learns to position himself better to compensate for his reduced range and he can be an offensive force again for a full season. Let's not forget that in his short time with the O's, he's set both the single season hits record and also had the 150rbi season.

Let's cut the guy some slack. everyone wants to run him out of town. would you really prefer an extremely light hitting SS like Luis Hernandez who has better defensive skills? How many times does a great defensive player with limited offensive skills get praised for "saving runs"? He may not knock in a lot, but his defense prevents a lot. Well, why can't that work the other way? Tejada may cost us a few DP's and runs throughout the season but his offense i'd argue more than offsets that. I still like the guy. I'm still glad he's here. Let's hope next season he comes in fresh, regains some of his defensive skills and at least gives this chance a better opportunity to compete. Unless we get a trade-off offensively for him, we need to keep him. He can still be a leader.

What does it say for MLB if The Orioles are the best fielding team in the American League ? Not Much . Was there champaign in the Locker Room last night ?

Schmuck's article this morning was right on the money. This teams play is more about the players than anything else. Trembley's upbeat approach, emphasis on fundamentals, and hopefully intolerance of the lack of effort shown by some lately, will help this team when they truely become a team built on pitching and defense.

Andy MacPhail has now seen firsthand what loyal fans have had to endure in the making for the last ten years. A major overhaul is indeed necessary.

Can I stop holding my breath yet?

The Orioles of the late '70s had a reliever called "full pack", because Earl Weaver would go through a full pack of cigarettes every time he pitched. The O's bullpen now has a "full carton". Each and every reliever they throw out there makes me nervous enough to smoke a full pack (if I smoked) and I would go through a carton every game.

If September 1 brings any good news, it is that the O's can add more relievers to their bullpen as the rosters expand, not that more will mean they will do any better, but you figure someone just has to have an "on night" some time. Don't they?

Rocky Cherry? I think we had that at Baskin-Robbins last week.

Seriously, I think this is a great trade for the O's. It is a well-documented fact that guys with fruits for a last name go on to have successful big league careers.

mora is about to get pipped

which is kind of sad

but i think this moore kid is stout

Teenage Mutant Ninja - Tejada's problem isn't his range(that's always been a problem). It's the balls hit right at him and his decision making. I for one would rather have a light-hitting shortstop who plays great defense then a guy who at least once a week is going to boot a ball late in the game that costs the team a game. That's demoralizing to the whole team. With this team's starting pitching and hopefully a much improved bullpen next year, good defense is essential. I'll remind you that we were 1-9 in the ten games before Miggy went on the DL. We were . . . . what 5-6 games over .500 while he was on the DL. What have we been since?

The only leadership he provides is negative, regardless of what he says in the paper. Unless he's completely happy being the DH, he'll be playing elsewhere next year. Yesterday's trade is a sign that the brass believes he can't or won't play third base.

To compare Ripken to him defensively is shameful.

I also don't buy that somehow Sam Perlozzo was the key to Miggy playing good defense. He may have helped, but it's most about his lack of focus and negative attitude.

TMNA,

You are correct in stating the fact that Cal had limited range. However, Cal had such an accurate arm that he almost never threw it away and balls didn't bounce off a seemingly brick glove.

Cal also moved to third without whining.

There is no comparison.

i seem to only get about half of my comments posted. anyone else having this problem as well?? i know i'm NOT using bad words...

what's the deal, roch?

I honestly did not think we would get what we did for Trax. I know nothing about Moore other than what I read, but Cherry was briefly given the closer's spot in Chicago when Dempster went on the DL. The kid is a big boy and a hard thrower who supposedly (stress that word) has good control. I say if we have the lead in the ninth tonight, hand him the ball, see what he is made of. We know for some reason Baez gets delirious in the ninth and thinks he is just throwing BP, so let's see if Rocky can get the job done. I don't think the FO understands that when you get these young kids we get excited to see them play because it is something new. It's like when you were a kid and you never wanted to play with your toys, you always wanted to play with your friends (and sometimes at 28 with me that is still the case!).

It cracks me up when I read posters that recommend we trade the whole team except for four or five players. First of all, when was the last time you saw a team trade 15-20 guys? Even during fire sales it usually never gets higher than 5 or 6, even with the Marlins the way they kept doing it. These people also do not realize that we are not going to get great prospects for many if not all of our players. We got lucky with Trax, I think MacPhail's relationship with Hendry definitely had something to do with that.

Having said all that, if I go through our active 25-man roster, I don't see us getting a whole lot in return. I'm on the same level as a lot of people with who to keep. I think the core should definitely be built around Bedard, Roberts, Markakis, Millar (too good in the clubhouse to get rid of and his OBA is higher than Markakis!), Walker, Bradford, Patterson (too much speed to give away) Loewen, Guthrie, Ray, Liz, Olson, Hoey, and Doyne.

I am not among the group of people looking to keep Danny Cab. I say cut your losses, if he becomes great somewhere else, well, it wouldn't be the first time that happened here. HE is somebody we could get a high prospect for because of his high ceiling.

But now if you look at what's left, we would not get much back:

Tejada - probably either 2-3 mid level prospects or a ML ready player and 1-2 low prospects.

Redman - absolutely nothing

Bynum - maybe a low level low ceiling player

Huff - mid level minor leaguer at best

Mora - maybe a AAA player with stats like Moore or Cherry

Payton - AA player

Ramon - AA player, but not much else, cant believe his average has dipped to .241

Gibbons - just release him for crying out loud, eat the contract

Burres - maybe develop him into a Walker type lefty specialist only

Baez - trade him to anyone that will take him for whatever they will give you, I don't care of it's some chalk for the foul lines and some Turface for the infield.

Birkins - career minor leaguer

We should make at least four to five moves in the offseason. If they make more that's great but I don't expect it.

And to the person who was talking about Aaron Rowand - you sir are a genius! Rowand is everything Eric Byrnes is, but better. I'm sure most of you saw when he introduced himself to the wall in Philly and came out with the bloody face. I don't know if I would give him 15 mil a year but 4y at 48M sounds good to me.

Hey Roch,
Ever notice the photos they tend to post for pitchers on the O's web sites? Maybe it's just me, but you'd think the pitchers were caught in the midst of performing some bodily function or suffering from severe nervous disorders from the selections that are posted. Poor Trachsel looked like he'd been hit by a train the other night. What's up with that?

With Miggy having refound his power stroke, he's easily our best SS option right now. I loved Hernandez defense there, but there is absolutely nothing in his significant minor league track record to say he could ever hit even as well as Brandon Fahey. We got Hernandez because he had six seasons in the Braves system and never posted an OPS near 700. Great fielder, but the Braves realized the chances he'd ever develop into an even average hitter were slim. A great offensive team can play a guy like that and look smart for it, but we just don't have the offense to cover him.

Maybe we play him, have Miggy DH for him, and let our pitchers hit.
;)

Sorry about my rant about Liz last night that you [ Roch ] dumped. I was out of line. He just made me mad walking 2 batters to start his last inning. The pitching coach was not happy. Glad Sam P now doesen't think this was his fault.

At the very least, we've been getting some more interesting Baseball names here on the Os in the last few years...I just think of the possibilities that "Radhames Liz" can inspire for nicknames...I guess the measure of a good ballplayer is if they play so well that they earn a nickname from the fans...

...I've heard Bedard called "Bedtime" more and more this year...as in, he puts the other team to sleep...and I've heard Markakis being called "Kakes" which is prolly not far off from what they call him in the clubhouse anyways...I can only hope Loewen, Cabrera, Liz, Olson, etc all eventually earn nicknames too...

..BTW last night's Markakis HR was the sweetest thing I've seen in a while...at the very moment he hit it, you knew it was gone...and along with it came a sudden communal hushed groan from the Fenway crowd...

I've said this before and I'll say it again, Tejada has been dogging it all year. Tejada and Mora need to go. Trade them, eat the contracts, whatever, but they need to go. Their bad attitudes are severely hurting the TEAM.

The O's are fairly deep with starters so use that master plan and trade Cabrera with a minor league pitcher and find us a bat.

And please don't spend 41 mil on the bullpen this year.

And congrats to Matt Wieters who gets a great contract and free airfare to Hawaii. I'm still waiting for my postcard.

Well, it looks like the aptly monikered Rocky Cherry will fit right in with the rest o' the bullpen....

np: "Rocky Mountain High [ERA]," John Denver

does anyone realize that we are being no-hit by a 23 yr. old rookie pitcher.
What is the matter with this team??

Roch? roch? come out of the toilet stall. we need you now. yes we all feel sick.

i can't write anymore.

Now, what do the fans of Baltimore say for this game? I'm very interested to see what everybody says.

It was the worst batting practice I have ever seen from the Orioles offense. Swinging at bad pitches, looking at good ones. Not pitching aggressively. Defense never had a chance to make plays. Bad combination there.

Leave it to Beaver.

Last night we celebrated the birthday of the greatest Oriole--Frank Robinson-- born in Beaumont, Texas--by snapping a nine-game losing streak. Tonight, another player from Beaumont--Clay Buchholz--no hits us.

Looks like we may be facing the likes of Dow, Mathers, Billingsley, and yes, Hugh Beaumont from here on in.

Yes, we're taking our Lumps. Any chance of signing Joe Boever? Perhaps Jerry Lumpe or Ken Osmond--Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!--could stop by the clubhouse and keep us from getting the business.

Teenage Mutant Ninja

Regarding Cal's defense, please go check the record books. He was consistently among the leaders in fewest errors AND most chances. You can't do that unless you get to a lot of balls. The fact that he did it by positioning (being in the right place) rather than range doesn't matter.

Also, when Cal became a defensive liability, they moved him to 3rd and brought in Mike Bordick, which is exactly what we need to do with Tejada.