i would like to see liz sort of form into the papelbon of the orioles. i know that might be a stretch to compare the two, but he's a back of the rotation starter with a power arm. he could be a good addition to the middle of the bullpen after an injury next year. you can't have too many power arms. unless they are julio and benitez haha

Josh Banks dad belongs to Ravens Roost 18 in Glen Burnie, and the Roost suggested a bunch of them go up and cheer on Josh, since the O's are clearly out of it.

So if you see a bunch of Ravens fans rooting for him, that's why.

Hey Roch, when the O's season finally ends, what happens with the blog?

Yes - Liz should be at Norfolk next year, getting innings. It was only in the latter half of this year that he started showing control in the minors, and then he gets called up to pitch to major league hitters amid an atmosphere of panic and despair. I'll give just about all the Orioles pitching prospects a mulligan on their August/September results since they were being called on to try and save the team. Much better if we had the depth to let them develop gradually.

I'm betting there will be plenty of opportunity to talk Orioles in this blog during the offseason. And we'll probably see more Kyle Boller jokes (always a fav of mine).

Also, best part of this blog happens during the offseason... the spring training coverage!

Radhames Liz looked better last night than Daniel Cabrera has looked all year. He appears to be more advanced of the two.

Supposedly he's on a 75 pitch count... If he's on, that should get him through the 5th... If he's caught that control-itis that's running ramped through the staff, it'll be allot less.

Roch... on another note... You've been a little flat on your blogs lately. Guess you guys wear down too. Hang in there, only 4 to go.

For about the past 11 seasons I have belonged to a long time mailing list for die-hard O's fans. This morning a long-time member (I'll call him KG) posted a message that I will copy here with his permission, edited for length. He expressed the feelings of a lot of people, I think. The rest are his words:

I went to the game last night....My family has had season tickets since '82, 20+ rows back from the O's On Deck circle. ... My family is now thinking we'll give up our seats next season. We can't find anyone who wants to split them anymore and at $97 a game ($45/ticket, $7 parking) to watch this cr*p, its just not worth it.

So I figured I'd take my nephew and go to one last game in the family seats. We rushed to make it in time for the first pitch--which Zambrano promptly used to nail the first hitter in the side....

On the drive home, I called my Dad and chatted a bit. He lamented about giving up the tickets, but knew deep down the only reason he'd kept them these last couple years was for my nephew who's a huge Orioles fan. ...

Every Opening Day was like a holiday for my family. ... I used to attend or watch well over 140 games a year when I was younger. I knew the O's TV schedule by heart and looked forward to watching each game. As the losing continued, I would watch less and less. I'd check the box scores less and less.

And here I am now. I'm 32 years old and I feel like I'm in mourning. I sat in the old seats and it looked and felt different. I couldn't see the Bromo-Seltzer Tower because of the monstrosity of a hotel they're building
which blocks out 1/2 the view of the outfield (not really Angelos' fault, but still). The players are mostly mailing it in, other than Markakis. Even BRob looked a little slow and uncaring on some plays/at-bats. There were maybe 5 thousand people in the stands. There are far less employees around (nobody directing traffic in the parking lots, most concessions only had 1 cashier working).

And in that phone conversation with my Dad I realized it didn't matter if he gave up the tickets; honestly, what exactly would I be missing? It didn't FEEL like a fun place to come. It felt like a Shiva house (a Jewish house in mourning). I've gone to maybe a dozen Frederick Keys games over the last decade and I can get more enjoyment out of those games. It feels like a place people want to come! I'll have positive memories of games I've attended in my family seats...

'83 playoffs and world series in Memorial Stadium (we had practically the same seats/sections before the move)

Last game at Memorial

First game at Camden

Ripken's 2131 game with my mom

Playoff runs in '96 and '97

Ripken's last hit from game1 on 10/05/01

I'll always remember last night...but for much different reasons. With all apologies to Don McLean, for me, it was the day the Orioles died.

Who are some of the top 5-6 prospects for next year's draft? So sad to have to that to look forward to with the Orioles. For next year get rid of flanagan, mora, miggy, r. hernandez (he never runs out a ball), get rid of payton, get rid of every pitcher we picked up from other teams from the middle of the year. get rid of gibbons. get rid of our scouting system and get rid of the music and noise that is suppose to cue the crowd to cheer. if the crowd doesn't know when to cheer get rid of them too. they have no business being at the game. move the team to the 3rd base dugout. get rid of the rubber warning track get rid of these pajama uniforms if we finish in last place this year at least it's a change from finishing 4th. and the people who have been coming to the games this week..get a life. the place should be empty the way this team is run and the way they play.

Sorry Roch, your not a homer, I was just pis---. Thanks for setting up a meeting with Heather. I'll wait. After last nights games - draft order #1 TB 93 loses #2 O's 91 - #3 KC,FL.Pitt-90 -#4 WS SF 89. You know the Yankees might lay down a bit so let us do a Liston and get the 2nd pick [ the best college pitcher ] There is no need to test our picks for drugs. They must have their whole bodies do an MRI. Kidding.Hope Leo stayes or goes with Sam if he hooks on. What about Roch on " Dancing With The Stars " next season? Na!

Keep Roch's blog all year long. We need the skinny on winter signings and near signings from Roch. Why can't we sign some native Maryland players to the O's roster? It's a shame about Zambrano's outing last night, I like this guy.

Description of Peter Angelos as an owner: while genius apparently has its boundaries, stupidity suffers under no such limitations.

Roch, I suppose Bedard will be putting his hunting rifle down or his hockey stick away & flying into town tonight to support Guthrie?

Roch... you know I like you & have your back ,but about Liz..... "note how much better he looked last night after walking the first three batters." Has it come to this??? That's horrendous under any normal situation. You poor devils in the press have been exposed to such BAD baseball (pitching mostly) that I do believe you have become skewed on what is acceptable. I suggest writers rehab where you all get to spend 30 days watching video of Orioles games from 1966-1983 until cured.
You came back to Earth though after that statement.... :-) I totally agree, AAA next year, period.

In talking with some members of Baseball America, they had this to say about next years draft (paraphrase):

The top 6-8 spots look as solid as any draft, with a mix of College/HS and Pitchers/Position players. They think (right now) that after that there will be an unusually large drop off in terms of talent. This means, that the O's should definitely get another great propsect, and if its #2 overall, they will basically have their choice.

It's sad when that is all there is to look forward to, but there are some guys like Pedro Alvarez (3B Vanderbilt) and Justin Smoak (1B South Carolina) that people are already drooling over. Plus they are in college, which means a faster track to the bigs...

PF, thanks for sharing that with us. I have a feeling that scenario has been played out alot the last 2 or 3 years.

I haven't gone in 3 seasons for even ONE game (counting this yr) & I can't say I really miss it at all. I love baseball & still play about 40 games in the summer so this isn't about a lack of interest in the sport. I do watch on the O's on TV alot, but mostly it's out of habit or not having anything else to watch on TV in the summer when I am home. I can recall being a kid, even in college , & saying to myself , "wow, if I only lived near Balmer I would have season tixs & go as often as I could!" Now I live 15-20 min. from the park & have no desire to support what potter has done to my childhood dream.

Definite props to Jeremy...though he totally won me over with how cool and down to earth he was at Brian's Bash! But it is great to see that he wants to pitch badly enough that he was refusing to shut it down unless there was no other choice. Way to go, Jeremy!

And I agree that Liz deserves a lot of credit for the way he was able to pull himself together and listen to whatever it was that Leo told him after he walked his first three batters. He needs more time in the minors, but I think he's learned some valuable lessons by his struggles up here and if he's got the right mentality he'll know how he has to use that and what to work on next year at Norfolk.

MARKAKIS JOGS TO FIRST BASE TOO!!!! You just don't notice it because he's hitting and he's your great white hope.

Roch, can we please ban Anne from the blog? I'll give you the night off and sit in misery in the press box!

"n" for Nick is so much better than Brian.

"WAH! My boyfriend is cuter than your boyfriend!"

-Eric in PA