I decided to avoid reading this article. Just wanted to say hi to all my peeps, my die-hards. Please now, don't call me a slacker, it's February.

Watch some college hoops and ease your worried minds.

Go, Tike! Can we at least trade Payton to the Center for Disease Control for a biopsy-to-be-named-later of a young pitcher's damaged arm? Or maybe they're working on building a Franken-pitcher with John Rocker's diseased, chemically-damaged brain down there. Have to root for the guy who nearly vanished into indy league oblivion (and who would've done better, I'd insist, if the Pirates knew what to do with him at the right time) rather than the old vet 4th outfielder who phones in his performances all too much.

"At Least its Over"

-Oh No Roch, It has just begun.

ok I read some.

You can't realistically expect Loewen to have a great year. He has to learn to pitch with a new screw. If he reaches form - a question mark, indeed - he will do it in '09 or 10.

Is Adam Jones lacking concentration? I've read all about him misjudging flies and getting in trouble on the bases. Nick!! Talk to him. I know you're young but this is your team!

He better make sure not to take those B-12 pills.

At least it ain't 30-3. See we are improving.

Brandon Fahey getting "fluid drained from his thigh"? Wow, what's left of the man? How do you get fluid out of a Dixon Ticonderoga?

The old bring in a zillion pitchers and throw em against the wall didn't work out so well today. Hard to imagine how horrible this team is going to be this year if they trade Roberts for more crap pitchers.Mark my words O's fans will be cursing mcPhail by the end of the year when they finally figure out there's nothing for next year either.

At least the score wasn't 30-3

Anne. Wishful thinking if you think the O's are suddenly going to shed themselves of all those players you mentioned. No one else really wants those guys and they all have guarenteed and in some cases, no trade clauses so they aren't going anywhere until their contracts expire.
Roberts is the only player left that is semi-marketable so I say if we can get a powerhitter and a couple of prospects(that aren't damaged goods!) then why not pull the trigger? I can live without Roberts, we traded players that are just as good, if not better-Tejada, Bedard, Murray and for the 'good of the franchise', sometimes popular players have to be moved.
If we are going to rebuild, might as well go all the way...

Sigh...why do I have the feeling we'll be seeing the same headline in late September?

np: "When the Music's Over," the Doors

Peter the Great must be proud :)

I know its only Spring Training, but 16-3 to the Marlins..... COME ON!!!

Hey at least we didn't lose 30-3 like that ridiculous team did last season....

oh wait that was us : (

Uhhh my dog ate my new leather boots and the o's are off to a bad start... not a good day for Jennifer!

Wow! I just finished checking out the box scores of today's mlb games. Chris Gomez does good with the bat 1 for 1 with 2 runs and two walks plus a stolen base while playing 3b for Pirates, Carlos Zambrano gets shelled workng for the Rockies, David Newhan gets a triple and run scored for the Astros, no Tejada today, Jon Knott plays 2nd for Twins, Brian Falkenborg pitches a scoreless inning for the Dodgers, John Maine gets hit hard for the Mets, Jorge Julio pitches a scoreless inning for the Indians. And Tim Raines Jr is back playing for the Twins. Tim Byrdak of Indians and our good buddy Jim Brower pitched for Reds and went scoreless innings yesterday.

Roch - Can you slip the Dr something to get him NOT clear Payton to play until around October 22, 2008?

I am sure we will all be happy to pitch in on this.

Are you sure they weren't just broadcasting a game from last September?

I'm definitely not trying to read into a ST game, but my only concern is that over the past 8 months Trembley's messages and extra drills are not being translated into more fundamentally sound baseball. Or maybe I'm missing something?

Mostly, this just means that all of the rhetoric in the world will not change undisciplined minor-league level players into fundamentally sound major-leaguers. I think MacPhail and most of the free world recognize this fact and that's why we are revamping the entire minor league system. Hopefully, we will start to see pitchers coming up who have a clue and position players who know how to play their positions and engage in situational baseball.

Just like Perlozzo never had a shot, it may take a while before we can judge Trembley. If the walks and errors are not reduced from April to September, we may have serious problems. I have faith in the guy though and like the way he operates.

Roch - RE: Fahey - TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

This is a situation that calls for the Chuck Thompson touch: "Fahey hurt his knee..."

By the way, I do not understand why so many in the O's FO - and Trembley - are so high on Fahey.

He is not as good a SS as Hernandez. He can go into the hole to pick it, but it does not look like he can make that throw. He also did not look good turning the DP from SS.

Here is a guy who has proven he cannot hit MLB pitching and has proven he does not play any position well enough to be a starter and the team keeps turning to him as the 1st option.

He is a great guy to have on the team if you are a team like the Boston Red Sox. But the O's aren't a team like that. Yet, you hear them talk about him more than just about any player in the system.

What do they think they see in him?

BaltoJim - I got MLB.com 3 - 4 years ago to listen to games when I traveled. It was great on the road but when I tried to listen to games at home I could only get the away broadcast.

When I tried to get MLB.com to help, they basically told me they had more important things to do. When I asked for my money back they said no refunds.

Things approved a little in the last year, but they can make MASN look good and they have no idea about customer service.

I don't think Brandon's thighs can afford to be drained. Would be hard to imagine either Yan or Cormier making the team. Walker and Loewen are another story, and I hope this just amounted to rust.

Loewen just needs to trust his stuff. That was the dissappointing thing about the injury last year. He was starting to do that - trust his stuff. He has always been a guy who nibbles, therefore giving up as many walks as hits sometimes.

Missing last year just slowed that part of his maturation.

Well guys, we have 29 more spring training games to go. As a boy, I always wanted the Orioles to win every game, spring training or not. And back in the days of Frank, Brooks, Palmer, McNally, Cuellar, Boog, Blair, Davey, Belanger, and Elrod/Andy confidence was always there--in the players and the fans.

We're rebuilding the nest. The Birds will fly again.

Stick with those Birds.

16-3? Yikes! I know it's early, but this is just the beginning of what's to come...just out of curiosity, will the '88 O's pull a reverse '72 Dolphins and have a champagne toast when this team starts 0-22? I can see "Joltin' " Joe Orsulak, Jim Dwyer, Randy "Moose" Milligan, et al huddled around a keg of Natty Boh right now.

There were four games yesterday that ended with a difference of 13 runs or more:

Boston vs. Boston College 24-0
Washington vs. Georgetown University 16-0
Boston vs. Northeastern University 15-0
Florida vs. Baltimore 16-3

Lee Mazzilli was half right: the Orioles are in the wrong division. But they don't belong in the National League; they belong in the NCAA.

I was a little jealous that you got to spend this time down in the Florida sun......but at least I didn't have to watch this!!

It must have been like watching me play the "Bigs" against my kids on the Wii. Always much worse than the score indicates!

Is anyone else completely dumbfounded that, for all of the scrutiny placed on Adam Jones's health, nobody on the Orioles figured out that the main player coming over in the Tejada trade, Troy Patton, was damaged goods?

Speaking of Adam Jones, he looks a lot like Jeff Stone from the 1988 Orioles. As somebody from The Sun wrote brilliantly at the time, Stone always kept on running until he either scored, or was thrown out.

I used to be in favor of trading Brian Roberts, but after seeing what the Orioles got in return for Tejada and Bedard, I'd rather keep Roberts until the next GM comes along, so that we might actually get something in return.

On paper, I thought the Orioles would win 31 games this year. But with Patton injured and Jones lost on the basepaths, it's hard to see how they could win that many games.

Could there be a a bigger overreaction to the VERY FIRST PRESEASON game?? Spring training and all these preseason games are for exactly this: to get players back on track. Loewen hasn't pitched to live hitters in nearly a year and people are worried that he struggled. Relax people.

Now I see that by reading those box scores yesterday and seeing those ex-Oriole names, I was able to be excited about our good friends playing on other clubs. Like Jason Johnson pitching two scoreless for the Dodgers as a starter, Willie Harris of Braves going 2for2 with a walk and a run scored, Chad Paronto took a beating as an Astro, Jeff Kent went 0 for 2 as a Giant, Jon Knott played rf and went 0 for 2, Kent Merker pitched 1 scoreless inning for Reds, Mike Fontenot went two for four with two runs and three rbis, a triple and home run at 2b for Cubs, Tim Raines Jr is playing for Diamondbacks, went 0 for 1, Gary Matthews went 1 for two with a run scored for Angels. That was many ex-O's. On Wednesday Jamie Moyer went three scoreless for Phillies, Paul Bako went 0 for 1 with Reds, Josh Towers gave up one run in two inning for Rockies, John Bale did the same as a starter for the Royals. Who did I miss? I felt so bad for the whippin we took yesterday that I had to find out how our ex-future talent was doing.

People are so critical. It's an exhibition game. PRACTICE!!!! It doesn't count.

Good post Dave , I also believe they could do well in the N.C.A.A. as long as they stay healthy...............Relax people , we are only having some fun , if we didn't like the Birds we wouldn't even be here..........peace.........

I am confused about the scoring here:
on box score starter (Loewen) has line of: 1IP,7BF,0H,3R,3ER,4BB,2K,0HBP.

Anderson comes in, 3 Inh Runners, only 2 score during 1IP giving up 0R,0ER himself.

HOW DOES THE STARTER give up 3ER? Obviously, if box score is correct 3 of 4 BB were in 2nd inning; reliever only gives up two of them.

What am I missing?