I know it's your job, but thanks for what you do. Happy Birthday to your daughter. I'm a high school principal whose whole life is teenagers. I have a wonderful son, but no daughter, my greatest life dissapointment (the latter not the former). From your mentions of her in the blog, I can tell that you (and she) are blessed. I know there is no baseball in this post - sorry to break the rules. I know there are dads and daughters who are apart all over the world, nevertheless, thanks for another year of letting me feel like I'm there at the park. Though it is presumptuous for me to tell the blogmeister what he can do -- feel free to not post this.

Great post Roch. I'd like to add myself to the list of well-wishers, for you and the O's. Any chance a hot flight attendant turned in the book? Well, that myth has been exposed, but one gets lucky every now and then.

I guess you signed up for the "Orioles Off-Season" travel package.

Is there any chance that someone wins the 3B job from Mora during Spring Training?

treat yourself to a grouper sandwich and some conch chowder down there, good eats

Alls well that ends well??
Yahh..I also say bull$hit.
Glad you're there regardless and look forward to the scoops but mainly the general tone of your blog..
Light, funny, self-deprecating and regardless of the doom -n-gloom, a damn fine blog to read with many knowledgeable contributors
to enlighten and inform me.
Enjoy the sun-n-fun, ya bastard!!

Roch, after the last two year's trips to Ft. L., you might be better off renting a car and driving down. Seems like it might be faster than flying... just saying... :p

Labrum issues with Patton? Didn't they have him take a physical before signing off on the trade or were the O's so anxious to dump Tejada that they took a pass?
I thought he was the 'hidden gem'(not centrepiece) of this deal; let's hope it's nothing serious!

Sounds like you got the scenic flight. LOL!

Go get them Roch. You da man. Check out Jay Gibbons and report on his condition please. He could be a powerful player in the lineup if he is healthy.

the other day my two friends and i were hanging out in our basement, not speaking to one another, the anita marks show on the radio, listening to adam jones and nick markakis call in. i believe i was on the computor looking over your blog, i looked up and saw justin and steve pouring over fantasy baseball magazines, every one of steves mlb ps2 games out and scattered around the console.
i thought "jesus how bad are we hurting for baseball right now?"
my seasonal depression starts with the week after the super bowl and lasts until opening day, its sad.

AirTran is the worst! Every time I've had to fly with them, our flights were really, REALLY late. Just another reason I stick with Southwest.

Anyway, Roch, just remember that a bad day covering baseball in Fort Lauderdale beats a great day in a windowless office in cold and windy Baltimore. ;)

So, based on the fact that last year's flight was an indicator of how the season was going to go, this season is going to be, um, the worst ever?

Who still carries a check book around?

Wow Roch! Sorry you had such a weird start to spring training, but glad your there safely. Didn't want Ryan Hubele to leave. I wasn't impreesed with Dave Trembley's speech. It sounded like he rehearsed with not much meaning to it. But I like Dave and hope he gets more out of his players. I''m a Trembley fan and public speaking might not be his thing yet. Ah he's still young. I wanted to be shook up though and see some spark. I want to be entertained this year. I want everybody healthy and performing. Hustle, hustle, hustle.

Sorry to hear you had so many issues on your flight. Sounds like what I deal with a lot on ASA and Delta. I was considering AirTran for my next trip to B-more. Maybe not, now.
Welcome to the Sunshine State!

just blue sking here, but wouldn't it be fun if Mora had a nice year?

yes. yes it would.

roch you have a mild case of tropical whine syndrome. relax, check out the jog bras and enjoy the ride.

Geez! Look at it this way Roch, after that ordeal, sitting through Orioles games should be a piece of cake!

you have got to be kidding about Patton

So the Orioles are looking at Alex Cintron to add depth at SS. Hmmm, not too sure if that makes much sense. Give the Job to Hernandez...if he struggles, give it Fahey or Bynum. At this point, we are looking at that position as a defensive position anyway.

Our next trade need to land us a good SS prospect.

I am glad our 78 year-old owner is finally hitting his stride in the last 12 months... that projects to a pennant by the time he hits the century mark!

Seriously though, I am encouraged by recent moves, I'm just not refrigerating the champagne just yet.

I have also never heard the word "labrum" in a positive context-- damged goods? Bad news Roch. Great news on Huff and Hernandez--I think they may be pleasant surprises. You have to think that not nearly as many things will go wrong like last year. I actually envision a record no worse than last season. No pessimist here!

I think we can all agree that while this team will suffer, we fans are in far better shape getting to watch players mature. It's been a horrible 10 years watching us pick up players who are ready to be put out to pasture. I've always said that I can watch losing, but it's hard to watch an apathetic, incompetent team.

Dimitrios--just wanted to briefly respond that I agree that recent pieces of "journalism" have been atrocious given that Angelos seems not to have "meddled" at all. My only point is that I need to see this laissez faire approach for an extended period before I heap on the praises.

I was picturing your journey like a Raiders of the Lost Ark movie with the plane leaving a red trail behind it to show the many exotic places you've been. And no offense, but Raiders is a lot more exciting.

So Patton may be damaged goods. They say they're not worried, and I'm no doctor, but if there's labrum issues and these issues aren't treated and in fact are subjected to the rigors of a full baseball season, isn't it true that his arm will in fact detach from his body?

And won't this arm then go on to terrorize teenagers in some small rural town? But like I said, I'm no doctor.

I was on a flight to Atlanta that got diverted to Jacksonville, FL for weather. Delta told us we could wait for Atlanta to clear or take a bus they would provide (6 hours). I should have taken the bus because we did not fly into Atlanta until 7 1/2 hours after our scheduled arrival time.

I hope they improved the airport since. It is no place to spend a day...

It is curious your plane went to the Bahamas instead of somewhere else in Florida. Pilots don't get to make those calls - if the plane goes somewhere ground control isn't expecting they scramble the Air Force. You would think the FAA would want to keep you in the States. (Unless they were dropping a hint?)

It is also not like they don't know where the weather is. I can understand them wanting to see if Miami clears up, but, it should not be a surprise if it doesn't and they should have an idea where to send the flight.

Maybe this was something Air Tran did just for you - to get even for last year’s travel story?

Why doesn't the Sun take all of the money they are saving from the coverage cuts they are making and buy a corporate jet?

Roch, I’m thinking about coming down to spring training and as it gets close to the start of camp, I’ll announce my retirement. Of course, you’ve could’ve announced your retirement/un-retirement during that whole ordeal you went through. I think Brett Favre and Roger Clemens did both things at least once in the time it took you to get to Ft. Lauderdale (and Clemens interrupted his lying to Congress to do one or the other, or so I’m told). Sorry about the ordeal you experienced. Man, it might be easier just to drive down there.

I guess there is a distinction between a pitcher saying he has “labrum issues” and just saying his shoulder feels a little funny. When your young pitcher knows the word “labrum,” you should be concerned. Hopefully, this is nothing.

Dave’s dire prediction aside (31-131 at the top of the last post—yikes!), I do expect that once the optimism of spring training kicks in, there will be people here with off the wall predictions. A winning record, playoffs—some people were overly optimistic last season. Heck, I predicted 75 wins and even that was overly optimistic. I think you’re all crazy with your optimism, but that’s just the soured pessimist/skeptic in me talking. I’m going with 66-96, 5th place, at this point. I don’t think the team will be as woeful as some people are predicting and will be predicting in the coming weeks (I’m sure there will be plenty of 100+ loss predictions coming). 66 wins, though, is woeful enough. The future, though, has at least a touch of hope.

Maybe it is just me, but don't Patton's comments about his shoulder sound a lot like Wright this time last spring?

I am not saying it is the same situation exactly, but you would think his agent or the FO would have given him some tips about how to talk about it....

Did we know about this at the time of the trade?

Curious.

hey Roch, if you were down in the Bahames, why didn't you bring a good young SS to spring training with you? we could really use one.

Hubele decided against being ST fodder, wise man. You seen Kilmer lately? He looks like R Hernandez did LAST year.....

Now we hear Patton was shut down with a labrum problem & hasn't even thrown much. I thought he was supposedly the gem of the Tejada deal? 23 & already damaged goods? This is just the beginning of it I bet. All those prospects we got, those great rebuilding deals, too good to be true & one already shows up needing to be babied....

Not your fault Roch, enjoy the Bahamas! You could go see whatshernames grave, that centerfold bimbo who died last year was buried there. Or better yet, hit the tables or beach. :-)
Why do you have such trouble getting to Fla every year? I never do, the team personnel all got there, I bet the potter spawn are already trolling South Beach.....
I bet you will vote for the Passenger Bill of Rights when it comes along huh? They brought that up for just this reason....
Your story sounded almost as bad as the Mom's in Home Alone, when she tried to get back home from Paris. Leaving an 8 yr old behind was the only diff.... at least you didn't have to ride in the back of a van with John Candy & 7 other stooges playing hideous music.

You & Huff hitting the nightlife tonight? He is the team social coordinator isn't he?

PV - You're bringin' me down, dude. Cheer up - it's not like the Birds dealt Brian Roberts, or something.

dave T... I think most of us would be happy to let Anita be "in control" if the opportunity presented itself, if she didn't talk. Why do you think she is on the air? Her journalistic expertise? :-)

From the Clemens hearing today (not even joking):

"Mr. Clemens, according to your account, Mr. McNamee injected your wife in your bedroom without your knowledge."

Funniest thing I've heard all month! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

He's lying, okay, whatever, let's just move on because I am tired of hearing about it.

Posted by: Jennifer | February 13, 2008 12:46 PM

Jennifer, I saw this too & almost choked on my drink... I really laughed when I thought Clemens said he knew it & had arranged for it too.
Everyone, including his dog ,was getting injected by McNamee it seems, except for Clemens of course.
That whole thing left little doubt who was lying, it was written all over Clemens face. Did you see the lawyers go nuts when the Chairman refuted Clemens claim he & his family were not at Canseco's party & that stuff about coaching the nanny 2 days before Congress got to question her? Great stuff & killer too.

Roch,

Sorry you had such a miserable flight. But that’s just the way it goes. I was once coming home from a vacation in Mexico and was so excited to land at BWI (because the whole trip was a disaster) when the pilot comes out and says, “Hold tight, I landed on the wrong runway. We’ll be pulled over to the correct terminal shortly.” Well two frustrating and exhausting hours later, the pilot comes back out and says that we can’t get towed over to the right terminal because it’s too dangerous to have a plane riding around where the FedEx and other cargo planes land. Yes, he landed our plane on the Cargo Runway where all the humongous planes takeoff and land. So we had to wait for one of those buses to come get us so we didn’t have to be towed all the way around BWI in the middle of the night. The pilot had to of been drinking. How does someone land a plane in the wrong section of an airport? So then we had to wait until they had our baggage taken off the plane and transported to the other end of the airport. Needless to say, I really hate flying!!

Anyways, Roch, I appreciate you keeping us up to speed during this entire off season and thank you in advance for reporting back to us about ST. I cannot wait for the 2008 season to kick off.

Is anyone else shocked that Ramon went to ST 10 pounds lighter and in shape? Or that Aubrey Huff showed up early? Perhaps he figured that he’d get in as much Ft. Lauderdale night life that he possibly could, before coming back to Baltimore!!!

Oh my, oh my!

As others have mentioned here, thanks so much for sharing what you do with us Roch. I know it's your job, but you definitely make Orioles baseball more enjoyable!

Regarding Patton's labrum problems - from Jeff Zrebiec's article, it seems that the Astros shut him down last year because of it, but it doesn't seem like it's a problem now. So, we shouldn't worry about it, right? (I'm trying to be optimistic here)

Jennifer, you should try my commute to Bethesda every day...& back again. It makes those flying stories pale in comparison..... one good thing riding on a plane, you can get a drink or 2 or 3 flying, I can't do that driving back & forth to work...

Val Majewski was a top prospect until he torn his labrum and he wasn't even a pitcher. I see this ending in disaster for him. Hope the other prospects we got make up for the damaged goods. Of course Houston got damaged and possibly indicted goods from us so it sounds like a wash to me.

Brian,

I work in an office with three men so they had the whole hearing playing on the radio. As soon as I heard it I almost fell on the floor. Apparently I was the only one who caught it. Once I repeated it they all chuckled but I'm pretty sure they think I'm disgusting now. Eh, whatever.

Jennifer, tell them to get over it....