Following up on a post from the last thread, I wonder if the guy taunting Whitt can stand up to the guy on the third-base side taunting Lyle Overbay and Greg Zaun in the on-deck circle. Some real jems--

"Lyle, you have a real nice swing. I bet you hit .260."

"Lyle, how's it feel to be the only guy in the lineup not to have a hit off Trachsel tonight."

"Greg, nice mullett."

"Greg, your uncle never had hair that long and he could actually throw a runner out at second base."

"Greg, your hairstyle went out with Poison. As Twisted Sister said 'We're not gonna take it.'"

In response to the last comment, Zaun extend his arm behind him and gave us the "Rock On" sign (thumb, index and pinkie extended).

Entertainment on an otherwise pretty dull night (save Adam Jones's homer).

U shoulda let us buy u a shot last night Roch, you deserve it!!!! By the way, did Anita buy that jacket????

Roch, I thought you wore a large medium according to Surhoff? :-)

Is that all it takes, wear her t shirt? What's on the front of them? THE ANITA MARKS SHOW along with ads for MASN & Princeton Sports?

Use Bradford for the 6th & 7th (no choice)... who are we kidding thinking Loewen will pitch past the 5th.... has he yet this year? Then Walker in the 8th, Sherrill in the 9th, no matter what the score.....

terpfan, that guy better watch out, with the small gatherings there, those players can pick out the loudmouth really easily as well as hear him easily too. One good thing, the bum will have no one to block his dash up the stands once he gets past the 4th row....

If Loewen does get knocked out, what'll they do? I suppose Burres could go and then they can call someone up? Burres could probably handle an inning anyways and still make his start...

Can Markakis pitch?

The question is what else would the Orioles need to become a contender in the tough AL East?

I got to believe that by the middle of the next year they'd have one of the best pitching staffs - overall.

Positional players are a different matter altogether. The O's would be able to compete with the 'Beasts of the East' at RF, 2nd base, and CF. They should also be able to compete at the cather's position with Hernandez and the fast progressing Matt Wieters. They should be able to cobble together an adequate platoon at LF and DH slots, as well.

And that means that they'd need two 'big boppers' at first and third base and a defensive wiz at short or three above average players. If the O's manage to sign Teixeira then they'd just have to worry about one more big hitter to become truly competetive.

Roch- Maybe Ravens should draft Gene Upshaw , wont that move techically remove him from Union President position?

Just wondered

Go Loewen!

Great post from BC Mike about Soriano and the Cubs. Should be interesting. BC is adding huge value from up North. My favorite poster monnikers are bifftubesock and dsanchez. Where's rtrombone?

Take an O-lineman with that pick!

Terpfan... Those are pretty damn funny!!! The Whitt Heckler was non stop the entire night. At least Whitt had a sense of humor. When the guy left to go to the bathroom Whit was looking around for him and put his hand up to his ear.... So this younger kid took over and was yelling "Hey Ummmmmp, tell that Whitt to get back in the box. This is illegal baseball here! Whiiiitttttt get baaaack in the BOOOOOOX! (in a drunken slur)"

I thought I was going to die laughing.

Marks.... WTB. WOW, She really had to delve deep into her think tank for that one..... anything for publicity.

terpfan...zaun did not give you the "rock on sign" if he extended his thumb, index and pinky finger....thats the "i love you" sign....so not only is zaun suspect in dabbling with steriods but his sexual preference is also up for debate. thanks for the breaking story.

The O's could send Acquino down and recall a fresh pitcher , but then , who will be next sacrificial lamb for the team ?
Im not sure 13 pitchers is enough , Trembley gotta need 14 men staff .

On the bright side , that Bedard trade is looking prettier and prettier ........

To the overly critical writer in a previous blog posting who wondered why Weitters wasn't in the game, he was attending the funeral of one of his former team mates from GT. The pitcher was found dead Friday morning, so lets cut the young guy some slack.

In the world of MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, WTB means "Want To Buy."

It is much funnier to me because the shirt says "Want to buy winning team baseball."

Agreed. Isn't that the Yankee blueprint? :)

I was in Germany the past 4 years, probably a good thing given the O's recent history (still watched on MLB.com). Now that I'm back I've noticed the crowd at the ballpark seems a little more intimate i.e. when someone mentions a fan, I know exactly who they talking about.

I also saw Robovendor last night selling hot dogs. I told him if he could sell me a "robo" dog I'd get one, but he didn't have any crazy gadget associated with the hot dogs so I didn't get one. Jones was fun to watch.

I got my free tee last night.

They are actually fantastic. First year I can remember that the T-shirt promotion doesn't have a big, goofy logo on them for a radio station or whatever sponsor makes them.

Yes, they are very bright orange, but they look great under a black O's jersey. Or white.

By the way, Roch, here's an idea that I've been discussing:

Why doesn't Trembley bat Jones 9th behind L. Hernandez? He's not seeing ANY pitches to hit in front of Luis (unless its in an 11-3 flogging), and it is definitely holding him back. Also, batting him 9th brings up a lot of interesting situations. More runners on base for Roberts, who is a great contact hitter. With Jones on you can hit and run with Roberts or Mora at will. Not to mention the speed threat of Jones & Roberts hitting back-to-back.

I think this is a solid idea; and with Trembley's style of managing would pay off huge dividends.

For those of you who just cannot get enough Victor Zambrano news:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Zambrano%20%28L%2C%200-2%29&pos=P&sid=l112&t=p_pbp&pid=406913
Yesterday vs. the Portland Beavers he had a vintage Zambrano night:
4.2IP 7H 10R 3ER 6BB.
SS replacement dept:
If Cintron doesn't work out, Former Twin Luis Rodriguez is tearing up the PCL playing with the Beavs.
He is at least as big a bum as Cintron.

Caprimode: Think about it, the O's are down by a run, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, the #8 hitter is up--who do you want it to be--Jones or Luis? I'll take Jones. The 8th place hitter might get that last at-bat--IMO, the #9 hitter should be the team's worst hitter.

sudhir. I basically agree with your analysis of our strengths/weakness. The problem is that within the AL East there are 3-4 teams that are stronger than us at most of those positions. For example, I am quite familiar with the Jays and they are equal or stronger at even our best positions..ie 2b Hill can do as many things as Roberts, is younger and has more power and might even hit .350. The Jays OF of Rios, Wells and whoever is probably a little better right now than ours. The Jays have some holes of their own ie 3B & catcher and have a thin 'pen and bench.
I agree that our starting pitching may be good down the road but right now we lack a true horse like Halladay, Beckett..as long as we send out retreads like Trachsel, we will move backward instead of forward. I'm hoping our needs get addressed by mid season or at the latest in the winter of '08. If not, we will keep spinning our wheels.

Seems pretty distasteful to me how some people are revelling in Bedard's injury and that because he's hurt it makes the trade look better. Bedard was a good O, i don't think it's right to mock his injury. The players we got back will stand in judgement of their own not whether Seattle got hosed on Bedard.

I said when it happened it was a horrible idea to yank Albers out of the pen for the start. We;re now throwing games away because he isn't available for 7 days. I also said all along this team needs two long relievers. When this circus gets straightened out they need to keep Johnson over Aquino.I don't think Sarfate will be around long either which I figured based on his past control problems.

The demise of what seems to be a very good relief staff is on schedule. Through 14 games the Orioles have used 42 relief pitchers, an average of 3 a night. With 5 starters out of their 13 pitchers, this means some of the relievers are going to have to pitch every other night. This will cause a lot of tired arms which translates to the relief staff getting lit up starting in May, and the club will start losing a greater percentage of their games. With the starters only averaging a little over 5 innings a start, the relievers are having to throw over 3 innings every night. This is a recipe for disaster which we have seen every year over the last 4-5 years. The only thing that can stop it is if the Starters step up their games, and that doesn't look likely. So the Merry-go-Round with the Norfolk staff is already starting with the O's bringing up Johnson, and will have to continue during the Summer.

Come on guys , your taking all my cynical stuff from me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,before long I will have to start criticizing Peter the Great again................

Anita is o.k. in my book , she picked up on Baltimore sports pretty quick , for a girl.................