Roch please say something anything about Jamie Walker. How can they keep sending him out night in and night out with the same horrible results.Why is he flying under the radar and getting a free pass , when it has become very obvious that he can't pitch anymore. The only redeeming factor is that they haven't lost many games due to his pitching , but that can't last forever. All around the major leagues teams are starting to unload washed up veterans with about a quarter of the season gone. It's time the orioles due the same and bite another bullet like they did with gibbon's.

Roch
Sort of reading between the lines... is the Dave Trembley honeymoon over?
There seems to be undrlying criticisim
of Trembley with thw 3 man bench and Luiz Hernandez. Hernandez seems to be the new J. Hairston, does not play very well, but the media
is in his corner. Can't you guys wait until the team folds after the break
to get Trembley?

Roch, Good news it wasn't the martini's that was the weather. Mighty fine conditions out there if you were in to meteorology, but for baseball it left something to be desired. I was amazed that they played 9 innings. As to our need for an immediate callup ,Alex Cintron has to be the guy. He has always been a solid hitter and he can play both the infield and the outfield in an emergency. Most importantly he is an established major leaguer, and will be able to contribute immediately. In the previous blog a contributor was upset that Trembley pulled Olsen after 82 pitches with a big lead.This was not a normal situation. It is very difficult to warmup for the start of the game and then sit for an hour and a half, then get ready again. When you factor in the cold wet weather, a second warmup, and the cold wet ball I for one was surprised that Olsen was able to make it into the sixth inning on an evening when he didn't have great command or location. The entire team should be commended for gutting out a very tough win. EVEN JAMIE WALKER,BOB.

jamie walker has become the worst player on a sorry team.

do you think he'll throw another temper tantrum like an eight year old girl if you post this comment?

"the media is so mean to me!!!"

~JW

Is it my imagination or is George Sherrill the second coming of Don Stanhouse? He has put 21 people on base in 16 innings, has a 4.41 ERA, and he makes every game an adventure. Yet, as our closer, he has a win and 13 Saves. Old "Stan the Man Unusual" or "Two Pack" as Earl Weaver used to call him, used to do the same thing.

I was at the game last night, and the conditions were just awful. I am proud to say that I did stay throughout, but the conditions kept getting worse. I will be going again today and hopefully the weather is nicer. I was surprised too see alot of O's fans here.

Thank you, Roch, for criticizing the 3-man bench. Keep it up, and tell Trembley in person. It's silly -- even before McCrory arrived, there was always at least 1 pitcher who only got in the game when the team decided he needed the work. Moreover, an extra hitter could be used in game-changing situations, like pinch-hitting late in the game. The 13th pitcher is always used to mop up innings in a game that's already lost.
Luis Terrero would be the best choice to help the team. He's not on the 40-man roster, but by my count the O's have only 39 guys on the 40-man anyway. Moreover, they could put Chris Ray and Troy Patton on the 60-day disabled list to free up spots -- I'm surprised they haven't already.

Speaking of old school, I'd like to see the O's return to some old school style of relief pitching. Johnson, Cormier, Albers can all go 2 or more innings, every 3rd day. Sherrill can close, though he does make things exciting. Lose the 'specialists'. Why carry pitchers who can only pitch to 1 or 2 batters, and can't seem to do so successfully? Why carry a pitcher that you never put into any games? Bring up some extra postition players. Wishing we still had Chris Gomez around.

Still, 3 wins in a row. Life is good.

well roch, my internets went out last night due to the same wind / rain / tsunami that was going on (and is still going on here)... lost all connection in the 3rd inning...

Hey lefty Tell me what has Jamie walker done for this team that he gets this kind of loyalty. Is it because he drives a old pickup truck and the fans can relate to him, is it the fact that he buys the war veterans of this country tickets to attend games ( WHICH I MYSELF FIND TO BE VERY HONERABLE) but frankly i am at a loss how a guy who has contributed JACK SH--? gets or deserves a free pass that he has gotten from not only the fans but sportcasters in this town. Please help me out with this one Lefty.

Bob - I don't think it's obvious that Walker can't pitch anymore. He's a veteran with many years of accomplishments. He's earned the right to work his way through this slump. Granted, you can only stick with someone for so long. I'm willing to bet, however, that he will eventually peel off eight or 10 straight effective outings once he finds his groove. Cutting him loose now would be a mistake. Same deal with Scott Moore. We know he's a better player than what he is showing. Again, it's just a matter of time before he finds his stroke. I agree on calling up Cintron. Luis Terrero has earned a promotion but he's not an infielder.

The longer the Orioles wait on signing Markakis, the more expensive it gets. Now Hanley Ramirez signs a 6 yr $70M contract. While he plays SS and has speed, it is gonna cost $8M+ per year to get Markakis signed and unless he falters, the price will just continue to rise.
A special player like Weiters should be brought up this year. 21/22 is not too young for star prospects, especially non-pitchers.
Rich

Don't flatter yourself Custard. You're not the media, just another belly button.

I want to cut Walker so slack because he was overused last year but I hope he regains his slider soon. Good point on the behind the catcher camera, that was hard to get used to again last night.

I don't understand the negative posts! This team has blown myself & all the baseball pundits away. Keep it real...this is not a contender, but they are over .500 after 37 games. In addition, they are competitive in most, if not every game. Is everything perfect, no, but anyone with high expectations this year...or next...is crazy! This team hustles, the pitching is dramatically improved...and dare I say it...is fun to watch. After the past 10 years, we have a team that plays hard for 27 outs. They are not the most talented roster, but the future is brighter now than at any other time in the past 10 years.
And, any of the negative Jamie Walker posts are a joke. He's been hit, but he's also a trade chip. A contending team would love a situational lefty of their staff with his career numbers.
Cheer for your team and watch them grow into contenders. And keep the expectations realistic.

Right, Sherrill's secondary stats have NOT been good, so let's hope he can continue to be lucky for another two months and then some other team is dazzled enough by his saves total to be willing to part with a top prospect to get him. Walker will straighten himself out, but only if you keep running him out there.

Payton got stuck on stupid just as Huff did in Chicago. No excuse in either case. That line up situation could have gotten real interesting, real fast.

It's absurd to judge Moore on 70 ABs at AAA this year when he's shown at every level, including AAA, over several hundred ABs he gets on base and has power. He's been hurt and not in the lineup consistently even at Norfolk. If he's healthy he should be up and playing regularly 3-4 days a week spelling Mora and Millar, or even at SS on occasion. Given 400 ABs he would be just as productive as either of those players, and if brought along properly in a year or two could be much more productive.

Give Walker a break. He has 4 or 5 good outings and then a bad one (in a tsunami as Roch puts it) and some of you "fans" want to ride him for being ineffective.

I've said it before; come September he will have about a 3.50 ERA, and will have pitched in 75-85 games. I'll talk that out of my left-handed specialist any day of the week. You can archive this and quote me on his ERA anyways. Walker is a solid pitcher, and he will continue to be one.

Jim Johnson is player of the game, though. Best member of our bullpen right there.

jay payton reached a now low of selfish behavior last night. he must hit 10 Hrs at least to atone.

Starting to wonder if Walker is hiding an injury to be as awful as he has been this year. He needs to be on a short leash, just like Trax, as he is not getting the job done or helping this team at all. Hats off to Johnson he was fabulous in getting out of the Walker mess.

Sherrill is starting to concern me with the High ERA and he mixed command. In the end though he is getting results. I also believe part of that high ERA were runs he gave up in a non-save game a couple of weeks back.

Payton's tantrum last night really could have been a big problem -- he is lucky it did not cost us. Looked like a bad call on the replays, but not so bad that you get yourself tossed.

Adam Jones still needs to show some more patience at the plate.

Finally I will get to see the game today on FSN. We get most of the Royals games on TV, but the first three from this series were not covered -- just me luck. Probably will lose today also (not being negative towards the team -- just that is the kind of luck I will have...get to watch a game and ???).

I wish they would get rid of inter-league play and go back to the balanced schedule so I would get a chance in July/August to go to KC and see they Orioles play. This once a year to KC in either April or May stinks.

I know we needed windshield wipers on the camera last night, but how big was Jim Johnson in the 7th and 8th innings? Walker had already given up a run to make it 6-4, and 2 guys were on base with 0 outs. Johnson comes in and strikes out the first batter (can't remember who) on 3 straight pitches. Then he strikes out the next batter and gets a groundout to end the inning. He then pitched a 1-2-3 8th. He completely took the wind out of the Royals' sails, and did it with efficiency (2IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2K's, 18 pitches, 14 strikes) Buck Martinez said that Johnson reminded him of Jonathan Papelbon, and I'm inclined to agree. Considering the weather, that might have been the best pitching performance of the year. It's just hard to believe that this is the same guy as the one that got lit up the last 2 years. Considering the performances of Olson, Johnson and Cabrera this year, I'd have to say that Rick Kranitz might have been the best free agent signing of the offseason for ANY team. Our pitching staff is really starting to round into form, and the scary thing is that it could get better with Adam Loewen, Troy Patton, and Chris Ray all coming back healthy next year. It's great to see Tillman, Arrieta, and Erbe doing so well in the minors also. Those things, more than our ABOVE .500 record, gives me hope that we are indeed turning it around. Go O's!!!

w is for Why Not?

Deke I dont think Sherrill is the 2nd coming of Stanhouse, Maybe Don Aase. ooops, same thing or almost. Last night kinda reminded me of the Chicago game playing in the rain. And yes they did get another stick, Alex Cintron finally made it up to the Orioles. Hopefully Bob McCrory can get to pitch some. Maybe he will get back his closer role.

I was at the game last night and it was one of the most miserable baseball games weather-wise that I sat through due to the rain and heavy winds (and I've been to some of the cold games in Baltimore in early April as well over the years).

Right before the rain delay ended Olsen started warming up again and Dave was asking the grounds crew if the weather was going to hold. Dave thought it was premature to restart the game. The crew was busy getting the field ready and the few crew members he asked ignored him. Then it started raining again and Dave pulled Olsen back into the dugout - let's just say Dave wasn't happy with the crew.

Also, I sat next to an O's player's wife - not sure which player. The players were warming up before the game and all of a sudden this ball is thrown from the field to this woman sitting alone directly behind me. It landed by me and was obviously intended for her (a note written on the ball for her), so I passed it back to her. She said that was her husband. I wasn't able to see which player it was because he went into the dugout as soon as he threw the ball.

You people must have a different channel on your Tv then me . If you say that jamie walker has had good games then your MASN channel is different then mine. This bullcrap about a guy earning the right to stink up the place based on something he did in the past is a bunch of crap. Every day recently you have seen star players taken out of there rolls because they can't do the job. Today eric Gagne lost his closer's roll. You can't live in the past people It's not what you did for me yesterday it's what are you doing for me know. He's got to go and the sooner the better