I apologize for being repetitive, but I think my earlier posting wasn't seen by many since Roch started a new thread soon afterward ... but I was interested in some thoughts:

I know this is a rebuilding team with young players learning on the big-league level, but does anyone out there think there a roster spot on the Orioles available for Steve Finley?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3415233

I wouldn’t play him regularly ahead of Scott, Jones or Markakis — barring injury or an occasional day off — but I think he’d be a great influence and tutor for them. He'd also be a serviceable hitter off the bench.

I know and would hope Barry Bonds is off the table, but I think Finley would have some value to this team.

Besides, maybe it would serve as a karma-fixer for the Glenn Davis trade. Bring him back home.

Roch,

Typo correction: "Sebastien Boucher was hit by an erran[t] throw."

Not "errand"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Pardon the typo. - Roch

Roch,

I think the word is errant not errand

-----------------------------------------------------------------------Pardon the typo. - Roch

Regarding Sebastien Boucher. Thats 'errant' not 'errand' unless it was a 'message pitch'.
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Pardon the typo. - Roch

yuck i hate red sox nation. c'mon b'morians, get out there and drown out those drunken fools. (and if you have to fight them to get them out of the ballpark ... so be it)

that last part was a joke ; )

L is for let em' rip.

Word on if Trachsel makes another start? Was that sarcasm or complete honesty?

I could totally see him being cut...but I also could see us giving him a few more under better conditions to straighten it out.

Its a tough call. I'd cut him, but I am not in the front office.

I would be happy if we drafted Matusz because he looks close to being major league ready and you can never have too many good arms. The Orioles may be the team with the most good, young lefthanded pitchers. They could start their own Sinister society.

If Jordan elects to take the best available, it would probably be Matsuz. He good, but we have some pretty glaring holes in the infield.

Gordon Beckham will still be there, and he's closer to the bigs as a SS. That wouldn't be a hole is Angelos had let the scouting department take Chris Nelson over Townsend in 2005 or was it 2004. Townsend has already had tommy john surgery in the Rays system and is getting pounded at AA, while Nelson is just about to pop into the majors. Beckham would be my choice based on need, even though he's probably a reach at 4.

Another guy that would fill a hole is Justin Smoak. But drafting him would squash any rumors of Tex coming here in the offseason, and really there isn't going to be much else to talk about, except "Where is George Sherrill going to be traded to?"

Hedy Lamarr -- No, that's HEADLEY Lamarr.

Count De Money -- No! Count DE MONET! DE MONET!

RIP Harvey Korman.

I hope we take Smoak. Bandwagon riders are everyones problem not just Bmore.

Ben W, I didn't see your request until now. I heard the story about fantasy baseball on a TV news broadcast... I was stunned, but not surprised. MLB is run by Selig afterall....

Ray, I wasn't writing off Rowell. I wasn't saying Jordan didn't do well last year, but with TOP picks in the first round, it may turn out he is 1 for 3. I was just asking the question & seeing what others here had heard. I was curious if anyone had heard what I had about him & Snyder.

I bet alot of the guys here never heard of Korman Roch. Tim Conway was better known, but I bet a few would say who on him too! Korman was hilarious.
Korman was in a few movies too, best known, Blazing Saddles & I think Young Frankenstein. He had a few scenes that made you cry you laughed so hard. Their type of humor, sad to say, is gone.
If Mel Brooks, a GENIUS by the way, tried to make that movie today, there would be protests by various PC groups, talk shows would go nuts, etc. Look at the movie Airplane, the original one, & watch how many scenes in that one could never be done now.... Like the two brothers talking jive with subtitles & the little old woman who offers to "translate", because, as she says to the stewardess (flight attendant now), she speaks jive... Can't you just see the gay rights groups or the child protective groups going nuts when Peter Graves , the pilot, invites little Timmy into the cock pit & starts asking him if he has ever see a grown man naked, or been in a Turkish prison, or if he liked gladiator movies.... my favorite was the automatic pilot scene though.... that stuff would make the PCs go crazy today.

IF Brian Matusz falls to #4, why not take him? That frees up another young P to possibly trade for a young hitter, maybe get a AA or AAA hitter who could help them next year? I would not take a lesser prospect just to fill a need in the position spots. That could be done via trade of the surplus of pitchers.

Forget the invasion of the Yawn by the Suxs & their fans this weekend, think of what will become of Canton & particularly the Bay Cafe on Sunday after the game! The Suxs remain in town to play Monday, which usually doesn't happen on a weekend series. The Bay Cafe will be full of drunken Sux fans, possibly some Suxs themselves looking for Betties.... oh the humanity....

Errand throw? Must have been a pickup game.
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Pardon the typo. - Roch

I wonder how many O's fans will be kicked out of the sox series for cheering too loud.

Roch, you wrote:

"He was supposed to take the night off, but left fielder Sebastien Boucher was hit by an errand throw."

Was the throw going to get gas, or was it picking up groceries?

Also, was Boucher on the basepaths or in the field when he was hit? If a left fielder was hit hard enough to have to leave the game by an errant throw while in the field, there has to be more of a story there. Even Kieth Reed's lobs didn't miss by that much.

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Man, I can't sneak a typo past anyone. It's been corrected. - Roch

I go one step further and predict that Michael Jordan never wins another NBA title, with any coach. You heard that first here.

Brian,
I have not heard the term 'Betties' since college. Did you go to Maryland?

As for the Finley idea, NO WAY! I'm sure he is a nice guy but I would rather watch 20 year olds struggle than fill a spot with a guy who is about to get his AARP card.

I am going to skip out of work early to run some 'errants'

::kicks dead horse one more time::

Roch-
How much do you enjoy being told about your typo 300 times?

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5 more and I think we had a world blogging record. But I do appreciate that so many people are reading it so closely. I need to be more careful. I'll blame waking up at 6:30 a.m. and pouring cereal for a teenager. - Roch

Hey Brian,

"Like the two brothers talking jive with subtitles & the little old woman who offers to "translate", because,"

If I recall, that was Barbra Billingsley (sp?), June Cleaver making it that much more sweet!!

Dang Roch,
Gotta love the spelling police on the internet, here and everywhere else.......

Jeeze, cut the brother some slack!

Roch does such a wonderful job that even the tiniest of mistake is being treated like a blunder.

Roch - seek solace in the fact that they're at least paying close attention to what you're saying.

"Pardon the typo"?

I say subpoena him, make him testify, and send him to the slammer.

Roch, Roch, Roch. As someone who reads your blog religiously, even on Sundays, I must offer a correction, even though it pains me immensely. After doing some research I found out that the pigeon DID NOT land in front of Peter Schmuck but in front of Stan The Fan. Though not as funny as it landing in front Peter, I feel accuracy in reporting must be served. Your jumping to the conclusion that it was Peter was obviously a lame attempt to get some cheap laughs at the expense of poor Peter. I hope you don't jump to conclusions too often in your daily endeavors. It could be quite counterproductive. I would expect more from a Crack The Sky enthusiast like yourself.
I find myself "Disillusioned in Rochville."
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It actually landed between them, but Schmuck seemed to be closer, though he was leaning far in the opposite direction to avoid ending up in a Hitchcock film. I also believe Stan jumped out of his chair and ran for cover. It wasn't pretty. - Roch

How long are the Orioles going to carry three light hitting, but defensively adequate shortstops.

This offensively challenged club could use another pinch hitter, besides Payton, on the bench.

Oh, there is a National Spelling Bee contest going on in Washington D.C. and that's what the fuss is about.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------I hinted at that issue when I asked Dave Trembley earlier in the week if there was still a "need" for Luis Hernandez on this team. I phrased it as carefully as I could. And that's when he said something about Luis being valuable as a pinch-runner, switch-hitter, extra role player, etc. Luis is out of options, which limits the Orioles' options. - Roch

Brian,

The little old lady who could speak jive was the same actress who played Mrs. Cleaver on "Leave It To Beaver". That made it even more funny. "Cut me some slack, Jack!"

The thing I will remember about Harvey Korman is when he tried so hard to stop from laughing during scenes with Carol Burnett and especially Tim Conway. He was a very good comedic actor.

While I think we need to go get a position player (Tim Beckham, Pedro Alvarez, and Justin Smoak come to mind), I think we will stick to Andy's plan and draft Brian Matusz. You can never have enough good pitching (especially lefthanded), with NY, BOS and TB in our division.

Since I don't know squadoosh about baseball, I love it when you bring up the off topic stuff, Roch.

I was in high school back in Daytona when The Carol Burnett Show was on and I suspect that, at the time, I thought the humor was beneath me. And since my real last name is "Conway" (not "boy"), it kind of ticked me off to be called "Tim" all the time. But I did a You Tube screening as you suggested and was quite entertained. I docked myself an hours pay.

Brian, I believe the old lady translator in "Airplane" was actually June Cleaver, the Beav's mom.

Yankees, then Red Sox all in the same week. I picked a bad time to give up amphetamines.

David Fisher.... I went to JMU.... Baseball Betties is an old term I know....

You might like this one too.... Two baseball players are on a road trip, first one asks second, "do you ever talk to your wife during sex?" Second one replies..."only on the phone..."

Bud, T-Mac, right you are!! It was June Cleaver... BUT she had a much better line on Leave It To Beaver years before....
Leave It To Beaver scene , in the kitchen, June & Ward talking over coffee in the AM... this line was used alot too, I wonder if they ever cracked up... "Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night..."

I loved those Korman moments too T Mac...You could just tell those guys were having alot of fun. I read once that Tim Conway loved to go off script & improvise to catch the others off guard to bust them up laughing.

I just finished looking at the orioles draft selections dating back to 1993. If you want to make yourself sick just click on the site and wonder how could one team be so wrong so many times. WHAT A NIGHTMARE.If anybody wants to know why the orioles have floundered around the past 10 years then you surely have your answer if you review your list. I am hoping they get it right again next week because this club can't afford to make any more mistakes.

"Doctor, what is your impression of Mr. Striker?"
Doctor: "I'm sorry, I don't do impressions."

Another great bit in that movie is the scene where the Arab terroists carrying machine guns breeze through airport security while the little ol' lady gets dragged down and mugged. Things haven't change much with airport security. In light of 9/11, that bit was very prescient by the Zucker brothers.

The joke about being hard on the Beaver has been around for years, but did it ever really happen in the TV show?

Oh man, I wish I could be part of the blogging record if I didn't catch the typo earlier.

Anyway, if Matusz falls to number 4, I would take him, if he is compared to the elite left-handers in this game, such as Bedard and such. I've read his stats, and talked about him in the previous blog. I think he would be a wonderful addition to the rotation, and would help us a lot with the command issues our pitchers sometimes have. He also would be major league-ready.

Now that the draft is on TV, I am actually excited to see who we pick. I am interested to see if we get a pitcher or a position player.

Roch,

Tomorrow is the deadline to submit uniform changes to MLB. Any chance this is the year the process gets started to put Baltimore back on the road jerseys?

Korman was very funny. He was better then a lot of actors who now do comedy , making millions. And he never had to curse. The O's need that pitcher like Roch needs a hair transplant. We need the best slugging infielder in the draft, college or HS.

Brian,
Way back in in 1989 we started calling all girls Betties after we wore out the Veronica term We went through several names before settling on using Betties. We actually took a fraternity road trip to JMU in 1991 and its possible the term was transferred at that time. Go figure.

Hey, if Daniel Cabrera is keeping his walk rate so low this year, why not put Baltimore back on the road jerseys too?

It'll be another surprise for us, just like Daniel has been. This year is a new year, so to speak. Why not add the road jersey changes to that?

I vote for it as well. Go old-school!

Easy... I can recall many times when Mrs Cleaver uttered that line. Of course I was a little kid watching reruns & my mind was not on such things yet....

How many of you would pick going to see the premiere of Sex Out of Pity vs the Red Sux-O's game? Just wondering....

To this day, I still can't believe they got away with that scene with the inflatable auto pilot in Airplane. When the scene morphed to the "pilot" smoking a cigarette afterward, I almost died laughing.