Dear Roch,

I will pay you $1000 and buy your drinks every Friday and Saturday night if you work your magic and tell Trembley to never EVER let Ramon Hernandez touch a bat or step on the field!!! I finally got my Dad out to the park and he had to witness the most disgusting game ever. I'm not really one to forgive, but I'll forgive Mora for those errors simply because the plays he's made in the past make up for it. Ramon, however, leaving the bases loaded twice and not getting 1 single run, just blows my mind. And then to top that off, dropping a routine pop up. If anyone wants to debate that it was not an easy catch I will hunt you down. Ugh.

Okay, I am done ranting. I will say this though, I love the O's, more than anything else (besides my friends and family and dogs hehe) but tonight was not a good night. Major props to the Huffster. That was a nice little boost, too bad it was the only one.

Thank you... I am done!

Love, Jennifer

PS. Could someone please tell Nick to do something.. and soon? He's slowly killing me with each strikeout. I don't think I can last much longer.

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Now THERE'S an offer! Do I get to pick the bar? - Roch

Lauderdale is a bad place for spring training. It is too far from other clubs and just makes for long bus rides. You need a more centrally located site but instead ownership seems more interested in things other than baseball. This fiasco has been going on for....10 yrs or more?

Move to Vero Beach, move to AZ where you have 10 or so teams within an hour or less. Just start running the team with the intent to win.

Rich

Ramon Hernandez's line for the game:

0 for 5
1BB
1K
5 left on base
6 stolen bases allowed
1 error
2 chokes when a single or a walk would have won the game

For the season:
.215 average
10 runs
4 HR
20 RBI
0 SB
6 errors
41 stolen bases permitted
0% hustle

To the poster who suggested we "Jay Gibbons" him... I'm all for it! I'd rather see Quiroz behind the plate any day of the week. Or maybe Steve Trachsel should catch. We know his schedule is wide open these days.

What is the deal with the roster?

3 shortstops who can't hit, no options to sub at first and third, and a pitcher who can't be trusted to work out of the bullpen after failing as a starter.

I'm all for trying to win games but let's mix in some more youth.

Is Moore salvageable after being buried earlier this year?
Can Salazar play first base?
Who plays at 2nd after Roberts is traded? Torres, Hernandez or a player to be named later.

Patterson for Payton and some ash bats.

Ramon continues to struggle. Not sure what his issue is, but the season is now a third of the way over and I'm very surprised at how much he is still struggling in virtually every facet of the game. He appears to be lost.

I really want to see more from Adam Jones. I'm not giving up on him by any means, but there does seem to be a lack of confidence and plate discipline, but then again, the whole team suffers from that. I wonder what kind of hitter we should expect him to become? I hope it's better than Mike Camerson (a career .250 hitter) because that's the comparison I've seen a few times. Ramon Hernandez....I can't even watch him bat anymore.

The Orioles played to a 2-2 tie through twelve innings. While it's easy to concentrate on the 13th inning or focus on a single play, why not look at the game as a whole.

The team had only eight hits in 48 at bats and only scored two runs in twelve innings. How many times are you going to win with those numbers? And until the 13th, the team did still have a chance to win. Yes mistakes were made, but they were made by the same players who got them to the 13th.

Rebuilding requires patience, not an expectation of perfection. If you are a fan of the game, Friday night was awesome, until the 13th. It amazes me how many of you jump at the first chance to be critical instead of apprecitating what we have and, hopefully, what we are building.

As the great poet Axl Rose wrote, all we need is just a little patience.

tonight's game...i will be concise as possible:
millar...come on dude. you're already slow, but no hustle? terrible, and Roch, just cause you like the guy, no need to list his "injuries". he SLOWED UP; if you can't play b/c of injury, sit your a$$ down.
ramon...uh, was it "just baseball" when you dropped that easy pop-up? wieters can't get here soon enough.

lastly, mora...man, you're getting all steve sax-y on us. seriously, folks, how many times have you seen his throws at millar's feet? countless, and i've been posting about it since mid-april. he looks nervous, and that makes me nervous...those were the main culprits tonight. bynum's error sucked too, but i can't hate on him b/c i knew we were gonna lose that game after Mora's screwup, plus cintron will be in today. one last thing...hey Teenage Mutant, i guess you blame the loss on payton b/c he struck out in the 13th?...sorry, had to do it.

Look another great pitching performance wasted. Ramon is contributing nothing to this team right now, he can't throw out runners anymore which he use to do at a 40% clip.I really thought by know that adam jones would really start kicking it in but he looks like he is going backwards. I think they put the proverable 5 tool jink on him,. I rarely see him drive the ball in the power alleys and to have only 2 homers and 16 rbi's at this pointis really sad.It is really ashame that the young pitchers on this team have done there jobs and the old washed up veterans like mora , ramon, Etc Etc have really let this team down.The sad thing is they don't have any options to correct the situation. I have never seen so many runners stranded on base. IT"S REALLY SAD

I can't bear the thought of watching Ramon Hernandez play one more game for our team...geez, is he really signed next year too!?! Please someone take him...I'll pay his salary!

Why has no one been writing about the inept play of Ramon Hernandez. I listen on TV to the game and the praise given him I cannot see.

Cabreara throws one near the dirt and they call it a widl pitch in fact it was a passed ball(error to catcher). Simply stated Ramon did not use his glove correct to stop. Guthrie does the same but Romon should ave blocked with his body.He cannot trow out runners. He cannot hit (.212 avg) oh i forgot he has 4 HRs. Woopdi do.He is great at grounding into dps.
What does Ramon do to reap the praise. He is a dead spot in th line up. Oh last night he drops a foul pop to give the batter another chance.

When will he learn to go talk to the pitcher to enourage or to be forceful at the right times.

Waiting for Weiters is not an option. He is hurting this team.

This team needs a bat off the bench, be it Luis Terrero or someone else. Luis Hernandez is just deadwood on this roster right now. Also, we're now through one-third of the season , and I'm not seeing any progress in Adam Jones's development as a hitter. How long are they going to keep Terry Crowley around as hitting coach? I'm not saying he has a lot to work with, but sometimes you just need a fresh voice and point of view. The Crow has been associated with losing for the last 10 years. Give someone else a chance.

I think the O's should just resolve the Trachsel and Hernandez issue ASAP. The O's need all the help instead of carrying a pitcher who can't pitch out of the pen, and a utility infielder whose role is relegated to pinch runner.

If the best pitcher from AAA is a reliever then Albers looks the logical candidate to replace Trachsel .

Getting a hitter like Salazar gives Tremblay more viable options instead of just having 1 hitter [either Payton or Scott] and 2 pinch runners in reserve.

How about releasing Trachsel and calling up Salazar or Terrero? Then you wouldn't have the extra left handed bat and Nick's stick is still pretty sick, too. It's tough to shuffle a weak linee up with no one on the bench.

With an offense like that and next to nothing on the farm for power and they're leaning toward picking a pitcher in the draft... yeah, sounds about right.

Tough one , we need to do everything right to beat the Bosox , we just didn't do it tonight , I really feel we need to get another infusion of young blood on this roster..................I hope Andy is planning his next move or moves , this team needs a shot of energy.............Is it my imagination or are we just standing at the plate looking for one pitch and if we don't get it , we don't hit..............we had a favorable strike zone and yet looked very bad all night at the plate , maybe my cynicism of Peter the Great is true , maybe he really does like what Crowley is doing ?

I dont understand why O's dont want to test Traschel for bullpen duty ? Trax already shown he cannot pitch as starter , let alone eat up innings .
Futhermore , Trax's salary is $ 1.5 million for this year only , so why not eat rest of his contract?

This is not like Gibbons with his $ 12 million buyout.

For all the negatives, it still took the defending World Champions 13 innings to dispatch the Orioles, further proving that Dave Trembley's boys aren't going to roll over for anybody.

And here's a positive: More outstanding pitching, both Daniel Cabrera and the relievers. Now, if the O's could only start hitting on a consistent basis.

It's must to be frustrating to be Steve Trachsel these days. Here's a guy who relies on command, rather than dominating stuff, to get out batters, so getting his start every fifth day is crucial if he's going to stay sharp.

Of late, however, the Orioles have been "hiding" him by holding him out of the rotation two weeks at a time. From the team's point of view that's understandable, given how much he'd struggled early on in the season. Regardless, they've done Steve no favor for the reason I've stated.

Does he have anything left in the tank? His last outing would indicate that he doesn't, but one may wonder how many other starting pitchers--including some front end of rotation types, at that--would also struggle if they had to sit for two weeks and then face a very potent Rays lineup.

I'm not trying to make an excuse for Trachsel here, just saying that his fifteen day layoff should be factored into any discussion about his last performance.

Ugly game. Good news is that the pitching was once again outstanding.

How come Jim Johnson doesn't pitch more than an inning? Also, I thought they should of stretched Albers out longer since I doubt he will be available today. Not that it was Bradfords fault, but I thought just letting Albers go the rest of the way would save the bullpen if the game went 15 or more.

hey roc late night, you usually post all the emails by now.

Roch: I have a question regarding ruling by the official scorer last night and hope that either you or a reader can explain it to me.

In the top of the seventh with David Ortiz at the plate, Jacoby Ellsbury went from second to third on a pitch and the ruling was a stolen base.

What I find puzzling about the ruling is this: There was no attempt by Ramon Hernandez to throw out the runner, nor could there have been one, because the Ortiz shift was on, so Melvin Mora was playing almost as close to second base as he was to third.

My thought is that the correct ruling clearly should be defensive indifference instead of a stolen base, because had the Orioles wanted to guard against the steal, they would have kept Mora close to the bag at third despite the shift by the middle infielders.

Any clarification on this would be appreciated.

Millar did pull up short on that grounder in the 12th. For crying out loud, he'd have been safe! Had he been safe, the flyball that later ended the inning would have scored THE WINNING RUN.

In other words, had he run out a groundball, the O's would be above .500 right now. He didn't; they aren't. How much more basic can it get than that?

Who fails to run out a grounder in extra innings against the Red Sox? Is Millar still auditioning for Cowboy Up commercials? And why didn't Zrebiec mention this in his game story?

Granted, Millar's a gamer most of the time, but -- come on, Kevin. Bad, bad example for the rest of the team.

Awful, just awful.

I'd like to see Millar and Ramon get 4 months of rest, starting today. All of these great pitching performances wasted, day after day. It is hard to believe that a team can be this pathetic at hitting. Where is the plate discipline? Beckett walks the bases loaded and Adam swings at the first pitch he sees? The "Crow" is "PRICELESS".

You want to send a message to this club and teach these youngsters a lesson? Cut Millar for not running out that ground ball last night. That lack of hustle could of cost us the game but worse than that the young guys see it from a veteran (like they used to see it from Tejada) and it could be contagious. Millar isn't a good enough player to get exemptions and there is no room on this team for over the hill guys who aren't going to set the right example.

I need my therapy, too, so here goes.

Good thing Ramon came into this season in great shape - can you all imagine how bad would he be if he hadn't? However, most of the stolen bases were not his fault, the runners were not held on at all and were at the base by the time he was throwing. Still, he's slow to get out of his croutch (sp?) and release, and his throws are horrible.

Another thing to question is his relationship with Cabrera. When Daniel got frustrated and called Ramon out to the mound right after he was just there, I thought I sensed a lot of tension between Daniel and Ramon.

On Mora's throwing error, Millar didn't even try to give up the bag. We were all taught, even in little league, to give up the bag - you have to catch that ball, which was stoppable and not even towards the runner. But the way it was going, the runner would have stolen 2nd anyway.

Anyway, this loss was more about failures on offense, and all the blown chances. This roster is ridiculous, its not a ML roster right now, and something has to be done. Send down Cintron or Bynum if you refuse to send down Herndandez. We need help, anyone! And can we have just one hitter get hot, NOW!

I know it was a long game but let us not forget Crisp getting to second on the pass ball. Ramon is to effort as Jim Johnson is to ineffective.

Hernandez is awful. I think Quiroz is the better option at this point. You really cannot get much worse. Trembley has to hold players accountable, if Hernandez isnt getting it done bench him.

As far as Millar not being healthy enough to run out ground balls, thats a lame excuse. If he's not healthy enough to give 100%, get him off of it. We can find another .240 hitter elsewhere.

I'm going to reiterate... There are many factors that go into winning and losing a game, but some moments are more key than others. When Millar decided NOT TO RUN OUT his grounder to short in the 12th, his laziness handed the game to the Red Sox. None of this other stuff -- the errors, the screwups by Ramon -- would have mattered. They'd have won.

If I'm not mistaken, it was Ramon who hit the inning-ending flyball to left in the 12th. Had Millar bothered to run to first, that would have been the second out, the sac fly would have scored a run, and the O's would have won.

A simple thing like HUSTLE makes all the difference. Millar chose not to hustle, and it handed the game to the Red Sox.

I also agree with the previous poster. It's nice of you, Roch, to supply some plausible excuses (injuries) for Kevin, but he made it all the way down to within three feet of the base, then stopped. Lame, lazy and unprofessional.

If you're going to lose, make 'em beat you. Don't hand it over because you just can't be bothered.

Steve,

Couldn't agree more. How many on this site would have said that we would be near .500 on May 31....very few. We have won a few we shouldn't have (Tuesday night), and we have lost a few we shouldn't have (last night). Just enjoy the fact that this team with all of it's warts are still near .500.

Am I the only one who gets irked by Kevin Millar's lay downs against his Red Sox? He is constantly laughing and joking with his former teammates (way beyond his normal chatter), he has missed many game winners (ala Hernandez), he doesn't seem to hussle or to make even routine plays. Maybe he'll throw out another ball for them. Yes, he is humorous -- but I'm not laughing at failures to cover first base or failures to run out grounders. It's time to say goodbye to Kevin and Hernandez . The young guys do not need to see this behavior and then chuckle at a joke about it.

amazing how know nothing fans always assume there is a Lou Gehrig playing behind every Wally Pipp. If baseball GMs only knew how easy fixing a bad team. Just cut all the starters and start all the backups. Obviously that is why they are backups. Because they are better than the starters. Only an idiot shouts "off with their heads" before you have another head to put in his place.

Roch,

Any feel for who might start Tuesday? I would have thought Albers before he went 3 innings last night. Penn is not an option because of the shoulder issue. Any chance Jim Johnson gets it? I know he is the only consistent strike out option in the bullpen but hasn't he earned the chance?

On the plus side: Cabreara threw a couple of dazzling changeups to Ortiz, and continues his remarkable transformation.

Also, love the way these Orioles battled the vastly superior Red Sox.

Im starting to think we need to do something with our hitting coach Terry Crowley, he is simply not getting the job done

As angry as that game made me I have to be honest with myself as to the reality we are facing this year. We are not a good team overall. Our pitching is improving greatly and shows signs of maturity. Our hitting is AAAA and on some nights worse than that. We are not a fully assembled team but a rebuilding team that is expecting alot from a few players who are not very good. Ramon is terrible but he is what we have to deal with. I implore everyone to keep up the passion but look for the bright spots that the young guys are showing. Better days will come and we were not supposed to be having it this good yet.

I was at the game--and witnessed one of the ugliest innings I have ever seen. It wasn't even professional--all the uncontested steals. It would've been a bad little league inning. Mora, as well as Hernandez, was appallingly bad, and should be jettisoned whenever it's feasible. If only Scott Moore were hitting--

Please stop making excuses for Millar. This is 2 games in a row where is lack of hustle cost us the game. He's suppose to be a veteran...he needs to act like it. No wonder some many players, especially the young ones, lack hustle. We need more hustle shown like from the former Oriole Eric Byrnes. If Millar is hurt then he needs to "Cowboy Up" and ask to sit a game or 2. His current play is costing us games!

Not defending Millar, but it looked like he didn't think a throw was coming. Regardless, I agree with everyone else, that's no excuse not to run that out.....especially in such a tight game! A veteran of that caliber should know better. I'm starting to think he and Ramon trained together in the off season at Camp Lazy A$$. As much as I like Millar, both he and Ramon need to go.

Can we really be surprised that the lineup is abysmal?

-Aubrey Huff: not a cleanup man
-Kevin Millar: slower than my grandmother and can't hit much besides a few rare HR's
-Ramon Hernandez: i'll take quiroz any day of the week over this bum
-Adam Jones: lacks any knowledge of the strike zone
-The Law Firm of Hernandez, Cintron and Bynum: all utility or AAA players at best
-Brian Roberts: looks like someone is getting older
-Melvin Mora: losing "it"

yes ramon hernandez is lousy. yes we need a real full time shortstop and need a 3rd baseman who can throw the ball and yes we need to find a younger 1st baseman who has some power and yes we're in last place and yes adam jones still has along way to go and yes nick m. is slumping, nd yes brian roberts gets picked off more times than he steals a base but we are only one game under 500 the pitching is much improved, the team has some character and grit and everyone thought we'd be 12 games under 500 at this time. lighten up people

it's time to free ourselves from the ramon hernandez and kevin millar era

It's funny to see all the McPhail koolaid drinkers saying how great he is then complain about how poorly the roster and bench is constructed.Why is hw so reluctant to waive LH and bring Salazar up. Jones is just awful also. 16 RIB's so far is Mark Belanger territory,he'll never be a clutch hitter.Bottom line is McPhail doesn't really care about winning this year.Millar could be in a wheelchair and still not be given a day off. Bynum has stunk also and I'd rather see Cintron in there.

No one is getting key hits for the O's except maybe Huff or Roberts now and then and Jay Payton once. Although Ramon, Mora and Millar are easy to single out last night, Markakis also had a chance to drive in a run and didn't. We're not a good hitting team, but if the veterans don't do it, it's not going to get done.

By the way, it's Trembley, not Tremblay. Hard to understand why we can't peoples' names properly on here. It's like those who spell Cal's name Ripkin. Gary Thorne may not know how to pronounce it, but it's pretty easy to spell it.

Salazar will be here in a few days and he plays a mean first base.

Hernandez has definitely looked awful both at the plate and on the field, and I wouldn't mind seeing Quiroz get some more playing time. But what are the O's and MacPhail supposed to do? Release him?

Hernandez has been pretty bad, but I'd rather have him on the team than someone like Ben Davis. It sure would help if Hernandez started playing better, but the O's seemingly have the answer at Frederick with Wieters at some point in the near future. Be patient.

Roch:

Can you tell me why we are not seeing the expected moves we all know will be made?

Get rid of Traschel. Just get Luis through waivers. Call up Salazar or Terrero or whoever is hitting well. Replace Traschel with Albers.

And, for the sake of our offense, shuffle the batting order. It has gotten too stale. What happened to the 27 outs approach? Or, actually, more than 27 outs? I mean, you're tied 2-2, find a way to win! Remember the article about Torre and Ethier?

Ethier said he wanted a HR or double because that was the way to be good. But, no, Torre said the way is to win a game. That's all what counts. To win. Not to get 5 HRs or get a record setting game. But to simply win, because that's all what matters at the end of the day. So, make the moves and win, Andy MacPhail.

I should somehow also take some blame for last nights loss. I didn't do it intentionally, but I moved from my chair to the couch when things suddenly fell apart in the 13th. I relocated after Ramon dropped that foul pop from Big Papi so I didn't start the collapse.
For all the superstitious baseball fans, this is just one thing you don't do in the late innings of a tense, tie ball game.
I don't get MASN, so when it's on WJZ I watch. Not getting to watch many O's games because of this, I didn't stick to that basic baseball fan rule.

You got to love the Boston Celtics. 2 white guys 13 blacks. Now that's team chemistry!

Hey John, I'm still drinking the MacPhail kool aid and maybe you should too. Not exactly like we have a SS, 3B or 1B tearing up the minors (except for Salazar). MacPhail is letting the scrub vets (Millar, Mora, Hernandez) play and garner any trade value they possibly can. After last night, that might not get us squat but I can easily see Millar getting traded before the 7/31 deadline and maybe we can convince the Phillies to take Mora since he has that stupid no-trade clause (great negotiating on that one Peter).

Hernandez will be playing in the elite softball league next year. No stealing allowed in those leagues.

Bynum scares me at short. I'd like to see Luis get his defensive mojo back and take back the position. He can't hit, but he's not that much worse at the plate than Bynum. We have to accept our SS will be among the worst in baseball this year, so at least it would be something positive if they played stellar defense. Of course, he wasn't doing that when he had the chance.

If you're calling for Terrero or Salazar, I'd rather see Reimold or Montanez. They both have nice numbers at Bowie, are younger, and might be parts of the future of this team. I still think a Reimold/Scott platoon in LF would be quite nice.

What the hell does that mean, Hoot Evers?

Sheets: I would like to see Reimold or Montanez but they're not exactly ready for the big leagues. I venture that MacPhail is taking them slowly, and not rushing them at all. It's all of the big changes under the MacPhail regime.

It wasn't an ugly game, it was an ugly inning. The Red Sox won because the Orioles misfired, not because they played like World Champs.

The chanting Red Sox fans sounded especially obnoxious last night. I'd like to keep them quiet the next three nights.

I've said it before. Mora is a loser. Now I'll say Millar and R Hernandez are losers, too. This is why the O's have been so bad the past 10 years. Too many losers and not enough winners. Winners don't have game-costing lapses in focus or effort like Millar did last night, or Mora has done on an occasional but consistent basis. Ramon has several lapses each game. He needs to be caned.

hey hoot ever. take that circus on the road. go o's!