Hopefully some rest will be enough for Albers...I would hate to see another pitcher with a SLAP injury.

Poor Matt! For Orioles players the 15 day DL stint never lasts just 15 days. Hopefully it's just a muscle strain and not any sort of tear!

What's happened with Rocky Cherry?

Roch, who's Fernando Cabrera? Please give us a little history on the newest Oriole.

I have a bad feeling that F-Cab is going to have a problem finding the plate. I wonder if today is a make or break start for Liz. They could always replace him with Loewen next week. The more I think about Loewen in relief the less sense it makes. He's a starter.Wouldn't mind seeing Liz moved to the pen if this did happen so he can keep working with Kranny.

Excellent title, you made me recall the 70's, early 80's Red Sux team description .....25 guys, 25 cabs.

Anyone getting the feeling the wheels are starting to come off? Cabrera and Loewen and eventually Bierd will support the pen but the starting pitching is looking awful.

The O's are going to have some hard thinking to do if Liz bombs today. They need someone to step up and stabilize the 3rd starter spot.

F-Cab looks like a good call up; hope he can keep it going the way he pitched for the Tides.

Ben W--A couple of blogs ago your post included comments about how Adam Jones needs a better approach at the plate so he can become "a polished hitter like Nick Markakis." While Jones is still raw as a hitter (no surprise as young as he is), I disagree about Markakis: Nick is NOT a polished hitter, which is the one thing separating him from true greatness.

Lest I be misunderstoond, I'm a big Markakis fan and want to see him be an Orioles for life. Yet that said, right now he's getting by more on natural talent than a consistently good approach at the plate. Truly polished hitters don't have 66 strikeouts at this point in the season (same number as Jones, six behind Richie Sexon and 16 behind AL whiff leader Jack Cust).

If Markakis can ever get the Ks down to a managable level, there's no reason to think he could hit .320 ever year and become one of baseball's elite players. Many of his strikeouts are from called third strikes, which suggests he's either getting fooled a lot or simply isn't protecting the plate well enough (with his bat control, he should be about to waste some good pitches by flicking them foul).

But Nick's still young (doesn't turn 25 until after the season), so he still has time to climb to the next plateau. I think he's got a great chance to reach it. Right now he's a very good hitter, but he may yet develop into a great one.

Forget Payton, I wanna see Trembley sport the Flat Breezy!!

Another great post:

"Amber Theoharis here. I think Luke Scott is D-R-E-A-M-Y. Also, I knew Roch had a physical today because I saw him practicing turning his head and coughing."

Two quick questions...Hayden Penn...ever going to be called up?
A couple of years ago the Orioles held a rule 5 draftee on the roster for the whole year...I think a shortstop...I believe Hargrove was the manager...what happened to this guy?

What did I tell you? Fernando Cabrera is called up, and then we'll have Fahey too. Let's see if Cabrera can keep up his 0.69 in the majors. We need another main dude besides JJ and Sherrill.

It was painful to see two starters knocked out but at least our spot starters performed pretty well. If Bukvich hadn't gave up that HR, then game might have been closer. Same with Cormier, I think, he gave up the HR too.

Why does the team give up HRs, but never hit them as much? I thought Kevin Millar said they had 5 or 6 guys who could hit 20 or more HRs?

Let's see it, Kevin! Take the series today with a high-powered long ball offense.

Too bad for Albers, hopefully he'll bounce back. I am eager to see how F-Cab does vs. MLB hitters though.

Another 3 inning stint for an Oriole starter is on its way...I know we need to be patient, but it's like walking into a fight with one arm tied behind your back.

Rocky CHerry has a 5.00+ ERA in AAA ball... I would not promote hiim.

"o" for O the injuries

Adam Jones is actually pathetic, if we want to be candid about it. Misses the high heater, misses every single slider. He's great with the knee-high fastball in the middle of the plate -- the one half the people on this blog could foul off. Yeah, he's young, and yes, he could develop but at the moment, watching him is usually painful. Markakis is a good hitter with no protection behind him. Getting by on talent is called greatness. And he's an excellent judge of the strike zone. No Orioles home runs? Graphic on TV last night showed otherwise.

"25 players, 2 cabs"
Sounds like a bunch of clowns to me.

Man, the O's starting pitching is really thin. Even Guthrie, who I'd take five of in my rotation, is going through a bit of a rough period. With Albers hurt, Bierd and Loewen can't get here soon enough. The O's are basically playing one pitcher short as long as Walker is on the roster.

I agree Jones looks lost at the plate. Lately, he's been swinging at balls in the dirt, over his head and curveballs in the other batters box. Until he shows show awareness of the strike zone, other teams are not going to throw him hittable pitches.

Regardless of how Jones develops, the Bedard trade was a gem. In case you haven't figured it out, Bedard is a self-centered, injury-prone, head case, wimp who will never be an "ace" on any team. What a waste of God-given ability! For a pitcher who was being compared to Johann Santana during the trade season, he sure wore out his welcome in Seattle in record time. He's your problem now, Mariners. Addition by subtraction. Way to go, Andy!

Thinking about going down to Bowie to see Wieters in person, but might wait until Arieta gets promoted to see them both the same night.

Anybody know why Scott was out of the lineup today ??? he's been hitting

Marquis is a RHP ...
I don't get it ... ??

jroberts--Your write that Nick Markakis is "an excellent judge of the strike zone." He has many very good atributes at the plate, including a classic swing, but he hasn't proven himself to be excellent at judging the strike zone. Were that the case he wouldn't have so many called third strikes (at least that fact argues against him being very good in this regard).

Somewhere, some stats geek must have compiled how many "called out on strikes" each player has against them. My guess is that Nick is at or near the top.

For what I've written today about Markakis' eye at the plate not being all that good given his high number of called third strikes, in fairness, he's also third in the AL in walks (49) and tenth in OBP (.391). Obviously, he's a much better judge of balls and strikes than I suggested. Still, he has much room for improvement concerning strikeouts, where he's ninth worst in the league with 66 (many coming when he took a third strike).