How long is Dempsey going to be doing games? I missed the comment to the AF major because I cant stand to listen to Dempsey for more than a few minutes before I have to change the channel. PLease bring back Buck or Palmer!

Dempsey might be a classic but every other word out his mouth is "back when I played" and "when I was on the 1983 World Champion..."- Geez Louise!
He sounds like someone I used to visit at Senior Citizens home who sits and reminisces about how things were "back in the day".
I agree. Where's Jim Palmer? He does a commentary that's current, not constantly talking about what "was" in "his day" (okay, he does that on occasion, but hey-did Dempsey get his underwear clad self up in Times Square?-Thankfully the answer is "no") I'll give Palmer the latitude because that's not part of his everyday commentary-but Rick is nothing more than someone longing to be back "way back when". Let the guy go!!

Just as you, Mike, can't stand The Dipper, I have a problem with Jim Hunter, when Gary, Jim P. or Buck are not working, I sure would like to see Fred Manfra work those games, I think he's great. You got to admit, though, Rick does know the game.

Old O’s Fan,

You prefer Gary (Thorne)? Seriously?

There are a few deadpan comedians in here! It almost sounded like you were being honest.

And I thought that long Ripken-in-Giant tale a few posts back was funny!

Agree on Dempsey but knowing its temporary makes it easier to take.
Dave Johnson on the radio though, maybe its just me but he does alot of that "make when I pitched" stuff also with a voice clearly made for TV.
The radio goes off after the last out!

Castillo pitched in the Atlantic League in 03 & 04 and again in 06 & 07. He was 5-2 with an ERA around 2.65 last year split between Camden and Pennsylvania.

In 9 minor league seasons he has a 4.37 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP, walking 4.21 hitters per nine innings.

He's originally from Havana - was a third round pick of the Giants in 94.
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Left-handers are 4-for-40 against him this season. He has a 7.36 ERA in two July appearances. He also pitched in Mexico before signing with the Orioles. He's 33. His turn-ons include jazz and long walks on the beach. OK, I'm kidding about that last part. - Roch

MASN is lucky to have an announcer as great as Gary Thorne. The guy is very good and much better than the other hacks that have been around this area.

PS - Wade Boggs once drank 64 beers on a cross country flight. Mark it dude.
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I once ate 12 bags of honey roasted peanuts. - Roch

Dempsey is SLOWLY improving, but surely needs work. Thorne is the most annoying. Palmer has credibility, professionalism, and a HOF history with Weaver. Buck is by far the best color man. A rotation of Hunter with Buck and Palmer is probably best. I would love to hear Brooks a few games a year talking about how well the club treats him.

Well, “Custard Doug” would be much better than a hack like Michael Reghi.

Is that your scale for greatness? Talk about grading on a curve!

As a baseball play-by-play guy, Gary Thorne is a very fine NHL play-by-play guy. Hockey’s his sport — and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Calling the action on the diamond, though, Thorne butchers the game with waaaay too many “at-’em balls,” making way too much fuss over the Orioles’ opponents (I don't want a homer, but I don't want the opposite, either) and he equates every home run at OPACY to right field that lands beyond the flag court as “off the warehouse.”

As hard as he tries, he just doesn't fit. He would bring Maine lobsters to a crab feast. He’s lousy.

And as far as “those other hacks,” that’s not exactly the term I would use for Jon Miller, Jim Hunter or Mel Proctor. Any of those are lightyears more competent than Thorne.

“Custard Doug” — I hope that’s sarcasm in your last post, or you need a better pen name, Mr. Thorne.

And if that’s you, Mr. Thorne. Stop fawning over Palmer so much — it’s embarrassing.

Too soon to bring up Ankiel and Lowen in the same sentence?? Not sayin' much . . . but just sayin'

Buck's voice stinks. My kids stopped whining 20 years ago, I don't need to listen to a color man who never stopped.

Fred Manfra would be great on TV. He has a pleasant voice and personality and he absolutely cannot call the action as it happens. So, by all means, put him on TV and keep him off the radio!

I can't stand any of the announcers the Orioles have. Jim Hunter and Jim Palmer are ok and I can stand listening to them. But Gary Thorne is horrendous. All the stuttering and the lack of knowledge he has about the team is really terrible. I don't know who hires these guys but they should do a better job at hiring. I have already written 2 emails to MASN asking to replace Gary Thorne. Even Buck Martinez is awful. Why hire somebody who has NO knowledge of the Orioles?

I remember commenting on Castillo back in spring training and wondering how little depth the organization had if they continued to sign guys like this. I mean, he may as well have come from the California Penal League. It's a great story, though. I'd love to hear him talk about his career. I don't know if I can recall any other Major Leaguer taking so many strange and obscure twists and turns to the bigs. At this point, why not give him a chance? Crazy stuff in what is amounting to a crazy (in a good way) year!

roch, why is there a need for a 10 second delay on the radio for the orioles games? can you please look into this and find out a good answer.

roch, why is there a need for a 10 second delay on the radio for the orioles games? can you please look into this and find out a good answer.

I'm going with Castillo. We need a lefty badly after Loewen is on the DL and Walker's gone.

Let's see how long he stays with the team. How about laying in some bets for that?

I think it's time for us to call up players from the minors and give them a look-and-see, and see what they can do, better or worse.

"Loser has to pick up Jennifer's bar tab."

ROCHO! Are you kidding me? No one can afford me! hehe

I'll drink you under the table! That's what Irish girls do!

o is for oooooooo we need to take Roch out for some drinks! He's provided us with great reading material throughout our boring work week. He deserves a night out on the town!!!!!!
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I like the way you think. - Roch

Dave - You state that our pitchers are throwing two balls for every strike when actually it's usually closer to the other way around. Worst case was yesterday's start by Liz 103 pitches and only 61 strikes. Burres on Saturday was 73 pitches -50 strikes, Olson Friday 89-57, and Liz on Tuesday was 80-55.

Granted 10 walks on Sunday is far too many. This pitching staff leads the league in walks allowed and has the fewest strikeouts, yet is 7th in the league in hits allowed. Sometimes with young pitchers it's a matter of trusting your stuff and letting the oppositon put the ball in play.

From what I've read, I'd be glad to pick up Jenny's bar tab.

Alan I read somewhere last week that the Orioles and the Cubs were scouting Burnett.

Eric - MacPhail has made it clear that he is not looking to add pitching thru free agency, but that does not eliminate a trade possibility. I believe you could see this team go for a #1 or 2 type starter in a deal this winter.

JPA - I agree with you on Huff. His value at present should be quite high, especially with another year remaining on his contract and his quick start this year. Teams who think they are one pitcher/player away from the playoffs are willing to give up alot sometimes. Look at Milwaukee. If they fail to make the playoffs and Sabathia walks(likely), they have paid a steep price for a three month rental. Laporta alone is one of the best bats in the minors. Then again the Brewers are so stocked they can make such a gamble.

Look at what the Braves gave up for Texiera last year. So getting one very good, almost major league ready position player for Huff is not at all out of the question.

For those of you suggesting Gamel. Though athletic, he is below average defensively at third and is likely to be moved to the outfield. Besides the Brewers aren't trading the guy currently considered the best hitter in minor league baseball.

Bring back Brooks Robinson with Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey. Back in my day, we cheered for these guys. Why I remember back when, there..........

Every once in awhile Thorne says something so weird or irrelevant, I have to shake my head. But then, I remember Michael Reghi, and I'm SO grateful for Thorne.

We've been very luck in our town with announcers -- Chuck Thompson, Bailey Goss, Ernie Harwell, Bill O'Donnell, Jon Miller, Lowenstein, Proctor, Garceau, et al. Palmer's okay, Flanagan was droll. I think Martinez is the best of the current bunch. Hunter is below average.

Roch I see you don't have a Wikipedia page but you do have a Wikio page, whatever that is

Thorne is the absolute worst, I don't care what anyone says. To those who like him, what makes him good in your view? All I hear is a good voice and then all downhill from there. He gets tons of calls wrong, misstates easy baseball rules, tells cheesy jokes, and cheers so excitedly for opposing teams that if you're in the kitchen, you think the O's did something great.

I'll take anyone but Thorne or Dempsey, or Johnson, actually.

Gary Thorne is awful,he makes three or four noticable blunders every game I've ever heard him.Palmer's knowledge of the game and not just Orioles history is almost encyclopedic,Dempsey is improving,and I like both Hunter and Manfra.Dave Johnson tells it like it is and Tom Davis knows more about Baltimore sports then some people will ever learn.But the best were still Chuck Thompson,Bill O'Donnell and John MIller and on the old HTS Lowenstien and Mel Proctor.

Good article on Castillo is here: http://www.dailypress2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17350

I am just waiting for Rick to look over at Jim and say " Pull my finger". He reminds me of that uncle that has all the goofs many of which just simply are not funny.
I still amd Hoping Brooksy gets back in the booth with John Miller. Now those were the days.

People talk about rebuilding, which is nice, but what exactly would we get in return for anyone other than Roberts? Jose Valverde had a career year and the D-Backs didn't get anything all that great for him. Maybe we get lucky, but I don't see anyone giving up much of anything for Millar, Huff, Bradford, or Cabrera. It's wishful thinking and you never know I guess.

I sure hope that the posts about Gary Thorne being a great announcer are loaded with sarcasm.
I find nothing worse than listening to him get the count wrong.......constantly.......and sing the praises of opposing players. If he thinks everyone is so much better than the Orioles .......well don't let the door hit him in the butt. I would much rather listen to a mediocore Dempsey, who while sometimes boring at least has played the game of which he speaks. I think Mr tThorne has visited one too many concession stands and had a few too many chillies while announcing. Sorry I just don't care for his work!.

I just read the Sun article about Bergeson and Castillo. Castillo is 33. If we don't get him up now, when will it be? Then again, is there something in the water in Cuba? A fountain of youth (El Duque Hernandez)? Maybe he can pitch 'til he's 40. Ah, 40, those were the days.....

Gary Thorne is absolutely HORRIBLE!! He is forever making mistakes as he describes what's happening right in front of him/us. Palmer is so gracious and patient in covering up for him and trying to make him sound LESS like the idiot that he is. Hunter and Buck are great, they need to find a play-by-play guy to pair up with the fantastic Jim Palmer.

Yeah Mike bring back Palmer so you can count how many stories he can jam into one sentence. Or tell the viewers that Dave Trembley is the Os manager.

Palmer stinks! If I hear one more Earl Weaver story, I'm gonna choke myself with a tomato vine...this bleepin' post is bleepin' over! It's time for a smoke.

Gary Thorne needs to get some training on baseball. How can someone mistake 80% of the pitches that he names. I saw him incorrectly call 4 straight pitches one night and then finally Buck chimed in and corrected him on the last pitch. He messes up names and doesn't have a clue about the game. What a waste.

Monday must surely have been a slow day in sports. We know the Os were off, but...

ESPN's Top Ten included not only another shameless Japanese Game Show promotion, but also a very nice diving catch from the Tides' own Chris Roberson! Triple A highlights right after adults behaving stupidly on the Top Ten!? How far we have fallen...

I don't care how bad the O's announcers are, they'll never be as bad as the psychophantic homer ones that do the Nat's games.

Buck Martinez has the most annoying voice on tv. Jon Miller, and John Lowenstein would be my dream team.

Although I know we need to try to win games this year, I don't see what we gain by promoting a 33 year old journeyman to the majors. I am not sure what we gain by having him at Norfolk in the first place, although I guess you need guys like this to fill out minor league rosters (I think we have a 35 year old closing at Bowie). I would rather see the O's bring up Hayden Penn or another young pitcher and let them try their hand as a set-up man (or in the rotation and move Burress to the pen) than screw around with Mr. Long Walks on the Beach (who is probably actually 35). Nice to see Cornholio was promoted to Norfolk and that his debut went well. More evidence of how favorable the Bedard trade was.

If Thorne weren't so pompous and if he knew anything at all about Oriole history, he could be almost acceptable. If Palmer would give us a sentence instead of two paragraphs, he'd be 100% better. Only Buck knows when to allow the game to carry itself...the other guys are doing talk radio instead of over-game commentary.

I always though Gary Thorne was great when he did hockey for ESPN, but I don't really like him as an O's announcer.

When I'm watching my team play on the local network, I actually expect the guys calling the game to be "homers", and Thorne is definately not an Orioles "homer". He is always very professional, has a great voice and does a good job calling the game, but gets a little too animated when the opposing team does something well--I would prefer a tone of dejection, not excitment.

As far as Dempsey goes, I don't mind him one bit. I enjoyed Jim Hunter and Rick Dempsey calling the games as a refreshing change to the Thorne/Palmer team, but that's just me. As long as Angel and Manfra are locked into radio, I think best announcing duo for MASN TV would be Hunter and Martinez, in my humble opinion.

Might it not make sense to keep Huff?

While he's certainly not part of an on-going youth movement, none of the young guys we'll be seeing with the big club (other than Nick) will likely be hitting 25-30 homers in the next year or two.

It probably also makes sense when one thinks about Teixeira. Any attempt to bring him here will be at least a bit stronger if he sees that it won't be Melvin Mora or Ramon Hernandez or a AAA call-up hitting behind him but a guy that pitchers aren't fond of facing with men on base..

I agree with Pat Rapp, Palmer stinks. How many times does he say "Dave Trembley, Manager of the Orioles" or "Rick Kranitz, pitching coach for the Orioles". I think the viewers know who these people are. Plus Palmer dissed me for an autograph years ago. Bring back the dream team - Brooks and Jon Miller.

All this talk about announcers makes for a good place to mention (for those who don't know) the Loss Column Baltimore Sports Media Approval Ratings. The voting has closed on the first few but Mark Viviano's poll is live. Check it out here:

http://www.thelosscolumn.com/2008/baltimore-sports-media-approval-ratings-mark-viviano/

We're doing a new poll every Monday, and we haven't gotten to Thorne yet...

Also, my vote goes to David Hernandez as the guy who replaces Loewen.

We can't "Rick Ankiel" Loewen. He's out of minor league options and would have to clear waivers...which he won't. Injury prone or not, the guy has potential to eventually win 15 games (if ever healthy) and he is 24 years old. I'd be willing to bet that several teams would jump at the chance to claim him off waivers.

And I don't know how this got to be a conversation about commentators for tv/radio; but Angel/Manfra is the best broadcast you could ever hope for. Thorne and Palmer do a damn good job as well.

To the first three posters, how did we get on a discussion about Dempster and his commentary. . .I didn't see any mention of that in Roch's blog. . .lol! You (3) certainly have me laughing though. . .I agree (and this is coming from a female). . .I love Rick's charisma but he definitely gets to be annoying when he continues on with his baseball history lessons. But give him some slack, he is obviously very proud of his accomplishments and we should be proud to continue to have such legends as Rick who stand behind the O's despite the many unsuccessful years. Personally, I can't stand Palmer (I'll leave my subjective comments about him to myslef). Gary is okay, but I love Buck. Buck is a true commedian and always keeps me entertain during the games. . .never a dull moment when Buck is doing the commentary at the games. I still laugh to this day remembering Buck's funny comments about Millar possibly playing shortshop the night that the O's lost their DH. Buck was on a roll that night.

Re: Delay on Radio
I too became pretty fed up with this especially since I used to listen to the play by play at the games when it was on WBAL.
So, I called Ralph Dougan at the "Orioles Broadcasting Network".
Ralph told me that since WHFS is a CBS-owned station, CBS has a policy that EVERYTHING that goes on the air MUST have a 9 second delay in order to avoid any "Howard Stern" like comments, audible "wardrobe malfunctions" and the like. This was not the case with WBAL.
Ralph also told me that he was able to negotiate this delay from 9 seconds down to 5 seconds but that he was still pretty frustrated and is sympathetic to the fans. But CBS is insistent since a fan down on the terrace level or in the club boxes could yell something out that would be considered "explicit" and could cost CBS some serious $$$.
Anyway, my suggestion to the Orioles would be to install a low wattage FM transmitter without a delay that could be heard within the walls of the stadium and the surrounding area. Otherwise, it's a real loss to those of us who really enjoyed listening to Fred and Joe and singing the "Baltimore American Mortgage (now BAMC Home Loan)-no points no closing costs, zero fees ..bum bum..guaranteed" during the game. And what about those great Esskay hotdogs available in "Meat, Beef or Chicken"? What exactly is "meat" as opposed to "beef"? Misc. animal snouts and hooves vs. cow noses and hooves?
Now you have to go stand in line at a concession or go to the bathroom to hear them in real time.

So that's the scoop on the delay. On the up side, the quality of sound in Baltimore for games is great. For those of us in DC and any other AM affiliate, it doesn't make much of a difference.

I think it depends on what you want out of a baseball game. I like Palmer, Martinez, Dave Johnson, and even Dempsey has been tolerable because I want situational analysis rather than someone who describes plays that I could just as easily watch myself. Gary Thorne (in my side) is pretty abominable. He doesn't read situations well and is often inaccurate while calling a game. It was pretty brutal last weekend in particular. Hunter and Manfra are lovable goofballs. It's clear they are liked by many of you, but they just aren't what I'm interested in. Tom Davis is annoyingly sanctimonious but tolerable as long as you don't get on the topic of "today's players". Jon Miller was the best. How did we get on the topic of announcers anyway? Slow day in sports indeed...

hayden penn looked really good last night...finally.

Jennifer... I was pre-approved for a loan and figured that might cover half the tab.. what do you say?

I kid, I kid...

Best move the Orioles every made getting rid of John Miller.

Yes, I am also wondering - 'where is Palmer' - I 'dissed' on him twice to Comcast, but have no illusions my snide remarks have made JP just disappear.

And, speaking of - Where is Amber TheoHarris (spelling?). She is really great with the gab and bones up on her subject - does excellent interviews with the players.

Horrible thought - Just hope she didn't run off with JP - Ugh!

Price . . . my theory is that Jennifer is Amber's pen name on Roch's blog and she has just been to hung over to appear some days!