close the book . he's done .

Hey Roch , way off topic here, but your buddy there at the "Sun", Kevin Eck says your'e a big pro wrestling fan . Maybe you can ocassionally sub for him so we MIGHT get some unbiased coverage on "Ring Posts" :)

Poor kid! I hope it's nothing too serious and his anticipated trip to the DL is short.

That being said, the bullpen is probably hating life right about now, huh?

It's been a discouraging week for the Orioles. The bullpen injuries and the lack of quality starts. The only positive are the bats and that the Birds are still near .500 at this point in the season when noone expected it. Too bad for loewen (hope he bounces back eventually) you got feel for the guy. After Mora's bunt single and line drive single yesterday, and excellent defense I wondered why he wasn't in the starting lineup. This team will remain where it is until we get some starting pitching that can go seven quality innings and I don't think three of the five starters should be in the O's longterm plans. I'll be curious to see what happens in the coming weeks with the trade deadline fastly approaching. Way to go Roch with keeping us all informed. GO O's!

Part of the problem is that the Orioles essentially have 3 middle relievers starting. Only Cabrera and Guthrie should be in the rotation. This strains the bullpen, guys end up being over used and inevitably get injured. You can carry a 5th starter who has trouble but not a 3rd,4th and 5th.
The smartest thing is to start trading veterans and continue to build the minors. This season should show how much depth you need in order to deal with injuries.

Rich

Perhaps it's taken out of context, but that's some really articulate and nurturing stuff from Hernandez. If I'm a pitcher, I'm just adoring that quote.

Hernandez is aware enough to catch a grimace but not a ball in the dirt? I think Hernandez loses concentration back there and this leads to the poor pitch selection and loose balls. Trade Hernandez, Payton and Huff for young not yet ready position players. When Loewen and Walker come back trade them too. This is a rebuilding year, McPhail needs to keep working some trades.

"Q" is for Quiroz - let him play the majority of the games.

Very bad news on Loewen! I won't be surprised if he has to have more surgery and is done for the year.

Look, its almost the all-star break and we are eying the team the same way we did during spring training while contemplating what the second half could bring...it's kind of wierd.

What a sloppy game today. If I wanted to see single-A baseball, I would take a road trip to Frederick. By my count we gave Texas at least four extra outs during the game (foul ball not caught in the beginning, throwing error on Liz, Bynum's botched throw on a double play ball during the excruciating 7th inning, and the fly ball Jones/Markakis should of caught also in the 7th inning). What a joke. Ridiculous. Those mistakes directly led to at least 3 Ranger's runs (I may be off there but probably not by too much). And then "All-Star" Sherrill walks in a run. Come on! That's 4 runs we gift wrapped. ugh. Such a wasted effort by the bats today. We need to tighten up or it's gonna be another LONG summer.

Roch - I need to know why interference wasn't called during that 7th inning debacle. It looked as if the runner interfered (he bumped him) with Roberts and prevented him from making the play. The runner should have been called out along with the batter. That would have changed the outcome of that inning tremendously (supposedly). Please help me calm down.

I have two words for Adam Loewen...Rick Ankiel. Forget about pitching go back to being a position player. I see our first baseman of the future.

I don't wish him any ill will, but I have a bad feeling that Loewen is done.

By the way, what is Reimold's status? When is he going to be moved up to Norfolk? He's hitting over .400 in his last 11 games with 6 home runs, and now has his average up to .297.

Christian root--Hamilton never bumped Roberts. I want the Orioles to win every bit as much as you. But there was no bump, no interference.

Hope by now you have calmed down.

Why do we have Fahey and Bynum both on this team?And why do you set Fahey down when he has actually been hitting the ball lately and is a better defensive ss than Bye Bye Bynum?And why set Mora who had a couple of hits to start Payton who had an awful homestand,but the Genius kept penciling him in there.Why let Liz stay that long when it was obvious he didn't have it.Trembley may have this club playing harder,but certainly not smarter.We gave away 7 runs today in my estimation.Bynum ,Payton and Quiroz must go with Hernandez not far behind.Bradford and Walker too,see what you can get for Sherrill and let JJ close,even though I like Sherrill.

So the bullpen went from being the team's strength to depleted -- in a week. Key middle relief man Albers gone. Specialist Walker gone. Long man Loewen gone. So we're left with Sherrill, Johnson, Bradford, Sarfate and a bunch of triple-A guys.

That wouldn't be as bad if Burres, Liz and Olson could make it past the sixth (although DT has taken those guys out a bit too early sometimes -- but who can blame him? every time those guys are out there it looks like they're on the verge of a three-run homer.)

So this puts added pressure on the two rocks of the rotation -- Jeremy Guthrie and Daniel Cabrera -- who on some other rotations are a No. 2, 3 or 4. They've got to go at least seven each time out.

But this isn't a playoff season anyway. This is about figuring out which players are bound for the future. This is a building block for next season and figuring out what players can be traded.

Don't be that down on this team. Remember in March when the "experts" said the O's were a 52-56 win team? They'll have 46-47 by the all-star break -- and this is a real likeable team.

Best of luck to Loewen. He needs it.

Does Dr. James Andrews seem to do a better job when consulting with pitchers from other organizations? Looks like Loewen is gone again and so is one of my keys to the O's second half!

So what would happen if Sherrill were traded before the All-Star game???

Unlikely, of course, but would an Oriole have to play in the game? Would he be replaced, forced to wear an Oriole hat, or would we just get an additional player?

Trembley had a really bad series with the pitchers. I have not been on him too much about it but it has been hard to ignore recently. He had Loewen ready with two lefties coming up and Liz on the ropes. He pulled him a couple batters too late whereas the day before he pulled Burres who had started to settle down and only gave up a hit because of Payton's juggling act.

Pitching, defense, and coaching all failed this particular Sunday.

The runner didn't bump him. They showed the replay several times.. the runner never touched him.

Sounds like many who choose to express their thoughts here could use what the team is getting: a day off.

Let's bounce back against Toronto on Tuesday.

the rest of ramon's quote was: "I never run hard to 1st base. I am very shaky on blocking balls in the dirt. Sometimes the balls go right by me in the air and I don't make an attempt to catch it until it bounces off the backstop. And I have never successfully blocked a runner on a bang-bang play at the plate. Ever."

Ramon needs to learn how to catch

Went to the game today...terrible to see such a lousy outcome. great to see the team fight for all 27 outs.
On an aside: Millwood is the SLOWEST pitcher ever. Worse than Trachsel. I counted some breaks in between pitches that were over 1 minute. I thought mlb was trying to speed up games? He should be fined.
Seems that Lowen was never healthy. We'll see what the doctors say. Maybe he needs until next April to get strong.
Why did Bynum get the start over Fahey? Doesn't seem to make sense b/c the kid was playing well. Is he too frail to play that many days in a row?

time to call up pitchers from Triple-A. I don't care if we deplete the club, we need some quality relievers. Again.

time for MacPhail to work the phones and find these diamonds in the dirt and find us some quality players. let's do something by the trading deadline.

Either that or do a miracle on Albers and call up Bierd and company.

As flat-out lousy as Ramon is at blocking pitches and, well, whatever else he does from a defensive standpoint, his comment was astute, and the truth. Is it just the O's that have such a pronounced problem with pitching injuries, or do other teams also have pitching injuries, but they survive it because of better depth? In any event, I happen to agree with what he said.

I agree that Trembley will not accomplish his goal of the starters going deep in game if he himself always yanks them. Pitchers of the past sometimes had rough sledding in the early going, but Weaver just let them pitch through it. By the same token, it's not his fault they all give up at least a run before the crowd gets in their seats. That trend must be stopped. Burres seems to be the most bothersome. I find myself asking what scout signed off on him being major league ready. In the same way, it would be nice to hear an explanation from whatever scout judged D-Cabrera to be ready, five years ago when he first came up. Let's see, that coincides with the amount of time that Flanagan, Beaty and Duqette were running the front office.

About today's game, Bynum's wild throw opened the gates, certainly, and Nick's homer would have been the winning run if that double play had been made. But you could also say the same about Adam Jones' rare defensive lapse by pulling up and letting that popup drop in the 8th. That let the 10th and 11th runs score.

The difference is, you pretty much accept it from Jones and know he won't make that mistake a second time, or too many like it. As for Bynum - considering his defense is the reason he has a job up here ... well, I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Round and round we go, just hovering around .500, backsliding a bit every time it was starting to look good. To repeat my own previous post, that's all we were really expecting, and may even be more.

Can't wait to see what tidings the trade deadline brings.

Roch,
Are you getting the feeling that maybe this kid is done? Like Rich Harden or Pavano or any of the other hundreds of good to maybe great starters that just never could stay healthy. It is sad for all involved, but I do not think you will see this kid pitch an entire season ever.
On a more positive note, AA pitching did not slow down Weiters huh?
When will we see any of those starters in Bowie's rotation? I am getting anxious now to see some of our future stars, Reimold included. He will skip AAA right?

Roch,
or anybody, one more thing. I am passing our starters at Norfolk because I think everyone at AA and below is better right now.
My question is, who will we see make a start for the O's first from the Bowie rotation. D. Hernandez, B. Bergeson, or C. Tillman. And, will it be this season?
Ryan

Adam Lowen is done...as a pitcher. I agree with Dave that if Rick Ankiel can go back to the minors and make it back up as a hitter, then Lowen has a chance to do the same. He is young enough and it's better than releasing him.

Good to hear that one of our more tradeable relief pitchers, Chad Bradford, is being held together by "Scotch tape and band-aids". This according to Dave Trembley.

Do the players still get to vote to pick the first set of All Star reserves? Are they the ignorant ones who got Varitek his slot, or is the blame squarely on Francona? Boston fans themselves aren't happy with Varitek this year, and he's actually hitting worse than Ramon (how's that for a Scott Boras-type player promo: Ramon Hernandez has better stats than All Star catcher Varitek - pay the man! Ugh).

This is the hard time for MacPhail. He's got to make the trades to improve the club, without stomping out the goodwill and enthusiasm that a better than expectations first half engendered. I think most fans would be on board, but how the trades affect the clubhouse is the big difficulty.

pretty bad day yesterday for the O's... But, I was really proud to see them fight to the final out. Maybe Loewen needs to focus on being a late inning guy, it doesn't seem his arm can take multiple innings. I guess it's still hard to tell at this point, he's such a young guy. All of these injuries make McPhail seem like a genius for stock piling the farm system with arms.

Speaking of the farm system, Reimold and Wieters are blowing up at Bowie... Here are their pages with stats from the last ten games (Wieters has been on the team for ten games) :

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Reimold%2C%20N%20%20RF&pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=460099

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Wieters%20%20DH&pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=446308

Reimold has been pretty good this season but he has been on fire since Wieters was put in the line-up behind him. I know that the FO isn't going to rush either of these guys but I would like to see a september line-up that looked something like this:
1. Roberts 2B
2. Jones CF
3. Markakis RF
4. Wieters C
5. Huff 1B
6. Reimold LF
7. Scott DH
8. Mora 3B
9. Whoever SS
maybe we can get a decent SS prospect in a trade before the deadline. I really want to see what these guys can do in the majors. I'm glad that it's not my decision.

I am sorry to see Loewen go down yesterday . We have to wait and see what CT scan shows . But i get the feeling the O's will shut him down for rest of this season .
To the poster who suggested Loewen might want give playing a position , not a bad idea . Pitching doesnt agree with Lowen . My theory is Loewen's contract , which guarantees him bypassing the Minors was HUGE O's mistake .
And the O's are running out of pitchers down at the farm . We are on the verge of seeing another second half meltdown [ sigh ]

It's not hard to now imagine Loewen never becoming a solid big-league pitcher, let alone fulfilling his billing as the top pitching prospect in the draft when we took him and gave him a huge contract (for a rookie). I also don't think there is any evidence that Loewen could go to the minors and become a solid major league position player, or that he would be willing to do so.

Bynum continues to kill us. He can't hit and is marginal defensively. Luis Hernandez, with all his faults, would be a better option. Fahey, while not an everyday player, has done ok and should be playing over Bynum until Cintron gets back.

Finally, as exciting as it would be, I don't think Reimold and Wieters will be in our lineup in September. Maybe Reimold will get a shot, but I really doubt the O's are going to have Wieters play extra games in his first pro season. Smartly, they have limited his games as a catcher by resting him and playing him at DH. The kid has never played this many games in a season and it would be stupid to push him in his first year. I do think we'll see him next summer though, in September, if not before.

P is for patience. There's no way to make 2010 come sooner, even if our overachievement this year has made us want it to.

Quick - get John Halama on the phone.

Sorry to see the lack of plate discipline from Roberts in the 6th inning yesterday. As good as Roberts is, he could even be better if he could cut down on his 'brain-freeze' moments like getting picked off (does he lead the league?) and swinging at pitches in the dirt.

With Jones on 3rd and 1 out in the 6th yesterday, Roberts took the aggressive approach on a 3-2 pitch with Markakis on deck. The full count pitch was very low, but he swung and fouled it off. The next pitch, inside and in the dirt, had Roberts flailing at it like a kid in Pee-Wee league, for the strikeout.

Nothing wrong with being aggressive at the plate with a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs, but sometimes you have to be 'smart-aggressive'. All this happened after the announcer was bragging about how Roberts has a good eye at the plate. I believe he left his good eye on the shelf above his locker for that plate appearance!

B Rob should have gone ahead and bumped into the runner as he was going for the ball; then interference would have been called. It looked to me like he thought he could wait for the ball and make a play. Actually, since the runner MUST avoid the fielder, it is incumbent on the runner to avoid intereference. Os coaches should re-visit the rule with the infielders --- could have been an easy out.

so so close, really are hard to swallow homestand, easily should've gone 5-2

Not to make light of an injury but how is this bad news? He couldn't get anyone out when he came into the game.

With CC Sabathia getting traded to Milwaukee, I think this may open up an opportunity for the Orioles to improve their SS/3B situation. The Brewers traded their top prospect, Matt LaPorta, in the Sabathia trade. Their next 2 top prospects are Mat Gamel, a 3B, and Alcides Escobar, a SS. My trade offer to them would be Brian Roberts and either Jamie Walker or Chad Bradford for Rickie Weeks and either Escobar or Gamel. This gives Milwaukee a great leadoff hitter and quality bullpen depth, while allowing us to go younger in the infield and get our SS/3B (and 2B) of the present and future. Here are Gamel's and Escobar's stats (year to date):

Gamel: .374 bavg (133/356), 70 runs, 31 doubles, 6 triples, 15 homers, 75 RBI, 5/11 SB, 65/38 K/BB ratio, .435 OB%, .621 Slug%, 1.056 OPS.

Escobar: .324 bavg (121/373), 63 runs, 13 doubles, 4 triples, 7 homers, 52 RBI, 22/29 steals, 56/20 K/BB ratio, .356 OB%, .437 Slug%, .793 OPS.

Time to bite the bullet and trade Roberts.

When will his value ever be higher?

Is Rodrigo Lopez available as a starter?

Stop signing Canadians. Smile.

Roberts for one of Milwaukee's best remaining hitting prospects and Weeks? I sincerely doubt it. Brian Roberts is good, but that's attaching too much value to him. The Cubs didn't offer a single front-line major leaguer or prospect for that matter, so there's no reason to think Milwaukee would. I think we should trade him, but we're not going to get an Adam Jones-type prospect plus more in return.

I think the O's should retain Roberts. MacPhail wants to stock pile pitchers but many sustain arm injuries. The organization needs to examine or analyse why so many arm problems before trading Roberts for more pitching. He is an excellent lead off man.