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August 31, 2008

This slump not exactly of biblical proportions...yet

Granted, the Orioles were plagued by walks and hit batsmen during that resounding three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays (and you can't get much more resounding than scoring in double figures three straight times for the first time in franchise history). Granted, the Orioles continue to struggle on Sunday. But I really didn't think of Dave Trembley as a particularly spiritual man until he waxed biblical after today's game.

trembley1.jpgrockne1.jpg"You reap what you sow,'' he said, when Jim Hunter and Jim Palmer were questioning him on the MASN postgame show about the outlook for some of the young pitchers who have been struggling to hold their places on the major league staff. "The opportunities you get, you'll be evaluated accordingly."

Now, I should have suspected Dave was a religious guy, since he says "Oh God!" whenever a ball is hit to Alex Cintron, but I hope he doesn't go all Pulp Fiction on somebody when he and Rick Kranitz meet with the pitching staff before tomorrow's game at Fenway Park.

"We're going to talk to the pitching staff, Rick and myself,'' Trembley said during the same postgame interview with Jimmy and Cakes. "I'd rather have them throw the fastball right over the plate and let them hit it than walk four guys and hit three or four guys."

That probably won't place Dave (left) alongside Knute Rockne (right) or Vince Lombardi in a compendium of great pep talks, but -- at this point -- what else is a manager to do?

Never fails

castillo.jpgIt doesn't matter how many major league baseball games you've seen in your life, every game provides an opportunity to see something you've never seen before. The latest, for me, was provided by reliever Alberto Castillo (right) when he hit batters with back-to-back pitches to drive in a run. The two bases-loaded walks that came next were just gravy.

Dave Trembley is getting that "Why me, Lord?" look on his face, and who can blame him? This pitching staff has fallen harder than Hasim Rahman in the second Lennox Lewis fight.

Haven't seen Fernando Cabrera since his little indiscretion on the mound on Friday night. He was fined for flipping the ball at Trembley on his way out of that game, but there was some speculation that he might spend some time in bullpen exile. That wouldn't surprise me, but I'm starting to think the best way to punish the guy might be to make him pitch against the Red Sox.

Can a whole series be a reverse lock?

fenway.jpgOn paper, it certainly doesn't look like September is going to go well for the Orioles, who face another apparently mismatch today when Brian Burres faces Tampa's James Shields in the finale of the three-game series against the Rays, then head to Boston to open the month at Fenway Park.

I'm already over today's game, and it hasn't even started yet. The Orioles have lost six of the last seven games that Burres has pitched in, so what exactly are we supposed to expect when he faces the team with the best record in the American League on the road. If you have to watch, at least bring some reading material.

The O's have lost nine of their last 11 and, with four of the six games remaining on this road trip, I'm guessing you wouldn't get even money if you bet they'd win one of them. They're going into the notoriously hitter-friendly Fenway with a starting rotation of Garrett Olson, Radhames Liz and what appears to be a tired Jeremy Guthrie.

Guess I'll have to go with my old friend Jim Henneman, who loves to pick the underdog when absolutely everything points in the other direction. I'm picking the O's to win two of three in Boston.

Radio Free Schmuck: If you're not water skiing or something, join me at noon for "WBAL Sports Sunday" on WBAL (1090 AM). If you're out of the area or your radio is on the fritz, you can go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Huff 'n stuff

Could the worm have turned any more dramatically than it has for Aubrey Huff, who hit his 30th home run yesterday and now has 98 RBI. This is the guy you all loved to hate coming into spring training. This is the guy who was so overpaid there was no way to get rid of him after he dissed Baltimore on the air with shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge.

Yeah, that guy.

So, now I'm hearing people use Huff as the reason the Orioles don't need to pursue slugger Mark Teixeira in the free agent market this coming offseason. Now, some of the same people who thought Huff was the most overpaid guy since Jay Gibbons are talking about what a bargain he'll be next year at $8 million.

That might be true, but today is the deadline for traded players to be eligible for the postseason, and you'd think there would be some interest in a hitter who is a good game away today from entering September with 30 homers and 100 RBI.

Could Ed Reed be the new Glenn Davis?

edreed.jpgWhen Ravens safety Ed Reed revealed that he's suffering from a "nerve impingement' in his neck that has affected his shoulder and could threaten his career, I had a nasty Orioles flashback.

The Ravens are loathe to give real specifics on injuries, but it's fair to wonder if the problem that has sidelined one of the NFL's best defensive players is similar to the one that forced a premature end to the baseball career of former Oriole Glenn Davis.

Davis, every Orioles fan unhappily recalls, was acquired by the Orioles in a trade for Curt Schilling, Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch, three players who all went on to better things after the supposed blockbuster deal. Davis never lived up to his reputation as one of the most dangerous power hitters in baseball, because of a nerve injury suffered during his first spring with the Orioles.

glenndavis.jpgHe damaged the spinal accessory nerve in his neck during an exhibition at-bat in March of 1991, the severity of the problem only becoming apparent when the trapezius muscle in his right shoulder began to wither. He spent a couple of years trying to regain his powerful swing, but was never the same.

Hopefully, there's no such parallel with Reed, but he's all but certain to miss the season opener next week and could be out for the season. He even speculated Friday that if surgery is necessary to correct the problem, his career might be over.

Baltimore Sun photos

August 30, 2008

Today's featured comment

kevinkennedy.jpgToday's featured comment comes from a wise guy named eric, who looked at this picture of Kevin Kennedy in one of my earlier posts and couldn't help himself:

Eric's take: Is that picture Ron Burgandy or Bruce Cunningham?

Pete's take: Good question. I don't think it's Bruce, because the guy in the picture isn't trying to convince me he birdied the hole after driving into the water three times.

Fox Sports photo

Saturday sports overload

Trying to keep up with three games at the same time. The Orioles are trying to score in double figures to give themselves a decent chance to win with their seemingly helpless pitching staff. It's almost gotten to the point where the Ravens have as good a chance to win scoring 13 as the O's.

Meanwhile, the Terps just finished grinding out an unspectacular victory over the post-Flacco Delaware Blue Hens on ESPN, and my USC Trojans are busy crushing Virginia on national television ABC. I've been switching around so much I'm starting to worry about carpel tunnel syndrome. I'm proud that Southern Cal played a real opponent on the road while top-ranked Georgia took on Georgia Southern and Ohio State played Youngstown State.

Georgia was ranked first in both major polls. USC and Ohio State flip-flop in the next two places. That'll be settled when my favorite team mugs Stan White's favorite team in LA on Sept. 13.

Second and third opinion

kevinkennedy.jpgThe Fernando Cabrera incident was replayed duriing the pregame show on the national Fox broadcast today and stimulated an interesting conversation between studio analysts Mark Grace and Kevin Kennedy.

Grace teed off on Cabrera and said he would be surprised if the O's middleman made another appearance on the mound this season. Kennedy (right) went even further. He said if a pitcher disrespected him in that manner when he was managing, there would have been a fist fight on the mound.

Trembley promised the situation would be dealt with. His quote to that effect was in an earlier post. Baltimore Sun beat writer Jeff Zrebiec is reporting that Cabrera has been fined an undisclosed amount. Wouldn't be surprised if he also has some trouble getting back to the mound.

FOX photo

Today's lineup (and more)

Roberts 2B
Payton CF
Markakis RF
Huff 3B
Hernandez C
Scott DH
Millar 1B
Montanez LF
Castro SS

Waters SP

Roster move: Shows how much I know. The Orioles did not bring up Brandon Fahey to provide infield depth in the absense of injured Melvin Mora. The club called up Oscar Salazar from Norfolk and sent out Radhames Liz, though Liz will simply be re-activated on Monday when the rosters expand.

Rotation update: Liz will pitch on Tuesday night in Boston. It appears that Garrett Olson will come up to make the start on Monday at Fenway Park.

Roster move?

The Orioles may not be able to wait for Monday's roster expansion, now that Melvin Mora will miss at least the next couple of games with a hamstring strain. The team figures to call up an infielder -- Brandon Fahey, most likely -- to provide some depth for the rest of the weekend.

Look for Aubrey Huff to fill in at third and the two left-fielders -- Luke Scott and Lou Montanez -- to both be in the lineup. Of course, one of them will be the DH, though you could have made a case for putting both of them in left field at the same time in last night's 14-3 loss.

Trembley fumes, Cabrera apologetic

It was one moment of frustration and disrespect, but it could cost reliever Fernando Cabrera, who showed up manager Dave Trembley on the mound last night by flipping the ball to him on the way off the field after giving up back-to-back home runs in Tampa's seven-run fourth inning.

One of those homers was a grand slam by Ben Zobrist after Lou Montanez misplayed a fly ball in the outfield, so the frustration was understandable. Cabrera just took it out on the wrong person and apparently heard about it from a couple members of the coaching staff when he got to the dugout.

"He was frustrated that he gave up the home runs, and he thought that Montanez could have caught the ball,'' Trembley said. "But still, that's not an excuse for what he did. I'll deal with it, and when I say I'll deal with it, it won't mean I'll ignore it. I'll deal with it, which means I'll do something about it."

Cabrera regretted it afterward, and -- with a 5.33 ERA -- he's vulnerable to the possible consequence, which could be either a fine or a plane ticket.

"That was just a bad action that I do," Cabrera said. "It's not something that I feel good doing. It was all frustration."

Media update: If you'd like to actually talk to me, I'll be doing my show on WBAL (1090 AM) from noon to 2:30 today. If you're outside the area or not near a radio, you can also listen on WBAL.com by clicking on the "Listen Live" icon.

Dissed again by ESPN

When ESPN.com decided to rank the fan bases of all the NFL teams, you could see this one coming a mile away. The Ravens faithful, despite more consecutive regular-season sellouts (96) than 19 of the 32 teams, ranked only 17th and got a fairly tepid evaluation by the ESPN panel of experts.

steelers.jpgHere's an excerpt: The loyalty factor is pretty good. But with the Redskins to the south and Eagles to the north, the Ravens geographically have a much smaller, boxed-in fan base than most NFL teams.

Here's a link to the entire survey, but don't go there if you have a low tolerance for the absurd. When you see that the Raiders, with their hordes of trick-or-treating wannabe bikers, rank in the top ten, you might lose your lunch. Their sellout string is a resounding four.

That bothers me way more than Steelers fans being ranked on top or even Eagles fans being ranked fourth. I've banged heads with the Eagles faithful for years, but I've never disputed their passion. Their IQ's and their BAC, of course, would be another story.

Minor league update

The Frederick Keys still entertained playoff hopes until last night, when the Winston-Salem Warthogs bounced them from postseason consideration with a fairly resounding 12-4 victory at Grove Stadium and clinched a postseason berth for themselves. Brandon Tripp hit his 16th homer of the year for the Keys.

It wasn't a great night for the Norfolk Tides either. Andy Mitchell gave up four runs over 3 2/3 innings in a 7-2 loss to the Richmond Braves. Mike Costanzo and Chris Roberson had two hits each.

The Baysox were rained out last night in Harrisburg and will play a twi-night doubleheader today starting at 5:05 p.m.

August 29, 2008

No mas!

newdave.jpgJeremy Guthrie's uncharacteristic mound meltdown was just the beginning of an ugly evening that also has featured Melvin Mora limping off the field with a hamstring injury, Ramon Hernandez getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes and some apparent friction between reliever Fernando Cabrera and manager Dave Trembley.

In other words, it's late August and the Orioles are falling apart, which isn't going to be pretty. That's one of the reasons I made such a case for Trembley's contract extension. I know it's supposed to be a foregone conclusion, but the players are getting tired and grumpy and the fans are getting restless. The longer his job security is considered a non-issue, the more likely it is going to become one.

Somebody told me the other day that there are some players in the clubhouse who are not so enamored with Trembley's management style anymore, and I couldn't help but laugh. There isn't a major league team -- and that includes the three teams with 80-plus wins -- that doesn't have a player or two who thinks the manager is an idiot. The farther you go down the standings, the more of those players there are likely to be.

If you want the best example of that I can come up with, it would be the Rays near the end of Lou Piniella's tenure with the team. The guy is a proven winner and the Rays had never won anything, but you'd be surprised how many players thought that Piniella was the problem and weren't afraid to go off the record to tell that to a national baseball writer they had never met before.

The point I'm trying to make is this: The 2008 season was supposed to be a washout from the start. Now that's it's finally washing out, it's not fair to start pointing fingers and trying to evaluate everybody based on revised expectations, especially in a rapidly deteriorating competitive environment.

AP photo

Today's featured comment

Today's frustrated featured comment comes from TerryP, who had a front row seat in his living room for Jeremy Guthrie's meltdown tonight:

Terry's take: Wow. Even Guthrie seems to have been inflicted with ineffectiveness. Maybe bad control and serving up fat pitches is contagious. Not to be outdone, Fernando comes in and serves up a couple of long ones. Too bad there isn't a mercy rule!

At least the handful of Rays' fans will go home happy tonight. What's tonight's attendance,10 thou? Pretty pathetic for a first place team, they don't seem to draw any better than when they were in last. And it's not like it's expensive to watch a game in Tampa so what gives?
So when does Tampa nation start making it's presence known around MLB? Can they fit the four of them in a Honda Civic?

Pete's take: That's a good question. It's not like the Orioles are a big draw right now, so I'm not surprised that more people don't attend an indoor baseball game in the Tampa Bay area with a tropical storm looming. I was more shocked when they couldn't draw 20,000 for a playoff preview against the Angels recently.

Jeremy jinxed? (updated)

guthrie.jpgGive me a break. I threw a question out earlier today asking whether Jeremy Guthrie is a legitimate AL East pitching ace or just a solid guy who stands out in very thin Orioles starting rotation. So what happens?

He sets a season high with six walks in three-plus innings and gives up seven runs to pump up his ERA from 3.28 to 3.57 in little more than an hour.

Guess it wouldn't be the O's pitching staff if every single pitcher didn't have a question mark hanging ominously over his head. Guthrie is entitled to one bad outing, but it couldn't have come at a worse time for the perception of the team...and this is the time of year when you start wondering if all the innings are taking their toll.

He could be forgiven if he's starting to feel them. He threw a career high 175 1/3 last year, but missed some time late in the season with a strained oblique. He's already 10 innings past that this year with a full month to go in the season.

Injury update: Reliever George Sherrill came up sore again after playing catch the other day, so his return will be further delayed. And the Orioles are going to play it very conservative with Chris Ray, so he will not be activated for the final month of the season.

Tonight's lineup and some rotation info (updated)

Roberts 2B
Markakis RF
Mora 3B
Huff DH
Hernandez C
Millar 1B
Scott LF
Payton CF
Castro SS

Guthrie SP

Rotation update: Chris Waters will be the starter tomorrow night and Brian Burres will get another chance at redemption on Sunday. Radhames Liz will start on Monday and Tuesday's starter is TBA. Could be one of the September call-ups.

Cabrera's convenient suspension

Daniel Cabrera's six-game suspension has been upheld and he will begin serving it today, which means that he should have ample time to rest his sore arm, especially when you consider that he could have dropped the appeal days ago when it became apparent that he was going to be moved back in the rotation anyway.

Dave Trembley was asked about that possibility the day he announced that the MRI on Cabrera's elbow was "clean," but he didn't really address it. Which means that one of three scenarios played out -- either the Orioles whiffed on the timing, Cabrera was holding out hope that the suspension would be overturned and he would save nearly a week's pay or the soreness is significant enough that the timing doesn't make any difference.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Drowning in a stream of consciousness

sarah-palin-governo_797905c.jpgI was all set to talk about Jeremy Guthrie and how he might be the biggest steal since the Louisiana Purchase when John McCain's choice for vice president leaked out. Sadly, it's not Jeremy, who would do quite well in command and control situations, but he isn't old enough anyway.

It's Alaska governor Sarah Palin (right, of course), a gun-toting, former beauty queen who officially becomes the first vice presidential candidate I've had a crush on since Walter Mondale.

I mean, we all know Dick Cheney is an attractive man, but has he ever been on the cover of Vogue? This is a big coup for the GOP, which has been looking for a vice president who can hunt without hurting anyone. The Miss Alaska runner-up thing is just a bonus.

OK, back to baseball. Guthrie goes tonight against Scott Kazmir and the Tampa Bay Rays in one of the better pitching matchups of the weekend. Both pitchers have numbers that aren't totally representative of their abilities (Guthrie because of poor offensive support; Kazmir because he was hurt for a significant chunk of the season), but they are two of the premier starters in the American League.

If the game plays to form, Guthrie will lose, 2-1. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Question for the day: Is Guthrie a legitimate No. 1 starting pitcher in the American League East, or does he just benefit from the stark contrast with the rest of the Orioles starting rotation?

Shameless self-promotion: Pardon the political goofiness, but Friday is my day to talk politics and other non-sports stuff on "The Week in Review" with Clarence Mitchell IV on WBAL radio at noon. Today's guest panelist is former governor Robert Ehrlich, whom -- I suspect -- is in for a whuppin'.

AP Photo

The kid has guts

Joe Flacco didn't knock anyone's socks off during last night's 10-9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at M&T, but he made quite an impression in the interview room after the game. When he was asked if he felt like he was ready to start the first regular season game against the Bengals on Sept. 7, he didn't lapse into typical athlete-speak and defer the question to the coaching staff.

"Yes," he said, and did not elaborate.

So, somebody asked him what he thought of the conventional wisdom that a rookie quarterback should sit for a year to learn the ropes at football's highest level of competition.

"How are you going to learn if you sit,'' he answered. "I think the best way to learn is to go out there and experience it."

Not sure that John Harbaugh and the Ravens braintrust agree, but they may not have any choice? Flacco is on the verge of winning the starting job by default, though there still is a chance Troy Smith will get healthy over the weekend and take over in time to face the Bengals on Sept. 7.

The QB soap opera is far from over. Casey Bramlet may stay around only long enough for the team to get some definitive information on Kyle Boller's shoulder, which may not be as badly damaged as it has been portrayed. The Ravens are holding out hope that both the Boller and Smith situations will clarify by Monday, though that wouldn't seem to leave sufficient time to get Smith to the point where he's a better option for the opener than Flacco.

Don't expect any announcement until late in the week. No sense giving the Bengals a heads up, but I'm sure they're assuming it's Flacco, too.


Congrats to the Baysox

The Akron Aeros lost the nightcap of that doubleheader with Altoona, 1-0, securing the Eastern League Southern Division for Bowie, which will have home-field advantage in the best-of-five first playoff round that starts next week.

The Baysox, who lost 9-3 to Trenton and had to wait out the Akron twinbill to celebrate the clinching, reached the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and won the division title for the first time in team history.

Tickets to all potential playoff games at Prince Georges Stadium are available on the Baysox Web site.

August 28, 2008

Trust me, it's Flacco

flacco.jpgJohn Harbaugh remained non-committal about the starting QB for the opener against the Bengals, but I don't think you have to be the reincarnation of Vince Lombardi to figure the thing out.

Joe Flacco is the only quarterback who has played well enough to be considered at this point, though the coaching staff wants to get Troy Smith back on the field as soon as possible to establish how he fits into the equation.

"Even if we planned to name a starter, we couldn't right now,'' Harbaugh said at halftime. "We'll find out more about Kyle in the next couple of days. We don't know about Troy. He was starting to feel a little better, but he couldn't play tonight. We'll see what the next few days bring."

There aren't a lot of days left. The Ravens have little more than a week to prepare for the opener, so it's hard to imagine anyone but Flacco being the starter at this point, unless some secret organizational decision has already been made to hold him back. Can't imagine that either.

The new era begins Sept. 7.

Sun photo/Gene Sweeney, Jr.