Why shut him down if it is just a "tired arm"? Are they being honest here? Who has ever heard of someone being shut down for 4 1/2 weeks for a tired arm?

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Pete's reply: The quotation marks were supposed to tip you that it's probably a little more than tired.

But who's going to pitch for us in Game 1 of the ALDS?

Guthrie appears to be the only certainty in next year's pitching staff, unless the Daniel Cabrera experiment goes on and on and on. As bad as the Orioles have been in hte past, I can't remember the starting pitching being in such disarray. I still think Garrett Olsen has the potential to be a major league starter. Do you think he can develop here in Baltimore, Peter, or is it best for him to go to another team?

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Pete's reply: You can't give up on Olson yet. He might turn things around next spring and be a valuable member of the staff. Way too early to make a judgment like that.

2nd year in a row for Guthrie to come up lame in September.... Another year of that and he'll be tagged as a no stamina type. And for him to be our so called Ace, that's not good.

I'm hoping Guthrie will be able to make his final 2 starts of the year to reach 200 innings and end a good year on a good note. He obviously needs to be healthy though... but I say that if he wants to pitch, they should give him the benefit of the doubt.. and the ball.

"Richie (Bancells) told me he feels a lot better,'' Trembley said, "but I don't really know what that means.

I don't know why Trembley is worried about how Richie Bancells feels. (Now, where do I insert that smiley?)

you have to remember that this is Guthrie's 2nd year and has never pitched this much before in his career. It's normal for a pitcher with his experience to have these problems. Maybe it is that his arm is not strong enough for him to pitch this much. His conditioning has to improve for him to withstand this kind of stress.

There is nothing to be gained by pushing Guthrie at this point in the season. He has been the only reliable starter on the team, but there is no good reason to keep running him out there -- especially if there is something going on with his arm.

There is certainly no reason to question his stamina or his manhood. He proved some time ago that he is no Eric Bedard.

I am all for shutting him down for the year, BUT how nice would it be to see him pitch the last game of the year in the Bronx and at least give us a chance to close the season on high note.

btw wouldn't it be interesting to see the Yanks sign the Rocket to go an inning or two in the last game. In a normal year I would completely rule this out because of the playoffs,roster moves ,etc... But with the Yanks on the outside (of October) looking in it could happen. But won't.

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Pete's reply: Interesting idea. That kind of thing could only happen if they were already mathematically eliminated. I'm sure he'll be there, however.

Long time Fan. Why is Guthrie any different than Bedard? Both have had their share of end of the season arm injuries-why not leave it at that instead of using the situation to take a cheap shot at a pitcher that is gone?

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Pete's reply: I really didn't mean it as a shot at Bedard. It was a statement of fact.

Peter. My last post was directed to "Long Time Fan"(although I am a long-time fan!)..
I'm not saying you personally took shots at Bedard. I do belive you mentioned he and Guthrie's penchant for late season shut-down. The point I was trying to make is that let's not read too much into this. Both guys shut things down early and it's a bit of a stretch to say Guthire is more or a warrior than Bedard. Let's give them both the benefit of the doubt and say that they had legitimate reasons not to pitch and leave it at that..
Let's all focus on the current Orioles and their merits,etc and the direction of this team.

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Pete's reply: That sounds fair. I have no personal ax to grind with Bedard, though I wouldn't call him a "gamer."