Saw that too. He knew he hit that out the second he connected with the ball. Great moment!

You know, just hearing the name Albert Belle makes me cringe. Worst. Signing. Ever.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am sick of the same teams being in the playoffs every year. With that in mind, let's go Rays. Yeah, I'm jumping on the bandwagon because the Orioles haven't won the World Series since the year before I was born. Maybe I cursed the Orioles. Nah... I'm pretty sure it was Peter A. Too obvious? How about P. Angelos?

Same teams in the playoffs? Umm...no Yankees, no Mets, no A's, no Diamondbacks, no Cardinals, no Braves, and no Astros. Sure, the Red Sox, Angels, and Twins have been there before. The Brewers haven't been since 1982. The Phillies haven't won back-to-back divisional titles since...well, at least 25 years. The Dodgers are back in the postseason after a long drought. The Cubs are in for the 2nd straight year, which is like a record or something. There are lots of new teams and players to cheer about this postseason!

I just hope that Nick Markakis is around when the Orioles make it back.

Pete, is it even worth the O's time to see if the can get Tex? The guy is going to get one of those crazy 120-150 mil deals so why waste valuable time.

I am very excited about this offseason because last year, we didn't know if Peter would interfere (he didn't) so it's Andy's show to run. I saw a team fall apart in July, but till that point, we were all watching the late games for another Orioles Magic comeback so when you look at what happened in July with Albers going out and then the floodgates erupted with JJ, George, Sarfate, Guthrie and even Mora missing significant time. This means if you can get those inning eaters, you can compete and it looks like the O's will have a nice BP with Ray coming back along with the above mentioned.

I don't see the doom and gloom that others see because while they are by no means 2 or 3 players away, they aren't as far back as the record indicates. I truly believe that they will goo hard after AJ and another SP (not in the Trax or Benson mode).

Pete, did we see the last of B Rob? I think we did. I know the assumption is how the heck can you put yourself in a position with no SS or 2B, but the SS could come in the trade and Dan Uggla isn't going to be with the Marlins so you have a 20+ HR and 90+ RBI guy there. I see it that B Rob is the only guy who can bring back years worth of draft picks in one trade.

I wont lose faith as long as we have you and Amber covering the Birds.

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Pete's reply: I think B-Rob could go. He, frankly, seemed like kind of loner this year in the clubhouse with Jay gone. Don't think he feels that great a bond to the team. If he doesn't want to re-sign, Andy has to deal him, though I hope that doesn't happen.

Daniel, definitely not you unless your last name is Angelos also! :-)

I am a Rays believer in the post-season.

Can you tell me who we got from the Chad Bradford deal?

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Pete's reply: $4.5 million in saved salary. Haven't heard the player to be named yet, but I wouldn't worry about him being a future star.