Pete--Excellent column. I thought you may have pulled your groin and tried to gut it out this afternoon without much success, but now I see that you were game and clicking on a different diamond.

God, I can't wait for the new Baby Birds.

Come on Pete, we need you to stir things up a little bit to get the blog activity going. I mean how much can we blog about a .250 hitting SS having a stretched muscle. Now had you thrown a bomb out there like the O's might decide to leave Wieters down the whole season that would have brought a flurry to the blog! Or maybe Cal considering a Brett Farve and playing SS while Isturis sits! Now that would have brought some action! Nice article on the new wave of O's, it will be interesting to see who moves at the deadline and who we bring up! At this point that is all we have to root for!

Pete--Wow, you conked out tonight like Trembley and Ray in the 7th.

I'd like to go on record to make it clear that Oriole fans do not like to lose to the Yankees under any conditions. Seeing a rookie pitcher battle through 6 innings and keep the game at 2-1, down by only a run, and then watch it drift away into the rabid enjoyment of the New York crowd--not good.

Chris Ray has had a real problem in his career getting Yankee hitters out and giving up the long ball (remember the grand slam to Alex Rodriguez?).

Dave Trembley's handling of pitching is a bid mix of both questionable and unlucky. Not good.

I really feel if the O's are about to start calling up their top prospects that the F.O. really needs to rethink Dave Trembley as the Manager. I like Dave and I am the first to say that it would be impossible to find a manager to win with this team, but the little mistakes keep piling up on the field, as this season has been awful with the base running, overthrows in the OF, miscommunication between players and so forth. I don't think the players should be let off the hook, but this team looks like a team that has no focus and if Andy doesn't feel Dave will be here next year, he should find someone now. This is Dave's team, his coaches and it's getting worse. This can't go on too much longer or the O's will be mailing it in and we are only in May!

Pete, is it time to send Ray to the minors to work on his mechanics and confidence? He looks overmatched out there and maybe some time in the minors would do the trick. What is his situation in terms of options left?

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Pete's reply: I think he has an option left, but I'll have to check. I don't believe they are going to send him out, however.

Pete,

In a previous post Burt from Essex was complaining about Dave Trembley mismanaging the pitching by not having a lefty reliever come in to start the bottom of the seventh with two left handed hitters coming up for New York.

Your response was to say that Trembley was in a no win situation with the fans, because others would be up in arms if he pulled Brad Bergesen (who was very impressive tonight, especially considering he was pitching in Yankee Stadium) with one out that inning.

Well, I'm kind of in between those two views. First, Bergesen did look like he might be beginning to tire, having walked his first batter the previous inning, then two walks in the seventh. I think given how little big league experience he's had in his career and approaching 100 pitches in the game, Trembley would have been completely justified in pulling him after six innings. (In retrospect I think that was the move to make, but I'm not faulting him for leaving Brad in the game.)

However, I also understand that he was pitching at a high level for almost the entire game (he'd like that one bad pitch to A-Rod back, but other than that...), so Dave didn't mismanage per se by leaving him in.

My gripe with Trembley on this one is simple. Because of Bergesen's inexperience and pitch count, if he's going to take the calculated risk of bringing him out for the seventh, he needed to have someone warm in the bullpen and ready to come in at the first sign of trouble, especially in such a tight game with the Orioles struggling to put runs on the board.

Yet as I listened to the game, the radio announcers were commenting in disbelief on how it didn't look like Chris Ray had enough time to warm up before being summoned.

And to me that's inexcusable. It's like Trembley was asleep at the wheel on that one. I've watched MASN's postgame interview with him, but the subject was never raised, so I don't know Trembley's justification.

It makes no sense to me why he waited so long to get Ray up. Very perplexing, to say the least.

Your blog is a joke. Your take on the O's rebuilding plan has no credible sources and is your entire speculation. You are a shame to professional journalism.

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Pete's reply: Well, it's a column, not a news story, so I'm entitled to speculate, but thanks for the journalism lesson anyway. Nice how you didn't include your name. I'll save my shame for someone with the guts to back up what he or she says.

Why does this org. have such a tin ear towards middle relief? We saw it again last night with Ray.Other than Baez and Johnson this bullpen is awful.Why doesn't McPhail ever make performance based demotions/ promotions? How can they push the plan ahead sooner if all he does is wait on injuries to happen to promote?

Excuses are not necessary when your performance is consistent (not your laptop...the Orioles!).

The same old pattern:

(1) Offense shows aggressive approach out of the gate, and then lays down for the rest of the game once they get behind.

(2) Defense shows lack of fundamentals and focus.

(3) An overly-hyped member of the bullpen comes in and is completely outclassed by a good team.

(4) Team loses 1st game in the series - pattern here dictates they lose the series, and odds are they get swept.

The Orioles did break one pattern this year: Normally they wait until after the All Star break to show that they don't care if they win or lose.

Pete. I liked your article noted above. It does put things in perspective and makes me hope that this team is finally headed in the right direction. I'd rather see us lose with players that have an upside.

Pete,

You need to fix your link.

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Pete's reply: Thanks, don't know how that happened. It's fixed.

I understand you're pressed for time. Here's an idea, why don't you copy someone else's column and put your name on it... worked for Maureen Dowd and Jo Biden.

Laptop problems??
Oh Pete- a musician never blames his instruments Kidding- your take on the future is hopefully, spot-on. On the other hand, with all the injuries, rushing things now to "fill the gaps" may be detrimental to the real future.
I really do hope that Matt Wieters turns out to be everything his legend and minor league performance seems to indicate he is.
Jeff

Sorry for the the Negative.
Ray has not done well this year. Consistency and dependability is a necessary requiremtnt of a releive. This is not Ray this year. Yes he is coming off an injury. So sending him to the minors for this year to get it together is necessary. This is not the play ground this is major league baseball.

That I can see he is looking for another injury. His Violent mechanics are damaging his arm. He cannot find a release point. The ball is all over the place.Lets stop being a welfare agency for pitchers not performing.

Add to the list Hendrickson, Walker and Eaton. Eaton cannot pich battting practice. Walker is done (Well Done).

It is going to be tough going until the cavalry arrives. So lets find out aout some of the others-Waters.....

Sorry for the the Negative.
Ray has not done well this year. Consistency and dependability is a necessary requiremtnt of a releive. This is not Ray this year. Yes he is coming off an injury. So sending him to the minors for this year to get it together is necessary. This is not the play ground this is major league baseball.

That I can see he is looking for another injury. His Violent mechanics are damaging his arm. He cannot find a release point. The ball is all over the place.Lets stop being a welfare agency for pitchers not performing.

Add to the list Hendrickson, Walker and Eaton. Eaton cannot pich battting practice. Walker is done (Well Done).

It is going to be tough going until the cavalry arrives. So lets find out aout some of the others-Waters.....

Pete, the link in this entry does not go to the article you intend. Found the article though. Very good, as usual, and I agree that significant improvement is just around the corner. In fact, I get pretty frustrated with the instant-gratification folks that can't see the big picture or recognize that some patience now will be rewarded in the next 4-6 years as all these young guys mature. I know I sound like I bleed orange, but I think guys like Bergeson, Tillman, Hernandez, Matusz, Markakis, Roberts, Wieters, Jones, Reimold, and maybe Snyder can bring back an extended period of winning and contention that we have not seen since the late 60's and early 70's.

Regarding Weiters, your prediction on timing might also be accurate from the perspective of getting Weiters in place at the major league level so he can catch the pitchers that he worked with the in the minors as they arrive. How is his defense coming along? I remember reading that the Orioles wanted him to work on his defense and working with pitchers while in Norfolk.

This morning, my almost-4-year-old-son Andrew told my wife that he hated birds. Apparently he'd had a bad dream about birds, so he decided that he hated them. My wife told him that he shouldn't say that he "hates" birds, because saying that you "hate" something just isn't very nice.

Andrew responded with: "Ok. But we still hate the Yankees, right?"

Birdland.... haven't heard that krap in a while. Keep it buried.

There has been a lot of speculation that David Hernandez will be the next call-up for the Orioles. Is he projected as a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy, or is he a low ceiling stop-gap until Arrieta, Tillman, and Matusz are recalled?

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Pete's reply: I think he's similar to Waters, in that if he comes up and does well, he's got a chance to stick, but he's not considered on a par with the more elite prospects.

yes, Yes, YES!! Where do I buy my Oriole Weiter jersey?!?!?!?! Seriously, is one out yet?? What # wil he be in the majors?

Great article Pete, thanks for the encouragement, it can't be easy at times to write about this team day in and out but you help some of us keep our heads to the future which is the only choice outside of just ignoring the team. It's hard to keep our eyes to the future but you are a great help and hopefully some day we'll all be happy to cheer on a successful orioles team.