with only two confident pitches, should we assume that tonights new starter wont be able to easily adjust as the hitters get looks at him so he will be another 5 innings and a quick hook starter, at least for a while?

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Pete's reply: I would be surprised if he's allowed to go beyond the sixth, unless he's really efficient and overpowering. I think five innings and three runs would be as very nice evening.

Peter, just thinking about the last 8 or so seasons (and you can make an argument for double that or more)...

Just looking at the rosters over the last decade and who was taking the hill...Pat Hentgen, Bruce Chen, Eric DuBose, Juan Guzman, Doug Drabek, Sidney Ponson, Jason Johnson, Patt Rapp (really?), Rodrigo Lopez, Rick Helling, Matt Riley, Steve Trachsel, Brian Burres, etc. and of course, Daniel Cabrera. And this doesn't even account for some of the retreaded retreads we let swing the bat. Now I know we had high hopes for some of those guys and indeed some of them did get some national hype, but none of them was ever confused for someone you could cement even at the #2 spot in a rotation. I don't even think there was a conceivable confidence in either acquiring the Helling/Drabek -types or in promoting the DuBose/Riley -types.

We'll give credit for Erik Bedard and I know hindsight is 20/20, but I'm sorry, the Adam Loewen selection (and major league contract offer) still stings (over Grienke, Hamels & Kazmir).

You'd have to go back a solid 25 years to find a precedent for what's going on right now. Legit young pitchers earning their way to the big leagues, the confidence that they belong here, and that we haven't even touched our big 3. It's quite funny b/c as I near my 30th year, aside from Mike Mussina and Bedard, I really haven't seen anything like this as it pertains to the Os. Sure I've observed the Braves, A's, etc..., but this is way more personal and therefore, it's kinda foreign.

Has The Oriole Woe once again become The Oriole Way?

Wieters has agreed to appear on "The View " Monday morning. He will also promote " Matt For Jerry's Kids." He will NOT parachute onto the field Friday night. He will tie Cal's streak and sit out the tie breaker out of respect.

You must be kidding ! The Sun's own Poll rated Andy over 90 % A

Who is doing the criticizing pray tell ?

finally, the future is right in front of us. the light is shining and we are looking right at it!

Alex, it's hard to say that the O's should have taken Loewen over Grinke. Hamels I'll give you, but before this year Grienke wasn't much better than Loewen was when he pitched. Hell, he sat out most of last year and few would have been surprised if he retired in the offseason.

You guys are ridiculous. You can't just look back at that draft and just cherry pick the best players and say we should have picked those guys without contextual information.

Taking Loewen over Greinke was a high percentage move. Greinke had yet to fill out. Loewen already had a projectable body and was already at an ideal size. Taking a HS pick with a thin but projectable body was a gamble. The more risk there is, the less valuable the pick is. Picking Greinke at #4 would have been an overdraft. It would have been nice if Baseball allowed for trades of picks.

Hamels was a different story altogether. He was a lottery pick that dropped severely because he had a clean break of his humerus and hadn't played at all his junior year. He had a good Sr year but also dropped because of bonus demands. The Phils took the rest of that season to sign him. When he finally did play later the next year he was severly out of shape and took a while just to get conditioned.