wiggy set the tone with his HR in the first .... took all the pressure off 3e

Come on Peter. Maybe you don't pay enough attention to those polls on MASN but they are always a joke! The Orioles could lose 1-0 and be on the wrong end of a perfect game and MASN viewers would find a way to vote an Orioles player as the player of the game. They are an absolute joke and no one should ever put any credence to them.

That being said, you are right that Bergesen pitched an outstanding game (on Sunday no less!!) and deserved to be player of the game by a much wider margin!

In past years during this losing period, we didn't have enough legitimately good prospects or players to fill the 40-Man roster. This year, we're right at 40, and for the first time in many seasons, to make a move we come very close to having to get rid of a player we'd prefer to keep. When we get to the point where in order to promote a prospect for strong performance, but, we have to demote another in spite of their own decent performance, that's when we start to create an aggressive sense of competition throughout the organization. The message to the prospects in the system is clear: You can't just be decent to move up. You have to be extraordinary, because there is likely an extraordinary player above you whose job you will push.

Andino has really been doing some good under the radar things since Izturis got hurt.I guess when SS's don't get noticed,it's a good thing as least compared the last year.

Even with SS not being a problem for at least the next two years this there's one moron calling for trading Guts for JJ Hardy who's hurt and is a FA after 1010.If we're goig to trade Guts is has to be for a 1st or 3rd base prospect or young vet with some pop in his bat.The O's aren't desperate in either case and can fish for the best deal.

Now that Matuz is moving up to Bowie,I don't think any starter can be secure except Bergy. Koji and Hill are implosions waiting the happen. Berken needs to get on track also,although I'm pulling for him to be no less than a bullpen guy. I've been a big Mcphail basher in the past,mainly because he didn't give the org. guys a fair shot at making the club but he's made all the right moves the past couple weeks.

You missed on your reverse lock prediction today. It had all of the signs (requirements) for an O's win, esp.with that line-up.

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Pete's reply: I didn't call a reverse lock.

This Andino fellow is turning out to be an actual ballplayer rather than simply some bench-sitter we got for Hayden Penn. Good stuff.

And considering how it turned out for Penn thus far (he has been demoted to the minors), I guess it shows that A-Mac can make small quality deals as well as big ones.

Still, there is a sad angle to all of this is, which is Hayden's apparent never-ending and unfortunate inability to buy himself any sort of decent break.

Wow! Who cares who the "star" of the game is? In no other major team sport is a "game MVP" more of a nebulous category (unless an obvious pitcher's shutout or walk-offo grand slam, maybe). The thing is, 19 runs in two games, only six runs allowed, tons of base runners (Crowley's a genius again, I suppose), a win on a Sunday, for God's sake (so to speak), and two straight wins is reason enough for a small celebration.

I was at the game today and when I was leaving, they announced Wigginton as the player of the game? What a farce, Bergesen deserved it!

Plus as usual no call ins to the radio show allowed after the game, and they call it ALL ACCESS???? Please they need to give it a name change, I'll be listening to you Peter Monday night.

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Pete's reply: Thanks. That's why I'm there.

Gotta feel good about this one. Bergesen goes the distance cementing his position as the ace of the staff, Wigginton and Andino lead the offensive charge, and it was a Sunday win to boot.
I think this team might be able to scare some folks during the second half of the season if they can keep their confidence in themselves. This year has been amazing. Just when you think they're ready to break out and catch fire, they fall flat and sink like stones, and then just when you've written them off for the year, they put together a couple of stunning wins and get you hoping again. I guess with all the young players on the team, and little in the way of veteran leadership, this is to be expected.
A good solid second half will go a very long way towards making this O's fan start believeing in Orioles Magic once again.

I’m not going to freak out about this team anymore as long as they are entertaining that’s all that matters. Camden Yards is a great place to hang out and get a beer. Where else can you buy a crab pretzel? Many other major cities would kill for such a nice place to relax during summer.

Isn't Brad Bergeson the greatest! The Orioles have definitely found their starting ace.

Hooray for the O's. Ty Wigginton played his college baseball at UNC - Asheville, just down the road from me. I was able to see Friday and Saturday's games on TV here (SportsSouth) because we get all the Atlanta Braves games here on the TV. And I just really went down memory lane at seeing Camden Yards, Eutaw Street, etc. The Atlanta announcers miss seeing the Bromo Tower as much as I, and I'm sure many other Oriole fans. In fact, they had the Bromo Tower superimposed on that ugly white hotel. I didn't se the game today because I was at the ballpark attending the game of the Asheville Tourists, our minor league baseball team here. But I follow the O's and the Nats faithfully.

Brad Bergeson had a good week to say the least. He pitched his way to the big leagues by being good at every stop in the minor leagues. Watching him pitch, you can't tell he is a rookie.

I can't remember the last time the O's had a rookie pitcher and rookie hitter doing so well. Brad and Nolan have certainly earned the right to be major leaguers by working hard in the minors. I hope this doesn't go unnoticed by all the other young prospects in the system. I know Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer having been saying for years that if you are a young prospect in the O's system, you should be thankful because there are a lot of opportunities for guys that want it bad enough. We certainly have two for now at least.

Sorry Pete, I wasn't clear enough (why I am not a writer). Today's game was the "perfect storm" for a reverse lock call by you. I was kidding, after missing on your other ones, that you didn't take the opprotunity to make it with this game.

BTW, any idea if the O's feel that Andino might turn into the SS of the future now that he has shown some promise recently, or still just a good utilityman?

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Pete's reply: I don't know about that. He's a decent young player, but I guess we should wait and see how he does for the whole three or four weeks. Some guys come in in this kind of situation and play well because there is no pressure on them. Then the scouting reports start to catch up and they can't sustain that level of performance. Don't know if that will happen here, but you've got to like what you've seen so far.

Glad he went the distance, he should have had the complete game last start also.

As far as it goes for Andino, he is a huge plus for the Orioles, and obviously is competent enough to start at short in the majors. Who knows the Orioles situation may be perfect for him, has time to step up his play, while Izturis has only one more year remaining. Not bad at all.

Schmuck,

When the Orioles initially traded Penn for Andino I asked you if Andino could potentially supplant Iztruis as our SS, on the condition that Andino produced when given time.
At the time you said "not a chance". Of course no one expected this outburst from him, so I can't blame you, but I want your take now. Any different?

Pete, I'd say a coin flip between Wigginton and Andino; true, Andino did more in a way (especially, I'd say, with the glove), but I'd dispute whether he had a much bigger role--a bigger role, maybe; a much bigger one?...hmm, not so sure about that one.

The one big thing that Wiggy did Robert didn't do was set the tone in the first inning with his two-run homer. No only did that give everyone in the lineup a sense that maybe D-Lo was hittable, but he gave Bergesen a three-run cushion with which to go into the second, and that's huge, especially for a rookie pitcher.

You know a lot of people are griping about Wieters gettiing too many days off,especially with scheduled off days during the same week.i really don't have a problem because they are protecting the guy long term and they have a lot of investment in him. They want him to stay a catcher as long as possible and that means saving wear and tear on his legs,knees.He's a big dude to have to get in that low crotch and that puts a lot of stress on his legs,back,joints.Plus like it or not you want Zaun to stay sharp as the back up. If Wieters was raking the ball,it might be a different story but for now give his legs a break a couple times a week.

I agree it may be too early to make a call on Andino, but ... with all the hype that Izturis came with as being a great defensive SS, it looks like Andino actually has better range. Guess the real question is whether he can hit enough? Was that your point in saying "when the scouting reports start to catch up"?

Still - from an organizational depth standpoint - Andino sure looks like a better option than a lot of the other SS starters we've seen in the past few years.

Peter- I guess we know who our Ace is. At least until Tillman, or someone else gets here.
When he is one, he is as good as anyone in baseball, this Bergy.
I hope Nick breaks out of this funk soon. I want him to be better than I guess he is, at the plate anyways. he is a monster with the glove and arm.
2 assists this series, I guess the Braves must not get the Sports section or something.

Gotta like Bergy. He has a good combination of ball movement, control and poise. Unlike quite a few O's pitchers of the present and recent past, he can get through 5 innings without throwing 85 or 90 pitches. So he's a guy who can not only win but also save your bullpen.

Good piece today by Mike Klingaman about Hobgood. Sounds like the kid (if you can call a 6'4", 245 pound guy a kid) has a good makeup. If his talent measures up he looks like he could be a good one.

Agree with you Pete,

Once the scouting report starts catching up to Andino his ability to get on base will suffer, but then again, we can't all have players like Hanley on our roster playing SS. I love this kid's defense.

Remember guys like Newhan? They come in and swing the bats great until people start figuring them out. If Andino can maintan a .230-.250 Avg and play stellar defense I do not care if he is our SS of the future. The rest of the lineup on paper, as I have said before, is the best in MLB :-)~

well it's player of the game, and i've seen opposing pitchers play CG and actually hold the O's to one hit, and they get like 15% of the vote. which is fine if it is 'oriole player of the game', but it is not. either leave out the opposing players and vote on the orioles only, or vote for the BEST player of the game. so it rarely happens, and i'm not surprised wiggington took 40% of the vote vs Andino with 15%.

The reason for that is many fans have no clue how crucial game-turning plays are - they just relate to the long ball. perhaps they are fans that started watching baseball during the dreaded steroid/offensive explosion era - who knows. all i know is that the vote is rarely logical and rarely reflects the best players of the game in an appropriate way..

tagging on the radio comment, I really can't take listening to the Tom-Dave pregame show, not the content, its that they play the theme music through all the talking... It makes me feel anxious like they are rushing Dave through his comments, QUICK DAVE! TIME IT RUNNING OUT!!! That and it seems like the bits are all of 3 minutes long bw commercials.

It gets really annoying.

Is there any concern in the organization about Bergesen's workload? He's on pace to throw 207 IP this season, which would be 40 more than last year.

I'm glad he's pitching well enough, and efficiently enough, to be averaging 8 IP per start over his last 4 outings. But at this rate, they're going to have to shut him down on Sept 1. Which might not be such a bad thing for his long term development, but is certainly going to ruffle some feathers around here.

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Pete's reply: I don't think his workload is an issue yet. The Orioles can only hope he pitches into the seventh or eighth inning every time he goes out there, but those things tend to correct themselves. Dave, however, will be happy to not be the only one worrying about pitching workloads, because he generally gets criticized for pulling pitchers too early.

Two home runs hit versus 2 earned runs allowed in a complete game. In my book there is no contest and the pitcher wins; however, there was a reason the pitching mound was lowered and that is the same reason the dh was instituted in the AL.

bergesen should have been mvp. the way lowe pitched and the atl. bullpen pitched a jv team would have scored runs. andino played real well. he's a really good defensive player. if he hits that's a plus but you need a good defensive shortstop to win. by the way the st. louis cards. isturis' former team, needs a shortstop. the player they brought in to replace izzy, k. greene, may be leaving baseball because of constant anxiety.

The masn polls have as much credibility as an Iranian presidential election.

sportnut, I think you misunderstand the meaning of the term "All Access." Nowhere in the definition does it mean anything about callers being allowed to comment. "All Access" refers to Tom and Dave giving the listener access into the O's inner workings, either through interviews or press conferences or whatever, as well as analysis. Just because it's on a sports talk radio station doesn't mean they have to let callers call in. It's a pre-game and post-game show created by the Orioles, not by 105.7. In fact, see if you can find me an official pre-game/post-game radio show that allows callers to call in, and not one of those "e-mail your questions to the hosts" thing.

Is it me or does Tom Davis voice have a weird, high pitched whine in it. It is almost unlistenable(is that a word). When I lived in DC area(80's) and watched the O's on HTS, i always thought he was an up and coming voice/announcer. I can't make myself listen for more then a minute now. Just nit-picking out loud because the O's are once again fun to watch and root for! By the way, they better get started on signing Huff and/or Luke Scott. That's alot of left handed power hiting the free agent market if you don't.....GO O"S!!!!!!

"In fact, see if you can find me an official pre-game/post-game radio show that allows callers to call in, and not one of those "e-mail your questions to the hosts" thing."

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Not sure about the pregame show, but the Tampa Bay Ray's postgame show includes call-in segments

I'm a little bit disappointed at all the hate I read earlier about Wieters taking a day off in lieu of Zaunie behind the dish. It's not the decision that I would have made, but clearly it worked well, with Bergesen going the distance in spite of it. Trembley's got a hard job to do, balancing the right amount of experienced players (Huff, Zaun, Mora), hot players (Scott, Wigginton, Reimold), tweeners who are out of options (Pie, Albers), and the young guys who can't be allowed to fester on the bench (Wieters, Reimold, Pie), all of this with the front office breathing down his neck.

I disagree with some of his calls to the bullpen, but nine times out of ten, Trembley will still hand in a good starting lineup.

My only adjustments would be to swap Mora and Reimold in the 5 and 7 holes, and Jones and Markakis in the 2 and 3 holes. Jones is the better hitter right now and is showing better power. Markakis gets a little bit better protection, and Jones gets a better power hitters' spot. Reimold would also be in a better production spot with his hot bat, and Mora can move down in the order and get a chance to get hot with less pressure, with Wigginton even spelling him from time to time. I'm sure Trembley has thought of this and has his reasons for not making these changes, and with our latest results, I am more than content at that.