Well, I guess it's only poetic justice that after all of us agreeing that Guthrie is no #1, he ends up getting the win after pitching a very nice game. Once again the O's refused to quit, and swept the defending champs in their house. Nice win O's!
Even more amazing, I'm actually starting to have some faith in Sherrill again!

Sweeping the Phillies in their home park is no reason to criticize the Orioles even if the Phils are getting beat there pretty regularly. If Guthrie is straightened out, maybe .500 is in their future.

I don't think the O's got the memo that is was a)Sunday b)left handed pitcher c)series finale d)did I mention Sunday? Over here watching the game with my co-worker (Phillies Fan) and it was easy for me to explain to him who would come in the game in the 8th if we got a lead and say it with confidence and know we would win. Who are these O's?

Good feeling, Great Win!

Pete,

Do you think Huff is a trade candidate after the break? It looks like we've got 2-3 solid replacements at first in Wiggy, Salazar and maybe Scott (especially in 2010). Maybe we can get another arm or two for him.

............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I'm guessing that they do not move him, but it depends on whether somebody comes forward with somebody good. I don't think you go into any competitive season downgrading your run production at first base.

My hairs not really on fire to trade anybody but I wouldn't mind getting rid of Koji or Hill to make room in the rotation.Although Guthrie's value should be sky high for a third baseman.Just not whiff king Josh Fields.

A lucky break for the Birds on that one, altho it looked like Wiggy could have just stepped on the bag. That's why they're on the field and I'm watching on TV. BTW Pete, excuse my poor manners....Happy Father's Day!

.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Thanks. Same to you if appropriate.

Not out of the baseline? Are you serious? He was nowhere near it. You also have to wonder if Wiggington did tag him. The only replay I saw (from the Phillies broadcast) it didn't look like he had it. But if Rollins didn't think he is tagged why didn't he argue at all? He just walked off the field lik ehe knew he was out.

I was in section 129 (it was a gift - can't usually afford it) looking right down the line. This seemed like one of those plays where the fielder was in position, so the only thing that doesn't get the call is if Wiggy drops the ball, which would've been virtually impossible. If Wiggy goes at him and puts an aggressive tag on, everybody goes apes$%& that he overdid it. and I'd agree Rollins was out of the baseline. Anyway - great win, great series. let's keep the Mo going.

I say resign Huff, he's flexible to DH, play 1B or 3B if needed and he is clutch! A two year deal should be in the offering. I would trade Baez and Luke Scott and waive Mora. Meaning we need a 3B. Wiggy is a platoon player at best! Snyder, now he on the other hand may be a possibility but you know Ole Andy, we shall serve no rookie until it's financially prudent! Andy still has some work to do, a quality SP, 3B and a couple of relievers to include a situational lefty!

Look at his feet. he was clearly out of the basepath, It was a poor play on Wigginton's part but he tried to avoid collision and in that situation the umpire is always going to call the runner out.

Happy Father's day Mr. Schmuck. No gripes with you today sir....well except that I thought Rollins was clearly out of the basepath on that play. Trembley has been driving me absolutely nuts this year but I'll man up and give credit when due. I thought he did an excellent job today in a close game. I agreed with every single move. And the way they substituted the defensive replacements in the bottom of the 8th was very clever. (enabling Markakis to go into the 4th spot so he could hit in the ninth even though he replaced Reimold who had just batted in the 8th) I didn't even think of that. Great day/week for the O's, let's hope history doesn't repeat itself here and we can stay away from "the funk" of early June.
P.S: I'm trying to figure out why so many people are complaining about the new layout for the sun's website. I just use it for sports, but in my opinion it's easier than before. To get to your blog you only have to drag over Orioles at the top of the main page and slide over. No triple clicking and pop up window. Much easier.

Hey, great weekend for the O's, sweeping the Phillies was awesome. We battled them all the way and as Peter pointed out, it was good to see some calls go our way and then some. Thinking back, it seemed like the umps often screwed us in games against the Yanks and RedSox so maybe there are baseball gods out there!
I've criticized some of Trembley's moves but it's amazing how smart he becomes with a few wins...For the most part, he's pushed all the right buttons lately-how about Zahn going 3-4 with a dinger last night and even WIggy is getting a few knocks. We can quibble about the Baez insertion but without a dependable lefty other than Sherrill, what else does he do?
Why not bring up Wildredo and/or Waters and cut Hendrickson lose? Every time he comes into a game I get this sinking feeling and it's not as if he's suddenly going to 'find it'.
Other than that, I think there's reason for optimism. We may even have some good old-fashioned competition for roster and rotation spots now.
And for my final thought-why not keep Oscar Salazar around? Here's a guy that can flat out hit and he kind of reminds me of the bench guys like Ayala/Kelly that Weaver would have loved.

Sure the call was blown at first base but from what I saw (I was in Philly watching on a Phillies network that never showed the replay) the 2nd base ump blew the call on Roberts' steal attempt. I am a firm believer that a single call does not decide the outcome of a game so there is no cloud over the O's sweep. It is ironic how bad calls always seem to balance each other out though.

I TiVo'ed the game and saw the replay of Roberts' steal attempt that ended the previous half inning and he was indeed safe. It was a very close play...a far more forgivable blown call than the one that had Rollins called out at first, but it was a blown call nonetheless, and, in my mind, mitigates the Rollins play to a large extent.

I like this tema nd just not because of the 5 game winstreak. With the exception of Hendrickson, the pitching is solid and the hitting has already experienced a long total team collapse and that's not likely to happen again this year.

Here's my prediction: the O's win 85 games this year and that's a number they can reach if they play .568 ball the rest of the year.Quite doable!

Pete, was curious if you saw how close the play at first was on Adam Jones' single that plated B-Rob. Jones was loafing it down the line until he saw the right fielder was going to make a bid to throw him out at first. Adam picked it up and beat the throw by half a step. As a result of having to pick it up, he actually wound up inside the line after crossing first. First baseman could have tagged Jones and put the call in the ump's hand (intent wasn't there to go, but still)

Base running is a HUGE problem with this team. I think it is a bigger problem than the pitching (and an easier one to fix) I like Trembley, but he doesn't/can't seem to find away to get these guys to focus when it comes to running the basepaths.

...........................................................................................
Pete's reply: I think that was a lesson learned for Jones, fortunately without the bad result. I didn't see it, but heard about it from a lot of people.