Pete—You took your time analyzing comments from die-hard Oriole fans who were concerned and questioning why Brian Roberts has looked mentally unprepared during several games this season. I think you know that I have expressed my worry about this. You have acknowledged that you weren’t sure what was going on.

I continue to give Brian the benefit of the doubt. I think he may be hurting and may be taking something for pain that makes him a little dreamy. You have told me that as far as you know he is OK.

I believe you know that you were hearing from others like me who really love Brian and the Birds and were wondering what is going on.

You chose, in your response, to conclude with a chastisement of those who would begrudge Brian making his money while they most assuredly had cheated their employers by calling in sick when they went to the shore or to a ballgame.

I respect you, Pete and I know you respect me, too. But, after saying that criticism is appropriate for a professional athlete, you chose to conclude your piece with a point that you know is disingenuous. Nearly all of the fans I have been reading are Brian Roberts fans and wondering what is going on. We are not questioning how much money he makes. We are glad that Andy MacPhail resigned Brian.

To wrap up your thoughts with who is worthy of throwing the first stone? What are you talking about?

Hey, believe it or not, I have never called in sick to go to the shore or a ballgame. But as a 10-year old boy, I did fake a sickness by putting my head next to the heater in back-to back days so that I could watch the Yankees-Giants World Series. My reward? Both games were rained out. Here I was a rabid young Oriole fan and baseball lover in Reisterstown who did not want to miss the World Series back when the games were day games played during the week.

Hope this youthful transgression does not keep me from being a credible commentator on your blog.

I would also like to thank Nolan Reimold for busting his butt down the line once again tonight and turning what would have been a routine ground out to third into an infield hit. This is the second time this season Nolan has done this. Oriole fans appreciate his grit.

I recall that Adam Jones was chastised for not running out a ball earlier in the season. Contrary to what a few ill-informed posters have said, Adam has run full tilt down the line since in every situation.

Nick Markakis and Adam Jones do not go into a slow-pitch Sunday morning jog. They show leadership.

With all the foul balls Koji was giving up, I figured he wouldn't last past the 5th anyway. I was in the stands last night and I was amazed at how many batters managed to foul off 3 or 4 pitches.

While Hendrickson was great for getting the DP, it would've been nice if he had induced that one batter earlier.

Speaking of which, did it seem to anyone else that there were a lot of 3-ball counts last night? Except for Johnson in the 7th inning, it seems like all the O's pitchers had at least 2 3-ball counts per inning. The Mets had problems too, but the offense's free-swinging attitude late in the game nullified that.

Also, what was up with the scoreboards last night? After about the 6th inning, there were all kinds of glitches around the park. The main scoreboard skipped frames of the standard crowd shots, video routed to the lower screen went to the upper screen instead (most notably cutting off "Guess the Year"), and batter names on the side scoreboards were the opposite colors (O's were blue, Mets orange) than what they're supposed to be. None of these problems existed early in the game, so I was wondering if you had any idea what happened?

The O's major pressing need right now is a lefty specialist. Castillo is not the answer so they might as well give Waters a crack at it even though his ERA vs. lefties doesn't make your eyeballs pop out.

The O's hope for picking up a chip corner IFis slipping away as long as Guts is pitching so poorly.Don't want to give up a big 3 ram for one so free agency wil be the answer i guess, just no Adrian Beltre who getting by on reputation.

"give themselves a chance to close out the road trip on a winning note..."

I'm pretty sure they played these games at Camden Yards.

I know, EVERYONE'S a editor now, huh?

And as far as Barry's comments: Yeah, Brian Roberts has been dogging it on running to first, and we as fans should be able to call him out on it. We wouldn't tolerate it out of Felix Pie, why tolerate it from Brian Roberts?

Were you sitting with the Bill Hagy reunion group and partying with those guys? I was at the park last night and I do not recall being on a road trip.
Brian was slow when he normally goes full tilt; and both Nolan and Adam hustled. He was slow in getting to the area of the Huff area the night before. Question I would ask him if I were you, is he hurt?

This has nothing to do with your subject. You think the Sun could save up enough money to put the O's box score on the same page as the atricles instead of mixed in with all the others. I mean, how cheap is cheap?

Pete,

Last nights game was the best game I have been to all season. The Wieters homer, Adam Jones bobblehead, Crab Pretzel and beer, fans in my section being hilarious etc. The only thing that really didn’t sit well with me was Mark Hendrickson. Yeah I know he got that DP but he walked in a run he shouldn’t have and I just feel he got lucky to end the inning. In my section fans were making it clear not to boo Hendrickson but Trembley for putting Hendrickson out there in such a bad situation.

The Orioles are not that bad as a team
its just that they need a manager.