True, True

Wow indeed, yahoo is reporting the game at the moment as 8-6 Orioles. I wish or is it a sign of things to come? Mora HR?

Very undisciplined move by AJ. Hitter in front of you walks on 5 pitches, you come up and hit the first pitch for a DP, then the hitter behind you walks.

Guess his patience still needs a little work.

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Pete's reply: That's true. He's trying to bust out, and he's hitting the ball hard, but he could have put a little more pressure on Pinto. The guy was willing to crack.

No one can argue that the Orioles have a team full of tough, veteran hitters. With the game on the line, who would want to face Roberts, Huff, Markakis, Scott, Wigginton(based on years past), Salazar or even Mora? And the O's youngins', Reimold, Wieters, I could even put Pie in there because he certainly has the skill, if not the experience, are no bargains either.

These guys know they are going to have to carry the pitching for a little while, but they also know that the pitching is getting better all the time. I've said, Peter, you've said it, and many posters here have said it, give this team solid pitching and they will be competitive.

Credit Trembley for instilling that never say die attitude and Mac for getting or keeping players who have that attitude. I mean look at Wiggy at SS. He looks like he should be playing MLB for the Ravens, and while he's not Cesar Andino, he gets the job done.

Who wouldn't like whats going on with this team and be a little excited about the future? Only the insanely negative, that's who.

Here's hopin' for a turnaround in this season.

Pete,

This game is found money. If they win, "wow" is right. If they lose, it was a good effort, had no business being in the game.

Pete,

You said it on your show this afternoon. Whats up with the Orioles and running the bases? Wigginton turns the corner with the play right in front of him???? Zaun's on third with 1 out and a sac fly gets him home? I really think an example needs to be made of what he just did.

Not being able to watch, did Wiggy have any real reason to attempt to take second? Did he think the throw was going to third?

Maybe we should write in Ty Wigginton in Connolly's poll about the slowest Oriole. Man, I really can't understand what was going on in his head. Someone has got to get our baserunning in check so we don't keep running ourselves out of innings in one-run games!

I love the Orioles and usually in my eyes they can do no wrong but Trembley managed himself right out of this game tonight. Why take out Reimold in the 8th with 1 out already and put Pie to play the final 2 outs just to pinch hit for Pie the very next inning?

Also with 2 outs in the 9th he took out Wieters and put Guthrie in to run for him. In theory Guthrie is faster then Wieters, I get it. But its 2 outs and he was on first! Not to mention Wieters homered and doubled in his last 2 at bats. When no one was hitting for the majority of the night you go with the hot hand. Wiwters would have scored and been batting in extra innings. Instead you take him out and bring in Zaun who drops the ball letting the game winning run score. Not saying Wieters would have made that play but he for sure would have hit better than Zaun.

And the Orioles are next to last in the league in sacrifice hits/bunts. Eventhough we won another comeback victory the other day, Andino leads off the inning with a double. You think hey there are no outs n we could score the go ahead run but just bunting him over to 3rd. Wrong! Trembley lets Salazaar hit away instead. That makes no sense to me. The Orioles during the year are leaving runs out on the bases and its becoming more aparent that Trembleys style is a main cause of it.

I'm not saying fire him but Trembley is really just barely starting to make me kinda mad with some of his decisions.

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Pete's reply: B, you've got to lighten up. Trembley managed his butt off tonight. Do you think if he did anything -- anything -- different in the eighth inning they still would have had five straight two-out hits in the ninth? You're joking, right?

I think Trembley did his best job of managing so far this year. A lot of people complain about him not playing matchups but that's exactly what he did tonight.
Pie only played 2/3 an inning in outfield because the opposing pitcher got hurt. Salazar was the next best option since you could save Luke Scott to bat for the pitcher.
Trembley then pinch hit Rich Hill for the pitcher when he was out of bench players. Hill was our pitcher with the most batting experience.
Trembley was great. We lost because of an egg-headed base-running mistake (again). Tough loss tonight. We'll get the next 2.

Trembley managed his butt off.Gutherie running for Weiters.Jones not bunting with no outs?Wigginton getting thrown out by a mile at second?Zaun dropping the best throw I've ever seen Luke Scott make against one of the fastest runners in baseball,who was out by 5 feet?And finally the wheels are coming off for baez again,he's starting to look like the Baez of old when he was overused.I called the grand slam before it happened.Yeah give the Orioles credit for battling back but the had the winning runs on for three straight innings and lack of fundamental baseball killed us.What about the ball Zaun let get under his glove that changed the whole inning.At the end of the night we lost,and ever since he started flip flopping Jones and Markakis around neither one of them have hit well at all.A blind man could see that.Put them in one spot and leavethem there.Sure worked at the beginning of the year.Trembley managed his butt off yet we still lost.And I've told people for two years Salazar can flat out hit,to bad he hardly ever gets the oppurtunity.Throw a little bad luck in as well,Huff hits two line shots,Jones two,the shoestring ice cream cone in right,and Hill smoked that ball.If there's one out that could have been the go ahead run,instead another frustrating Oriole loss.But my gosh,did you see how far that ball went to the opposite field that Weiters hit?He impresses me more every time I watch him.

And the 99 mph fastball Weiters got around on down and in was almost as impressive.

No im not joking Pete. Do I think if he had done anything different would they have gotten 5 straight 2 out hits in the 9th? No. But I do think if he had done some things different in the 8th and 9th he wouldnt have handcuffed himself in extra innings like he did.

If he keeps Reimold in,then Pie is still on the bench to hit in extra innings. Which means Salazaar wouldnt have pinch hit for Pie. So that leaves another hitter for the extra innings. Dont let Guthrie run for Wieters and that leaves Zaun for extra innings. So Pie,Salazaar and Zaun all would have been available to hit in extra in innings instead of oh i dont know Rich Hill!

I am not understanding why he took out Reimold for Pie for 2 outs of an inning just to pinch hit for Pie the very next inning? Can someone explain that to me? And someone besides the guy that said the opposing pitcher got hurt. What does the opposing pitcher getting hurt have to do with Reimold getting taken out. Did Trembley say" Oh man their pitcher got hurt i better make a double switch".

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Pete's reply: My God man, do you listen to yourself. There wouldn't have been any "later in the game" on Tuesday night if he had changed the sequence of events. I know one of the great things about baseball is you get to manage along with Dave or whoever, but I don't think that extends to always thinking you know more about the game than a guy who has spent his life in the minor and major leagues. I'm not saying Trembley is the best manager I've been around. He's not. But you act like he's some kind of imbecile who would be a much better manager if he had your cell phone number for those tough calls during the game.

Gotta love NL baseball, and the double-switch. When DT pulled Baez, the P spot was due up third the following inning. So the only way to get more then 2 outs from his RP would be to double-switch. And if you're going to double-switch, you generally substitute for your hitter who made the last out .... which was Reimold.

So by double-switching, DT used Ray and Pie, but he made it so that Ray could pitch the 8th as well. If he hadn't double-switched (ie, left Reimold in) then Ray would have gotten the last two outs in the 7th, and then been pinch-hit for in the top of the 8th .... probably by Pie. And that's a worse option, because now DT has to go back to his bullpen to get another reliever for the bottom of the 8th.

No, double-switching Pie and Ray for Reimold and the pitcher was absolutely the correct move.

It backfired because the Marlins' pitcher in the top of the 8th, Leo Nunez (RHP), got hurt. When that happened, the Marlins replaced him with Dan Meyer (LHP) to face Pie. So DT pinch-hit the right-handed hitting Salazar against the left-handed pitcher. That's why Pie only played two outs.

And pinch-running Guthrie was genius. Wieters isn't scoring from first on a double, even with two outs. And I don't know that Wieters comes around to score on two consecutive singles either. If they had left him in the game, it might have taken another hit to bring in the tying run.

I agree with Schmuck (ugh, i feel dirty just saying it) that Dave played this one correctly tonight.

Thanks very much. Now i understand it and feel alot better about Trembleys managerial skills.