What else could go wrong...a season-ending rug burn for Nick Markakis?

Geez Pete! Don't even joke about that!

So what do ya think, Pete? I know it's early, but how about a word on Michael Aubrey?

Is he f**kin' in, or what?

Pete--More accurately put, I believe is Brian Bass was allowed to put five straight Minnesota batters on base.

He didn't have it from the first pitch.

Felix Pie attempts to tag up on a foul pop up. LOL.

When Brian hits these ground outs, why does he continue to carry his bat down the first base line?

Is he afraid that, should he relinquish it, Jason (Newt) Grimsley will be too fat now to worm his way through the air vents to perform the bat switch?

You forgot Scott making the last out trying to go to second when the ball was obviously going to be cut. Ugly baseball. Pie had to do that on his own.

Well I got one positive play from a player: Reimold with a hustle double on a ball out of the zone to lead off the ninth. Hopefully the O's can bring him in and win this crazy game.

Is there some unwritten rule that Oriole relievers can only pitch one inning if they're pitching well? Its almost like Trembley continues to search for a reliever until he finds one thats having an off night. No wonder the bullpen is stressed. If this game goes extra's DT could easily use up the entire staff.

I love Nick. But what's he thinking in his approach going to the left side on every pitch with Reimold at second and no one out?

more great clutch hitting by the o's! reimold on 2nd, no outs, and of course no one can drive him in. it's ridiculous.

Clutch hit...anyone?

Frank Robinson will be celebrating his 74th birthday on August 31st.

God Bless him for all the beautiful memories he gave me and my Oriole friends.

Frank Robinson: the greatest Baltimore Oriole.

There are many facets of losing baseball and the O's seem to be familiar with every one of them.

I gotta agree with Brian on that one. Hedrickson is a reliever with a starter's arm and he only threw 8 pitches and then was taken out after throwing a perfect inning. Ray then only threw 13 pitches and was pulled as well after a good inning. Trembly doesn't seem to know how to use his bullpen properly.

Thanks for jinxing the O's Pete. Now Brian has hurt his wrist.

I usually have Trembley's back, but why leave Bass in after the first walk? Bases are loaded, he obviously was struggling. To leave him in to walk in a run is ridiculous. Come on now.

The loss to me doesn't hurt as much as watching the A**holes at Masn, announcers and camera crew included, trying to blame the loss on Felix Pie.

We lost because we're a bad team. If we could win close games we would not be bottom feeders. The game was lost because Markakis, Reimold and Weiters continue to fail producing runs with runners in scoring position. Weiters is an automatic out with runners on in late innings. Pinch hit someone for him for crying out loud.

I can explain why the O's lose a lot more games than they win. It's a lack of talent, not a lack of luck or other mysterious maladies. If your team is near the bottom of the league in OPS/OPS+ and pitching (ERA+), the stats dictate where you'll be in the long haul. Get better talent and these bad luck losses and the mystical bad karma disappears. At such time, the team will win more often than not. Until then, what you see is what you get. Losing.

How about learning some fundamentals, like how to bunt the winning run to third with no outs? I don't want to hear that Markakis shouldn't be bunting either. When a team flat out can't score in the clutch, you MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Also, why doesn't Bass come out earlier? Trembley continues to amaze.

And Slugger, that was boneheaded Pie play #2 in 2 nights... so I understand why the MASN guys were upset (See: positioning in center field on the triple in the 6th inning. Why he was playing like he was some sort of deep shortstop with a one run lead in the 6th inning is beyond me. Should have been a leadoff double at the most, but probably would have been caught if he is playing any where near where he should have been.)

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Pete's reply: Well, you're wrong, but since you don't want to hear why, I'll move on to the next comment.

Pete, Sersiously? This team CANNOT SCORE! At some point, you have to force some runs across the plate!!!! I guess it's better though to continue to not get runners over and in, as long as we don't offend our 'sluggers'.
I thought we were rebuilding and focusing on fundamentals... that's what I was told by Trembley and upper management from day 1 of this new phase. Well, let's see some fundamentals. Let's see our players actually handle a bat. At least hit a ball on the right side of the infield. At some point, those situations are going to come up when we are good and it matters. Luke Scott was on deck. They guy upper cuts. All we needed was a fly ball with a runner on third. That is a legitimate argument.
Now, I'd love to hear why I am wrong...

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Pete's reply: I'll tell you what. I'll write an entry on the main page explaining why I think your wrong about Markakis bunting. You're not wrong that these guys should be able to move a runner over, but that's a slightly different issue.

Interesting to see you say that Paul is wrong so matte of factly.

The thought did cross my mind too. Although I don't want to hear your side either cuz I already know it. Clean up hitter, 85rbis, giving up outs, playing for more than one run with our crappy pitchers, yada, yada, yada.

As another poster already mentioned the worst thing was that while swinging away he did appear to be actively trying to hit the ball to the left side instead of the right. Weird, but not surprising. Nothing the O's would do can surprise me at this point.

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Pete's reply: I agree, but I'm still going to burden you with my opinion on Markakis not bunting, and it's not entirely because he's the cleanup hitter, etc. I have no problem giving up an out there if the probabilities are in the club's favor, but they weren't and I'll explain that in a moment.

I agree that the O's baserunning this year has been a tremendous disappointment. I'm going to say what I think Pie was thinking based on what I saw on TV. Morneau and Mauer both had their gloves almost touching and crossed in front of each other with Mauer going into the dugout. I think Pie actually thought Mauer made the play and was going to be able to waltz into 3rd. But with no outs you do have to be certain that is what happened before tagging. It's not like it was a routine pop up he tried it on. Just saying...

I've beeb watching ML baseball for over 50 yrs. I've play a little and coached from little league to men's softball and I've NEVER, NEVER, EVER SEEN A sob DUMB ENOUGH TO TAG UP ON A POP ON THE INFIELD. iF i HAD HAD BEEN DT i WOULD HAVE TAKEN A RAZOR AND CUT THE UNIFORM
OFF PIE AND SENT THE STUPID ASS HOME. i HOPE i NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN EVEN IF ONE OF THE PITCHERS HAS TO PLAY IN THE OUTFIELD!!!!!!!!!!

SENT HIM HOME

The O's are clearly the front runner in MLB as the joke team of baseball, "K Mickolio is a joke, Bass is a loser, and Pie bright light goes out more than it's lite. Trembley is a hopeless dooft who sits in the dugout, unlike most other involved managers and sulks his life away. Solid 3rd place standing for next years draft.

Heck even Pittsburgh hita a walk of, and the Royals have a bonified ACE, what do the O's have an "All STAR" in right no one knows about, a 5 tool player in CF who sulks more than Trembley, and a diinterested 2nd baseman who has all the god given ability to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The Orioles organization is a travesty.

Thanks for letting me vent, now I can go work the remainder of my 50 hour week in peace(lol)

Just to clarify.

Pie's bonehead tag attempt was done with one out (the catch). That is precisely the time when to gamble to get to third. Still it was poor judgment. Though if Mauer had caught the ball it might have looked brilliant, eh?

As to his getting deeked on the hit by Reimold, no one at MASN clarified whether it was a hit and run or a straight steal. They just assumed that he should have been looking at the batter. Pie got a great jump, head down, popped up and looked right at Samuel, who apparently wasn't conveying information at that moment.

But by then, the Buck Martinez and Jim Hunter lynching party was under way.

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Pete's reply: That's a fair point. I also wonder why, after Pie looked at the third base coach on the play, he still broke back toward first base briefly. What was Samuel signalling?

Pete: What does Pie think the third base coach is there for? He needs to have his ears boxed!

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Pete's reply: The foul pop double play was inexcusable, but Pie looked at the third base coach on the stolen base/hit and run, then broke back toward first. I'm not there, but I'd like to know what happened with that. Either way, however, Pie already had given up his chance to get to third.