They played a fairly tight game all day, and then call the reverse at an odd time. Then leave Flacco open for the hit.

The reverse play call is on Cam. No need to get tricky, especially since they hadn;t run fake reverses earlier.

Flacco needs to read the defense before he gets sacked. Polamalu's coming, Joe needs to recognize it before he snaps the call. This is where no audibles hurts you.

A lot of penalties tonight hurt - we should have had a bigger lead going into halftime.

You have to capitalize against a team like Pittsburgh. We never got up more than 1 score, and at home, you have to be able to do that. This loss in on the offense. Until Cam can call a complete game plan, we're leaving too many teams hanging around. He's got to get that offense to score more. It's play calling, audibles, and execution, for the whole game.

Absolutely stupid at 2nd and 5 with three minutes left not to run the ball. Run the ball twice you're down to 2 minutes, punt and the Steelers have 2 minutes to go 90 yards. The way our defense was playing it would have been very difficultfor the steelers to win. The problem, Cameron is an egomaniac thats wants to do it by the pass.

Pete

At least you can have fun in Italy to flush this game out of your brain. 12:45 am' Monday morning and I can't get to sleep. I have just witnessed the NFL's answer to Friday the 13th and its many sequels: Ravens Trying to Hang On in Another Important Game. A horror tale that just happens over and over with only a few plot changes.

Oh yeah, the Nats just signed Jason Werth to a 7 yr/ $126M contract. Maybe you should look into an Italian soccer beat. At least with that you know up front things would be crazy! Plus you might change mens fashion in Italy with your colorful shirts.

Ciao.........

I don’t know who Runn Bengston is but he just mumbled: “Plus side: The next time Ben Roethlisberger is in a mugshot situation, it’s not matching up with the previous ones.” I like that

Must be nice to be able to speak honestly about the Ravens Pete....

Makes one think how it would be around here if you could do the same about the O's.

You know.... About how they have:

No one at 1B
No one at SS
No one at 3B
No one in LF (not really)
No middle of the order hitter
No closer
SP's who were mainly in the org prior to AM
Not one position player in the minors to get excited about. As in NONE.

Meanwhile, all the productive FA's are getting away one by one. And oh hey Pete.... Did you notice how AM underbid Dunn by 16m?

I'm serious Pete..... Just in case you missed it, he was off by 16m. Not 5, not 10....but 16m.

I don't know... it would just be great if we heard the truth about what's going on instead of hearing how one is grateful about AM's rebuilding effort.

Hmmmm... Looking above at the holes, it sure doesn't look like anything we should be grateful for.

Too bad!

Feeling sick because of Cam and Ravens offense.
But agree with Wayne about Orioles.
What is there to get excited about?
Nothing less than Carl Crawford signing, trading for a solid 3rd baseman saves this off season. We have ZERO position prospects. Synder stinks. Bell is fat and slow. Manny is 18 years old. oh well,Baltimore sports. We are inept at baseball and squander our football potential. I am not sure they know how hard we take their failures. But Harbs, Andy, Cam and Ozz......Its killing us. You get big money. We just suffer and go home as the big boys kick our losing butts every time.

The loss is tough to take on many levels. Maybe they don't have a killer instinct (although I am not necessarily agreeing with that notion). Maybe they won't play in the Super Bowl this year. But I do know a few things ...

(1) They are 8-4 and still a front-runner for the playoff position three-fourths into the regular season after being in the playoffs the two previous years. The Orioles were 42-79 and 32.5 games behind three-fourths into the season after having had 12 consecutive losing seasons.

(2) They make proactive moves to make the team better regardless of a salary cap or a pending salary cap. The Orioles muddle, then do something reactive and stupid -- well, they will do the second part in 2011 because that's what they always do.

(3) They try to win games and try to do well by their fans. They're human and they make mistakes. Other teams may prove to be better -- but even on those few occasions, they rebound by still trying. The Orioles are not only stupid and inept, they don't even employ their stupidity and ineptness in trying to win.

I'll be cheering the Ravens again as soon as I get my voice back. The Orioles don't deserve me as a fan.

Peter it's been a long time since I've commented on any of your blog entries. I felt compelled to chime in tonight and let you know that I could not agree with you anymore.

This team, particularly the offense, is so frustrating to watch. Everyone knows the kind of talent they have, yet the play calling and execution remain a puzzeling horrific catastrophe.

Your sentiment, along with the Derrick Mason quotes after the game pretty much sum up my feelings on the matter. It's a really sad situation because this year may be the best chance they'll have for quite some time. It's a shame to watch Cam Cameron throw it all away.

They've somehow managed to win twice as many as they've lost, and the playoffs are a realistic expectation at this point still. IMO the best chance to have a late season turn around in terms of the offense is to go to the muddle huddle, get to line quickly, let Flacco read the defenses and call out adjustments or audibles at the line and simply react to the situations he encounters. You're going to live or die with Flacco for sometime to come. Let's see if he can take the next step and really run the show ala Peyton Manning or even Matt Ryan. To hell with Cam Cameron.

I think the Ravens need to use a different shampoo.

MacFail isn't going to $ign anyone worthy. He isn't totally at fault though. potter is still very much in charge here. Megalomaniacs don't easily let go & this one surely hasn't. After 15 years, he has finally learned how to pull the strings behind the scenes & let the puppet take the wrath!
MacFail is the willing fall guy because he wants the support of potter for his true wish, to become the next Commish.
potter is content to turn his little profits & keep feeding the faithful just enough hope to get the real zealots into OPACY.
Nats $ign Werth, all the better in potter's eyes, he still gets Nats $$ via MASN.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/joe-crede-poised-for-comeback.html

Baltimore's third/firstbaseman for 2011(until Josh Bell gets his 2nd shot).

I want to thank Wayne for his post above.

For most of last season, and much of this off-season, his constant, focused, often off-topic rantings have found an audience. The Orioles were showing very few signs of making the right moves, so it was easy to see how his words could ring true in so many minds.

However, we now see the truth. His taking a major trade for a slugging third baseman and boiling it down to "198 198 198..." shows how little he knows about the sport he expounds upon to no end and thus has seen his credibility as a critic of the club ended.

Just the fact that he chose to focus on one of the worst stats possible for evaluating an individual's offensive output should clinch this, but let's look at it a little deeper.

Last season, Orioles third basemen put up 16 home runs to go with a .290 on-base percentage and a .378 slugging percentage. Last season, in the worst season of his four in the major leagues, Reynolds doubled the homer output, added 30 points to the OBP and 55 points to the SLG.

He was also unlucky. His batting average on balls in play was .278 which, since league average is around .300 and his previous years saw ranges from .323 to .378, suggests he is more likely to see that average get back up to his career .242 or better, which raise those other numbers even better.

Now, I'm sure Wayne's response, were he to respond at all, will be to spout something about "homerism" and "getting fooled by the Orioles" and similar statements. However, what you won't find is reasoned analysis, nor even the barest praise for a quality move.

When your claim is to see the Orioles turn themselves around, but you cannot allow yourself to see when they do something that is needed to contribute to a winning team, I don't know how you can be taken seriously as a critic?

Hey DJ,

This guy would have broken the O's ALL TIME strike out record this year by over 50 K's. How long have the O's been around? By 50 K's?

FIFTY....

And that's not just this past season. The dude is a strike out machine... And did you really say he was 'unlucky' to hit 198? Unlucky? Damn, I suppose those 200+ whiffs were just plain ole bad luck.

PLUS, he's an average defensive player at best.

And you want to compare anything to the garbage the O's put at 3B last season? Any cred you had was lost after that rant DJ... Oh my...

Next, when AM gets a FILLER at 1B, you'll be comparing the new stiff to the O's 1B production of 2010. You know you will DJ.

So, which columns can we check off now...

CHEAP - CHECK

198 AVG / STRIKE OUT KING WITH UPSIDE - CHECK

In this case, I can put initials in the text...

DJ'S BEEN PLAYED

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Wayne, buddy, try to get a grip on yourself. How could anybody be getting "played" when the team has lost for 13 straight years? In reality, the only person who's getting played is you, since you spend every day here acting like nobody else has noticed that the Orioles have been a terrible team for a long time. You're actually fooling yourself. The Orioles have few great options right now, so they're going to try and get somebody who will upgrage the offense. The guy is a strikeout machine, just like Adam Dunn and Carlos Pena. But those are the guys out there and you would be crowing even louder if the Orioles said they were going to stand pat instead of settling for that kind of player. Sadly, it is what it is and I'm afraid you might be the one who really doesn't get it. The thing that makes me tired of this blog sometimes is that there are a lot of people here -- perhaps including you -- who would be ripping Andy up if word had just gotten out that he refused to trade David Hernandez for Mark Reynolds. You really can't have it both ways.

Thank you to Wayne for doing exactly what I said he would and proving everything I said.

Thank you also to Peter for saying essentially the same thing. Just know that even if, due to commenters like Wayne and likely a dozen other reasons, you get tired of the blog at times there are plenty of us out here who never do and would hate to see you driven off by those who simply don't want to get it.

Keep having a safe trip.

Yeah, Wayne lighten up, why not give Mark Reynolds a shot? He's better then anything we had beforehand. I have decided to lighten up as well.

Also, Peter I can't beleive your blogging from Italy? As for me, I never had the pleasure of being over there. My list of things to do would be the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Leaning Tower of Pisa. Having Roman Holiday (Movie) with someone who looked like Audrey Hepburn or Daniela Bianchi would be nice. I don't think worrying about the Ravens or Orioles would be on the list =)

Lastly, this went over like a lead balloon at the Insider, but maybe you will share the vision with me here. I still hear the Orioles are interested in Grant Balfour who's Austrailian. if they do indeed sign him. I am hoping to start the club in the Upper deck or something like Balfour's Ball Fours or something silly like that and chant Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi". Then, after that we could have Olivia Newtown-John Night. She could sing the National Anthem, take me out to the ball game and so on. To me this is a tremendous idea. You have any thoughts? Hope all is well on the Vacation

wayne -

Since you're dwelling on one season, dwell on this:

Adam Dunn 2010: 199 strikeouts, 77 walks
Mark Reynolds 2010: 211 strikeouts, 86 walks

Look at that. Reynolds had just 12 more strikeouts and, fancy that, six more walks than Dunn.

You've got to admit, wayno, that it's pretty stupid to be so upset about Reynolds when you were so gung-ho about Dunn. Even in a terrible down year, Reynolds still hit 32 home runs and put up K/BB numbers very similar to Dunn's. And Reynolds is four years younger than Dunn. And Reynolds, while he isn't a plus defender, can field his position pretty well.

Look behind the numbers a bit, wayne.

Reynolds vs. lefties, career: .252/.380/.528

Reynolds from Opening Day until he got hit in the head by a 95 MPH fastball on August 5th: .220/.337/.482

Come on, wayne. Until his down year in 2010, Reynolds was essentially hailed as Adam Dunn Jr. This isn't a Garrett Atkins-esque situation, where a 30-year-old is coming from a hitter's park after three consecutive down years. This is a 27-year-old coming from a pitcher's park after one down year.

Sure, I would have been just as excited as you if the O's had signed Dunn, but, since they didn't, Reynolds isn't a bad backup plan.

By the by, this does not mean that I'm on board with Andy. One decent move that we've only seen on paper so far doesn't make up for anything. And it's still plain to see that he's not going to change his overall approach.

Surprised in you nb,

I never said they should sign Dunn. What I did comment on however, was the ridiculous, out of touch, low ball bid. Do you see the difference?

Hey DJ,

You done sniffy up Pete's you know what? Come on dude, have some pride. You actually tried to compare Reynolds to the garbage the O's put out there last season. You actually did that.... just like they'd like people like you to do.... That sir, is the definition of getting 'played'.

Hey Pete,

How ya doing bro? How many vacations do they give you per year over at the Sun? Wowzers.

Italy's the best though. Hope the weather's been good for you.

As for your reply.... Please!

I know people realize the team has been horrid for 13 years Pete ole boy. My concern however is how you're 'thankful' for AM's rebuilding. Just to recap Petey, here's just a taste of that rebuilding effort you speak of.

1B - Nothing
2B - Definate ?
SS - Nada
3B - batted 198 and struck out 50 more times than anyone in the history of this franchise. FIFTY!
C - Not drafted by AM
LF - Look at the stats
RF - Regressing
Closer - Zippo
SP - Most were here prior to AM
Buck - Chosen by PA
'Buy The Bats' - When?

There's the rebuilding plan your proud of Pete.

That's called.......

GETTING PLAYED

wayne

Also take into consideration that Reynolds wasn't doing as bad his season totals would indicate. After his concussion on August 5th, his BA was only .213 and .078 his final 2 months, indicating that maybe he came back too soon from an injury. My only hope is he doesn't have Paul Blair syndrome.

And even going along with his high strikeout totals and low BA, he still managed a .320 OBP and 86 BB's in 2010. We're not exactly looking at Adam Jones here.

If you're just going to focus on SO total, you have no arguement. And if you think Reynolds is going to bat .198 again, I think you're being rediculous. This isn't another Garrett Akins case. If you you're going to predict a bigger career downfall because he's facing Sabathia, Lester, Price, Beckett and Hughs - look up the NL West pitching and see who they have.

Also, by playing in the AL East, he'll being playing in more hitter-friendly parks that give up A TON of HR's. Look up Park Factors and you'll see 4 of 5 AL East parks are in the MLB top-8 for hitter friendly parks and compare it to the NL West.

And being that you were so high on the assumption that Showalter is playing a big part on call the shots, don't you think that he may have had some sort of involvement in this deal??? Or have you changed your mind on that one too.
Dude, you change directions more then the wind. What's your new catch-phrase now anyway? Here's one:

O's Fans Don't Be A Fool - Showalter Is AM's New Tool!

Keep fighting the good fight, man.

My apologies, wayne. I thought I saw you pulling for Dunn in some post somewhere.

Nice rebuttal to my comments about about Reynolds. Oh, wait. You completely disregarded my comments about Reynolds and continued to harp on one single thing while ignoring everything else. As per usual.

Uh-oh, wayner. You're getting to be just as predictable as Andy!

while the penalties didn't help, we've always had penalties. I think Cam Cameron's choice of plays had more to do with this loss than most. and you wonder why the Dolphins improved so much after he left??

Thank you to Wayne for once again continuing to prove everything I said.