Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think I saw a karmic shift last night when the Orioles were winning the opener of their four-game weekend wraparound series against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Think about it. If I had told you that somebody scored two quick runs after a player reached base on a third-strike wild pitch with two outs, and that same team added five more runs after a dependable shortstop double-clutched a two-out ground ball an inning later, you're probably conditioned to think that the team on the wrong end of that bad fortune would be the Orioles. But that's how the White Sox self-destructed on Friday night.

Meanwhile, the so-called greatest first-round draft bust in recent years is starting to look like one of the best players in the league. Matt Wieters (right) delivered a mammoth two-run homer to give the O's a 5-3 lead and added a two-run double to help break the game open. He's already one of the best defensive catchers around, and he's only scratching the surface at the plate. He's going to be one of the cornerstone players here for a long time.

That said, the Orioles are still sub-.500 and really need to start winning series to establish that they are a clearly superior team to last year's model and to buy more time until Brian Matusz returns to the starting rotation. Winning two of the next three in Chicago would certainly help.

Correction update: I mixed up the circumstances of last night's fortuitous rallies in a previous version of this blog entry. I was trying to watch both the game and the NFL draft and got a little discombobulated. As always, thanks for your understanding.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (58)
Categories: Just baseball
        

No doubt, Ozzie Newsome woke up this morning still irritated that he doesn't have an extra fourth-round pick in this week's NFL draft, but the Ravens probably should just be happy the aborted trade didn't cost them the player they wanted.

Newsome, who's better that this kind of thing than just about anybody, had a deal done with the Chicago Bears that would have given the Ravens an extra pick and almost certainly would have resulted in them still getting cornerback Jimmy Smith. The Bears apparently got their man, too, but the communications breakdown apparently was not intentional.

I'm not sure all's well that ends well, because the Ravens made the deal in good faith and probably deserve that draft choice, but it could have been a huge embarrassment if the Kansas City Chiefs had swooped in and picked Smith with the 26th pick.

No doubt, the Ravens would have drafted Muhammad Wilkerson or Cameron Heywood and acted like he was their first choice all along, but we now know that was not the case. Coach John Harbaugh said afterward that Smith was their clear choice and they wanted him badly.

Of course, I thought they should have gone for a pass rusher like Heywood or Wilkerson, but maybe they'll still be able to get a quality guy in tonight's second round.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Just football
        

While you're drooling over the long-term outlook for Zach Britton, don't ignore what else happened during the Orioles' 4-1 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night. Jim Johnson was nasty again, and this time for two innings, and Kevin Gregg seems to be getting into a better rhythm in the ninth.

Now, for the harder work of beating Josh Beckett and/or Jon Lester over the next two games. The Orioles must -- repeat MUST -- win this series before they head to Chicago for a four-game set against the White Sox. I outline why in my column for tomorrow's print edition of the Sun, but you can read it right now right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (122)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Orioles are heading into the middle innings of tonight's game against the Red Sox with a slim lead and young Zach Britton is pitching well again. Now, if they can just hold on and put themselves in position to win this series, it would provide a big confidence boost for a team that has got to be wondering which end is up.

Numbers don't lie. The Orioles have the second-worst record in the American League, the worst team ERA and the 29th-ranked on-base percentage in the majors. None of that spells turnaround, but they desperately need a lift with the White Sox for them in Chicago this weekend.

I'll have a column up on this very subject in the next hour or two. Check it out.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Now, you're probably bracing for me to come up with some pollyanna explanation for where the Orioles are right now, and you will be waiting a long time for that. The O's are in crisis. There is no doubt about that, and the proof is in this 2-11 run that has taken all the joy and optimism out of the fan base.

There really is no sugar-coating that. If they don't figure out a way to win a few games in a hurry they'll be on the doorstep of replicating last year's devastating 2-16 run, which would be, well, devastating, though not as devastating as that one.

Which brings us to my original point. The Orioles are actually lucky right now that they are not already completely out of the picture in the AL East. By this time last year, they were so far down they couldn't see up, but all the other teams in the East except the Yankees sputtered out of the gate. Somehow, the Orioles are only two games out of second place after this crappy run. Last year, they were 11 games out of first place at this point in the season and 9 1/2 out of second.

I'm sure there are those who would say that last place is last place. I know a lot of people on this blog think that way, and that's fine. It is what it is and no one should be happy about it. I still believe that this is a far better team than last year's, but at some point it's up to them to prove it -- and that isn't happening right now.

This upcoming series against the Red Sox has become very important from a credibility standpoint. If the O's keep can't close out this homestand with at least a couple of wins, it's going to be hard to make the case that they've made up any ground on the rest of the division.

Injuries? Don't want to hear it. I proclaimed the Tampa Bay Rays DOA after Evan Longoria went down and Manny Ramirez retired. They lost Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena to free agency and traded away Matt Garza for budget reasons. They fell on their faces at the start of the season, but they have streaked back to .500 and into second place. That's a sign of the character of the team and the quality of the pitching staff.

The Orioles need to take a page from that playbook and dig deep right now or this season is going to come unraveled before they can get Brian Matusz and J.J. Hardy back from the disabled list.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (78)
Categories: Just baseball
        

When Josh Rupe drilled Russell Martin in the back last night and then insisted that it was unintentional, it reminded me of one of my favorite moments covering baseball way back in the day.

Let me preface this by saying that not only don't I believe Rupe, but I don't want to believe him. The way the game was played in the golden age, if you hit a couple of home runs in a row and dug in the batters box in your next at-bat, that bruise on your upper back was simply routine. No ejection. No suspension. That's the way the game was played at one time.

Now, let me get to my point, which was made better than me on June 20, 1980, when I was on an Angels road trip with an LA Times writer who would later become quite well known as a columnist here in Baltimore. His name was Mike Littwin.

We were in Boston with the Angels and 140-pound shortstop Freddie Patek did the unthinkable, hitting three towering home runs over the Green Monster at Fenway Park and coming up for one more at-bat late in a 20-2 Angels victory. Patek, as you'd expect, swung from his rear end in that final at-bat and nearly screwed himself into the ground trying to become the tiniest player to hit four homers in a game.

So, afterward, we were interviewing him and asked him how much he wanted to hit that fourth home run and, amazingly, Patek insisted that he wasn't even trying. Said something about not ever changing your swing, even as Don Baylor chuckled across the clubhouse about the way Patek had almost come out of his cleats in that final at-bat.

Which spawned something I now call the "Mike Littwin Ass**** Theory," and I'll let you fill in the blanks. Mike came back up to the press box and spelled it out.

"You know," he said. "If Freddy was lying to us, then he's an ass****, and if he wasn't trying to hit his fourth home run of the night in that situation, he's an even bigger ass****." I hope you're not offended by the crude language, but the principle kind of applies in this situation, though I don't think Rupe is anything but a decent guy.

In this situation, it has always been acceptable to claim you didn't mean to hit the guy -- even in the old days.

Bonus old guy moment: Here's how much the game has changed in one generation. Later in the 1980s, I attended a disciplinary hearing in New York following a well-publicized beanball incident and asked then-American League president Dr. Bobby Brown why the punishment was relatively light. He didn't hesitate.

"Because it's not a tea party."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Just baseball
        

It was hard to watch CC Sabathia tie the Orioles lineup in knots for much of last night, but that game wasn't going to be in the win column whether it was 3-0, 6-3 or 15-3. In this case, a loss is a loss, and about all Orioles fans can hope for when the O's wrap up this rain-shortened series today at Camden Yards is that the Yankees hitters will be tired and sore when they face Jake Arrieta. Pretty sure Russell Martin will be.

Eventually, the Orioles are going to have to show that they can play with the denizens of the Evil Empire if they are to be taken seriously in the American League East. Arrieta has proven he is not afraid of that lineup, so maybe today is the day that the O's assert themselves and quit reinforcing the notion that they are both overmatched and intimidated by the Yankees.

Brad Bergesen actually did a good job of collecting himself after that three-run first inning, but you can't give Sabathia a head start when he's already proven -- many, many times -- that he doesn't need any help to dominate the Orioles.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (65)
Categories: Just baseball
        

My latest column on the upcoming NFL draft is up on the Web site and will be in the print edition tomorrow morning. I'm making my case that the Ravens need to tap one of the deepest areas in the first round and bring home a quality pass rusher to help Terrell Suggs and Co. put more pressure on the AFC's top quarterbacks. You can read it right here right now.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Just football
        

...pathetic. There is seldom anything in between. I tweeted before Tuesday night's game that it was time for Vladimir Guerrero to "start squaring up the ball. When he gets hot, the O's will follow."

He jumped on two balls that night, one of them leaving the park, and hit another home run last night to join Matt Wieters in leading the Orioles offense. This does not make me Nostradamus, but it does make me more hopeful that the early struggles of the offense were not systemic.

Now, if Derrek Lee can jump on one tonight, maybe the Orioles can head into the Yankees series with some real momentum -- and a .500 record.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (150)
Categories: Just baseball
        

If you get a chance, check out my column on the passing to Maryland political icon William Donald Schaefer. I realize that better journalists have weighed in on his amazing career as mayor of Baltimore and governor or Maryland (not to mention stints in the city council and as state comptroller), but I thought I'd focus more on his impact on Baltimore as a sports town.

He was a complex man who had his warts, but no one can deny that he was one of the most important political figures in the history of Maryland. And no one can deny the role he played in the construction of the Camden Yards sports complex.

Here's my take, which will be in tomorrow's print edition of the Sun and on the Web site right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: News of the day
        

The NFL just released the 2011 regular season schedule and the Ravens open at home against the evil Steelers, which will be their third meaningful game against Pittsburgh in their last eight games (including playoffs). It might be even more meaningful, however, if the lockout clips off the first game of the season and it has to be moved to the end of the schedule.

I suspected that might be the reason for the imediate showdown, but a quick scan of the other schedules did not reveal a pattern of divisional season openers. If such a conspiracy was in play, you'd think the Jets would open against the Patriots and the Cowboys would open against the Giants or Eagles.

There are some interesting openers. The Saints will play the NFL champion Packers in the Thursday night opener; the Giants will travel to Washington; and the Jets will open against the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

I'm pretty sure the season will start on time, anyway. Based on my experience covering many baseball negotiations, I suspect the NFL labor dispute will get settled about a week after training camps are supposed to open.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Just football
        

Remember how I wrote that column last week about the O's and how they were storing up acorns in heaven that would extend their viability a few weeks further into the season? Well, I take it back.

Never imagined that they would squander that 5-1 start in such dynamic fashion. I also thought the Indians' quick start was a flash in the pan, so I guess I was wrong twice. Here's hoping the O's can salvage today's game, but I'm not optimistic. They just look flat and I think it has something to do with Thursday night's late-inning giveaway in New York.

Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but I see little offensive chemistry right now. The low point yesterday was when they had a chance to get back in it with the bases loaded and Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis coming up in the fifth inning, but settled for only Luke Scott's leadoff home run. There was a point with the game still in doubt where the Orioles had seven baserunners over a three-inning span and managed to score just once.

If you would have told me that Mark Reynolds would be one of their top clutch hitters, especially in two-out and two-strike situations, I would have assumed the rest of the lineup would be chugging along right now, but the big improvement in run-production potential has yet to show itself.

The good news, I guess, is that the Orioles picked the right time to lose six games in a row -- since they are still within two games of the Yankees and are still ahead of the Rays and Red Sox, but the losing streak has coincided with the resurgence of the Tampa Bay Rays and comes in advance of a brutal homestand.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (192)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Here are some random thoughts as I prepare to spend another day in exile after my mean boss forced me to go on vacation:

Barry Bonds got convicted of giving an evasive answer when he was asked to incriminate himself in front of the BALCO grand jury. I'm not a big Barry fan and I think we all know what he did, but I'm also not a fan of the grand jury system, which denies witnesses many of the protections afforded them during a regular trial.

Nobody likes Chris Tillman more than I do (well, maybe his mom), but he's going to have to expand his repertoire if he's ever going to live up to his minor league billing. He can't finish off hitters consistently, though last night was more a case of him leaving a bunch of balls right in the upper middle of the strike zone.

Luke Scott made me crazy last night. He led off the second inning after the Orioles fell behind by three runs and refused to accept a walk from a struggling A.J. Burnett. Swung at two three-ball pitches that probably were out of the strike zone. Job One when you're behind by three or more runs is to get on base. Later in the game, he struck out in a three-ball count on a pitch that nearly hit him on the ankle. Hard to watch.

Bad night all around for Jim Johnson. He didn't pitch last night, but the Orioles lost to the Yankees and his New York Rangers lost in overtime to the Caps.

The highest batting average in the Orioles starting lineup after last night's game was .273 (Mark Reynolds). Is that good?

Today's vacation forecast: Sloth.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (199)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Obviously, I've got way too much time on my hands right now, but that's what happens when you take a week's vacation while everybody else in the family has to work. So, I was just sitting around trying to think up nasty Tweets to drop on my friends when a buddy sent me a link to this article from The Atlantic.

It's titled "Sister Schmuck Takes a Stand," so you can see why it caught his eye.

For the record, I am not aware of any relation to the subject of this story, but -- coincidentally -- I have an aunt on my father's side who is a nun in St. Louis, though she chose not to include her surname in her nun-name.

Anyway, check it out and count your blessings...unless you're NASCAR legend Dick Trickle.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Schmuck being Schmuck
        

...though I hope nobody breathes too hard and pulls someting. This has been a very curious first 11 days of the new season, with the Orioles playing and pitching well while losing an average of a player every other day. That's why it's hard to have very high expectations for the midweek series against the Yankees in New York.

Robert Andino and Cesar Izturiz will share the starting shortstop duties now that J.J. Hardy's condition appears to be known. Hardy is headed to extended spring training to rehab along with Brian Matusz and we'll probably see both of them in about three weeks. The Orioles will decide today or tomorrow whether to bring back Brad Bergesen to start on Wednesday night or give the spot start to Chris Jakubauskas. Looks like Bergesen.

The series against the Yankees will come down to how the Orioles rotation responds to adversity. Chris Tillman, who starts tomorrow night, is coming off a short outing after pitching six no-hit innings in his season debut, and Jake Arrieta will try to bounce back on Thursday night after a very difficult start against the Rangers on Saturday.

The O's probably are going to lose some altitude in the MLB power rankings because of what has happened to the Rays. That three-game sweep to open the season looked pretty sweet, but it's starting to look like the Rays weren't what they were cracked up to be. It's sort of like Boise State early in the last college football season. The Broncos went on the road to beat Virginia Tech in their opener and then suffered in the rankings when VTech was upset soon thereafter by James Madison.

OK, that's a stretch, but I never pass up a chance to mention how Boise gets the short end of the stick from the NCAA.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (119)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Jeremy Guthrie took the mound against the Texas Rangers after spending the past week recovering from pneumonia and retired the side in order in the first inning, but the issue is not so much effectiveness as endurance.

The Orioles need him to give them some innings today and they really don't know -- and neither does Guthrie -- just how much of a toll that infection took on him. We'll find out soon enough.

This tough Rangers lineup would be a challenge for anybody, and the first inning did feature a couple of hard-hit balls. Guthrie, however, did appear to have decent command.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
Categories: Just baseball
        

In a shocking development, Manny Ramirez apparently has run afoul of Major League Baseball's drug prevention program for the second time and has notifed MLB that he will retire rather than go through the process again.

So, now the big question is obvious:

Is Manny Ramirez a Hall of Famer?

I'll leave that to your discretion, because I'm more interested in the impact this is going to have on the Tampa Bay Rays, who had hoped Ramirez would fill the void left by Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, not to mention injured Evan Longoria.

This is a major blow at a time when the team is in freefall. The Rays also sent top-flight pitcher Matt Garza to the Cubs and lost most of their bullpen over the winter.

I'm feeling particularly bad for manager Joe Maddon, who has helped transform that organization from an expansion doormat into an AL East power. Can't see them getting up after this, but Maddon has worked miracles before, so I wouldn't rule them out of the race just yet.

AP photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (118)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Orioles' newlook offense had been fairly restrained through the first five games of the new season, but there was reason to believe that it would pump up the volume on Thursday night against struggling Tigers starter Brad Penny.

Turns out, Penny was not really the problem. He gave up four runs -- and the game-tying home run to Adam Jones in the sixth -- but turned in a workmanlike performance. It was the bullpen that came unraveled in the O's five-run seventh.

Jones (left) snapped out of an early 2-for-19 slump with a bunt single, the two-run shot and a sacrifice fly. Third baseman Mark Reynolds delivered his third RBI double in the last four games and also drove in three runs. Say what you want about Reynolds' and his proclivity for striking out. He has been very tough in RISP situations, especially with two strikes.

Vladimir Guerrero delivered his first home run as an Oriole earlier in the game, so the heart of the lineup arrived just in time to bail Chris Tillman out of a rocky performance in his second start of the season.

Best news: The Orioles continue to successfully buy time until the rotation gets back to full strength. Jeremy Guthrie was back in the clubhouse and said before the game that he's very hopeful of starting against the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Getty Images (file photo)

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (43)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman got a big break in the fourth inning when a long shot by Victor Martinez was bobbled by Adam Jones and glanced off the wall before being caught on the rebound by Nick Markakis.

The umpires were screened out and apparently assumed that Jones flipped the ball to Markakis before slamming into the fence. It was ruled a catch and scored 8-9, with Jones getting one of the strangest outfield assist ever.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland went out and discussed the play with the umpires, but there was nothing they could do to rectify the situation. It wasn't a "border call,'' so it wasn't a reviewable play.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Orioles were hoping that Chris Tillman would pick up right where he left off at Tropicana Field, where he pitched six hitless innings against the Tampa Bay rays, but that was not to be. Tillman's hitless streak came to an immediate end when he gave up a single to leadoff hitter Austin Jackson and he went on to struggle badly in the first inning.

He ran up his pitch count with a 12-pitch duel with No. 2 hitter Will Rhymes and gave up run-scoring hits to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez before getting out of the inning with a double play ball.

All things considered, he was fortunate to get away with just two runs on the board, but the hope that he might save the bullpen tonight already has been dashed. He threw 32 pitches in the first, so it's going to be a struggle to get through five or six innings.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Just baseball
        

No one should be surprised the Tigers ace Justin Verlander dominated the Orioles on Wednesday night, but it wasn't quite as simple as that. O's starter Brad Bergesen might have made a better account of himself if not for a pop fly into right field that glanced off the glove of Brian Roberts for a two-base error that extended the second inning and led to the first two Detroit runs.

Not saying Bergesen would have pitched deep into the game, but a short inning there might have kept him viable longer and would have kept the game closer.

No matter. Verlander gave up just four hits and struck out nine over eight innings on the way to his first victory of the young season. He did give up a home run to Derrek Lee and an RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero, but he was never in serious jeopardy. He's now 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA in eight career starts against the Orioles and 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA at Camden Yards.

The Orioles offense still hasn't really opened up, but it would have been unrealistic to expect much on Wednesday night. Still, it's fair to point out that the O's were batting .230 with 15 extra-base hits after five games last year, and are batting .217 with 11 extra-base hits over the same period this April.

If I were looking for someone in particular to worry about -- and I'm not -- it would be Adam Jones, who has been persistently behind in the count and has just two singles in his first 19 at-bats.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Spent the past 12 hours or so pondering Debbie Yow's comments about Gary Williams at the news conference to announce the hiring of the new North Carolina State basketball coach, and I'm going to try not to take sides.

Everybody who follows the Maryland athletic program knows that Yow and Williams did not get along very well. The fact that she put the thing on the street on Tuesday is interesting because of the venue and the circumstances, not because there were people in College Park who thought that everything was just ducky between them.

Here's my opinion, which has been formed while covering mostly baseball the past 125 years: In a large and high-profile organization, there are always going to be personality conflicts and -- usually -- the organization works very hard to hide them from the public, but seldom succeeds. Williams is a very hard-nosed, strong-willed coach and Yow didn't get into the upper echelon of the college AD ranks by being a shrinking violet. They grated on each other for a long time. Sour feelings die hard.

I don't doubt that Williams has complained about Yow to other coaches over the years, and I don't doubt that Yow has complained about Williams to other AD's. People vent. It is only headline-worthy because it bubbled up in this instance and overshadowed the introduction of new NC State coach Mark Gottfried, and that's on Yow.

She's been in this business long enough to know how to handle a tough question without changing the focus of what is supposed to be an upbeat news conference. Her charge that Williams undermined the coaching search at NC State was -- though I'm sure unintentional -- demeaning to Gottfried, because it implied that Yow could have hired somebody better if not for Williams alleged and strongly denied intervention.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Yow and Williams to kiss and make up, but it's time for them both to get on with their lives.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (59)
Categories: News of the day
        

I'm not going to rain on anybody's parade -- Mother Nature is doing enough of that already today -- but it can't be a great sign that the No. 1 and No. 2 starting pitchers are both on the sidelines at the moment.

I'm hopeful that Brad Bergesen can pick up where Jake Arrieta left off. If he can command the lower part of the strike zone, he should be okay against this Tigers lineup. He has pitched pretty well against Detroit in three career starts, despite a 1-2 record. In 21 innings, he has given up nine earned runs (3.86 ERA) and struck out 10.

It would be even better if the heart of the Orioles newlook lineup got in gear tomorrow night and gave him some luxurious run support. And while I'm on the subject, check out my column about the early struggles of the new sluggers right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (59)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Brian Roberts just hit his second three-run homer of the season, this one a towering drive off Rick Porcello that just cleared the fence in center field. That gives him eight RBI in the first four games.

Carlos Quentin was the American League Player of the Week after driving in seven runs over the weekend. Mark Teixeira also drove in seven runs in the Yankees' weekend series against the Tigers.

Right now, however, Brian Roberts is the major league leader in RBI.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Orioles and their perfect record came home to an absolutely picture-perfect day in Baltimore. The gametime temperature was 76 degrees and the bright sky provided a beautiful backdrop for the flyover during the National Anthem.

So, who are these guys? We're going to find out over the long haul of the season, but the first few days of the regular season have certainly got the fans amped up. The players got nice ovations as they were introduced, but the crowd saved its most raucous reception for manager Buck Showalter, who got a standing ovation when he took the field.

Now, for the business at hand. Jake Arrieta just struck out Miguel Cabrera to end the top of the first inning and Nick Markakis delivered the first hit of the year at Camden Yards. Tigers starter Rick Porcello got through the first, but he allowed a line drive to Brian Roberts and two shots to deep center to Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero.

Stay tuned. Looks like it's going to be an interesting afternoon.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Just baseball
        

I've been a little busy here in Tampa, so I just read Kevin Cowherd's recent column on the new marketing campaign for the Preakness Infieldfest. If you want to read it, you can do so right here, so you'll know what I'm talking about.

Kevin is a little down on Kegasus, the half-man/half-horse marketing spokesman for the infield party -- and I would understand that if he was just protective of Greek mythology -- but I think he actually believes that the Maryland Jockey Club should turn the infield into a picnic area and hope that 6,000 station wagons pull up and let out the kids.

They tried to make the whole thing family friendly a couple of years ago and attendance tanked so badly that a couple more Preakness's like that might have sent the second jewel of the Triple Crown to Gulfstream Park, which is in a state (Florida) that doesn't mind people having a little fun once in awhile.

Kevin knows how much I like and respect him, which is why I can disagree with him here and still sit next to him at Opening Day tomorrow at Camden Yards, but I've got to wonder what he would be writing about Mardi Gras if he worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Doesn't the guy remember Woodstock? I don't know if he was there, but I'm guessing he was the guy asking why there wasn't more of a security presence.

I'm not sure Kegasus is the role model I want for my kids, even if they often tell me how much I resemble the back half of a centaur. I just think that the infield craziness is as much a part of the personality of Baltimore as the Senator Theatre and the Domino Sugar sign.

I know if I could still "get my Preak on," I would, so I don't want to deny that privilege to the next generation.

Just my opinion.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Schmuck being Schmuck
        

There are a lot of people in the Tampa Bay Rays organization who are wondering just what else can go wrong after the past two nights. They were dominated by Jeremy Guthrie in the season opener and watched helplessly as the Orioles delivered a series of dramatic plays to win last night.

What else can go wrong? Well, how about your best player being placed on the disabled list after suffering an oblique strain. Evan Longoria will be out for weeks.

The Rays are starting to recognize how it must have felt to be the Orioles at this time last year, when a series of dramatic losses combined with a string of injuries to run them off a competitive cliff right at the start of the season. But I'm not wishing a 2-16 start on them. Wouldn't wish that on anybody. Joe Maddon and the Rays are a classy team and I'm going to wish them well as they go off to play the other AL East teams.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (65)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Orioles won one of the most suspenseful games I've seen in a very long time on Saturday night. Chris Tillman seemed to be walking a tightrope with every hitter, but still managed to hold the Tampa Bay Rays hitless for six innings. The Orioles lineup was beguiled by James Shields, but Brian Roberts delivered a huge home run right after Rays manager Joe Maddon pulled Shields out of the game.

It got dicey when Michael Gonzalez faltered in the eighth inning, and it got downright scary in the ninth when new closer Kevin Gregg allowed a couple of baserunners and then gave up a rocket to Ben Zobrist that seemed destined to at least tie the game. But Nick Markakis's amazing game-ending catch left you wondering if there is some Orioles Magic brewing this season.

Anyway, that's quite a preamble for a link to my column about Derrek Lee and the other Orioles who have come into this season with chips on their shoulders. Lee had his first two hits on Saturday night and Roberts delivered the game-winning blow, and both are featured prominently. You can read it right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Chris Tillman is done for the night and there can be no complaints about his emergency start in place of Brian Matusz. He threw six hitless innings, striking out five and walking three. Not bad for a guy who gave up 31 baserunners in 18 1/3 innings during spring training.

Jeremy Accardo has taken the mound in his Orioles debut and just retired Manny Ramirez for the first out of the seventh.

If anyone out there thinks that Tillman should have been allowed to continue, you probably weren't watching his performance. He didn't breeze through the Rays lineup. He had to battle for every out and, since this is his longest performance to date, manager Buck Showalter was prudent to let him go back to the clubhouse with a smile on his face.

There was no way he was going to pitch three more innings after needing 101 pitches through six.

The no-hitter was broken up with two outs in the seventh by B.J. Upton, who lined a no-doubt single up the middle.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Just baseball, Just baseball
        

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman was pushed into tonight's start against the Tampa Bay Rays because of the injury to close friend Brian Matusz, and he has worked through three innings without giving up a hit, but it's not like anybody's on a no-hit watch.

Tillman has labored through those three innings, working into three ball counts with six of the 11 batters he has faced so far. He has thrown 61 pitches already, so he's going to be fortunate -- regardless of what the Rays do -- to get through six innings in his first start of the season.

There's no question that Tillman has a lot of promise, but he does not have a hammer. When he gets ahead on the count, opposing hitters force him to work way too hard to get the out. Guess you have to remember that he's just 22 years old.

Instant update: Tillman loves to prove me wrong, so he got through the fourth with just seven pitches -- and retired the heart of the Rays lineup -- which improves his chances of getting into the late innings considerably.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Due to some technical difficulties, my post-game column from last night's season opener -- reflecting the fact that the Orioles called up top pitching prospect Zach Britton -- never got onto the Web site, so I'm reprinting it here. Thanks for your patience.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Just when everyone was starting to feel all warm and fuzzy about the opening of the regular season, reality crept into the visiting clubhouse at Tropicana Field late Friday afternoon.

Left-hander Brian Matusz, who is widely regarded as the cornerstone of the club’s pitching future, walked disconsolately to his locker and put his street clothes back on. Instead of getting ready to chart pitches in advance of Saturday night’s scheduled start against the Tampa Bay Rays, he was getting ready to undergo an MRI to determine the cause of soreness beneath his left shoulder blade.

The results would not cheer him up. He suffered an intercostal strain and could be lost for up to a month. The Orioles placed him on the 15-day disabled list, moved Chris Tillman into Saturday night’s start and then did something else they had hoped they would not have to do so soon. They recalled top pitching prospect Zach Britton from the Triple-A roster to start the series finale on Sunday.

No doubt, that half of the evening news will be welcomed by a lot of Orioles fans, but it really isn’t a very happy development. Britton would have been here in a few weeks anyway and the O’s would have been able to keep him under reserve for seven seasons instead of six. This way, he may become eligible for free agency a year sooner.

And, as they say, that was the good news, along with Jeremy Guthrie’s terrific Opening Night performance and the O’s 4-1 victory, but it was not a good day. Matusz will be sidelined for at least three weeks with an injury that seldom heals easily.

Manager Buck Showalter also hinted at some other possible contingencies before moving Tillman up, but there was nothing else that would soften the blow of losing the club’s No. 2 starter before he could take the mound for his first start of the season.

The Orioles and their fans have been leaning heavily on the upgraded offensive lineup to justify guarded optimism about the club’s chances of being more competitive this season, but the ability to go nose-to-nose with the beasts of the American League East on any consistent basis has always depended on the continuing development of the young starting pitchers.

So what have we got here?

Matusz is now down for an indeterminate period and the Orioles – at least for a few hours – were without a No. 2 starter for the second game of the season. Tillman was the obvious choice to fill that one start and Brad Bergesen could have pitched four or five innings on Sunday, but neither one of them had a particularly inspiring spring.

Tillman had a respectable 3.93 ERA, but he allowed 31 baserunners in 18 1/3 innings. Bergesen pitched 17 innings against major league competitive and had a 5.82 ERA, also allowing 31 baserunners. You don’t have to be a mathematician to figure out that’s an average of nearly two baserunners an inning, which probably isn’t going to get it done in the American League East.

Obviously, it would have been real nice if the Justin Duchscherer experiment had panned out, but his comeback attempt appears to have fizzled.

Which brings us back to Britton, who was the Orioles’ most effective starter this spring. The club optioned him back to Norfolk a few days ago and clearly intended to delay his arrival in the major leagues until the end of April. Instead, he is now positioned nicely to make a run at the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

Even though MacPhail’s first instinct is to maintain control over his best young players for as long as possible, the Orioles found themselves in a very delicate position with Matusz temporarily out of the rotation. Even if they had filled out the weekend without a roster move, they would have needed a fifth starter on April 10.

The O’s need to build on last year’s late-season turnaround and they need not to leave their fans any room to doubt their commitment to compete this year. That’s why it would have been problematic to plug the hole left by Matusz with somebody like Chris Jakubauskas or Ryan Drese.

Showalter did not openly campaign for Britton, but he made it clear throughout spring training that he is committed to trying to win as many games as possible this year. It’s probably fair to assume he pushed hard for the best possible option to fill Matusz’s place in the rotation.

The last thing Showalter wants to do is risk a repeat of last year’s disastrous start, especially after doing so much to wipe that memory out of the minds of Orioles fans and after the front office did so much to upgrade the offense.

That offense found a way to beat one of the best pitchers in baseball on Friday night, but the Orioles weren’t going to hit their way out of this mess.

Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon Fridays and check out his blog, "The Schmuck Stops Here," at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.

Reuters photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Nick Markakis just sliced a single to left center field to drive in the first Orioles run of the season and give them a 1-0 lead over David Price and the Rays, but today is not going to be a particularly good Opening Day for the O's regardless of the outcome of tonight's game.

If you've been keeping up with Orioles Insider, you know that Brian Matusz has been scratched from tomorrow night's start with what appears to be an intercostal strain. That's usually not good, and it's not the only pitching question facing the Orioles as the season gets underway.

I'll expand on that in my column, which will be up on the Web site soon. I'll drop the link in here as soon as it lands.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (45)
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It's great that the baseball season is upon us, of course, but I'm going to have to agree with my friend Pete Gilbert -- local television personality and part-time golf pro -- that it's kind of strange to have a progression of opening days without an Orioles home opener.

Used to be, the O's were one of the traditional first-timers, but then came the Sunday night openers and now the handful of Thursday openers and the fact that the Orioles are back on the road to open the regular season for the second straight year.

It just doesn't feel right, but that can't be helped. The important thing is that you've got the pantry stocked with Doritos and a refrigerator full of Diet Dr. for tonight's game against the Rays at Tropicana Field. We'll all just act like it's the first day of the season when the O's get back for Monday's home opener at Camden Yards.

First things first. The Orioles debut their upgraded lineup against Rays ace David Price tonight, which should be interesting. The O's traditionally do pretty well in their first game of the season, so maybe Derrek Lee (left) and Adam Jones will go deep and send a message to the Rays that it's going to be a little tougher this year. Just hope they have more than a two-run lead in the ninth.

Oh, and here's a link to today's column about the new lineup. I know how much you like it when I link stuff here, so I'll be doing it a lot this season.

And while I'm passing the buck, you might want to go over to Orioles Insider, where Jeff Zrebiec, Dan Connolly and I have made our staff predictions. Part 1 has been up for awhile. Part 2 just went up a few minutes ago.

US Presswire photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Just baseball