The Maryland men's basketball team couldn't sustain a solid game against Duke and nearly let Saturday's victory over Virginia Tech slip away, but it's pretty obvious that the program is moving quickly in the right direction. The Terps are young and inexperienced, which was evident again in the final minutes yesterday, but they have enough talent to be reasonably competitive with all but the elite teams and things will only get better with the next incoming class of recruits.

What you're seeing right now is a team still learning how to play together. That's evident in the number of ill-advised shots that the Terps are taking and the number of uncontested points they are giving up in the paint -- particularly when fatigue starts to set in late in games. That's tough to watch sometimes, as it was when the Plumlee brothers were nailing down the victory for Duke, but it's part of the developmental progression that new coach Mark Turgeon knew the team would have to go through to get back to the upper reaches of the ACC.

That won't happen this year, but if you had told me the Terps would have 13 wins overall and be 3-3 in conference at this point in Turgeon's first season, I wouldn't have believed you. The Terps are ahead of schedule.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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There has been a lot of chatter on the various blogs and Orioles fan sites about the direction that Dan Duquette is taking the game in his first months as executive vice president, and a lot of it is pretty skeptical.

With good reason. The Orioles have spent the past decade half-stepping their way into oblivion, so fans have every right to wonder if Duquette is just playing to ownership's desire to keep the MASN spigot open and the payroll spigot closed. It's going to be up to him to prove that's not the case.

I think it's a little more complicated than that. Obviously, Duquette got the job because he convinced the search committee that he can make the team competitive by tapping into the second tier of the international market with a couple new sets of eyes overseas. The result has been a handful of signings that are intriguing but unspectacular, which means that we'll all have to wait and see how things shake out.

That's certainly convenient for the team and MASN, since it buys both some time to keep fans interested, but -- to his credit -- Duquette has not given himself a huge window to get results. He has followed up Andy MacPhail's four-year plan with a one-year plan, since he said at the outset that his goal is to be a winning team this year.

How will that be possible? Some feel that it isn't, considering that the Orioles didn't make any impact free agent acquisitions, but Duquette appears to be trying to do (in his own way) what Billy Beane did in Oakland in the early 2000s. He has thrown out a big net to add a bunch of contingent starting pitchers and role players, making the team much deeper in a lot of areas without necessarily making them much better.

He's stressing on-base percentage after inheriting a team with two of the league's biggest strikeout guys and farming the Pacific Rim to beef up the rotation and bullpen.

Will it work? Will Michael Lewis right a sequel called "Foreign Currencyball"? Orioles fans can only hope.

That will depend heavily, ironically enough, on the young pitchers who were already here. Duquette also is banking heavily on a successful comeback by Brian Matusz and the continued growth of Jake Arrieta and Zach Britton. If he gets that, the Orioles have a chance to be a .500 team, but isn't that what MacPhail was gambling on last spring?

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
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The Orioles just announced their promotional schedule for the upcoming season and I'm going to give them some love for the way they are unveiling the six statues of the six Hall of Famers who have had their numbers retired by the club.

The team will honor one of them each month of the season in order of the retirement of their uniform numbers, beginning with Frank Robinson on April and ending with Cal Ripken on Sept. 6 -- the anniversary of the night he broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record. On each of those nights, the club will give every fan in attendance a 7-to-8-inch miniature replica of the statue being unveiled.

Can't think of a better way to do it. I realize the Orioles took a lot of heat for the Brooks statue situation -- and they deserved criticism for not being more publicly supportive of the project -- but that doesn't mean this can't be another nice honor for Brooks, Frank, Cal, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray. And it basically guarantees six huge crowds at Camden Yards, so everybody wins.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Frankly, I have no idea how the loss of Luke Scott is going to affect the Orioles. It all depends on whether Scott would have have made a successful comeback from the shoulder injury that cost him a chunk of the 2011 season. I suspect he would have come back healthy, because nobody works harder to get in shape and stay there, but it's still hard to say whether this is going to be a significant loss.

What I do know is that the clubhouse just got less interesting. Scott was fearlessly outspoken, which ruffled a lot of feathers around here. He questioned President Barack Obama's citizenship and regularly preached the joys of both his evangelical Christianity and the Second Amendment. In the great liberal stronghold that is Maryland, he certainly alienated his share of fans, but if you got a chance to meet him it was impossible not to like him.

He'll have a new audience in South Florida, and I'm sure the local media will have some fun with his occasional opinions on the presidential race. I'll miss his unsinkable optimism, his unbelievable hot streaks and his mammoth home runs. I won't miss his unbelievable six-week hitting slumps or his footwork at first base.

The Orioles still have more than a month to add another power bat, if that's really what Dan Duquette intends to do. I'm guessing Buck Showalter will turn left field over to Nolan Reimold and give him an extended chance to re-establish himself as the player he was in 2009. The DH slot remains problematic, though Showalter has indicated that he would like to rotate some regulars through it to spell them in the field.

That's may be the plan, but one more power bat certainly wouldn't hurt.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
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New baseball operations guru Dan Duquette has made no secret of his desire to make international player development a high priority in the Orioles organization, so the pursuit of several Asian pitchers should not be considered surprising and should not necessarily be criticized.

Perhaps Duquette -- unlike some his predecessors -- simply is being realistic and recognizing that none of the best free agents are going to come to Baltimore at just about any price unless he can show them that the club is close enough to being competitive for them to make a real difference.

Of course, all that depends on the Orioles signing foreign (and domestic) players who make a contribution, and every one of the players coming out of Japan, Taiwan and Korea -- with the possible exception of Yu Darvish -- is a gamble. It's almost impossible to predict what they will do in the American major leagues, but if Duquette guesses right, he's got a chance to have a book written about him in a few years.

Maybe they'll call it "Yen-ball."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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The Winter Meetings officially start tomorrow, but you'll hear some Orioles news late this afternoon after the O's contingent settles into its temporary headquarters at the Anatole Hotel in Dallas.

General manager Dan Duquette will announce some more front office additions and changes, presumably including the appointment of Lee Thomas as one of his special assistants.

Dan Connolly and I will be there to bring you interviews with the new additions and will be in Dallas throughout the meetings to keep you updated on Orioles Insider and Twitter. Should be fun.

For you, not us.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Manager Buck Showalter is getting closer to finalizing his coaching staff -- apparently with the help of new VP Dan Duquette -- and I'm certainly not alone in thinking it would be great to see Mike Bordick back in a major league uniform as a full-time infield/first base coach.

That's partly based on personal preference, because Bordick is one of the really good guys in the game and it was such a pleasure to cover him all those years after he came to town to take over for Cal Ripken at shortstop. Since retiring as a player, he has proven to be a terrific coach and minor league instructor, which is the only reason I might have mixed feelings about him moving up to the major league staff.

Like minor league pitching coach Mike Griffin, Bordick might be more valuable in his player development role. The minor league system still needs a lot of work and pulling the best people out of it might be counterproductive, though Duquette may be looking to shake things up anyway.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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There's going to be a lot of discussion about the wisdom of hiring former Boston Red Sox GM Dan Duquette to replace Andy MacPhail as the Orioles new head of baseball operations, but one thing is not in doubt.

Duquette is no puppet. He was always a very strong presence and personality in the Red Sox organization and he'll put his stamp on this team. He may not have been the first choice, but he's a solid guy with all the elements of experience the Orioles were looking for.

What will be interesting to see is the chemistry that will develop with manager Buck Showalters. They are both strong personalities who are pretty confident in their vision of how to run a baseball team. That dynamic could be a big plus in getting Peter Angelos on board with what they want to do -- once the come to a consensus themselves.

Can't wait to see how this develops.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Let's stipulate right from the start that I wasn't in any meetings involving Toronto Blue Jays executive Tony LaCava and the ownership component of the search committee trying to find a replacement for Andy MacPhail. So, I don't know if LaCava (below) was just saying nice things about the Orioles after he turned down the job because that's the classy thing to do, or if the Orioles handled his recruitment just fine and simply lost out because he really decided he was already in the best situation.

What we do know is that it's November 2 and Orioles owner Peter Angelos has had a pretty good idea for the past two or three months that he was going to need a new head of baseball operations. What we also know is that the Orioles are the only team that will arrive at the opening of the free agent market tomorrow without someone in that role. Whether you believe that anything was going to happen in the first two weeks of free agency either way -- and I don't -- that still represents a lapse in corporate management that could make other good candidates shy away from the Orioles.

Somehow, the Angels -- who were in the AL West race until the last week -- were ready to announce the hiring or former Arizona Diamondbacks assistant GM Jerry Dipoto the minute the World Series ended.

Somehow, the Chicago Cubs were able to pry one of the most respected young GMs in the business away from the Red Sox earlier this month, and somehow the Red Sox already had their GM-in-waiting ready to take Theo Epstein's place.

Dipoto was the first guy to interview with the Orioles, but there was no indication he was their first choice, so this is not really about who they chose. Just how.

LaCava looked like the perfect candidate, with his solid scouting and player development credentials. He interviewed last week and came back on Monday for a sit-down with Peter Angelos. Some mixed signals came out of that meeting, but the Orioles offered him the job and LaCava said they did everything right during the interview process.

I don't doubt that LaCava is in a great situation in Toronto and it would have been hard to decide to leave, but I can't help thinking that something happened during that discussion with Angelos that left LaCava wondering just how much authority he would actually have to remake the players development department.

It's common knowledge at the Warehouse that there are people in the player development system who can step out of the chain of command and talk directly to the owner, which can only create organizational confusion. So, I believe it's fair to wonder if the future makeup of the player development executive staff became an issue during the final meeting between LaCava and Angelos.

It's also fair to wonder if LaCava might be here right now if the Orioles had been quicker on the trigger and offered him the job after the first interview. He indicated otherwise, but the O's gave the Blue Jays a lot of time to sweet talk him back to Toronto...and they did just that.

Who knows if the Orioles were outflanked or simply unable to convince LaCava to move to Baltimore, but this little episode did nothing to change the public perception that they unable to compete -- on a management and ownership level -- with the other 29 teams in the major leagues.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
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Like me, I'm sure you secretly believed way back in April when the baseball season began that Michael Gonzalez would be on the mound in the eighth inning of the seventh game of the World Series. That took some amazing foresight, so give yourself a big round of applause.

While you're at it, give the St. Louis Cardinals some love for the way they swept the final two games at Busch Stadium. Their double comeback on Thursday night was the stuff of legends and they took care of business on Friday night to make good (sort of) on my prediction that they would work their wild card magic on the Texas Rangers.

They didn't do it in six, but they did it, which will only enhance the legend of manager Tony La Russa and put more pressure on the Cardinals to give in to whatever Albert Pujols demands to forego free agency.

It's hard not to feel sorry for the Rangers, who were one strike away from their first world title in two different innings on Thursday night, but it wasn't to be. The baseball gods smiled on the Cardinals, even giving them a rainout to make it possible for Chris Carpenter to come back and deliver a terrific performance in Game 7.

The world title is the 11th for the venerable Cardinals franchise -- second only to the Yankees. St. Louis has a right to be very proud.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Don't see how the final game of the World Series could possibly be as exciting and dramatic as Game 6, but you can't rule anything out with these two teams. The Rangers can hit from one end of their lineup to the other and the Cardinals have Albert Pujols and a less-heralded cast that just seems to find ways to win.

Chris Carpenter and Matt Harrison have not been dominant in the early innings, so you've got to think there will be some runs scored throughout the evening and some drama in the final third of the game.

I'm staying with the Cardinals, though they've already proven me wrong. I had them winning in six, but I can salvage some semblance of prognosticatory self-respect with a Game 7 victory by the home team. Don't know if my theory about wild cards teams is really relevant anymore, but I'll still claim victory if the Cards prevail.

Small World Dept: There are more than 300 million people in this country and yet strange coincidences seem to find me with amazing frequency. Allen Craig, who just hit another home run for the Cardinals and has four or five run-scoring hits in the series, is the son of Ron Craig, who was a Little League teammate of mine in Santa Ana, CA, way back in the mid-1960s. Indeed, it's a small world, as comedian Stephen Wright used to say, but I wouldn't want to paint it.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Relief pitcher Koji Uehara was one of the most dependable pitchers on the Orioles staff before the deal that sent him and $2 million in cash to the Rangers for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter, but he didn't have the same kind of success in Texas and will not be on the active roster for the World Series.

That's got to be a bummer for Koji and baseball fans in Japan, but it might turn out to be a boon for the Orioles if they have any interest in getting him back for the 2012 season. He and his family like Baltimore and his spot in the bullpen is still open. His 2012 contract option kicked in late in the season, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers would consider sending him back for a modest price to move his salary off the payroll.

Uehara is a better fit here anyway. He is not a great hot weather pitcher, so the prospects for a full season in Arlington aren't very good. The Orioles, on the other hand, settled on the right pitching regimen for him and he was very effective here before the trade.

No matter what happens, Koji's absense from the World Series roster make the Orioles' end of the deal look pretty good. Hunter will to to spring camp as a member of the projected starting rotation and Davis facilitated Mark Reynolds successful move to first base.

Reuters photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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It's funny how perceptions can change in a heartbeat. The Orioles remain under legitimate fire from fans and outside observers for their inconsistent player development, and scouting director Joe Jordan has not escaped their wrath. He drafted a lot of good young players, but people tend to point to the clinkers -- like the time the Orioles took Billy Rowell ahead of Tim Lincecum -- when they're venting about the long decline of the organization.

So, if Jordan deserves your scorn, why are the Philadelphia Phillies interested in hiring him as their director of player development? He just interviewed with the Phils and we'll probably hear in the next few days whether he gets offered the job...and accepts.

Instant update: Jordan just confirmed by text message that he has accepted the job with the Phillies. Get Dan Connolly's full story on Joe's departure is right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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If you haven't picked up the print edition yet, you can still read my latest column on what the Orioles need to do if they are ever to be back in the postseason picture. Here's the link to it at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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We were pretty sure we'd know something official by this point on the status of Andy MacPhail and Buck Showalter, but there has been no announcement following a summit involving the two of them and owner Peter Angelos on Thursday afternoon. It's no secret that MacPhail will give up his current title as president of baseball operations, but whether he walks away completely or remains in some advisory role remains unclear.

If you had asked me on Wednesday, I would have guessed that MacPhail was going to make a clean break and take some time off with his family. The fact that the announcement has not been made makes me wonder if Angelos talked MacPhail into sticking around for awhile as a special advisor to help the transition to a new front office hierarchy.

I'm guessing Angelos would give MacPhail just about any title he wants in the organization (other than co-owner), because he trusts MacPhail and needs somebody with vast front office experience to call on for advice. Though MacPhail seems to want out, it isn't out of the question that Peter might make him an offer he can't refuse.

I realize there are a lot of Orioles fans who want MacPhail to head on down the highway, but he has had a positive effect on the organization, even if it wasn't apparent in the standings during his 4 1/2 years as GM.

If I was to guess, I would think something will be announced tomorrow that clears up the uncertain status of both MacPhail and Showalter.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
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This is going to sound like damning with faint praise, but I've just watched the most amazing two weeks of non-contending baseball in my several decades of writing about the national pastime.

Of course, maybe I'm just still in a euphoric haze after back-to-back nights when the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were dueling for the final American League playoff spot and each was riding an emotional roller coaster that didn't stop until midnight.

It wasn't really about the Orioles -- at least, not anywhere else in the baseball world -- but it was here, and they did the almost unthinkable when they reeled off three straight hits against Red Sox super-stopper Jonathan Papelbon with two outs in the ninth inning to push the Sox out of playoff contention.

That wasn't official until a couple of minutes after the O's staged a playoff-caliber on-field celebration, when Evan Longoria completed an even more unlikely come-from-behind victory over the Yankees with a walk-off home run in the 12th inning. The Rays trailed 7-0 in the eighth inning before scoring six times to pull within a run and tying the game in the ninth on a two-out, two-strike homer by Dan Johnson.

The past three days at Camden Yards featured a level of intensity not seen here in the past decade, and it was great fun even if it didn't change the fact that the O's finished last again in the AL East. I guess you take your entertainment where you can get it after 14 straight losing seasons.

"I think that our finish overall is encouraging,'' closer Jim Johnson said, "though I know we did this last year. A day like today just shows you how crazy baseball can be. They absolutely dominated us for a long time, so this is a little justification at the end of the year."

Now, stand by for some news Thursday about the future of the front office.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
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I'm sure the Red Sox will say it was pure chance that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez bounced a throw off the head of Matt Wieters as the O's catcher was sliding into second base the eighth inning. I'm sure they'll say it was an accident when David Ortiz hit Wieters on the head with his bat in the top of the ninth.

Okay, it was, but I think the Red Sox should stop hitting Matt Wieters on the head.

Don't you agree?

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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If you're wondering why the Orioles are suddenly beating up on the best teams in the American League, it isn't all that hard to figure out. Their late-season resurgence is not a replay of last year's miracle rally, which was spurred by new leadership and the physical rebound of some key players, but the backlash from the season-long intensity gap between the AL contenders and it's chief pretender.

Think about it. The Red Sox, Rays and Angels have all been in contention all year and are understandably feeling the effects of late-season fatigue. There are more specific causes, of course, like Boston's recent pitching problems, but that still doesn't account for a series loss to a team that still has a far inferior pitching staff. The Orioles, meanwhile, have no emotional stake in the season any more and are playing with both motivation (to beat the teams that have been beating up on them all year) and abandon (because they have nothing to lose).

Throw in the positive impact of a designated hitter who is suddenly in a late-career contract drive, the terrific second-half production of Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy (something that actually bodes very well for the future) and the sudden emergence of Jim Johnson as the closer of the future instead of the next candidate for the starting rotation, and you've got the recipe for some interesting -- though largely meaningless -- baseball.

Might as well sit back and enjoy it.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
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Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big fan of Peter Gammons, who I have known for decades, but he got some bad information if he thinks that the Orioles and the Angelos family intentionally stiffed the memorial service that was held in New Hampshire for Mike Flanagan.

Gammons tweeted that "Angelos and his pitiable Orioles were nowhere to be found."

Club officials say they were not invited to the event and I have to believe them when they say they would have been there in a heartbeat to honor one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history. Everyone in the organization -- and the media -- had tremendous regard for Flanagan, who had a big impact on the team on several levels, so there was no reason why the Orioles would not have wanted to be represented at any memorial for him.

There's no word yet on a memorial service in Baltimore, but the club is expected to do something soon after the season.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
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Next year's Orioles schedule was released by the team, and you can take a look at it month-by-month by clicking here to view it on Orioles.com. If you're like me, you can't wait for next spring and you're hoping somebody develops a new drug that will erase your short-term baseball memory.

I haven't looked at it yet, but I can tell you this without fear of serious debate. The Orioles are again going to have way too many games against the American League East. Is that a coincidence or what, because it seems to happen every year.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Zach Britton was disappointed in himself. He wanted to send a message to the Tampa Bay Rays that they weren't going to get back into the American League wild card race on his watch, but his command failed him at a couple of pivotal moments in a game that provided little room for error.

“We all know that they’re in the battle for it, they are playing really well,’’ Britton said. “So I actually want to go out them and beat them. You don’t want them to get it on your clock. So I was really disappointed that I didn’t put together a good effort and got us in a hole early and we couldn’t put it together. So it’s just a mixture of walking those guys and, at the same time, you give them chances to score runs, they are going to score runs.”

Britton has ridden the proverbial roller coaster this season, getting off to terrific start and then temporarily pitching his way back to the minor leagues. He recently rebounded with three strong starts against the Twins, Yankees and Rays, but has faltered a bit his last two times out. He gave up four runs on five hits over five innings, a line that was very similar to the one he put up in New York last week.

“It starts and stops with fastball command,’’ manager Buck Showalter said. “That's one of the reasons Tampa is doing a good job with their starters. They have guys with good command of the fastball. Zach didn't have it tonight. Didn't have command. He's just inconsistent with it, like a lot of young pitchers. Hopefully he'll figure it out with the help he's got and will continue to get."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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If you doubt the Orioles really care at this point, just check out the replay of Nick Markakis leveling Francisco Cervelli at home plate in the seventh inning. Cervelli held the throw and Markakis was out, but it was Cervelli who had trouble getting up.

Pretty sure the Yankees don't appreciate that, since they've got a pennant race to win and the Orioles are playing for pride right now, but I'm guessing that play confirmed everything manager Buck Showalter thought about Markakis.

“It’s a baseball play,'' Showalter said. "He’s sitting there with the ball in front of the plate. People have done the same thing to Matt. It’s a baseball play, a great play. Great relay and great throw from center field. We probably need to a little better job of reading that ball off the bat so it’s not close.

"Let’s keep in mind the challenges of what’s gone on here the last 48 hours. To come out and play a game with that intensity and knowing how much it means to the Yankees, and for our guys to play on the same level of intensity, I’m pretty proud of them. A lot of guys, at 4-1, 3-0, might have had thoughts of getting through customs in Toronto. But our guys have a lot of pride and I’m proud of them.”

Thought there might be some fallout, but there wasn't much, When Matt Wieters struck out to end the inning without the Orioles scoring the tying run, Cervelli fist-pumped his way back to the dugout like it was the World Series.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
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Chris Davis was asked on Thursday what he was thinking when he went to the plate on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium with a chance to tie an O’s record with six strikeouts in an extra-inning game.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t strike out,’” Davis said with a smile. “Obviously you don’t want to laugh or make jokes about something like that, but it was just at a point where you just think…what do I have to do? Obviously, we’re in a close game, so it’s one of those things where you just have to keep battling. What else can you do?”

Davis quickly went down 0-2 in the count and everybody was pretty sure that he was going to tie Sam Horn for the O’s dubious single-game strikeout mark. The Yankees fans knew what was going on and were chanting “We want six! We want six!” but he hit a sharp one-hopper to second base to keep his name out of the record book.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Red Sox postseason hero and former Oriole Curt Schilling stopped by the O's clubhouse before Tuesday night's rainout. He was traded to the Orioles along with Brady Anderson in the July 30, 1988 deal that sent Mike Boddicker to Boston.

Anderson also was in the house, so it was great to see them together. Hard to believe it's been more than 23 years since that deal. Even harder to believe that Anderson still looks pretty much the same as he did then. He and Jim Palmer probably have oil paintings hanging in a closet somewhere getting old.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Now that my career as a motorsports writer has grinded to a halt, I'm headed to New York for the three-game series between the Orioles and Yankees, which begins with an afternoon game on Monday.

Once again, we'll all be focused on Brian Matusz, who will be trying to snap a string of five straight starts in which he has surrendered at least six runs. He really needs to put something together soon so that he can go home with some confidence.

Maybe this is the place to do it, since he has pitched very well against the Yankees in the Bronx.

Just a heads up: For the most part, I'll be posting on the Orioles Insider blog over the next few days.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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So, here we are getting ready to head into September and the Orioles suddenly have won eight out of 10 games in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a 100-loss season. What exactly are we to make of this?

Last year, you could be understandably bouyed by the team's big surge after Buck Showalter took the reins, especially with the way the pitching staff seemed to turn the corner. Now, Brian Matusz's impressive 7-1 finish seems like a long, long time ago and there isn't a lot of excitement to be derived from the upcoming roster September roster expansion.

This time, it feels a lot like my golf game, and I know a lot of you out there can identify with this comparison:

I always get off to a good start for a couple of holes, then collapse and abandon all hope of a presentable score and vow never to return to a golf course again unless there's a free meal in it for me. Than, just went I'm almost at peace with my decision to give my golf clubs to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and vow to spend my free afternoons sipping tea and enjoying meaningful conversations with my wonderful wife, I hit a couple of terrific shots on 18 and suddenly think I've finally figured something out.

Doesn't that sound like the O's the past couple of years, except the part where I used the word "meaningful." Just when you think you're out, they drag you back in.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
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Shockingly, I'm no longer hearing any second-guessing about the Orioles' decision to pull out of the A.J. Burnett auction a few years ago. The book on the guy was that he was erratic and undependable and the book has proven to be gospel.

Funny how things sometimes turn out. Alfredo Simon also has been erratic and undependable the past couple of years -- on a couple of levels -- but he seems to be on the rise as Burnett comes unglued in New York.

In his 10 starts this year, he has pitched through five innings eight times and has a very respectable 3.86 ERA. Who knows what kind of opportunity he would have been afforded at the very start of the season, so it's strangely fortuitous for him that he showed up after the starting rotation began to disintegrate. The circumstances that led to that eventuality are sad and troubling, but Simon has emerged as a seemingly legit candidate to win a place in next year's rotation.

This is a gratuitous comparison that really means nothing, but while Simon has put up solid numbers in his 10 starts (dating back to July 9), Burnett has been awful. He's 1-5 with a 7.79 ERA in his last 10 starts, but he'll get at least one more chance to hold his place in the Yankees rotation on Thursday night.

If he pitches well, he might have to throw some credit to Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who recently counseled him to take some pressure off himself.

“He told me to relax,'' Burnett told the New York Post. "He said in the past I looked more relaxed. He said to check my finger pressure because if the grip on the ball is tight, you aren’t as smooth. He also talked about breathing techniques, trying to hear your heartbeat. He said to relax and have fun.”

We'll find out soon enough. His likely start after the big Red Sox series -- if he's still in Joe Girardi's rotation, would be against the Orioles next week at Yankee Stadium.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Everybody knew what the Orioles were getting when Andy MacPhail traded for third baseman Mark Reynolds. The guy can hammer a baseball with the best of them and also provide enough wind power to light the stadium. He's a mixed bag, but I don't see how anyone can question the deal that sent David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio to the Arizona Diamondbacks to acquire him and minor league catcher John Hester.

I realize that Hernandez has found his niche in the Arizona bullpen and is having a terrific season. He's 3-2 with a sparkling 2.67 ERA in 61 games. Yes, if he were pitching like that here he would be a huge asset to a team with some serious relief issues. But it's a lot harder to find 30-homer guys -- even 30 homer guys with major contact issues -- than good middle relievers.

There's going to be a lot of talk over the next couple of months about the legacy of Andy MacPhail, and that's fair enough. The Orioles have stumbled again and fans are as discouraged as they have ever been. But MacPhail's four major trades -- dumping Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard early in his tenure and acquiring Reynolds and J.J. Hardy last winter -- are pretty much beyond reproach.

Reynolds isn't a perfect player, but he has 30 home runs with five weeks left of his first season in the pitching-rich American League East. He has also improved his batting average over last year and cut down on his strikeouts, though he'll still probably whiff about 180 times.

It'll be interesting to see if he can take another step forward in 2012 after a year of familiarizing himself with American League pitching. Remember, the guy is only 28 years old and he has more home runs over the past three years than everybody except Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira and Prince Fielder. Not bad company.

Reuters photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (43)
Categories: Just baseball
        

I'll be sitting in front of the television today when the Orioles face the Angels in the series finale from Anaheim, just to see what new form of torture awaits their fans. Last night's 12th-inning collapse wasn't anything we haven't seen before, but it was a devastating loss made even more painful (for the fans) because it was on the west coast and ended in the wee hours of the morning on the east coast.

Manager Buck Showalter tried to put the best face on it afterward, but you just can't dress up a pig like that. Frankly, I don't know why Buck isn't hitch-hiking back to Bristol to beg for his ESPN gig back.

The amazing thing about the Orioles -- from my jaundiced perspective -- is this: It seems like every year, somebody asks me if this is the worst Orioles season since I moved to Baltimore...or if I've ever seen so much bad baseball in a confined time frame. Last year, I was unequivocal when those questions were thrown at me in midseason. The first 100 games of 2010 was the worst stretch I had witnessed up close in my three decades or so of baseball coverage.

Now, I've got to rethink that. This Orioles team isn't playing as ugly as the one that Showalter took over last August, but when you factor in all the circumstances attending to this season, I think this is the most painful season yet.

Why? Let me count the ways.

1. I stubbornly refused to believe that last year's team would lose 100 games, even though it was headed hard in that direction until Buck showed up. Losing 100 is very hard to do, but I now believe this team will accomplish that dubious feat.

2. On paper, this team is better than last year's team -- by a wide margin. That makes it even more discouraging to watch this mess.

3. I now believe there is an Orioles curse. I guess the AL East has to have a curse going at all times and -- once the Red Sox ended the 86-year "Curse of the Bambino" and the Tampa Bay Rays got to the World Series -- where else were the cruel baseball gods going to turn?

4. It has reached the point where I now watch every game with the same sense of anticipation, apprehension and morbid curiosity that I feel just before I pass a particularly nasty accident on I-95.

5. This was the supposed turnaround year in the Andy MacPhail rebuilding project. Nobody expected the Orioles to go to the playoffs, but there were actually some modest expectations, which only makes it all the more painful for the fans who still believed.

6. They have taken losing to a new level. No longer content to just get their keisters kicked all over the ballparks of America, the Orioles have begun a daily dance during which they tease you with a late comeback or an exciting home run or -- in rare cases -- a good performance from the starting rotation. Then they "Godfather" you and pull you back into their swirling downspout of doom.

7. Yes, I have finally been reduced to using the phrase "swirling downspout of doom." Managed to avoid that for about 31 seasons.

8. I can no longer suspend my disbelief and come up with ludicrous year-out scenarios in which the Orioles (a) grow into contention; (b) open the vault and sign enough real free agent talent to compete; or (c) get to the All-Star break with three of their original starters still healthy.

9. Koji Uehara was not only one of the most effective pitchers on the team before he was traded to the Rangers, he was also one of the healthiest.

10. I now believe I will win the Power Ball jackpot before the Orioles reach the playoffs. I realize that the odds of picking all five regular numbers and the Power Ball correctly are 1 in 195 million, yet I still feel more optimistic when I pick up my bi-weekly Quick Pick than when I watch an O's game.

Bonus reason: Could have sworn I saw Jim Hunter in the "A" lot last week trying to scratch the "I (heart) the O's" sticker off his bumper.

Instant update: First pitch is at 3:35.

Postgame update: Though the O's could not match Saturday night's frustration, they exceeded it in futility with one of their worst defensive performances in a long time. The beat, apparently, goes on.

Getty Images

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (73)
Categories: Just baseball
        

If you just look at the pitching line, it's hard to get too excited about Brian Matusz's return engagement on Tuesday night in Oakland. He gave up six runs on eight hits and took another loss, which may seem consistent with what he was doing when he was sent back to the minor leagues.

Obviously, time will tell, but there were signs of improvement last night. He threw more than 100 pitches, went fairly deep into the game and seemed to have pretty good command of his fastball. His breaking stuff was crisp for much of the evening, though he got hurt deep on a couple of occasions when he missed with his changeup.

He was a little unlucky, too. Several of those eight hits were soft flies that barely cleared the infield.

His velocity is up modestly. There were some 91-mph fastballs, according to the radar reading that posts in the MASN scorebox. That's a step forward. He still has a couple miles to go to get back to where he was at his best, but the progress is the thing. He clearly has gotten stronger during his minor league exile.

Does that mean he'll come back next spring throwing 94 and pitching the way he did the final two months of 2010? That's a lot to ask, but Tuesday night's performance did not dash the hope that he find himself and claim a regular place in the 2012 rotation.

The Orioles need a lot of good things to happen for this pitching staff to rise from the ashes of the past few months. Getting Matusz back to where he once belonged would be a big step in that direction.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Tonight's game against the Oakland A's certainly doesn't mean much in the greater context of the American League pennant chase, but it still could be a watershed game for the Orioles organization.

The successful return of Brian Matusz would provide a big late-season boost and dampen some of the fatalism that surrounds this pitching staff, though it will still be hard to get excited about the 2012 season without some pitching upgrades this winter.

Matusz has taken his minor league assignment seriously and returns on a bit of a roll, but that won't mean anything if he gets bounced around by the A's and Twins on this road trip. His velocity has improved, but he's still topping out about three MPH below his best fastball. Hopefully, he'll continue to get stronger, because he remains one of the cornerstones of the Orioles pitching youth movement.

Andy MacPhail has added some depth with the acquisition of Tommy Hunter and JoJo Reyes, but the future is still built around Matusz, Jake Arrieta and Zach Britton. Every one of them has a cloud over his head right now, but all of them should be ready to start fresh next spring. Orioles fans can only hope that means better days are ahead, but they've got a right to be very skeptical.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Which figures to be more interesting -- the first Ravens preseason game of 2011 or the series finale between the Orioles and Chicago White Sox. If I'm voting with my feet, I guess I've already picked the O's.

How can that be?

Well, the first of four preseason games generally features the frontline offensive players for about two possessions. If you want to see the new fullback, for instance, try not to blink.

The Orioles aren't playing for anything, but there's still some intrigue tonight. I'm here to see if Chris Tillman can continue to move in the right direction. He's coming off one of his best efforts of the season and is displaying the velocity that made him one of the top pitching prospects in baseball when the Orioles acquired him from the Seattle Mariners.

I guess you might also be wondering if there's going to be any fallout from the chirping between Adam Jones and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, but manager Buck Showalter didn't seem too concerned.

"Whatevber he did with Jonesy last night,'' Showalter said, "I hope he does it again."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Just baseball, Just football
        

I'm going to jump into the conversation about the Orioles' moves over the weekend with heavily mixed feelings. I'll give Andy MacPhail props for getting a decent return for Koji Uehara and moving Derrek Lee, but I have some serious reservations about where that leaves the organization.

The acquisition of a major-league-ready-but-unproven first baseman and a minor league first base prospect should send a message to fans that the Orioles will not be very interested in Prince Fielder this winter.

Obviously, there's no comparison between Chris Davis and Fielder, but the fact that the Orioles have shored up their organizational depth at first base will make it impossible -- in my opinion -- to convince Peter Angelos to spend more than $100 million to bring in another one, even if Fielder has left open the possibility of moving into a full-time designated hitter role.

It's not my money, and even I wouldn't pay that much for a DH who's weight issues probably would get worse if he isn't on the field every day. The message seems to have been sent that the Orioles are now set at first and will look to fill needs elsewhere.

Perhaps the Orioles finally recognize that they will have to buy some arms instead of some bats, but this is going to be a very tough winter to find anybody who will really solidify the starting rotation. Maybe that's why Jeremy Guthrie is still here.

Though I felt that the Orioles should try to deal Jeremy for his own good, I'll defer to MacPhail on the value he required to make a deal. There's no doubt Guthrie has the potential to have a breakout season in 2012, so the Orioles had to get pitching in return to forego that possibility.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (97)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Chris Tillman's start this afternoon began with such promise. He struck out four of the first six batters he faced and seemed to have a little more pop than the last time we saw him up in the majors. Then he allowed eight hits over the next 2 1/3 innings and left the game with one out in the fifth.

It was a tough assignment, of course, getting called up from Triple-A (where he's been pitching okay) to make a spot start against the Yankees, but Tillman was once considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and not just by the Orioles scouting staff. It's just not happening.

That said, he's still quite young and I'm still of the opinion that the deal that brought him along with Adam Jones and George Sherrill for Erik Bedard was a great trade.

Now, for the second act of the Orioles minor league shuffle. Zach Britton takes the mound momentarily for the night portion of the day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. I'm going to predict that he does better.

Update: Can't remember making a worse prediction than this. I'm going to go back to watching and waiting.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Just baseball
        

While I pass along the link to today's column on the Orioles pitching issues, I think it's only fair to explain why I'm dissing the starting rotation after a rare string of four solid starts. Part of it a matter of pure logistics -- I'm out of town for the weekend and the column was written before Alfredo Simon and Brad Bergesen pitched very well against the Angels -- but the fact that the O's pitched better for a few days doesn't really change anything.

It was great to see Bergesen shut down a pretty good Angels lineup on Saturday, which hopefullly will be a sign of things to come. If he can build a string of consistent performances, Bergesen could help the Orioles stablize the rotation and be much more competition down the stretch.

But the basic premise of the column is tough to dispute. The Orioles, who have drafted very high for a decade, still have serious depth issues and need to "buy" some arms to fill the void left by the slow progress of Chris Tillman and recent setbacks that have pushed Brian Matusz and Zach Britton back to the minor leagues.

There's hope that Matusz will regain his arm strength and the Orioles will be bringing Britton back soon, but the condition of the rotation in June and early July proved that the Orioles are not going to become a contender any time soon without spending some real money to upgrade their pitching. Teams in similar markets find a way to do that, and the O's will have to do the same if they are ever to be competitive in the AL East.

Unfortunately, even if they wanted to do that right now, there aren't a lot of trade options out there and the upcoming crop of free agent starters is pretty thin.

Glad I could cheer everyone up this morning.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The July 31 trading deadline is 10 days away and we're getting to the point where trade speculation will be flying fast and furious. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the Orioles traded Koji Uehara, who has stepped up this year as a very dependable set-up guy who can close if needed.

He should have some real value because the O's hold an option on his contract for 2012, so a team would also hold the rights to him for next season at a reasonable price.

I'll leave it to Buck Showalter and Andy MacPhail to decide what they want to do with Jim Johnson. He also would be a very valuable trade chip either at midseason or this coming winter, but I like the idea of giving J.J. a few starts in September to see if he can settle into the rotation. That would certainly help the team as it tries to get out of its current pitching crisis.

Even if he were to do enough to win a place in the projected rotation, however, I still think the Orioles need to acquire more pitching, since the guys out of their own garden has not been very productive lately.

I'll weigh in more on that in my Sunday column.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The Dodgers announced that they will celebrate the 30th anniversary of "Fernandomania" with two events next week. The team will honor Valenzuela for his magical 1981 season on "Viva Los Angeles Day" at Dodger Stadium and give away commemorative "Fernandomania" bobbleheads next Tuesday night.

Really, it's been 30 years? Really?

Of course I wax nostalgic, because that was my first year covering the Dodgers and Valenzuela's performance was otherworldly. He pitched a shutout on Opening Day after filling in for injured veteran Jerry Reuss and went on to win his first eight starts -- five of them shutouts. Combined with his performance of the previous September, he was 10-0 with an 0.40 ERA in his first 90 innings in the major leagues. Simply amazing.

What people don't remember was how good of a hitter he was. He also helped his own cause during that early run with some big run-scoring hits. Every start was a party, with mariachi bands playing in the parking lots and the stands full of delirious Mexican-American baseball fans.

Here are some Fernando facts from today's Dodgers news release:

-- Since 1945, Valenzuela is the only player in the Major Leagues to win his first eight career starts.

-- In his first 90 innings with the Dodgers from September 1980 through May 14, 1981, Valenzuela posted a 10-0 record and 0.40 ERA.

-- At home, once fans knew Valenzuela’s next start date, the former Stadium Way box office would sell out that game within 24 hours. In 1981, on a game where Valenzuela was not pitching average attendance was 35,000-40,000, while his starts saw an attendance of more than 50,000.

-- On the road, Valenzuela’s starts would also sell out. In anticipation of a May 1981 roadtrip to New York, the Mets built two extra ticket booths near the subway entrances to accommodate the anticipated rush of fans. The crowd of 39,848 was the Mets' largest of the season, they had been averaging 11,358.

-- Also on the road, the Dodgers’ PR department had to set new media guidelines due to the overwhelming media attention Valenzuela garnered. One press conference was scheduled on Valenzuela's first day in each city on the road and another after he pitched.

-- Valenzuela’s starts also affected television ratings. His May 3, 1981 start at Montreal drew a 19.6 Nielsen rating and 59 share in Los Angeles, an estimated 1.2 million adults watching at home. By comparison, the Game 7 Boston-Philadelphia NBA Eastern Conference final that night drew a 3.6 rating and 10 share.

-- Valenzuela remains the only player in baseball history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards in the same season.

-- Valenzuela became the first rookie pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts since Herb Score of the 1955 Cleveland Indians.

-- Early in the 1981 season, reporters called 76-year-old Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell, the former New York Giants lefty known for his screwball pitch. “The first time I saw Fernando, I knew he was a natural,” Hubbell said. “His delivery is just about perfect.”

-- In early May 1981, Valenzuela was invited to appear on the national television program “Good Morning America” even though he did not speak English.

-- Exactly two months after his Opening Day (4/9/81) shutout in his first Major League start, Valenzuela traveled to the White House in Washington and attended a luncheon hosted by President Ronald Reagan for Mexico’s President José López Portillo.

In the accompanying photo, former Orioles star Dennis Martinez, Valenzuela and Seattle Mariners star Edgar Martinez hold up their trophies after being inducted in the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year

Reuters file photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Got so caught up in the fantastic World Cup final today that I forgot to post my Sunday column here. Like a lot of you, I've been hearing whispers about possible changes in the Orioles front office, so I thought I'd try to attach some insight based on conversations with the principals and other stuff I've heard around the ballpark.

Read it right here and let me know what your think.

Good to see Cowherd back in action. He's got an interesting column up on the Web site right now about the start of another series against the Red Sox tomorrow night. Check it out, too.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Once again, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I was feeling merciful today and thought I'd sit down first thing in the morning and point out on this blog that the Orioles -- for all their deficiencies -- deserved a tiny bit of slack because they might be playing the toughest schedule in the major leagues.

They might, when you consider that they played the Cardinals, Reds and 52-win Braves in interleague play, and the supposedly easy interleague teams are a lot tougher than usual this year. That, combined with the perennially torturous AL East slate, certainly puts them right near the top of the sport in degree of schedule difficulty.

I was going to do that just to be nice, but when I woke up this morning, I realized that the Pittsburgh Pirates were tied for first place in the National League Central. That pretty much did it for me.

The Pirates were one of the last remaining teams that Orioles fans could look at and say "Well, at least we're not them." Now, all we've got left are the Kansas City Royals. I know the Astros are the worst team in baseball this year, but they've had a winning record in 11 of their last 15 seasons, so they don't count.

This is enough to make me go out and drink a case of Iron City beer.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)
Categories: Just baseball
        

I'm trying to make sense of the suspensions announced by MLB for series of purpose-pitch skirmishes in Boston over the weekend. This kind of thing is usually pretty routine, but I raised an eyebrow at the fact that Kevin Gregg received the same four-game suspension as David Ortiz.

Not to let Gregg off the hook for knocking Ortiz off the plate, but he didn't ever hit Ortiz with a pitch and he wasn't the one who charged the mound and started the brief melee. He did yell at Ortiz for swinging at a 3-0 pitch in a blowout game, but that happens all the time in baseball. It appears that he was punished heavily because Ortiz took offense. If you watch the replay of the confrontation, Gregg gave Ortiz a shoulder to stop his charge and dodged a haymaker before taking an ineffective swing back.

I don't see where that rates an equal suspension, but I guess the fact that they were the two main combatants -- and perhaps the recognition that four days for Gregg may only cause him to miss one or two appearances -- creates a somewhat logical framework for that decision.

The only other multi-game suspension was assessed against Michael Gonzalez for throwing behind Ortiz, and that one is hard to argue. Several other players were fined for their roles in the bench-clearing incident.

We're still waiting to find out why Buck Showalter was suspended and -- apparently -- Terry Francona was not. I always thought that when the manager gets an automatic ejection after both benches have been warned that it came with a one-game suspension. Dan Connolly is trying to run that down and will have an update on Orioles Insider.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed, but I've finally grown tired of all the reasons why the Orioles can't compete when teams of lesser economic circumstance (the Tampa Bay Rays are the best example) find ways to build minor league depth and compete at the major league level.

If you want to hear me rant some more on the subject, you can check out my column for the upcoming print edition -- as well as a video in which I try to articulate the concept further -- right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Can't say that was the most entertaining All-Star Game I've ever watched, but at least future Oriole Prince Fielder had a big night. The thing that stood out for me was the number of very good and very bad defensive plays.

Jose Bautista's catch was a true Web Gem. Matt Wieters' passed ball wasn't pretty, but I'm fairly sure he got crossed up, since he went to the wrong knee on the pitch and couldn't cross over to reach the ball. Oh well, I'm sure he had a great time anyway and he'll have a lot more chances to make a big All-Star impression.

Here's a prediction: The Phillies will win the World Series because they sent their best starters to this game while C.C. Sabathia and several other top A.L. pitchers did not post. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere, but it just reminds me that the sports' championship series should not be impacted by the sport's highly commercialized midseason exhibition game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The headline refers to something that former American League president Dr. Bobby Brown said to me once to explain his lack of concern for a minor beanball incident back in the day. The attitude toward aggressive pitching has changed over the years, but it was refreshing to see Kevin Gregg take an old-school attitude to the mound on Friday night.

Mind you, I wouldn't have been in his corner if he had thrown a headball at David Ortiz. That would have been bush league and nobody should be out there trying to hurt an opposing player. But he has a right to pitch inside and Ortiz has a right to swing 3-0 in a six-run game and they both have a right to get mad at each other.

Ortiz probably should have been smart enough to restrain himself, because the Red Sox have way more to lose when he gets suspended for charging the mound. He's having a great season and they are in first place, so a suspension could cost the Sox an important game in the standings. Gregg will probably get a day off, but he's a closer on a losing team who has only about a 40 percent chance of playing in any given game anyway.

Anyway, their little shoving match added some entertainment value to an otherwise uninspiring evening and will add some suspense to tonight's game. Who knows what Alfredo Simon and John Lackey are going to do with all that pent-up emotion from last night.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Maybe I'm the one providing the negative energy during the game and it's going right through the television and depressing the ballclub, because I already knew what was going to happen after the Orioles started tonight's game with three straight singles. Adam Jones had just squeezed Red Sox starter Andrew Miller for an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a run-scoring single when Vladimir Guerrero came up and grounded the very next pitch into a double play.

The second run of the inning scored off that terrible, selfish, not-a-clue-what's-going-on-in-the-game at-bat, but I don't care. Miller was trying to implode and Guerrero bailed him out, like he has done over and over the past couple of months. Then it became a matter of just waiting for the roof to fall in, which was facilitated by Jake Arrieta's wild third inning and the usual array of misfortune that always follows.

Please disregard my previous blog entry. When is this horror movie going to end?

Total Mid-Atlantic Meltdown: While the Orioles pitching staff was giving up six home runs in Boston, the Nationals were busy blowing an 8-0 lead against the Cubs at Nationals Park. The Cubs just took the lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Aramis Ramirez. Amazing.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Just baseball
        

The shroud of fatalism has settled over the Orioles the past couple of weeks has gotten almost suffocating, but everybody who has spent any time watching baseball knows that momentum can shift at any time. The Orioles have been streaky during the first half of this season, so it's fair to assume that they'll have another good streak before too long.

Will it start in Boston? There's no logical reason to think so, but this team has defied any attempt to figure out why it does anything. The O's pitched pretty well during the early weeks of the season, but didn't score a lot of runs. They got the offense in gear for a while in June, but stopped pitching effectively. Even the individual players have been enigmatic -- most notably Mark Reynolds, who has 20 home runs and 20 errors entering the four-game series that starts tonight at Fenway Park.

The pitching staff has struggled badly over the past nine games. The starting rotation has an 8-plus ERA and manager Buck Showalter has had to plug holes in it with Triple-A callups Chris Jakubauskas and Mitch Atkins. The hitters have been absolutely pitiful with runners in scoring position.

Things look so bad that Rick Dempsey just said on the pregame show that tonight is probably the Orioles' best chance to win one more game before the All-Star break, and Rick's a pretty positive guy.

I'm not quite so certain that the O's are overmatched. I think they'll at least split this series, because the Red Sox are having pitching problems of their own and -- though there is no logical basis for this -- the pendulum has to swing back at some point. It always does.

Once again, I'm looking for Nolan Reimold to continue to make a case for more playing time. This is his opportunity to make some kind of statement with Luke Scott on the disabled list. I think he knows that and isn't going to pass it up.

First pitch awaits.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Just baseball
        

I don't know if the Orioles are seriously considering trading either J.J. Hardy or Mark Reynolds at the July 31 waiver deadline, but I just threw up a column warning the Orioles that I -- and Orioles fans -- would prefer that they keep both players and continue to improve the veteran talent of the club.

If you want to take a look before the print edition comes out tomorrow, you can read it right here.

Thanks in advance.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Just baseball
        

Mitch Atkins is scheduled to take the mound in a few hours against the Texas Rangers in the most homer-friendly ballpark in the major leagues this year -- an eventuality that probably doesn't fill you to the brim with confidence heading into the second game of the series.

Can't blame anybody for being fatalistic, but Atkins will have unfamiliarity on his side, so he might be able to sneak through that lineup once or twice. Does anybody remember when Chris Waters made his major league debut against the Angels under similar circumstances in 2008 and gave up just one hit over eight innings?

Does anybody remember -- without looking it up -- who got the only hit off him?

I realize that Atkins will not be making his major league debut. He had a few relief appearances in the National League. But that doesn't change my point, which is that an unfamiliar pitcher with poise can be dangerous.

I'm not going to make any predictions tonight, though I have a good feeling about Nolan Reimold, who is in the starting lineup for the second straight night and should match up well against hard-luck left-hander Matt Harrison.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Just baseball
        

If you haven't read my column in today's print edition, you can read it right here, but I have to explain something.

In the interest of advance planning for the holiday weekend, I wrote the column a couple of days early, and it's amazing how much has changed since then. It wasn't a positive column to begin with, but the Orioles were only a couple of days removed from winning that series over the Cincinnati Reds. Suddenly, their in the throes of a five-game losing streak and the rest of the division stopped cooperating a few weeks ago. They have fallen 14 1/2 games out of first place and are now 10 games under .500.

The point of my column remains the same. They are vastly improved over last year if all you look at is their won-loss record, but that doesn't mean they are one day closer to being a playoff contender. It's a pretty discouraging picture.

I will say this in their favor. Mark Reynolds, who was the subject of some serious bashing here because of his high error total, has delivered exactly what the Orioles hoped for when they acquired him. He's on pace to hit 35 home runs and strike out a lot less than last year. J.J. Hardy has been terrific and should be re-signed for the next two or three years before he realizes how much money he'll get as a free agent if he keeps playing like this. And the Orioles still have a nucleus of talented young players -- particularly Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Zach Britton, Jake Arrieta and (we can only hope) Brian Matusz. I'd throw Nolan Reimold in there if he ever got to play.

I'd like to see Buck Showalter move Reynolds into the cleanup spot and -- like everyone else -- I'd like to see how this team would play if a healthy Brian Roberts were at the top of the lineup. Hardy has done a fine job there, but it would certainly be nice to have both of them.

Sadly, it's going to take a lot of good things to happen for the O's to rebound in the second half and finish above .500, and good things don't exactly follow this team around. Last night's game was another example of that.

They played good, exciting baseball for eight of nine innings, but Luke Scott's miss in the outfield and Arrieta's poor command during two crucial at-bats were all it took to cost them another on a long lists of games they should have won this year.

So, I'm going to try to cheer you up by guaranteeing that the Orioles will win the finale of the three-game series at Turner Field today. I don't do that very often, but -- even if you don't eat your pre-game meal at McDonald's -- you deserve a break today.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
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The Orioles dropped nine games under .500 last night and 13 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East. Does that mean they are "hopelessly" out of contention?

Not in the wild card era, because it's early July and a run like they had in August and September last year (with a lesser team) would put them in range of the extra playoff berth. But don't construe that little bit of mathematical logic as an argument that they are going to pick themselves up off the mat again this year and make a run at respectability.

It looks to me like they are falling off the competitive cliff as we speak. I realize that they faced the best pitcher in the National League last night, but Jair Jurrjens isn't the only guy who has overmatched them lately. The offense just refuses to click on the most basic level and the pitching is deteriorating rapidly. This is where organizational depth comes into play...if you have any.

This is an ugly picture that is about to get uglier. I'm usually the most positive guy in the room, but the Rangers and Red Sox are waiting in the wings and the Orioles -- barring some unforseen change in aptitude and attitude -- will not have an answer for them.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)
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Brian Matusz did his best to put on a positive face after he got the news that he was being sent to Triple-A Norfolk to work back into shape, but the hurt was written all over his face. This has been a terribly frustrating time for a young man who was 7-1 with a sub-.2.00 ERA during the final months of last season and looked like he was ready to own the No. 2 slot in the Orioles rotation.

"It's going to be tough,'' he said. "I'm not getting it done up here. It's not fair to the team. I need to get down there, work with Mike Griffin and get back where I was before."

There continues to be questions about Matusz's health, but he made it crystal clear that he is "100 percent healthy." Manager Buck Showalter would not guarantee that Matusz is 100 percent, but he said a DL assignment was not discussed when he met with Matusz after the game.

"I'm not going to smugly say he's not (hurt),'' Showalter said. "I can only go on what he tells me."

Matusz said he believes that his mechanics are fine and that he needs to get down to Norfolk and rebuild his arm strength, put on some muscle and improve his overall conditioning. Brady Anderson has been working with him and said he will head down to Norfolk in a few days.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Nolan Reimold made good on my Orioles Xtra prediction tonight that he would hit a home run against Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia. It's a gift, but it doesn't seem to help me at the craps table.

I'd like to see Reimold start getting some regular playing time. He swung the bat pretty good a couple of years ago before he cut the season short to undergo surgery to repair a damaged Achilles tendon. He never really got untracked last year -- for a variety of reasons -- and was the odd guy out this year after a decent spring.

He didn't respond after he was optioned to Norfolk, but he has had some very good at-bats in his limited role up here. The Orioles owe it to themselves to find out whether he can be an everyday player, because he definitely has major league power.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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The headline says above says it all, but I articulate the concept a lot better in my column on the current struggles of Vladimir Guerrero, which you can read right now, right here on the Web site.

I suggest you waste no time checking it out, because I'm pretty sure I've thrown a reverse jinx on Guerrero, who will now hit at least two home runs tonight against the Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter to make the column look inappropriate and out of place in tomorrow's print edition.

Actually, I hope he does.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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If you haven't already, make sure you read Dan Connolly's story about Chris Jakubauskas and Lance Berkman. It's a great account of the Berkman line drive that nearly ended Jak's career, with both players weighing in on how the incident affected them. Check it out right here.

Now I can tell my favorite Berkman story, which is a lot more fun:

Back when I was The Sun's national baseball writer and Berkman was just breaking out as a big-time power hitter with the Houston Astros, one of my favorite editors (Ray Frager) thought it would be a great idea if I met the Astros in Florida and did a story on how he might turn out to be the greatest Jewish power hitter since Hank Greenberg. So I headed down to Joe Robbie Stadium -- or whatever they called it then -- and found then-Astros PR guy Warren Miller to set me up with an interview.

He thought it was pretty interesting that somebody would come from Baltimore to see Berkman, who has no Mid-Atlantic connections, so he asked me what my angle was going to be. When I told him, he laughed and ruined my day.

"That would be a great angle if Lance were Jewish,'' he said.

Well, I felt about three inches tall, and began to shrink further when Warren yelled across the clubhouse to Berkman.

"Hey Lance,'' he said. "I've got another writer here who thinks you're Jewish."

Berkman looked up and smiled, so I went over to talk to him, figuring I'd just do a standard feature on one of baseball's up-and-coming stars.

"So I'm not the first guy to make that mistake,'' I said.

"No," he replied, "but don't feel bad. You are the first guy who ever flew 1,000 miles to do it."

How could you not like that guy? I've been a fan ever since.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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The Orioles have spent much of the first half underachieving at the plate, but they are above the midline in the American League hitting ranks in several important departments. They rank sixth in team average (.259), sluggling percentage (.399) and home runs (77), but that's not reflected in their overall performance, because they rank only 10th in runs scored and next to last in team ERA and home runs allowed.

Hate to say it, but in a lot of cases, it comes down to situational hitting. They had a chance to make a move on Saturday night trailing 6-4 when Bronson Arroyo walked Adam Jones to put runners on first and second with one out, but Vladimir Guerrero fished for the very next pitch and made two very quick and deflating outs. That's Vlad, of course. He's been a free swinger his whole career, but he isn't producing right now at a level that allows him to be a real offensive asset with that approach.

Of course, it's not just Guerrero. Several of the Orioles' top hitters have let their aggressiveness get the best of the team, but it's a lot easier to take the good with the bad when Adam Jones is on pace for 28 home runs and 99 RBI.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
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Though it's good to see Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz trying to stay positive as he tries to rebuild his velocity and command after a series of physical setbacks, but he's got to be very frustrated. This was supposed to be his breakout season, after he stepped up at the end of 2010 to go 7-1 in August and September.

Everyone in the organization is hoping against hope that he simply lost some arm strengh because his spring training was interrupted by a wart on his pitching hand and he was forced out of the rotation at the start of the season by a rib cage strain. The plan, according to manager Buck Showalter is to let him continue to work his way back into shape at the major league level, but I'm not sure that's a great idea. The last thing Matusz needs right now is to get banged around by the string of good-hitting teams that lies ahead on the Orioles schedule.

Matusz is a confident kid, but I'd hate to see that confidence get chipped away while he's not at his physical best.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Both Matt Wieters and rookie Blake Davis were intrigued by the report that an optometrist had backed up Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton's contention that blue-eyed hitters have more trouble hitting in the daytime than at night.

Wieters is blue-eyed and Davis -- interestingly enough -- has one blue eye and one brown eye.

"So he should hit exactly the same in both day and night games,'' Wieters said.

Davis does not have a track record, but Wieters does hit better at night than in the day. His numbers aren't dramatically different, but his average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage are all higher -- the difference most noticeable in his strikeout/walk ratio and his slugging percentage.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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My latest "News Item" column is up on the Web site. I weigh in on the Nationals strange managerial situation, the Orioles recent travails and a variety of other subjects from the last week. You can read it right here, right now or wait for tomorrow's print edition.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Since I've spent a lot of time ripping the Orioles for their lack of patience at the plate, I've got to give them a shout out for squeezing the heck out of Reds starting pitcher Edison Volquez in the first and second innings.

If you need numerical proof, Volquez had thrown 49 pitches before he got his second out of the second inning.

That didn't stop the Orioles from adding another wasted opportunity to their vast collection this year. After Blake Davis tripled home two runs with his first major league hit in the second and Volquez walked J.J. Hardy on four pitches, Nick Markakis swung at the first pitch and hit into a double play to strand Davis.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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If you've been reading me regularly -- and who hasn't -- you know that I said it was imperative for the Orioles to win their interleague series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now because of any rivalry between the two cities, but because of the sad state of baseball in both towns and what it says to fans when you're selling a turnaround and you can't beat the NL version of yourself.

This is not about where the Orioles are in their redevelopment, because we already know where they are. It's really just a matter of public relations, because the most positive fans are looking for any reason to be optimistic and this series provided just the opposite. If you can't beat the other struggling teams, you're just exascerbating your credibility problem.

Here's the most important thing I learned from this series. The key player in this losing equation -- like last year is a player who isn't playing. Brian Roberts, when healthy, is the glue that holds the infield defense and the batting order together. When and if he comes back, I suspect you'll see a much more competitive team, but you've got to be starting to doubt whether Roberts will play again this season.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
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The latest report on Brian Roberts was the same as the last couple. His concussion symptoms persist and now he's not expected to rejoin the team at least until after the All-Star break.

This creates a number of possible scenarios, one of which is the possibility that Roberts will not be back at all this year. I hope that's not the case, but we're talking about a serious health issue, so whatever is best for the guy is what should happen.

The happier scenario is a rerun of what happened last year. His return to the lineup clearly had an uplifting effect on the entire team and was a major factor in the Orioles' stunning turnaround during the final two months of last season. That's a lot to ask, but if it does happen, the Orioles will be building on much more of a foundation than they started with last August.

Of much more immediate concern is the outlook for starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie and Brian Matusz. Guthrie is scheduled to take the mound tonight against the Pirates at PNC Park. He suffered from back spasms in his last start, but rebounded quickly. If he's okay tonight, manager Buck Showalter can breathe a huge sigh or relief and focus all his concern on Matusz, who left his last start with leg cramps.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
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The other Baltimore/Pittsburgh sports rivalry heats up tonight at PNC Park, but there isn't quite as much at stake as when the Ravens and Steelers go at it with a chance to get to the Super Bowl.

It is important, however, because both teams are trying to drag themselves back from an interminable string of losing seasons, so a series loss by either team will register as another embarrassment to its fan following.

So far this season, the Pirates are in much better shape in the standings, both because they are one game under .500 (the O's are five under) and because they play in a division where that leaves them only four games out of first place. If they were in the AL East with that record, they would be in fifth place, a half-game behind the Toronto Blue Jays and eight games off the pace. And, of course, they would have to compile that record against tougher competition.

Though the Orioles won on Sunday and had optimistic things to say about the injuries that knocked Brian Matusz and Luke Scott out of Saturday's game and cast Jeremy Guthrie's next start into some doubt, I still contend that they are standing at the edge of a competitive cliff. If they can't win this series with their three top pitchers lined up (assuming Guthrie can go), it's hard to imagine them being very competitive over the ensuing month against a series of very good NL and AL teams.

The flip side: I'm not going to be an apologist here, but I will put the situation in a different perspective. If the Orioles were not coming off 13 consecutive losing seasons, it would be a lot easier to rationalize where they are right now. They've been without Brian Roberts for much of the first half. They've been without Brian Matusz for all but four starts. They did without J.J. Hardy for a lengthy DL stay. They lost veteran utility guy Cesar Izturis early on and have had to play without Derrek Lee because of both an injury and a bereavement leave. Things are tough all over, but in spite of all that, they still are a modest winning streak away from respectability. Okay, maybe I am being an apologist, but there are actually some people on the blog now who think I'm too negative.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
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Maybe I'm being too negative here, but I've got a very bad feeling about the way this team is trending right now. I think that comes through in my column off today's loss, which you can read in tomorrow's print edition or check out right here, right now.

Now, before you jump off a cliff along with them, let's throw in an ounce of perspective. If you roll the standings back exactly one year, the Orioles were 18-49 on this date and 23 games out of first place after 67 games. They were 31 games under .500 then and six games under .500 now. They are 12 1/2 games better this season, though they are very frustrating to watch.

That's mathematical progress, and fairly dramatic mathematical progress, but it doesn't tell the story and it doesn't predict the future. Maybe Derrick Lee is busting out and Brian Matusz will be out there in five days improving on today's decent performance, but it looks more like they are digging a hole right now.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
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If you thought it was odd that the Orioles had 18 hits and only scored four runs, that isn't the half of it. According to ESPN Stats and Research, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis became the first two batters on the same team to get four hits in the same game and not score or drive in a run since 1984, when Rod Carew and Fred Lynn achieved that dubious distinction for the 1984 California Angels.

I was there for that, too. Maybe it's me.

If that isn't a rare enough accomplishment, it was the first time since 1920 that three players -- Jones, Markakis and Lee -- had four or more hits in the same game without driving in a single run.

I was not there for that. In fact, there wasn't even a Yankee Stadium yet the last time that happened.

Can't wait to see what statistical magic the Orioles will work today.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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In their quest to find as many different ways to lose as possible, the Orioles got a total of four runs on 18 hits in last night's loss to the Washington Nationals, which is one of those good news/bad news stats that -- I guess -- says that somebody was doing something right and everything still turned out wrong.

This O's team is about as proficient at wasting scoring opportunities as I've seen in my lengthy career, and I've been around a lot of bad Orioles teams. Twice, they put the first two runners on base with no one out and immediately hit into a double play each time. When the Nationals created the same situation against O's starter Zach Britton with the Orioles up 2-0 in the fifth, pitcher Jason Marquis laid down a solid sacrifice bunt and Mark Reynolds fired the ball down the right field line to facilitate a big inning that featured three unearned runs.

Manager Buck Showalter wasn't ready to lay the blame for another ugly loss on just one player, but he may be ready to explode.

"We had plenty of opportunities to make that not matter,'' he said. "Hanging it on one player...I'm not going to do that...Those things are correctable."

The Orioles are five games under .500 and they've lost enough games they should have won to be a solid .500-plus team right now.

No, I'm not saying they are better than this. The way they are playing right now, they might be overachieving to only be 10 games out of first place.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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By most accounts, the Orioles should be about six runs ahead right now. They have banged out 10 hits in five innings against Jason Marquis, but were lucky to score two runs in the fourth inning -- on a terrible play at the plate by Nats catcher Wilson Ramos and an RBI double that was pitcher Zach Britton's first major league hit.

That gave the Orioles a two-run lead, which they were happy to give back an inning later, when an ugly throwing error by Mark Reynolds helped the Nationals turn a modest scoring opportunity into a four-run inning to take the lead.

The Orioles had two runners on and no one out in two other innings, but -- as has become their custom -- did nothing with those opportunities while they waited for the Nationals to mount a comeback.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Zach Britton clearly looked like he felt a twinge in his side when he leapt to try and flag down Jayson Werth's inning-opening bouncer in the bottom of the first. Britton came down and seemed uncomfortable. He stretched behind the mound and then resumed pitching, throwing three straight balls to No. 2 hitter Ian Desmond before finding the strike zone again.

We'll have to just see how the next few innings play out, but with the way things have been going on the Orioles pitching staff, it doesn't take much to raise a red flag,

The good news, however, is that Jeremy Guthrie's back soreness apparently is not the result of a serious injury. The team said today that he is expected to make his next scheduled start.

Instant update: Britton appears to be fine. Has pitched through two innings and bounced out in his first major league at-bat.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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The streaky Orioles are about to take the field against the streaking Washington Nationals in the nation's capital, but I'll be making no prediction tonight. I'm still basking in the glory of yesterday's fulfilled promise that the O's would not be swept by the Toronto Blue Jays.

If the Orioles stay true to form, they should do all right this weekend, since they tend to win their games in small handfuls. The Nats have been on a terrific offensive roll, but that's nothing a sharp Zach Britton can't turn in his favor. (Can't wait to see him hit after watching some impressive batting practice sessions at Camden Yards)

The Orioles have had their way with Nats starter Jason Marquis, but it's small sample. He's 0-1 with an 11.42 ERA in four appearances, two of them starts. He has been pretty successful this season, but gave up five earned runs in four innings in his only appearance against the Orioles and was removed before he could get the decision in a 17-5 Nationals victory.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The Orioles finally pried a victory out of Rogers Centre, beating the Blue Jays, 4-3, though not without a ton of intrigue and one big piece of disturbing news. Jeremy Guthrie was cruising along with a one-hit shutout when his back seized up after the fifth inning. The Orioles put him in position to win with two runs in the top of the sixth, but took him out of the decision when a defensive blunder by young Ryan Adams helped the Blue Jays tie the game.

For once, however, the Orioles managed to hold them there and scored two runs in the top of the ninth to end the Jays' 16-game winning streak against them in Toronto.

Adams had a very tough day, making the big error and hitting into three double plays, but he got one more chance in the ninth and poked a single through the drawn-up infield to account for the final margin of victory.

There was suspense to the end. Closer Kevin Gregg gave up a foul screen home run to sizzling Adam Lind to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but retired the next three batters in order to record his 13th save.

I'm not surprised, of course, since I guaranteed an Orioles victory this morning. I also guaranteed a win by Guthrie, but his back refused to cooperate. Hopefully for the Orioles, the back spasm was minor and he'll be ready to go in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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What does it tell you when the most patient hitter on the Orioles roster is Mark Reynolds, a guy who struck out more than 200 times in each of the past three seasons? When Reynolds walked in the third inning today, it was his 36th base on balls of the season, which is 15 more than anybody else in an Orioles uniform.

I've got to give him some credit for that, since I was pretty critical of the two times he looked at called third strikes in big RISP situations on Tuesday night, but I've got to wonder what's going on in the heads of the other hitters. I'll give Ricky Romero all the credit in the world for pitching a terrific game last night, but the O's helped make it possible by rushing him through the first two innings on just 14 pitches.

Maybe I'm stretching this point, but I've never seen so many hitters bail opposing pitchers out of great hitters' counts with pop ups and double-play balls. There's a difference between being aggressive in good hitting situations and being overly aggressive to the point where opposing pitchers know they do not have to throw the ball in the strike zone when the count is 2-0.

The Yankees and Red Sox squeeze pitchers by taking first strikes. The Orioles squeeze themselves by fishing for questionable pitches early in counts. Vladimir Guerrero can afford to do that. Adam Jones can't.

If you;'re watching the game right now, you just saw Derrek Lee swing from his heels at a 2-0 pitch that was low enough to hit him in the ankle. Next time I see him, I'll thank him for illustrating my point.

Instant update: Today, Zach Stewart is making his major league debut, and they're being shut out through five innings. He might be that good, but how are we supposed to know when the Orioles seem to make everybody look like Cliff Lee.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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I'm sorry that the reader comments don't post as fast as they used to, and hope we can find a way to rectify that situation, but I thought I'd highlight my favorite post from the last few hours. It comes from Harry, who felt my guarantee that the Orioles would win today was irresponsible and may have put Canadians in danger.

Harry's take: That's crazy talk---think of the consequences---an Orioles win would spark another Canadian riot---hell, I might even turn over my car and burn it...

My take: What was I thinking? Well, at least they have national health care.

One more thing: To those of you who wrote in to correct my math, you are correct about the real statistical probability of a coin coming up heads on the 17th consecutive flip. Not a tough concept. Where you come up short is recognizing my keen sense of humor, but maybe that's my fault.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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It's almost impossible to assail my logic in guaranteeing that the Orioles will avert a three-game sweep today with an afternoon victory over the Toronto Blue Jays with the roof open at Rogers Centre.

Quite simply, it has been scientifically proven that you can't lose them all. The Orioles have to win today because they've lost 16 straight games in Toronto and the odds against losing 17 straight are astronomical. It's sort of like flipping a coin and getting heads 16 times in a row. You know that it's got to be a million to one against a head coming up on the 17th flip. Duh!

The same goes for Jeremy Guthrie, who also has defied the odds by winning just one game since Opening Day in spite of holding a sub-4.00 ERA for much of the past 2 1/2 months. that's hard to do.

Really, there isn't much else bad left to happen to this team. The Orioles clearly are destined to win today and begin another five-game winning streak. I guarantee it.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
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I've got mixed feelings about the way home plate umpire Jerry Layne has called tonight's game at Rogers Centre.

Being a baseball purist, I think his double-wide strike zone is an abomination, though he has been consistent regardless of who's on the mound.

Being a guy who loves a full night's sleep, I like the way it has kept the game moving along and a brisk pace.

The difference in this game -- and it's not a big difference -- is that Jays starter Ricky Romero has had terrific command and has kept the ball out of the middle of the strike zone. Jake Arrieta has pitched well, too, but he has left a couple of balls close to the hot spot and the Jays have a pair of solo homers as a result.

Oh, and there's the uncanny ability of the Orioles to turn an opportunity into an embarrassment, as they did in the fourth inning, when they had runners at first and second with no one out. Adam Jones got himself out swinging at two balls well down and off the plate and Vladimir Guerrero swung at the first pitch and bounced into a room service double play. It's what they do.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Going into the third inning of tonight's game between the Orioles and Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Jays pitcher Ricky Romero is on pace to throw 63 pitches over nine innings.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure a lot of your are still gnashing your teeth over the way the Orioles battled back from a 4-1 deficit last night and then just waited around for the Toronto Blue Jays to hit them with a big stick in extra innings.

That makes 15 straight victories over the Orioles at Rogers Centre, which is pretty hard to do -- even against the Orioles.

Here's the good news. Koji Uehara gave up that game-winning home run to Adam Lind while you could still get to bed at a reasonable time. The alternative was to stay up all night waiting for the Orioles to get a clutch hit, and you would probably be sitting in front of the TV right now because they seemed determined to get a couple of guys on base in every inning and then lay their bats down.

Don't want to point fingers, but if the defense had been adequate in the early innings, Chris Jakubauskus would have given up only two runs over five or six innings. And if Mark Reynolds looks at another called third strike with runners in scoring position and less than two outs, I'm going to stick my head in the oven.

Okay, I understand that hitting is hard and sometimes you guess wrong at the plate, but with the go-ahead run at third base and one out, most guys swing at a ball that makes a perfect bulls-eye inside that little strike zone graphic they use on MASN. The second time was a borderline pitch, but two called third strikes with RISP and less than two outs late in the game and you're probably not wondering why the other team ends up celebrating at home plate.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
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If you haven't already, you can read my column for tomorrow's print edition right here, right now. I weigh in on the possibility or a J.J. Hardy contract extension and try to make sense of the rest of the midseason trade possibilities.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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The notion that Mark Connor resigned as Orioles pitching coach on Monday because of the struggles of some of his pitchers doesn't make any sense to me. Connor has been a great pitching coach for a long time, and you don't get to be that by getting frustrated when things don't go well. You get to be that by helping guys correct the problems that keep them from having success.

Connor apparently told manager Buck Showalter that he just couldn't grind out another long season and give the effort the job deserves. I don't see any reason to doubt that, though I can see why somebody could look in from the outside and wonder if he just got tired of the uphill battle he had been fighting with this inconsistent pitching staff.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
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The Orioles again find themselves in a difficult spot as they open a three-game series in Toronto tonight at Rogers Centre. They let some opportunities slip through their fingers over the weekend to fall three games under .500, and the distance between last place and first place in the American League East is widening quickly.

Tonight's game will be a particular challenge for the sporatic Orioles offense. They'll face a pitcher in Carlos Villanueva who has worked his way into the Jays rotation and is 3-0 in his four starts, including a very solid 5 1/3 innings against the Orioles at Camden Yards on June 3. He is stretched out now, so he could be around a lot longer than that it the O's don't force him to work.

Orioles starter Chris Jakubauskas is coming off a strong performance in his first Orioles start, giving up just three hits over five innings against a soft Oakland A's lineup. He'll need to be better than that against the Jays, who rank third in the American League in runs scored and tied for second in home runs.

The ensuing matchups appear a bit more favorable, with Jake Arrieta going for his ninth victory against Ricky Romera -- who allowed 14 baserunners against the O's on June 4 -- and Jeremy Guthrie facing Jo-Jo Reyes (2-5), but I think the Orioles will be very fortunate to get back across the border with more than one victory.

The best news for the pitching staff is the return of first baseman Derrek Lee from the bereavement list. He has not been the major offensive force the Orioles had hoped for when they signed him, but his defensive acumen has been a major positive for the club so far.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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My column for the Sunday print edition is already up on the Web site, so you can read it right here.

The column was written before Jeremy Guthrie took the mound tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays tonight, but the outcome isn't going to affect my opinion. I think he's a good pitcher who has had a lot of bad luck and probably would benefit from a midseason trade to a competitive team that might give him more run support.

Let me know what you think.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)
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Former Orioles beat writer Buster Olney cites several sources claiming that a modest realignment could be part of the next baseball labor agreement, but I can't imagine that MLB wants to emulate the NBA playoff system by going to two 15-team leagues that would each produce five playoff teams.

Here's a link to the story.

The current baseball model has been so successful that MLB revenues have more than tripled since the disastrous labor war of 1994-95. Going with a system in which the top five teams would advance might increase late-season interest in some mediocre clubs, but it would remove a lot of the suspense from the regular season for the elite teams that have to battle each other for their respective division titles.

I would oppose any attempt to increase the number of playoff teams, but I could live with an extra wild card in each league, which would create a play-in series and expand the postseason to four rounds. I wouldn't be in favor of it, but it wouldn't seriously diminish the integrity of the regular season.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
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The Orioles, at least theoretically, could get back to the .500 mark tonight with a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, but I wouldn't be the farm on that. Rays ace David Price has strung together three strong outings after struggling through a couple of tough starts in late May.

The O's are on something of a roll right now, outscoring opponents 18-4 in their four-game winning streak, and they beat Price on Opening Night at Tropicana Field.

Tonight's game will be a rematch between Price and Orioles No. 1 starter Jeremy Guthrie, who won that first game with a strong eight-inning performance, but has won just one decision since then.

J.J. Hardy will make his third start in the leadoff spot. He has homered to lead off each of his first two starts at the top of the order. Nolan Reimold is in the lineup batting sixth and Brandon Snyder will hit ninth and play first base.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Nick Markakis doubled home two more runs in the eighth inning to finish with a career-high six RBI -- matching his RBI total for his previous 27 games. He has been working tirelessly to pull out of a lengthy run-production and snapped a string of 88 at-bats without an extra-base hit with his third career grand slam in the second.

"There's still a lot more hard work to be done,'' he said afterward. "I feel better, but I still don't feel I'm where I need to be."

Here's the bottom line. His revival at the plate would provide a huge boost to an Orioles offense that has had way too much trouble scoring runs. This would be a great time for the offensive attack to become more consistent, since both the starting rotation and the bullpen appear to have settled into a pretty good groove.

The shutout was the Orioles' fifth of the year and second of the homestand. The three hits allowed were the fewest this year.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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It was starting to look like the Orioles would blow another prime scoring opportunity after they put runners at second and third with no one out on Friday night. When Felix Pie lined out softly and Robert Andino laid down an apparent squeeze bunt with Luke Scott holding at third, you had to think this was going to be another one of those frustrating moments for the O's inconsistent offense.

Instead, Jeremy Hellickson walked J.J. Hardy to load the bases and Nick Markakis yanked the first pitch over the scoreboard in right field to give the Orioles a five-run lead. It was Nick's third career grand slam and his first extra-base in 89 at-bats.

OK, now that you've got an in-game update, why don't you take a look at my latest "News Item" column. You can find it right here.

Blog update: Because of a spam problem, the entire Sun comment system is in a "must approve" mode, at least for the time being. Several of you have posted comments that have not gone up and have been lost in the system, but bear with me and I'll try to get this thing moving again.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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If you haven't already, here's the column I just wrote on new Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy. The kid has all the tools, but it's still a long road to major league stardom.

The Orioles will be very careful with him. They picked one of the most highly-touted young pitchers in the history of the draft when Ben McDonald came out of LSU in the late 1980s, but he never reached the full potential ascribed to him. The Nationals got the can't-miss pitcher of this century when they drafted Stephen Strasburg, and now they're waiting for him to come back from extensive arm surgery. You just never know.

Blog update: Apparently, while I was on vacation, the Sun web site experienced some technical difficulties as a result of a spam attack. That's why the comments section has reverted to the old system, where I had to approve every comment before it was published. I certainly hope this situation is not permanent, because I like the free-wheeling discussions that go on here and I can't sit at my laptop all day long keeping the comments flowing evenly. I'll do the best I can and keep you posted.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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The Orioles got a very solid performance from spot starter Chris Jakubauskas tonight on the way to their fourth shutout victory of the year, but that isn't enough. They need to put the hammer down one more time on the slumping A's and inch closer to .500 before the weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

They'll face Jeremy Hellickson, David Price and Wade Davis, which means it's going to be a very difficult home series for a team that is averaging 3.3 runs in its last 11 games.

It would certainly help if Luke Scott is really breaking out again at the plate...and it would help even more if Nick Markakis could get his groove back. He hasn't had an extra-base hit in his last 84 at-bats and has just five singles in 40 at-bats over the last 10 games. He's got to snap out of this at some point. This weekend would be a particularly good time as the O's try go sneak up on .500 again.

Look for Zach Britton to snap a five-week winless streak today. He has lost three straight decisions, though his three no-decisions during that span were quality starts and one of them featured nine shutout innings. The Orioles were 2-1 in his no-decision games.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Listen, I know the Orioles are a so-so team with all sorts of flaws, but I cannot explain how they find a different way to lose ignominiously just about every week. I've been around a long time, and the kind of loss they suffered on Tuesday night at Safeco Field happens to every team about once or twice every year. Trouble is, that's the fourth or fifth already this year (I'd be more specific, but I just can't bear to go back and check) that the O's have suffered such a discouraging late-inning setback.

I think if you go back to this time last year, you'll find an almost identical post. I vaguely remember saying the same thing as the O's were immolating during the first half of the 2010 season. And here we go again. The Orioles lost that game to the Red Sox a couple of weeks ago after leading by six runs heading into the late innings. Most teams will not do that once this year. But they already had lost a game in which they held a 5-0 lead over the Yankees.

Maybe it isn't fair to throw in the 15-inning game against the Yankees in which they simply choked on several extra-inning scoring opportunities, but I'm going to anyway. Now, Jeremy Guthrie -- the victim of the famous Mother's Day Meltdown of a few years ago, melted down all by himself.

He committed the error that kept the eighth inning alive, then allowed a single and a game-winning three-run home run. Can't remember seeing that particular combination of events in my three decades or so of baseball coverage, but I'm sure something like that has happened once or twice. The fact that it is happening once or twice a week really does test the limits of credulity.

Seriously, that kind of thing is hard to do, but it seems to be the one thing the Orioles are really good at.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (80)
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Though the three-game sweep in Oakland was certainly galling, I'm not ready to give up on this road trip. The Mariners are starting to play better -- and Erik Bedard is pitching well again -- but I was concerned going into Oakland because the A's were pitching very well, had two left-handers going, and were getting the soft part of the Orioles rotation (until Sunday).

I'm guessing the O's will pitch much better at Safeco Field and I'm guessing the Orioles can't hit a whole lot worse than they did in Oakland, so I'm going to go out over my skis and predict they take the final two games of the series.

Of course, everyone is waiting to see how Brian Matusz looks in his 2011 debut. I doubt he'll throw more than five or six innings at best, but I'm willing to bet he'll pitch well enough to win if the O's can score four runs for him.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
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If you haven't already read it on the Web site, here's my Sunday column on the Orioles and their recent unsuccessful attempts to break through the .500 level. Just click right here, then let me know what you think.

And, if that isn't enough Schmuck for you, here's a link to my "News item" column that was in Saturday's print edition.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (87)
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The Orioles are off on their first West Coast road trip and that means they'll be playing their first Pacific Daylight Time night game of the year tonight at Overstock.com Coliseum. Hopefully, they won't be so busy laughing at that ridiculous name that they're unable to pick up where they left off at their fifth straight victory on Thursday afternoon.

The O's continue to swing the bat inconsistently, so this series could be very problematic. The A's have a very strong young pitching staff that is pitching very well right now, as evidenced by their major league-leading 2.87 ERA. The fact that they are 24-27 while holding the opposition to less than three earned runs per game is also a testament to their soft offensive attack, so it'll be interesting to see how the two clubs match up.

It's a very large ballpark, which advantages fly ball pitchers and teams with speedy outfielders, so manager Buck Showalter will have a decision to make in left field. Does he go with the fleet Felix Pie or the suddenly red-hot Nolan Reimold?

If it's a straight righty/lefty platoon, you would think he'd go with Reimold against left-hander Gio Gonzalez (5-2, 2.20 ERA), but I wouldn't be surprised if he goes with the guy who can cover the most ground out there with Chris Tillman on the mound.

This could be a good ballpark for Tillman because of all the foul territory, since he does not have a nasty finishing pitch and opposing hitters often push up his pitch count fouling balls off late in the count. We'll know soon enough.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (68)
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All you need to know about the streaky nature of this Orioles team is that they've won five straight since that 17-5 embarrassment against the Nationals. Now, if they want to break through the .500 mark, they're going to have to win on the road behind Chris Tillman and Brad Bergesen.

Tall order, considering the Oakland A's -- despite their sub-.500 record -- have some very good young pitching and the Orioles continue to search for offensive consistency. There's also the time difference and the fact that they are coming off a grueling 12-inning game in 90-degree heat and a coast-to-coast flight, but I'll let them make their own excuses.

For now, they're flying as high as they have in awhile, so you might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)
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If nothing else, the Orioles are certainly enigmatic. They score six runs in the early innings against the Red Sox last week and stage one of the great collapses of the past decade. They come back against Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning and then can't get one run over the next six innings -- even though they loaded the bases twice and had runners in scoring position in almost every one of them.

So, what happens, they go back to not scoring very much and win the last two games, including last night's heart-stopping walkoff win over the Royals on Adam Jones' tremendous two-run shot to center field.

Who knows where things go from here, but you can't argue that they lack entertainment value, whether it's an uplifting third win in a row or a horror movie like that game at Fenway Park. Either way, the O's remain viable in the AL East, partly because the rest of the division has politely refrained from running away from them.

Going into the last road trip, it looked like the Orioles had bought enough time to finally get healthy, but the loss of Derrek Lee and the news yesterday that Brian Roberts is out indefinitely with concussion symptoms makes you wonder just how long they can keep their heads close to being above water.

The return of Brian Matusz should help. The starting rotation has hit some speed bumps over the past couple of weeks, but if Matusz can fill out the core four and Chris Tillman can somehow keep sneaking through five innings without giving up more than a run or two, they'll remain competitive. It doesn't hurt that the schedule has softened up considerably.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (124)
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If nothing else, the Orioles are certainly enigmatic. They score six runs in the early innings against the Red Sox last week and stage one of the great collapses of the past decade. They come back against Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning and then can't get one run over the next six innings -- even though they loaded the bases twice and had runners in scoring position in almost every one of them.

So, what happens, they go back to not scoring very much and win the last two games, including last night's heart-stopping walkoff win over the Royals on Adam Jones' tremendous two-run shot to center field.

Who knows where things go from here, but you can't argue that they lack entertainment value, whether it's an uplifting third win in a row or a horror movie like that game at Fenway Park. Either way, the O's remain viable in the AL East, partly because the rest of the division has politely refrained from running away from them.

Going into the last road trip, it looked like the Orioles had bought enough time to finally get healthy, but the loss of Derrek Lee and the news yesterday that Brian Roberts is out indefinitely with concussion symptoms makes you wonder just how long they can keep their heads close to being above water.

The return of Brian Matusz should help. The starting rotation has hit some speed bumps over the past couple of weeks, but if Matusz can fill out the core four and Chris Tillman can somehow keep sneaking through five innings without giving up more than a run or two, they'll remain competitive. It doesn't hurt that the schedule has softened up considerably.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (124)
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Could the early part of this season get any stranger? The Orioles, for their part, just endured one of the more frustrating and discouraging weeks of the past three years, and yet the five teams in the AL East remain separated by just four games. Amazing.

While some goof was predicting that the world would end yesterday, the Orioles were making it look like the end of the baseball world as we know it with that ugly collapse in Boston, that series of missed opportunities on Wednesday night, and a two-game 30-run barrage on Thursday and Friday. They also lost Brian Roberts and Derrek Lee to injuries. So what are they doing within a good week of first place?

Be as cynical as you want. They are four games under .500 and -- obviously -- the big dogs in the division have been in a holding pattern for seven weeks. Can't really credit the O's for being tremendously competitive, but you also can't deny that there's a different feeling about the team this year. How could there not be, since they were 14-30 and 17.5 games out of first place a year ago today.

Ever since Brian Matusz and J.J. Hardy went down during the first week of the season, they have needed to buy time to get healthy. Now, with Hardy in the lineup and Matusz on the way back, they still need to buy another week or two. Then we'll get to see if they can compete with a healthy starting rotation and, O's fans can only hope, a healthy and more productive offensive lineup.

I'm still skeptical, but at least the season isn't already over.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (129)
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The Orioles pitching staff has been the victim of non-support for much of the young season, but there is no excuse for what has happened the past two nights. The Yankees and Nationals have combined to score 26 runs in a total of 15 innings, and the Nats still have three innings to pile on some more runs.

This is the same Nationals offense that had scored a total of 12 runs in its last five games, but Jake Arrieta struggled from the outset and gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings and reliever Jason Berken gave up six more in just one inning of work.

It was a disturbing turn for a team that already had suffered a series of painful losses this week to the Red Sox and Yanks. Jeremy Guthrie will try to restore order Saturday afternoon, but who knows what he'll have to offer after having his pitching schedule disrupted by the need for him to pitch in relief late Wednesday night.

Not-so-fun fact: Friday night's game marked the ninth time in franchise history that the Orioles have allowed at least 13 runs in back-to-back games. The record is three straight, set Aug. 10-12, 1993.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (73)
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The Orioles pitching staff has been the victim of non-support for much of the young season, but there is no excuse for what has happened the past two nights. The Yankees and Nationals have combined to score 26 runs in a total of 15 innings, and the Nats still have three innings to pile on some more runs.

This is the same Nationals offense that had scored a total of 12 runs in its last five games, but Jake Arrieta struggled from the outset and gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings and reliever Jason Berken gave up six more in just one inning of work.

It was a disturbing turn for a team that already had suffered a series of painful losses this week to the Red Sox and Yanks. Jeremy Guthrie will try to restore order Saturday afternoon, but who knows what he'll have to offer after having his pitching schedule disrupted by the need for him to pitch in relief late Wednesday night.

Not-so-fun fact: Friday night's game marked the ninth time in franchise history that the Orioles have allowed at least 13 runs in back-to-back games. The record is three straight, set Aug. 10-12, 1993.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (73)
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The New York Yankees did everything but try to forfeit last night's marathon game at Camden Yards, but the Orioles refused to let them go back to their team hotel without another galling victory.

Every time Yankees newbie relief pitcher Hector Noesi got in trouble in extra innings, an Orioles hitter bailed him out. Every time there was an opportunity to drive in the winning run -- and there were eight runners on base for the Orioles in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings -- the O's looked like they were in the batting cage seeing who could swing the hardest.

Earth to Orioles: When a guy is in your ballpark making his major league debut in extra innings, the pressure is all on him, especially when he falls behind on the count with the bases loaded.

Laid side-by-side with Monday's collapse, it's pretty easy to see that this team lacks basic plate instincts. They should be a game over .500 right now instead a three games under and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (118)
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Bartolo Colon was in complete control of Wednesday night's game. He had pitched shutout eight innings and allowed just three hits. He had walked one and struck out seven. He had thrown only 87 pitches -- an amazing 61 of them for strikes.

So, why did manager Joe Girardi go to Mariano Rivera to pitch the ninth inning?

Because he has Mariano Rivera to pitch the ninth inning, of course, so it's almost impossible to second-guess the decision to bring him into a one-run save situation. Except maybe this time.

This was one of those games in which the Orioles were happier to see the closer come into the game than the other team. They've actually had some success against Rivera and they had some again, scoring a run in the ninth to hand him his third blown save of the season. It also was his eighth career blown save against the O's.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
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Clearly, my ability to read Buck Showalter's mind was left in serious question when he posted a lineup on Tuesday night that featured Adam Jones in the No. 3 hole replacing injured Derrek Lee.

I suppose I should be repentant, but I'm going to hold out for a different result because I know that the lineup that was posted was never going to take the field. It was a temporary lineup that was going to be rewritten if the Orioles completed one or more of the pending roster moves that were contingent on the game being played.

Showalter addressed the situation after the game, saying that he had not decided on a permanent No. 3 hitter to replace Lee because he isn't 100 percent sure he's going to have to replace Lee for an extended period. I appreciated him getting me off the hook.

It still remains to be seen what he eventually decides, because it's pretty likely that Lee will go on the disabled list today. He seemed to indicate that he would move more toward a matchup system rather than a set lineup in Lee's absense.

Guess that means you'll have to weigh in on just what you think he should do with the No. 3 hole.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (75)
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With Derrek Lee out of the lineup for at least the next few days, it's probably fair to assume that manager Buck Showalter will take the opportunity to move Nick Markakis back into the No. 3 hole tonight.

If that seems like an obvious move, the decision on who to hit second is not. Do you go with J.J. Hardy, who has seemed very comfortable at the bottom of the order? Or do you move Adam Jones up into the second slot to take better advantage of his speed?

I suppose it's possible that Showalter could also use Felix Pie as the No. 2 hitter if he moves Luke Scott in from left field to fill in at first base for awhile, though I'm guessing that Hardy is the first choice.

What would you do?

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (72)
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Since I'll be in Boston for the next couple days filling in for Dan Connolly and Jeff Zrebiec, you probably should check out Orioles Insider for any entries from me. I'm going to be pretty focused on the nuts and bolts, which we put in the overall Orioles blog.

Meanwhile, keep a good thought, because the Weather Channel says that the next two games could be in danger. There is about a 50 percent chance of rain and thundershowers tonight for the matchup between Chris Tillman and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and an even higher probability for tomorrow night's game, when Zach Britton makes his Fenway Park debut.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (93)
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The Orioles were pretty low after they got swept by the Rays over the weekend, but they battled back to win all three games against the Mariners, overcoming two last-inning leads in the opener and the finale to climb within two games of .500.

Manager Buck Showalter has downplayed any individual impact, but it's pretty obvious that J.J. Hardy has lifted the club with his impressive all-around performance during his first series back from a month on the disabled list.

Hardy homered and had four hits in the opener, then made his mark in the second game with his glove. His two-run single in the bottom of the 12th on Thursday night was the coup de grace.

"It was nice,'' he said. "I wasn't around for a few weeks. To come back and see the way the guys are playing. It's a good feeling. I just wish (the games) would have been a little bit quicker. I'm still getting my legs under me and I don't want to go extra innings every night, but it was a great series."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (217)
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When Chris Tillman took the mound on Wednesday night against Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez, it was tempting to label the game a reverse lock. King Felix figured to overpower the struggling O's lineup and Tillman has been dealing with command issues that forced manager Buck Showalter to revise his pitching plans to have Brad Bergesen in a backstop role if he came up short.

Instead, Tillman delivered his best performance since he pitched six hitless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays in his first start of the season. And the Orioles offense frustrated Hernandez with a series of extended at-bats that ran up his pitch count. Adam Jones did the rest with a 4-for-4 performance that included a two-run triple that accounted for the margin of victory.

"You probably would have signed up in blood for that many innings (from Tillman) in the situation our bullpen was in,'' Showalter said.

Jones is 7 for 10 in the series with three extra-base hits and five RBI and he picked the right time to get on a roll. His mother, Andrea Bradley, has been in this week and has been enjoying every minute from her perch behind home plate.

"I was kidding his mom tonight,'' said Showalter. "I wanted to see if she'd like to stay a little longer -- like four more months."

It was a complete team effort which also featured an impressive defensive show by shortstop J.J. Hardy (upper left) in his second start since returning from the disabled list. Robert Andino started at third base to give Mark Reynolds a night off and also played well.

Associated Press file photo

"Defense is very important in this game,'' Andino said. "You never know when it's going to make the difference.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (73)
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