Location: Baltimore, Md. | Ballpark: Camden Yards (48,876) | Spring Training: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Owner: Peter Angelos | GM: Mike Flanagan | Manager: Dave Trembley | World Championships: 3
The best thing one can say about the Orioles is that Andy MacPhail has both a clue and, by most accounts, autonomy to build this team as he sees fit, without intervention from Peter Angelos or his fantasy-baseball-loving sons ... Get Nick Markakis' name on a long-term deal, stat ... As great a player as Brian Roberts is, chances are he'll be in decline when the Orioles get around to contending. He's the obvious guy to move this offseason (to Cleveland?).
09/23/2008
27
25
The Orioles were 10-18 in September 2005, 10-18 in September 2006 and 10-19 in September 2007. They enter Tuesday with a 4-15 September mark in 2008 ... No starters remain from the five who began the season in the rotation ... Why bother?
09/16/2008
25
26
A hearty mazel tov goes out to Daniel Cabrera, who enters the season's stretch run in prime position to win the AL Reverse Triple Crown (most walks, hit batters and wild pitches). I know he has an arm that makes scouts and ulnar-ligament fetishists tingle, but we have 841 innings of major-league experience that proclaim HE CANNOT PITCH A WHIT. ... What's a more depressing job nowadays, Orioles beat reporter or processor at a poultry plant? I'll go with the chicken-slaughter gig, where there's minimal chance of encountering Kevin Millar in short-shorts.
09/09/2008
26
21
What, precisely, has Dave Trembley done to earn that vote of confidence for 2009? ... I don't care how many pitchers have gone down with injuries. They've totally quit on 2008, as witnessed by the three wins in their past 16 games. As such, they're not worthy of my wordsmithery or your perusal thereof. Let's move on.
09/02/2008
21
20
2-11 in their past 13 ... Remind me again why the Orioles felt it was so important to hang onto Kevin Millar and Aubrey Huff at the trading deadline ... Journeyman pitchers who react to being yanked from the game by flipping the ball to the manager and storming off, as Fernando Cabrera did last week, deserve a stern punch to the throat and a job behind the counter at Arby's.
08/26/2008
20
16
Did you realize Aubrey Huff ranks second in the majors in extra-base hits? Me neither. ... Daniel Cabrera can't pitch. He can't. It's that simple. ... For whatever little it's worth, there's a simmering feud between the Orioles organization and Terry Francona over the way George Sherrill was used during the All-Star Game. Yup.
08/19/2008
16
19
It says here that Baltimore's 60-64 record in the Bauer-tough AL is a more impressive feat than Florida's 64-61 mark in the willowy, frail NL, especially when you factor in the run differentials. The Marlins are at minus-31, while the Orioles are at plus-3.
08/12/2008
19
19
Finishing only three or four games under .500 with this ragtag collection of talent would be quite the achievement, akin to making a coherent movie from an Ethan Hawke script.
08/05/2008
19
20
Now as before the trade deadline, George Sherrill's numbers scream "above-average middle reliever" rather than "B.J. Ryan, but with a decidedly non-intimidating sports name." ... Actual lead from the AP story on the Orioles/Mariners game Friday night: "Garrett Olson tried something new Friday night, wearing a titanium-laced necklace for the first time." And some say that American sports journalism is a dying art. ... Jeremy Guthrie doesn't miss a lot of bats -– that's the cool way to say "strikeouts are not his forté" nowadays -– but he's quietly throwing better than 80 percent of the starters in the AL.
07/29/2008
20
21
They actually won on a Sunday! Hugs and high-fives all around. ... The Orioles continue to hit the ball better than anyone has expected -– what the hell got into Melvin Mora at the All-Star break? -– but their pitching has fallen off a cliff. Until Sunday, no Baltimore starting pitcher had gone six innings since July 18. ... Adam Jones, and particularly his quick-whip bat, is starting to give me the same tingly feeling I got when introduced to perky Alicia St. John back in ninth grade.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/28/2008
30
-
They weren't going to win with Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard, so dealing them off makes sense. Time will tell if they got enough in return. It is bad enough this team's outlook is so sorry, but to have it be in the top-heavy AL East, too, is a long-term killer. There is a lot of rebuilding to do here.
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