Beyond the games
Third baseman Melvin Mora will visit Reservoir High School in Howard County on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to collect new and gently used baseball and softball equipment.
If he's looking for equipment that's been "gently used," he should search the Orioles' bat rack.
But seriously, this is a wonderful endeavor. The Melvin Mora Foundation has teamed with OriolesREACH and the Oriole Advocates' Cardboard to Leather program to collect, ship and distribute baseball and softball equipment to Venezuelan youth in need.
The public is invited to bring equipment, including bats, balls, uniforms, cleats, bases and trophies for donation. Reservoir High is located at 115500 Scaggsville Rd. in Fulton.
More than 1,800 youths in Nicaragua were treated last year through the Cardboard to Leather program.
As part of Fan Appreciation Weekend at Camden Yards, two lucky individuals will be chosen at random to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the last two games this weekend.
If it's a strike, you get to take Jeremy Guthrie's next turn in the rotation.
In addition, fans will be selected to go on the field and receive the shirt off the back of an Orioles player.
I can think of a few players who should hand over their gloves, too.
The first 10,000 fans attending each game during the homestand will receive a commemorative 2008 Orioles team photo. The entire back row is made up of this year's shortstops.
Roch, you are hot today. Spot on with your comment about the O's "gently" used equipment. :)
Very nice line about "gently used"! However, I think that area underneath the scalp and above the neck has been the least used piece of equipment on this team. The Orioles are not comprised of intelligent players for the most part (not that you have to be very bright but it helps if you have guys with good baseball acumen in key positions). We have NO leadership out of the catcher or SS position. Likely Weiters will be here soon and we will all be surprised what a difference his attitude will make in comparison to Ramon. Ramon is not a leader, not hard-nosed, not a player a good team continues to trot out there. I think Fahey has run out of options. If you are a buck 25 and can't field, there isn't much room at the highest level for you. Nice kid but he got more opportunities than he deserved. Why not Torres indeed?
Regardless, the brass need to spend at least a week this offseason figuring out why their verbal messages of respect the game, play fundamental ball, and pitching ahead aren't being translated into behavioral change? Though we could all argue, I think they have enough talent that it should not be quite this bad. So what is going on?
when the player hands over their jersey, will it be replaced by the "O/The Humanity" t-shirt?? or maybe, any player who makes a boneheaded mistake has to wear the "O/The Humanity" t for the next game.
i'd say baserunning has been the number one dumb dumb this year. with a select few leading the pack. does trem have someone keeping track of the dumb dumb stats, missed signs included?
Hey Roch,
Simple question, why is Ramon Hernandez catching every game?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also a good question. Trembley is going with his veteran and his best offensive player at the position. Not like he's keeping Matt Wieters on the bench. Quiroz and Santos aren't exactly knocking down the door for playing time. But I understand that a "statement" could be made by reducing Hernandez's playing time. - Roch
JPA - My thoughts exactly. Why does Trembley rip into the rookies and journeyman pitchers, but allow vets like Hernandez get a way with the things they do. Go back to the 3-2 loss to the Yankees this weekend and the third run scored on a "wild pitch" that 90% of major league cathcers would have blocked effectively. My 11 year old is learning to catch and I have used Ramon as a "How not to" example many times this year.
This team is terrible. Here it is late September and they are still making the same boneheaded mistakes, still walking batters at an alarming rate, still lacking in fundamentals. I know that it might be truly hard for the players to be excited at this point, and you won’t hear Kevin Millar talking about going to the World Series or any of the veterans talking about the club getting no respect (remember that? It’s easy to see now why they didn’t get any respect), but where’s any of what we saw earlier in this season? In May, if the club was down by 2 in the 7th inning, they were still in the game. Now, it’s all but over, and their overall offense is better now than it was then!
It’s late September and we’re in a familiar spot: the club is losing consistently, and the major league team is once again hopeless. Since the All-Star break, the club has gone 21-40, and since Aug. 17, the last time they won a series, they’ve gone 6-25. Does any of this look familiar? That’s just plain miserable.
It’s the same old, same old no matter who wears the uniform, and while many of the more knowledgeable fans (those posting on Roch’s blog, of course) understand it’s a rebuilding time and are relatively patient, the casual fan might further distance him/herself from this team. Clearly there isn’t much excitement when it’s late September, they’re playing a first place team, and they draw 12,500.
While the club is justified in taking their time with Wieters and I wasn’t for bringing him up this year, perhaps bringing him up might’ve sparked the club some and piqued the interest of fans. Would Wieters have had the magic powers to stop pitching injuries and make Garrett Olson and countless others look like Greg Maddux? Maybe not. But it might’ve at least given this team a shot of life—and maybe lit a fire under Ramon Hernandez—and helped them win a handful more of games while also giving fans casual and diehard alike a little more hope for next year.
Thanks for the update Roch. I was curious, is Daniel Cabrera still with the team? Or is he gone and like last year with Bedard has his namplate been removed from his locker, I am just looking for signs thanks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't seen Cabrera around. I believe he's been sent home. - Roch
Brandon Fahey possibly is the worst player in MLB right now. If someone got his shirt what would they do with it? Throw it back?
Trembley's heated comments after last night's loss revealed how frustrated he is by his team's constant losing. His calling out of Salazar was out of character. All of us have seen so many other base-running blunders by the regulars this season. I'm sure he knows he made a mistake by dumping on Salazar publicly.
When a coach or manager of any sport treats a bench player with less respect than a starter, e.g., saying nothing when a starter fouls up but showing no patience for a bench player when he makes a mistake, that does not reflect well on the coach or manager and hurts the team.
Salazar is a guy who can help the Birds next season. He has shown a fearless quality at the plate.
Getting down on Scott for his base running seems weird. Here's a guy who has been playing with Achilles and Plantar Fasciitis problems all year.
I like Trembley. He had a bad night last night.
Like a lot of you I get a kick out of the respect the game mantra as he plays Hernandez and Payton. How about respect the franchise and play the guys that want to win, hustle, and will be here when the team gets better. I wouldn't extend Trembley next year unless he starts having a more even handed approach to all the players and he shows some guts with sitting guys that don't hustle, including Vets. And I don't think he'll win any points in the clubhouse by calling out players at news conferences. That should be done in his office.
Since it's the end of the season I'm going into long term mode. I pray every night that Wieters starts next year. It's time to dump Hernandez. Trade him for a box of Ritz crackers. Payton leaving is addition by subtraction. He sure has a big ego for an average guy at best.
I am having a hard time figuring out what a fair figure for Roberts is. Some say the going rate is 12-13 mil a year. I personally think thats high. He is on the wrong side of thirty. I like the guy but that money could be better spent elsewhere. Look for a trade partner.
Markakis is a different story. With his age, production, fielding he has to get extended.
I'm leaning heavily away from trying to sign Teixeira. You put Huff at first, the numbers are close and you save 10-14 mil a year. If you trade Huff then it makes a little more sense. But after looking at the crowd last night maybe they should sign him just to put some meat in the seats.
One more year and then Mora's contract expires. He had a great second half but he has some ego issues too. Would someone please give him a few days notice at the end of next year to let him know his contract is up?
Now to the fun part. Pitching, otherwise known as that thing we have very little of now. We have to bring in 1 or 2 decent starters. I still think Liz could develop but we need some stability. I could deal with Lowe, Lohse, Oliver Perez, or someone in that range. Sabathia is either going west or to the federal reserve. His check will be that big. Sheets is walking wounded. We have enough of them thank you. The bullpen should be fine next year with everyone currently on the DL fighting for jobs in spring training.
The good news is they can't lose 100 games. And they draft pick will be top 6 at least.
Roch,
Which night(s) are the O's doing the "jersey off their backs" promotion? I was at the Nats game this weekend and watched my brother come away with a jersey (albeit from a bench guy we had never heard of). It is a great promotion. They've actually done a couple promotions down there that I would love to see the O's do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All three games of this weekend's Jays series. Good luck. - Roch
I thought Dave Trembley's bad night started when he pulled Brian Bass while the latter still had a no hit shutout on the books. I watched Dave's justifications in the post-game press conference, and, yes, everything he said made sense...up to a point.
Yes, Bass had thrown 73 pitches and (slight) more were balls than strikes. Yes, he was having trouble locating his pitches in the fifth. Yes, he walked the bases load. But...
There were already two outs. One more would get him out of the inning with the no hitter still intact. Why not give Brian one more hitter o see if he can record that out. After all, it's not like the playoffs are riding on the outcome.
Dave gave his rationale for yanking his starter in a classic Trembleyism: "I leave him out there and let him get hurt, what's that?" (Well, Dave, you took him out and he STILL got hurt, so what's the difference?)
Leaving Bass in the game would give him a chance (albeit a small one, given the circumstances) of putting his name in the history books. Even if he gets out of the inning only to lose the shutout later would give him a confidence boost in the future, having worked out of a tough jam against one of the better lineups in baseball.
And worst case scenario? He gets rocked, but even there he'd have the satisfaction of knowing that he gave it his best shot and that the manager showed enough respect for him to at least giving him the chance.
As the schedule moved into September, Trembley made a point of saying that players would be watched with an eye for what they could bring to the team next year. For heaven's sake, Dave, this was a perfect opportunity for Bass to learn and grow, to make the tough pitches when he has to. Yes, he looked gassed, but pitchers often right the ship and weathher the storm (for those occasions when just one cliche simply won't do! LOL). It's better to help a pitcher gain resolve in a meaningless game, so he'll have it in them when the games DO count, then to coddle him because you don't want to (boo hoo) "let him get hurt." Quit babying them, Dave, you're not mananging in the minors anymore!!!
Oh, finding a shortstop would be nice too. Been so long since I saw one it completely slipped my mind.
OK GUYS, YOU TOO ROCK, ENOUGH WITH THE VENTING, THEY ARE STILL OUR TEAM, DO THE BUNCH OF YOU THINK THEY GO ON THE FIELD JUST TO MAKE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES, JUST TO MAKE ERRORS, JUST TO MISS A SIGN, JUST TO STRIKE OUT SWINGING, JUST TO WALK A BATTER AT THE WRONG TIME - NOOOOOOOOO!!!! THE PLAYERS ARE JUST AS FRUSTRATED AND MENTALLY TIRED, AS YOU THE FANS ARE, AND I HOPE TREMBLEY, WHO I THINK IS THE BEST GUY FOR THE MANAGER'S JOB, REGRETS LAST NIGHT GOING BALLISTIC. WE JUST HAVE TO GET BY THIS BAD PERIOD KNOWING THAT THERE ARE GOOD TIMES AHEAD FOR THE O'S. HOPE TO SEE YA'ALL IN SPRING TRAINING.