No chance of losing today
So how are you spending the off-day?
If I'm Orioles manager Dave Trembley, I'm taking a long walk. And not necessarily in a circle. I'd just point myself south and keep going until I arrived back at my Florida home.
He demands better fundamentals from his players in spring training, implementing various stations on the main and back fields, and they run the bases like they're blindfolded. He demands that his rotation include at least one starter who can routinely pitch beyond the sixth inning, and he's lucky to get 3 2/3 out of anyone. He demands that a six-run lead not be treated like an illness that requires heavy doses of antibiotics.
Is that asking too much?
If you demanded that I name three Orioles who won't return in 2009, I'd blurt out Jay Payton, Ramon Hernandez and Kevin Millar. I'd be tempted to include Jamie Walker, but as I've written in the past, the Orioles might give him another chance if they deem that he's been pitching hurt and has more innings left in that arm. He's supposed to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test on his elbow after the season. Don't be surprised if doctors find something in there, like a spur or an old hubcap.
When I mentioned Walker's physical condition to a member of the pitching staff yesterday, he replied: "Oh yeah, he's hurt."
So back to the off-day: I'll be spending part of mine co-hosting MASN's Playmakers show from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. We'd love to have an Oriole call us, but they're usually left alone on days when the schedule doesn't require them to deal with an opponent or the media.
The Babe Ruth Museum announced that Katie Hoff and B.J. Surhoff have been confirmed for the Nov. 1 tribute to legendary sportscaster Jim McKay. Hoff and Surhoff will join Michael Phelps, Sugar Ray Leonard, Dorothy Hamill, Dominique Dawes, Bert Sugar and others for "A Champions' Tribute to Jim McKay" at the new Hilton Hotel on W. Pratt St. The event runs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and begins with a VIP reception at Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards. You can get more information by calling 410-727-1539, ext. 3013 or visiting www.BabeRuthMuseum.com.
Roch:
I honestly took playing good fundamental baseball for granted...because that's the way it was in the past (back in the 60's-80's). It was nice to have a run of shortstops for 30-35 years where it was a given that they would make the routine play (we've probably had more shortstops the past 2-3 years than we had in that 35 year period...none of which were even half as good as those in the past...except for Castro).
I would be thrilled to unload the veterans mentioned above. All in all, even though we have had our normal late-Aug/Sept swoon, I see definite hope for the future. This is an important offseason...we need to resign Roberts and Markakis to extensions and pick up some pitching. We need four starting pitchers to compliment Guthrie...and I'm thinking we need to get them from outside the organization.
I guess we do have to look forward to another top 5 draft pick next year. Hopefully, by mid-season, some of our brighter pitching prospects along w/Weiters will be able to step in and help the club.
Actually RSF-- we need more than 4 starters. That only fills one time through the rotation. When is the last time a pitcher on the Orioles made it through the season healthy? So we need about 8 quality starters. That is like saying the Bengals should replace their defense over the off-season. I agree, but it ain't happening. Time to write next year off unfortunately. If we had developed some pitching it could have been interesting, but now next year is the new 2008.
I saw the replay and I think the game turned when Ramon couldn't get the throw from Liz and then he waddled his way to the backstop allowing the second run to score. He would not finish the season in the clubhouse if I had choices to make. To be fair to Trembley, I'm glad I don't have his choices to make.
Why does everyone who sucks have to be hurt? If teammates can tell a guy is hurt what is wrong with our trainers that they can't make that determination without a player making a verbal admission? Time to re-evaluate that part of the organization as well.
I looked at the Orioles attendance on the Sun Web site and realized that the team is 105,573 under 2 million with three games to go. So if the Os don't average more than 35,000 over the weekend, they won't reach 2 million.
I never thought I would see that at Camden Yards.
the team needs a lot of work. little things like the correct way to bunt or slide into a base are missing. not to mention the lack of starting pitching. also trembly is a t best an o.k. manager. of the game last night he said liz stopped using his fastball. why didn't trembly go to the mound and tell liz to throw the fastball. and most of the year he had burris pitch the game after olson--2 pitchers who are both lefty's and throw around the same speed. players like r. hernandez who is so lazy need to go, now. with the lack of pitching in baseball overall the orioles should start conditioing their minor league pitchers to pitch with 3 days rest and acquire the mentality of pitching deep into the game. the minor league coaches also need to have the pitchers pitch with proper technique. guys shouldn't being falling so far off the side of the mound after their release. they should go back to having infield practice everyday not just the first game of a series.
In case you need a laugh after last night's game. While the Orioles are just plain blowing up, the Phillies are blowing up hot dog bombs:
PHILADELPHIA - Nobody knew just what to make of three items heavily wrapped in white packaging and duct tape outside the Philadelphia Phillies' ballpark.
So, a few hours before Wednesday night's game, someone called the police as a precaution.
The bomb squad showed up to detonate the three packages. Turns out they contained hot dogs.
The wrapping that made them so suspicious was so the team mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, could fire them from a hot-dog launcher.
The franks has (sic) been left behind inadvertently after a commercial photo shoot for the hot-dog maker.
Team vice president Michael Stiles says Phillies employees aren't bomb experts, so it made sense to call the police.
It's been clear all year that something was wrong with Walker. He was disabled once, long after he had demonstrated that he wasn't right. And then he came back and still pitched extraordinarily poorly.
Why wasn't Walker shut down? Why were we using him all year?
Roch... Do you believe that this club as it stands now is better than the one that started the season ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Not even close. Pitching a mess now. Atrocious. - Roch
Roch -- were you covering the Os during the 2003 season? That was Mike Hargrove's last season as Os manager. That team lost 24 of its last 34 games, after which Hargrove was fired. In your opinion, why is Dave Trembley getting the benefit of every doubt as this year's team falls off the cliff whereas Hargrove was made the scapegoat for the 2003 team? Hargrove had very little talent to work with and a front office that seemed to have no clue about what was going on. When Hargrove took the Os' managerial job, the team had a lot of pretty good veteran players. Then in his first season, they traded Surhoff, Bordick, Charles Johnson, Harold Baines, and Will Clark, while receiving in return Melvin Mora, flotsam and jetsam. After that season, the Os let Mussina leave. In spite of all that turmoil, I remember Hargrove being a very good field manager whose well-reasoned decisions were often undermined by the mediocre talent he had. I also remember it being said that he had lost the players by the end of the 2003 season, and that they had just given up. What's different about this year with Trembley, in which the team that was supposed to be emphasizing baseball fundamentals is playing some of the worst baseball I 've ever seen an Os team play while either sleepwalking or tiptoeing through the end of the season?
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I lived through 4-32. Hargove was given four years to turn it around. Trembley is finishing his first full season, and it's been clearly defined as a rebuilding year. Hargrove was expected to win right away. I wish he had been given more to work with. - Roch