Alan Mills remains candidate to join Orioles' coaching staff

The Orioles continue to interview candidates for pitching coach and hope to make a decision next week.

They still had a few more meetings scheduled as of yesterday.

Double-A Bowie pitching coach Alan Mills interviewed on Thursday and he's a prime candidate to join the staff. However, he could replace Dom Chiti as bullpen coach rather than move into the dugout as Dave Wallace's replacement.

While the Orioles prefer to hire a pitching coach first, they're considering the candidates for both positions. Mills, 50, could continue his education in the bullpen if not chosen as Wallace's successor.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to interview for the job," Mills said yesterday after returning to his Lakeland, Fla. home. "It's something that will help me for future reference down the road or future interviews if I should happen to be interviewed again. I don't know. I thought it was a good experience."

Mills completed his fifth season as a pitching coach in the Orioles' system and his second with the Baysox. He spent two seasons with short-season Single-A Aberdeen and one with Single-A Delmarva.

Mills' other season as pitching coach came in 2008 with the Tigers' short-season Single-A entry in Oneonta, N.Y.

Orioles fans cherish Mills for his production as a right-hander and for his right cross.

Mills posted ERAs of 2.61 and 3.23 in the 1992 and 1993 seasons. He won 10 games in his first season with the club. But he's forever remembered for decking Darryl Strawberry in a 1998 brawl at Yankee Stadium.

It's a sore subject for Mills, so to speak. He jokes with reporters that we're mistaking him for another player, that he didn't land the punch.

I sat in the press box that night and filed my copy for The Baltimore Sun. The brawl obviously forced some major rewrites.

It also threw me into a panic because it was my job to keep an eye on Cal Ripken Jr. and make sure the Iron Man didn't suffer an injury that threatened his consecutive games streak. My former colleague, the late Joe Strauss, told me to do nothing else except watch Ripken - a relatively simple task until both teams spilled into the third base dugout.

Needless to say, I lost track of Ripken, whose streak nearly came to an end after he suffered a knee injury during a 1993 brawl with the Mariners at Camden Yards that lasted almost 20 minutes. Ripken was pinned under the pile, limped into the trainer's room the following day and suggested that he wouldn't be able to play.

Head athletic trainer Richie Bancells worked on Ripken, who took the field and eventually made history.

The story that ran in The Sun included the following paragraph: "Several other players sustained cuts and bruises. Orioles reliever Mark Williamson required facial X-rays after he was slammed face down in the dirt at home plate; he suffered a bloody and swollen nose and a scrape on his chin. Catcher Jeff Tackett sustained a cut under his right eye. But no Orioles players were injured seriously enough to miss tonight's game against the Oakland Athletics."

Not so fast. News of Ripken's injury appeared in The Washington Post, which led to my Ripken assignment whenever benches and bullpens emptied. I had joined the beat full-time in 1997.

As Ripken disappeared in the dugout at Yankee Stadium, I remember blurting out, "I can't find him!" As if I lost my kid in a department store.

But enough about me.

It's believed that former Braves coach Roger McDowell remains a consideration for an opening on the Orioles' staff. Triple-A Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin hasn't been contacted, according to a source.