While waiting for Nick Markakis to announce that he wants to manage...
I'm sorry to inform you that I'll be attending tonight's game at Camden Yards.
I miss one, just one, and the Orioles blow out the Marlins. I can't help but feel responsible for everything that's gone wrong this season.
Don't worry, I'm not interviewing for the manager's job.
I've been asked about Adam Jones possibly tweaking his back last night. I wasn't there, and I'm sitting at my kitchen table in Sykesville...
Kevin Millwood picked up his second victory tonight, but it wasn't easy.
Millwood lasted only five innings, and he needed 116 pitches to get through them. He also fell behind, 3-0, before the Orioles rallied.
Millwood walked the first two batters in the fifth. He allowed a run, but struck out Mike Stanton to end the inning and put himself in line for the win.
Kevin Millwood discusses his outing to help the Orioles beat the Marlins 11-5
"I was going to try to stick with him as long as I...
Miguel Tejada hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend the Orioles' lead to 10-4.
Tejada hadn't gone deep since April 30 against Boston.
Amber Theoharis talks with Miguel Tejada about his 3-run homerun in the O's win
There's more.
He hadn't collected three RBIs in a game, let alone with one swing, since May 14 against Cleveland. He has four RBIs tonight.
There's more.
He hadn't driven in more than two runs since May 27 against Oakland.
You'd like to...
That's a pretty nice power surge by center fielder Adam Jones, who homered again tonight to give the Orioles a 6-4 lead going into the top of the sixth inning.
Jones raised his home run total to 11, four of them coming in the last eight games. He's 2-for-3 tonight, giving him five straight two-hit games, and seven multi-hit games in his last 10.
Felix Pie is 2-for-3 with an RBI as Single-A Frederick's DH and leadoff hitter.
Double-A Bowie's Chorye Spoone is shutting out Reading on four...
Chris Tillman has turned in two perfect innings for Triple-A Norfolk today, striking out one and throwing 16 of his 22 pitches for strikes.
Nolan Reimold is making his third consecutive start at first base. He singled in his first at-bat.
As expected, outfielder Felix Pie is reporting to Single-A Frederick today to continue his injury rehab assignment. He'll move up to Double-A Bowie next week.
Pie was 1-for-8 with a run scored in two games with the Gulf Coast League Orioles. He served as...
That would be me into a new townhouse, not the Orioles in the AL East standings.
I'm listed as questionable for tonight's game because I've got movers arriving this morning and furniture later in the afternoon. I normally report to Camden Yards around 3 p.m., 30 minutes before the clubhouse opens, but I don't like my chances today.
Friends and colleagues are saying I'm crazy if I don't take the entire night off, but they've got better examples than that one.
Steve Melewski can do the...
Brian Matusz offered a simple explanation for the two home runs he surrendered in the third inning that turned a 4-0 lead into a 4-4 tie.
"I left the ball up, and when your team scores four runs in the second for you, you want to go out and throw up zeros - just go out and go 1-2-3, keep the momentum our way, and I just lost concentration and left the ball up," he said.
"A lineup like that, they will take advantage of it. It's a good hitting team."
It would be understandable if the...
So how much does tonight's loss hurt, after the Orioles bolted to a 4-0 lead in the second inning?
"They all hurt," interim manager Juan Samuel told reporters. "We are trying to win as many games as we can. They all hurt. After scoring those four runs, we thought, 'OK, we could add,' but we've been in that situation before many times. They all hurt."
Each and every one.
Juan Samuel talks with the media following the O's 7-5 loss to the Marlins
Matt Wieters wasn't bunting on his...
Miguel Tejada stepped to the plate in the eighth inning tonight with two outs, the bases loaded and the Orioles down by a run.
Tejada fell behind 0-2 and flied to left.
That's what you'd call "anti-climatic."
Corey Patterson delivered his third RBI with an infield hit, bringing Tejada to the plate with the Marlins clinging to a 6-5 lead.
Tejada has one RBI since May 27, and it came on June 13.
This was his moment. Too bad it didn't live up to the hype.
Instant update: Naturally, the...
You'll forgive Brian Matusz if he doesn't recognize it.
In his last five starts, Matusz had received a total of six runs while he remained in the game. In his last 10 starts, he received 12.
Tonight, the Orioles hung four runs on the board in the bottom of the second, beginning with back-to-back homers from Luke Scott and Adam Jones.
Scott jumped on a breaking ball, Jones a fastball. It was the first time the Orioles had gone back-to-back since Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold turned the...
Buck Showalter became the latest candidate to interview for the Orioles' managerial position, meeting for about three hours earlier today with president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and majority owner Peter Angelos.
MacPhail admits that it's an awkward process to keep updating reporters on the proceedings while Juan Samuel is currently serving as interim manager. He didn't provide many details on today's meeting beyond saying that it was "enjoyable" and that he finds these...
The Marlins will trot out their own interim manager tonight when Edwin Rodriguez, fresh from Triple-A New Orleans, takes over the ballclub.
Does Juan Samuel have any advice for Rodriguez?
"Maybe I need some myself, instead of giving some of those guys advice," he said, grinning.
"I'm trying to do what I can here with my club to get them going, and I'm sure he's going to do the same."
Fredi Gonzalez's firing hit close to home for Samuel, since he took charge of the Orioles following...
Koji Uehara is scheduled to pitch in a simulated game tomorrow, his first chance to face live hitters. The Orioles will determine whether he needs to go on an injury rehab assignment.
Uehara made 30 throws off flat ground yesterday. As far as we know, he hasn't stood on a mound during his time in Sarasota, so a rehab assignment seems like the next logical step.
"It all depends how it goes, whether he stays here or if he needs to go on a rehab assignment," interim manager Juan Samuel said....
For the Orioles:
Corey Patterson LF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott DH
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Scott Moore 2B
Cesar Izturis SS
Brian Matusz LHP
For the Marlins:
Coghlan LF
G. Sanchez 1B
Ramirez SS
Cantu DH
Uggla 2B
Ross CF
Stanton RF
Helms 3B
Paulino C
Nolasco RHP
Koji Uehara is here.
Bobby Valentine won't be here, and the timing of his public dismissal of the Orioles is most interesting with Fredi Gonzalez being fired today. I think we can connect the...
Apparently, it's not a good idea to manage at Camden Yards. It doesn't do much to enhance your job security.
The Marlins have fired Fredi Gonzalez and replaced him on an interim basis with Triple-A New Orleans manager Edwin Rodriguez.
When is the last time that two interim managers squared off in a three-game series?
The Marlins also fired bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley.
Imagine if they had the worst record in baseball?
Florida is 34-36 after last night's 10-4...
The news that the Orioles designated Cla Meredith for assignment yesterday reminded me of spring training and the optimism that flooded the clubhouse. They were 0-0 in the regular season. It wasn't standing-room-only for the disabled list. Times were good.
Meredith was really good, allowing one earned run in 10 2/3 innings, with no walks and five strikeouts. He looked like an extremely valuable part of the bullpen, a ground ball machine, but he was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 21 games with the...
Jeremy Guthrie lost his fifth consecutive start tonight despite dominating in the middle innings.
I thought the location was better later in the game," he said. "I made terrible pitches with the slider, especially in the inning that hurt me. I didn't really make great ones with it later on, so I just pretty much tried to quit throwing it.
"Pitch execution was definitely the biggest difference between the second and the other innings."
The Marlins jumped Guthrie for four runs in the...
Interim manager Juan Samuel mentioned after tonight's 10-4 loss to the Marlins that starter Jeremy Guthrie "didn't look right" in the early innings. To be more precise, Guthrie was missing his spots, hung a few breaking balls and fell behind, 4-0, in the second.
"But he settled down after that. We just couldn't hold them," Samuel said.
"He just did not look good there the first couple of innings. Pitch count was getting up there. I started to worry a little bit, but then he kind of...
Reliever Ross Wolf was excited to have his parents fly into Norfolk yesterday. He had no idea that their arrival would come on the same day that the Orioles traded him to the Oakland Athletics for utility man Jake Fox.
"Bittersweet," he said.
I had a brief chat with Wolf this afternoon while he waited for his flight to Las Vegas, where Triple-A Sacramento was playing later that night.
Wolf, 27, said he found out about the trade after arriving at the ballpark yesterday, though both teams...
Jake Fox made his Orioles debut tonight, pinch-hitting for shortstop Cesar Izturis as the potential tying run with one out in the seventh inning.
The Marlins countered with left-hander Taylor Tankersley, which blew the percentages out the window. So much for righty vs. righty.
Fox, who arrived at Camden Yards this afternoon, stepped out of the box twice while waiting for the ovation to die down.
I'm kidding.
Fox flied to the warning track in center on a 1-1 pitch, with Adam Jones advancing...