Fact: Kevin Millwood gave up six runs and didn't survive the first inning Saturday vs. Detroit. Overreaction: "I told you he was overrated." Sanity: After 13 years and 155 career wins, the man knows how to prep for a season. Wait until at least May to begin to worry. Fact: The O's lost Thursday, Friday and Sunday when they gave up ninth-inning runs. OR: "This club can't blow late leads. They need to learn how to win and losing these games in the ninth won't help." Sanity: ...

For a franchise that lost 98 games last year, has not had a winning season since 1997 and has not won the World Series since 1983, the Orioles are getting their fair share of positive publicity. Countless national media outlets and big-time writers, broadcasters and columnists are bullish on the O's. No one is predicting the playoffs but the message from most is some variation of this - they are clearly making strides forward and getting better and could really have some fun this year if...

The talk of possible realignment of divisions in baseball may become more than just talk. When Andy MacPhail floated the thought at FanFest, some in the audience didn't seem to grasp the concept, but basically baseball officials may be looking at moving teams to another division on a "floating" and not permanent basis. Here is more on that thought in Tom Verducci's article in SI.com. I think the time may have come for baseball to experiment with this concept of "floating realignment." ...

Earlier today, I wrote about the latest talk of possible realignment of divisions in Major League baseball. All the talk is in the preliminary stages. O's president Andy MacPhail serves on MLB's special committee for on-field matters. At FanFest in January, in response to a fan question about a salary cap in baseball, MacPhail discussed the possibility of division realignment. Here are his comments from that day: "I was fortunate enough for the commissioner of baseball to put me on his...

About a week ago, I published a story here on O's pitching prospect Cameron Coffey. He was drafted in round 22 last June, then signed a nearly one million dollar bonus in August with the Orioles. This, even after he underwent Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery last March. During a recent phone conversation with the 19-year-old lefty, I could tell he was a real intelligent young man that is taking his career seriously. He spoke of re-tooling and changing his pitching mechanics...

The day began amid sunshine, warm temperatures and blue skies. But most days in Hawaii are like that. On March 6, 2005 I was just weeks into my first season as baseball play-by-play broadcaster for one of college baseball's all-time great programs at Florida State. Lucky for me the Seminoles had planned a ten-day trip to the islands for that March and that day found us in Hilo for a doubleheader vs. Hawaii-Hilo. As the day went on, my cell phone started to ring off the hook. Soon I found...

Today we continue a series of articles on the Orioles' 2009 draft picks. To get more information on the players, we are going to the man that drafted them, O's scouting director Joe Jordan. Earlier, Joe provided his thoughts and analysis on the O's selections in the top ten rounds. In this article he discusses players taken from Rounds 11 through 16. In a follow up next week, he'll talk about some later round picks. All the quotes in the article are from Jordan. Round 11 - Catcher...

Let's survey the issues. Brian Roberts returns to Baltimore for further examination of his back. Kevin Millwood's ERA is 29.70. Nolan Reimold is just getting into games. Mike Gonzalez left an outing due to back stiffness. Matt Wieters is 1 for 13 at bat and the O's record is 3 and 8. Am I wrong or is spring training not going so well? Suddenly, how Miguel Tejada fields his next ground ball doesn't seem so important. I hope on opening night, April 6th, I get to write this sentence: ...

Andy Mitchell admits he was open to leaving the Orioles organization, where he has pitched since 2001. For the third winter in a row, he was a minor league free agent. But after nine years and nearly 800 innings, all in the minors, he is back with the organization for another go around. He re-signed in late January. "I was ready to listen to any offers I might get," the 31-year-old Mitchell said. "I didn't get as many as I wanted and definitely not one as good as the Orioles offer. It...

Last year, the Seattle Mariners finished 85-77 and recorded 24 more wins than they had in 2008. They made such a dramatic improvement and actually scored 31 fewer runs than the season before. But after giving up 811 runs in 2008, the Mariners gave up just 692 last year. That's 119 fewer runs allowed and 24 more victories. The Mariners pitching had a hand in that, of course, but many are crediting a big upgrade in defense with the increased win total. The Mariners had some of the best...