Manny looked good

Now that the internet connection is back here in the Ripken Stadium press box, I can tell you that Manny Machado's first game in Aberdeen was a success for him, even though the IronBirds are getting trounced. Vermont leads 11-2 in the 7th. Machado went 1 for 3 with a single to center in the third. He crushed a ball in the fifth that was caught by the left fielder. In the field at short, he had just one ball hit to him but he made a highlight play out of it. It ended the Vermont fifth as he ranged up the middle to his left on a hard-hit ball, fielded it out by second base, spun around and threw out the runner. A very solid play. Machado was replaced by Michael Rooney when Aberdeen took the field for the top of the sixth. He only figured to play five or six innings tonight, we were told. Remember, this is still his spring training, if you can have such a thing in late August. We'll see how Machado does the rest of this week with the IronBirds, who have six games left after tonight, three at Connecticut and then they host Connecticut for three starting Friday here. There were plenty of eyes on Machado and the IronBirds here tonight. Cal Ripken Junior was in attendance as was O's skipper Buck Showalter along with John Stockstill and Tripp Norton, who head up the Orioles player development department. I saw O's scout Dean Albany here along with Jeff Lantz from O's public relations and there were others from the warehouse, I'm sure. Special thanks to MASNSports.com's Matt Winter for posting updates in this space while I was unable to be online earlier. He took some info from me via cell phone and put it on this blog to keep you up to date. Good MASN teamwork. The IronBirds staff as always did a great job tonight, despite the internet problems. I'll post more, with some Manny post-game quotes, when this game, which is moving at a snail's pace tonight, finally does end.