Showalter still searching

I was checking stats and results from the Dominican Winter League yesterday and noticed that Nerio Rodriguez allowed one unearned run and one hit over six innings in Leones del Escogido's victory on Wednesday. Yes, that Nerio Rodriguez. There couldn't possibly be two. Oscar Salazar homered Wednesday for La Guaira of the Venezuelan Winter League. The irony would have come if he connected off Cla Meredith. Anyone up for another coaching entry? Oh come on, you live for these moments. Your day would feel empty without them. Sort of like the Cialis ads that greet us during every NFL timeout. How would we get through a game without them? Call your doctor immediately if they last more than four quarters. Manager Buck Showalter wants to finalize his staff and end the madness. He really does. But just when he thinks that he's drawing close, the pieces move again. Showalter doesn't want to be pushed into some sort of "artificial deadline," as he calls it, but he knows the process has dragged way too long. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, and I'm sure he regrets the "sooner rather than later" proclamation. He jokes about changing his phone number after the final coach is in place because he's getting bombarded with calls from candidates and reporters. At least, I think he's joking. He's not joking. Showalter flew into Baltimore last night and will stay here until Saturday evening. He'd sure like to find a bench coach and third base coach by the weekend, but that might be too ambitious. The bench coach needs to work with the catchers or infielders. You want to know what Showalter is looking for in a bench coach? That's it. "That's the first prerequisite," he says. "The catching guy has to fit well with (Matt) Wieters. And if it's an infield guy, he has to help the infielders. The rest, I can adjust to." Showalter also needs to feel comfortable bouncing ideas off the guy sitting next to him. He wants to have a relationship with the coach, or know that one will develop based on a track record. As I mentioned last night, it's preferred that the third base coach have experience at the job. That's a tough spot to break in a newbie. "Third base is not the place to experiment," Showalter said. "In the big leagues, you want somebody who's done it. The game moves real fast over there." Unlike the hiring process. Just an FYI that I'm heading down to Ocean Pines later today, so I'll be away from my laptop for an extended period. I'll check in as soon as possible. Have a glorious Friday, everyone.