Sorry for taking up the bandwidth, but I'm going to need somewhere to vent this season.


Bring on the rebuilding year.


I'm taking the under for 100 losses.

I think I'm going to have to take the "over", though I hope I'm wrong. Their pitching is a mess right now & the offense won't scare anyone.

I like that they finally seem to see the writing on the wall & are putting more resources in scouting in addition to obtaining young players by trading their vets. That just means they'll be young & bad for now, as opposed to old & bad. But I think they may be heading in the right direction - finally. If Angelos leaves McPhail alone, unlike he did with Pat Gillick, maybe in a few years we'll have something good to cheer for again. I also saw where they released Gibbons & ate about $12 million - had to be done, IMO.

I heard a guy on the radio this AM saying to bet the UNDER on whether the O's win 66.5 games this season. YIKES that's awful. Even the team that started out 0-22 won more than 66 I think.

Also glad they cut Gibbons. Maybe they'll resign BJ Surhoff.

I completely agree that what they did in this past offseason had to be done. I'd rather finish last with a horrible record with a chance to have a winning season in a few years than continue on the same path that has produced 10 straight losing seasons.

I know the weather didn't help, but opening day yesterday wasn't even close to being sold out. There was something missing in the atmosphere. I'm excited with our OF. Markakis is the franchise, and Scott and Jones are two players I'm looking forward to watch develope.

Pitching is horrible. How in the world is D Cabrera our number 2 starter? The guy hasn't been able to locate the strike zone in five years and looked awful against the Mets in the last Spring Training game.

Our offense is ok, they'll need to play National league ball to win some games. I like the double steal they put on in the first. I know he hit a 2 run double yesterday, but how does Millar bat clean up for a major league baseball team???

I think what we saw yesterday is going to be an all-too-common theme this season.

I like the OF too, infield still needs work, and oy vey on the pitching - though they're starting to stockpile some young arms.

So....on August 1st, which vets are still with the team? I could see Millar, Roberts, Hernandez, & Mora all gone.

It seems like Roberts is a sure thing to be gone, which I'm not happy about. I'll gladly do without the other 3 you listed.

Maybe they can get Huff out of here as well. I boo'd as loud as I could every time he was at bat. He actually got boo'd pretty loudly on his first AB, of course more than half the fans had no idea why he was being boo'd.

Went to opening day yesterday down at Camden. Thank god it is still the best place to watch a game, without question. Unfortunately the game is played by the Orioles.

At least we had a good first inning to root for... after that it was a damp boring day at the park. GB the brewpub accross from the convention center (wharfrat or something?) and 6% and 7.5% brews before the game.

Forgot about Huff - he can go, too.

I like Roberts, but I think eventually someone's gonna make the Orioles an offer they can't refuse.

Fixed

First win came a little earlier than I expected. True, it's just the Rays, but it's still nice to be in the win column.

Nice comeback last night.

The past few years its been hard to be an O's fan.Finally though I have hope,albeit long term.Give this team 3 seasons at the rate they're going. With what they're trading for and a couple key free agent signings we can contend again.

???

I know it has been a rough start so far, but as long as they show improvement as the season continues....

My redneck O's car magnet (the "O") is working its magic.

I still don't think it's gonna be a good year, but I like the way the O's are playing right now. They're playing hard and good things are happening.

I also think it's funny how Bedard missed Sunday's game with a hip problem, yet he is good enough to pitch last night, right after the O's series ended. He has no backbone and will be a good pitcher but will never be able to win the big game, ala Mike Mussina.

They are both extremely talented but have fragile psyches that get in the way of "greatness".

The minute they swallowed Gibbons' contract defined this as a "good year".

Back ahead of only the team from St. Pete. Everything is normal again.

QUOTE (Adam Jones @ Apr 17 2008)

Once we got into extra innings, we said, "Why not just win this thing?"

That attitude hasn't existed in quite a while, so once again it has already been a good year.

¹/₇^th of the way to avoiding 100 losses!

Have they won a game that they weren't trailing in at some time? Let alone these late inning come backs that have been common so far.

I really hope the game winning hit for Jones last night does a lot for him. He's becoming the Oriole I look most forward to seeing in the lineup. He's got such a great frame and I have very high hopes for the kid.

I'm really liking the Bedard trade more and more. The bullpen help we have gotten in return has helped us win most of our games so far. It's a lot easier to come back on a team when your bullpen is limiting their offense.

One of our starters this year + the new bullpen >>>> Bedard + last years bullpen.



Here come the Yankee's...

Still sporting my redneck O's magnet on the car.

Love the 60's style cap too (which I better seeing as I paid stadium price for it)

Tonight!


Half of Camden Yards is going home .


Are you old enough to remember the Ripken watch when he was progressing through the minors?The Wieter watch

Nope, not old enough. And I didn't move to MD until 1990. I guess this makes me a TRUE fan because I've only seen a few winning seasons.

I'm excited about Wieter and I like how they are handling him. I've been to two games this season and they put his in game stats on the jumbotron both times.

With a hitter as good as Wieter is, I wonder if he's going to remain a C? I think of Mauer in MIN and don't want our potentially best hitter to be rested every 6th game. Not to mention the wear and tear that position puts on a player.

How long until the O's give Olson a look? Off to a good start in AAA and he has to be better than Loewen or Trachsel at this point

Back to their old ways.

2 of 3 is a good start to this brutal stretch of travel.

Loewen's might (as of about 6:30AM) be flying home for examination of his arm today.

Olson looked GREAT last night. He took a shutout into the 7th and got the win. The middle relief of our bullpen has gotten over worked with the double header and 11 inn game in Chicago. We needed that quality start pretty bad.

Just over ¹/₄ of the way to avoiding 100 loses

Just under ¹/₅ of the way to .500

On pace for about 86 wins
Pythagorean W-L pace of about 75 wins

Another outstanding outing by Olsen last night. He took another shutout into the 7th and let up only one run in a ND. I'm liking what I'm seeing out of this guy...

Yeah, but they're 1-4 on this west coast swing, I think and lost several to the Rays at home before they lost. I think the loss last night drops them 1 under .500. And they haven't been scoring any runs. Unfortunately, I've got a bad feeling that a lose 13 out of 15 stretch is on the way.

Nice win tonight after that grueling two weeks of travel.

Coming from behind once again. Old Oriole way of good pitching and the three run homer and eventually good defense.

Looks like today was a replay except replace the 3 run homer with a grand slam, too bad I didn't see any of it!

¹/₃ of the way to avoiding 100 loses. Another day off and the Olson makes his fourth start after three pretty good ones.

6 of the last 7. Another good night for the bullpen, another come from behind win (10th of season), Luke Scott getting comfortable, the outfield looks promising.

Wonder if the warehouse is re-thinking whether they will be buyers or sellers in July? Before anyone thinks I'm getting carried away, I'm worried about a little success going to a certain owners head and going after the over the hill big name to "put us over the top".

McPhail seems pretty firmly in charge, which is a very very good thing.

This is a team that is very easy to enjoy. Unfortunately I've been mostly only catching the last inning or two lately.

Loving McPhail. I'm also loving this win streak and 7 of the last 8. Hopefully the T-Storms hold off this afternoon so we can get the finale in against WAS.

If anybody saw it, there was an interesting little feature in yesterday's WaPo that was a hypothetical conversation between a Nationals fan and an O's fan about which team would be in the post season first. In conversational style, the two fans argued about which team's prospects ere best, backed by Baseball Almanac stats and some mild trash talking.

Since it was in the WaPo, of course the Nationals came out on top, and lost of old sterotypes and cliches got tossed around, but it was an interesting little read. It's probably on the WaPo website, if you want to check it out.

Haven't even caught those last innings lately. After going about a week seemingly scoring only 1 run falling into last place, they bring the Yankee's winning streak [and their losing streak] to an end and then bounce back and have last nights come from behind win. For the most part the Orioles are certainly playing well at Camden Yards this season, something they haven't really done in recent years.

I turned the tv off right before midnight last night when the Yankees scored in the top of the 11th. What a nice feeling to wake up and see the O's were able to pull one off again.

I turned it off at the rain delay in the middle of the 9th. How long was the delay? But you're right, it was nice to hear they won in extras this AM.

Highly unlikely.

I watched the end of that game... LaTroy Hawkins was serving up prime rib.. how is that guy still on a roster?

Way to go O's, I sure can't talk smack this year. The team's got some heart and they're having fun.

Given all the saves Hawkins blew when he was the O's "closer" a season or two ago, its about time he gave a few back.

And wasn't Hawkins the pitcher that threw at Luke Scotts' head twice last week and got tossed? What a nice payback you son of a #####.


Btw, I'm not sure what time the rain delay started, but the first pitch afterwards was at 11:15pm.

Just when I was about to get down on the last few games, especially Friday night this is in this morning's paper.



As someone who has lived just outside the area most of my life, even I don't quite grasp why Baltimoreans are so sensitive to this, but they are. So since I doubt fans from elsewhere are going to care that much, this is a shockingly positive public relations move from a team that never manages to sell itself in a positive manner.

Baltimore's a very provincial town & also has an inferiority complex, not to mention a less-than-good national image. And it's always been a backwards-looking fanbase here, at least among older fans. The Orioles took "Baltimore" off of the jerseys to try & market regionally. They succeeded to some extent, but that's due less to what was on their uniforms than the void of other options in the Mid-Atlantic area & HTS's coverage.

Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised at the way they're playing so far even if they're swapping 4th & 5th place with the Yankees (whee!!) recently. Every time I think the bottom's dropping out, they right the ship. Pitching has been much better than I expected & they hit just enough to stay competitve. I'm sensing a bit of a buzz about the team for the first time in a decade from the fans, too.

Oh, and you can see Adam Jones coming. I can easily see an Andruw Jones type of career for him.

When the Senators left DC in 1971, the Orioles management saw an opportunity to be the team for both Baltimore and DC, so didn't want to emphasize the Baltimore part and went with Orioles on the uniforms and in most marketing material. For the most part, it worked, especially in the DC suburbs of Maryland and to a lesser extent in NoVa. With the Nationals coming back to DC, I see them wanting to reconnect with Baltimore andHoward/AA county, hence this name on the uniform change..

Made a trip to Baltimore for the Yankees-O's 9 HR outburst in the end of May. Orioles have it made in that ballpark.

Didn't find last night's game until about 9:00PM and then watched the Orioles come from behind. On what must have been 1979 night the game reminded me an awful lot of this game. Well except for the fact that didn't actually see that game but instead followed it through a small transistor radio that was smuggled into the school activity I was participating in that Saturday afternoon. Those of us sneakily huddled around the radio interrupted up the event - a band performance when we couldn't help but cheer when Crowley followed Lowenstein's double with another double to go from trailing 6-3 in the eighth to being up 7-6. Hopefully last night won't be the peak of this series like that game was way back when.

Oh, and the Orioles are more that half way to avoiding 100 loses, still hovering around .500 which was the goal in recent years before they "tore the team apart to give up 2008 for 2010". And only playing slightly over their heads according to Pythagorean calculations.