Orioles News - Most Wanted

Erik Bedard could be Major League Baseball's most wanted. Most wanted pitcher, that is. Yes, Johan Santana is still on the market, but it appears as if only the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees are the remaining candidates. The Yankees appear to be the front runner, though. At the Winter Meetings in Nashville Tennessee, the Baltimore Orioles have apparently had discussions with several teams about Erik Bedard and/or Miguel Tejada. The O's aren't currently negotiating with Bedard and his agent, but the door is still open to go back and sign Bedard to a deal.

Also, catcher Guillermo Quiroz was signed by the Orioles to a Major League contract. He will be the back up for catcher Ramon Hernandez. The O's also met with a few agents of free agent Relievers. - John T.

Orioles News - 11/13/07 - Champions?

A championship in Baltimore? For whom? It can't be the Orioles because the season is over and the Boston Red Sox already won the World Series. The NFL season isn't even at the playoffs. So who could win a championship? The Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League could become Champions. What does this have to do with Baltimore? The Desert Dogs are the Baltimore Orioles' team that some of the O's prospects play in during the off season. The Desert Dogs are alive for the League Championship on Saturday. They will face off against the Surprise Rafters. The key players for the Desert Dogs are pitcher Jake Arrieta and outfielder Nolan Reimold. Arrieta has thrown 15 innings and he hasn't allowed a run at all. Jake has also struck out more batters then men he let get on base. Amazing. Reimold is doing well too, but at the plate. Nolan is tied for the league league in home runs and he is 3rd in the league in RBI's. If these players can keep it up, in a few more years, look out... - John T.

Orioles News - 10/21/07 - Was Millar Wrong?

Before you call out Kevin Millar of the Baltimore Orioles for last night first know the facts. Millar was at Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in Boston to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Was he fine in this move? Or was he in the wrong? To me, he was wrong. Boston is a hated division rival and though he played for them when they won the World Series in 2004, he is not a player on their team any more and therefore should not be doing things like this. To me, this move shows that he still wants play in Boston, even if it's only a little desire. If he didn't want to play for Boston anymore, he wouldn't be there to throw out the first pitch. So, the long and short of it all was that Millar went to a hated division rival and threw out the first pitch and cheered them on. You play for Baltimore so you should support Baltimore. You shouldn't be showing support for a team in which Oriole fans hate. Millar was way out of bounds with this move. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/9/07 - Gibbons & Steroids - Bedard out for year, Guthrie too? - O's lose again

Yesterday was a very busy day for the Baltimore Orioles. Jay Gibbons, a Orioles outfielder, was linked to HGH and other steroids. This information was found when a pharmacy was raided last spring, linking Gibbon's adress as a buyer. Jay recieved these shipments from October 2003 to July 2005. That's a shame. In more O's news, Erik Bedard's oblique strain is now ending his season. Rookie pitcher Jeremy Guthrie just suffered the same injury, and it looks as if his season might be over also. Ouch. Double Ouch. In more Orioles news, the O's lost to the Boston Red Sox, 3-2. In case your keeping track, that's 16 losses in 19 games. Ouch again. This loss has now assured the Orioles of their 10th straight non-winning season. Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora both hit solo homers in yesterday's game, providing the Orioles only runs. In the 8th inning, JD Drew singled, stole 2nd base, went to 3rd base on a sacrifice fly, and then scored on Coco Crisp's single off of Chad Bradford. That was it, the final run that secured a Boston victory. It was a busy, yet terrible day for the Baltimore Orioles. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/8/07 - A rare win vs. Boston

The Orioles picked up a rare win last night, over Boston. (When does that happen?) The final score was 11-5. Ohmygod. The Orioles scored runs? This win snapped the O's 11 game losing streak at home. The Orioles had a 7 run 3rd inning, and Scott Moore, a player aquired in the Steve Trachsel trade, hit a grand slam in the inning. Dice-K, the Red Sox pitcher, was terrible, giving up 6 hits, 8 runs and 3 walks in 2 2/3 innings. The bases were loaded and Dice-K actually walked Nick Markakis and Kevin Millar. That's 2 free runs right there. Miguel Tejada hit a single that scored a run and then Scott Moore hit the grand slam, sending Dice-K out of this game. Nick Markakis hit a homer later in the game, as did Tike Redman. Jon Leicester gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, only walking 1 batter. He made this start because of injuries in the rotation and just plain bad pitching. Camden Yards was sold out, with most of the 48,043 fans in attendence rooting for the BoSox. They walked away unhappy, as the Orioles grabbed a victory. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/7/07 - Shutout by Boston

The Baltimore Orioles were shut out last night in a 4-0 loss to the BoSox. This loss, their 11th straight home loss, tied the team record for most losses in a row at home. We managed only 4 hits off of starter Jon Lester and a pair of relievers. Most of the action from the Orioles came in the 4th inning, but for all the wrong reasons. Daniel Cabrera balked with a runner on 3rd base, and the run was allowed to come home and score. Cabrera's next pitch ran up and nearly hit Dustin Pedroia's head. The umpire quickly ran out to warn both sides but in the Red Sox dugout, several players were yelling at Cabrera. Cabrera yelled back, and the benches emptied. The relievers from the bullpen came running in just so they could get in some of the action. No one threw any punches, and order was eventually restored. The umpire's discussed what to do for several minutes, eventually ejecting Cabrera. Dave Trembly, our manager, went nuts over this call, arguing with the umps, but he still couldn't save Cabrera from an ejection. The worst part of all this was when the bullpen came running in to join the fighting. Come on, show some class. That right there is what's wrong with baseball. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/6/07 - Another Loss

The Orioles lost again Thursday night, 7-6 to the Boston Red Sox. Like we've never heard that line before. The Sox really didn't win this game, the O's lost it. With the game tied in the 6th, bases loaded with no outs, the Orioles didn't score any runs. The O's left 5 runners in scoring position in that game and a total of 8 men left on base. The game was lost in the 9th inning, when reliever Dany Baez gave up a single to Coco Crisp. Crisp then stole second base, allowing him to easily score on Jason Varitek's single. Starter Garrett Olson looked horrible, allowing 5 runs in 3 2/3 innings. Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield looked just as bad, allowing 6 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Olson left the game after being hit. Not that he was doing well anyway... Now for reliever Dany Baez. Why is he even on this team? He is 0-6 with a 6.38 ERA in 50 games so far this year. That's sad. - John T.

Orioles News - 9/5/07 - 17-2 loss to the Devil Rays

What a difference a day makes. One day the Orioles pick up a late inning win, the next night they get whupped 17-2 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. And they have a 4 game series with Boston coming up. This just keeps getting better. The D-Rays had a 8 run 4th inning, hitting 3 homers during this inning. Delmon Young hit a 3 run shot, Brendan Harris hit a solo shot, and Carlos Pena hit a grand slam. ALL IN ONE INNING!!! Pena also smacked a 2 run shot in 6th inning to bring his grand total to 7 RBI's on the night. Jonny Gomes hit a home run in the 7th inning to score the game's final run. Radhames Liz looked terrible, giving up 4 runs while retiring only 5 batters. He did take a line drive off his leg, to be fair, but he still stayed in the game. The O's are now 2-13 in their last 15 games. Pretty sad huh?

This offseason, the Orioles need 2 things: A better bullpen and Peter Angelos to sell the team. How many games has the bullpen lost us so far this year? How many times have we had the lead in late innings, only to have the bullpen blow the game? Too many. And since Angelos doesn't want to spend the money to overhaul this team, he should sell. With a new owner who is willing to spend money to get stars, instead of 2nd and 3rd rate players, the O's would be in a much better situation. More fans would come to the ballpark, and with reason because they know their team can compete. Now, hardly anyone comes out to games simply because they don't care. They always know the end result: A loss. Angelos needs to go! - John T.

Orioles News - 9/2/07 - O's drop series to Boston

Sorry I couldn't blog yesterday, but could this season get any worse? A 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, an 11 run 8th inning by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and now a no-hitter from Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz on Saturday night. He was making only his 2nd major league start and he threw a no-hitter. Plus a 9 game losing streak. Great. Just great. What a season. The O's now have dropped 11 of their last 12 after a 10-0 loss on Saturday and a 3-2 loss on Sunday to the Bosox. The loss yesterday was just a case of missed oppurtunities. 2 baserunning errors, bases loaded with no outs and the O's don't cash in as no one scores, then in the 8th inning with a runner on 3rd base and 1 out, yet again no one scored. One of the baserunning errors came on Miguel Tejada trying to score from third base on a shallow fly ball to rightfield in the 4th inning. Tejada was thrown out with ease. Then in the 6th inning, Melvin Mora had just hit an RBI single, and Kevin Millar rounded 2nd base too far and was thrown out. Millar slapped the ground in frustration as he knew that he had just cost the Orioles. Kind of how this season went so far. In the 7th inning, Ramon Hernandez homered to make it a 1 run game. But, that was too little, too late. This was a shame though because Daniel Cabrera pitched a good game, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings. With these losses, the Orioles dropped another series. What a surprise... - John T.

Orioles News - 8/31/07 - O's snap losing streak

The Orioles won last night, 9-8 over the Boston Red Sox to halt their losing streak at 9 games. It wasn't a very pretty game, but a win is a win. Rookie pitcher Radhames Liz went only 3 innings giving up 2 runs (both earned), on 72 pitches. Of those 72 pitches, only 37 went for a strike. He looks like a Daniel Cabrera in the works, great one night and terrible the next. The O's took the lead in the 4th inning as a double by Nick Markakis followed by a home run from Miguel Tejada (In picture) gave the O's their first runs. Then Kevin Millar walked and Aubrey Huff singled, sending Millar to third base. A single from Melvin Mora scored Millar, followed by a single from Ramon Hernandez which scored Huff. That gave the O's a 4-3 lead. Also in the 4th inning, manager Dave Trembley was ejected for arguing that a Red Sox player had interfered with Ramon Hernandez on third base. In the 6th inning, the Orioles busted this game wide open. The bases were loaded with no one out and Jay Payton hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run. Brian Roberts then walked to load the bases again, but this time with one out. Another sacrifice fly, this time from Corey Patterson, scored Melvin Mora. Nick Markakis then ripped a 3 run homer to rightfield, and the O's now had a 9-3 lead. The Orioles were done scoring after that outburst. The Red Sox weren't though, as they would score 5 more times and as our bullpen nearly blew a 9-3 lead. In other news, starting pitcher Steve Trachsel was traded away to the Chicago Cubs for 2 minor leaguers, 3rd baseman Scott Moore and reliever Rocky Cherry. Both of them have been staying at AAA this year. Trachsel's stock rose after a 2.37 ERA in 6 starts this August. He was 1-1 in August and would have been better if not for the bullpen collapsing and poor run support that has cost him wins. Also, pitcher Erik Bedard, a Cy Young canidate, could be out for an extended amount of time with a strained right Oblique muscle. That loss is going to hurt the Orioles badly. So, a busy day for the O's. The O's won, the manager got tossed, Trachsel was traded, and our ace, Erik Bedard is injured. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/27/07 - Off

The Baltimore Orioles had off last night, which is a good thing considering the way they have been playing. The O's begin a 3 game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight. On the mound for the Devil Rays is Jason Hammel. On the mound for the O's tonight is Daniel Cabrera, the great yet inconsistent strong throwing righthander. He'll have to face Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays, who has been on fire this month hitting .396. Baltimore comes into this game with a 8-16 record in August so far and having dropped 6 straight games. But the O's are 10-2 against the D-Rays so far this year. Baltimore desperately needs this series to go their way because after this they face the Boston Red Sox, who almost always end up beating us. With the season slipping down the drain, the O's need to get a grip. - John T.