Neal Shaffer: Tell the truth: Do you want Brian Roberts back?

Brian Roberts is a great Oriole. This much is beyond dispute. Great on the field, obviously, but as importantly, he's been a great presence on the team. Excepting the one obvious blemish on his record (and we don't need to go deep into that, right?) he's basically been a model player. Good in the community, by all accounts good in the clubhouse and seemingly just ... read more

Heath Bintliff: MacPhail's trades shaped this winner

The Orioles are winning and new executive vice president Dan Duquette and his team are getting their fair share of credit for restoring some hope to a moribund franchise. They surely deserve it, as they were directly responsible for bringing starting pitchers Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen to Baltimore, as well as relievers Matt Lindstrom and Luis Ayala, who have helped to anchor a rejuvenated ... read more

Olivia Witherite: The not-so-hot corner

With great wins and exciting baseball, it may seem easy for many to focus on the positives. However, the other day I received a tweet that asked what was going wrong with the Orioles' defense. The Battle of the Beltways behind them, the Orioles have emerged from the weekend tied with the Dodgers for the most wins in baseball. The Birds also lead the majors ... read more

Matthew Taylor: There's something in the air on Eutaw Street

Of course you know that the Orioles are playing well above average so far during the 2012 season. But did you notice that it's been an above-average season for Eutaw Street home runs, as well? Batters have hit an average of three Eutaw Street home runs per season since Camden Yards opened in 1992; four such homers have already been hit this year. Eric Thames ... read more

Anthony Amobi: O's are winning, but where are the fans?

The Orioles are fast approaching the quarter-pole of the 2012 season, and I'm sure many fans are asking themselves these questions: Are the Orioles for real? Can they keep this up? Or are they pulling the wool over our eyes, and will the team that we've seen for the last 14 years make an appearance? Right now, I'd say they are for real. I am ... read more

Neal Shaffer: The top six players who define the losing era

Last week we took a look at the top five players of the losing era. Meaning exactly what it says - the five best. It was a fun list to make, but the more illuminating exercise (and possibly more depressing) is to think about the top five players who define the losing era. By which I mean, if you had to sum up years of ... read more

Heath Bintliff: A series of fortunate events

Back during the early days of Dempsey's Army, I used to write a preseason series of posts with the loose theme, "How the Orioles Can Win the East." In that series, I would lay out five things that would have to go right for Baltimore and, conversely, five things that would have to go wrong for each of our division rivals. The series was half ... read more

Flashback: Trumpet-tooting fans, Camden Yards mojitos and a body-slamming umpire

Did you know there were different species of orioles? We all know that there's a Baltimore Oriole - of the winged and baseball-playing varieties. There are also Puerto Rican, Hispaniolan and Bahama birds. And, believe it or not, a Cuban Oriole. They all used to be lumped into the same species, until elevated into individual statuses in 2010. The Cuban Oriole is endemic to the ... read more