Steve Melewski

Machado homers on his first night in the Carolina League

June 23, 2011, 9:14pm

Orioles

Machado homers on his first night in the Carolina League

He had two hits and scored a run in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game Tuesday night. He got promoted to Single-A Frederick after that game. On Thursday afternoon, he found out he would play in the Futures Game and Thursday night he homered in just his second at-bat in the Carolina League. Just Manny being Manny. As in Manny Machado, the Orioles' top prospect who won't turn 19 until July 6. Machado had homered just once in his last 16 games with Single-A Delmarva, but connected in...

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The Earl of Baltimore held court in Salisbury

June 23, 2011, 3:37pm

Orioles

The Earl of Baltimore held court in Salisbury

This great game of baseball spans many years and generations, and some of us really got to experience that Tuesday night at the South Atlantic League All-Star game hosted by the Delmarva Shorebirds. Not long after we got to interview some up-and-coming stars of tomorrow, like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, we were sitting in a conference room across from Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver. Now 80, Weaver led the Orioles to a .593 winning percentage in 17 seasons, winning four American League...

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Taking a look at one stat and its impact on Oriole wins and losses

June 23, 2011, 7:56am

Orioles

Taking a look at one stat and its impact on Oriole wins and losses

Sometimes, baseball can be a very simple game. As the manager in "Bull Durham" said, "You catch the ball, you hit the ball, you throw the ball." Sometimes it rains of course. Sometimes you get clutch hits and you win. Sometimes you don't and you lose. In looking at the Orioles' season, one stat that seems to always figure heavily in whether the club wins or loses is how they fare when batting with runners in scoring position. Just look at the Pittsburgh series. On Monday, the O's...

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Ty Kelly is getting the job done for Delmarva

June 22, 2011, 3:45pm

Orioles

Ty Kelly is getting the job done for Delmarva

Every year, there are players in the minor leagues who seem to fly under the radar, guys who are not considered top prospects or are not high-round draft picks. But they put up good numbers and we should notice that. Ty Kelly at Single-A Delmarva is one of those guys, and I got the chance to meet and interview him before Tuesday's All-Star Game at Perdue Stadium. Kelly is 10th in the South Atlantic League batting at .312 in 52 games with seven doubles, three homers and 27 RBIs. He went...

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Minor league notes

June 22, 2011, 3:26pm

Orioles

With the Orioles not playing tonight, let's take a look at some notes around the O's minors. The Bowie Baysox have been playing pretty well lately. The Baysox, led by manager Gary Kendall, have won 12 of their last 18 games to improve to 36-34 on the season. Catcher Caleb Joseph takes a 10-game batting streak into play tonight. He is batting .317 (13-for-41) during the streak with two homers and seven RBIs. He can tie Xavier Avery for longest hitting streak this year for Bowie at 11...

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Road trip ends with a thud: Costly error leads to loss at Pittsburgh

June 22, 2011, 11:14am

Orioles

Road trip ends with a thud: Costly error leads to loss at Pittsburgh

For the Orioles today, the ball found a player making his major league debut at a key point in the game and the result was not good. Blake Davis, starting at second base, had a grounder go through his legs for an error in the last of the fifth, allowing two runs to score on the play. What should have been the third out instead cost the Orioles two runs as Pittsburgh moved ahead 5-4 on the play and won by that score. It should be pointed out that Davis played mostly right field and some...

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Doubles talk (updated)

June 22, 2011, 9:30am

Orioles

Seeing Nick Markakis hit two doubles in today's game at Pittsburgh had to be a nice sight for Orioles fans. Markakis, formerly a doubles machine, had just seven doubles all year and this is his first game of the year with more than one double. Markakis, who had 43 or more doubles the last four years, was on a pace this year to produce just 16 doubles coming into today's game. Last season, he was tied for fourth in the American League with 45 doubles and he became just the third player in...

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Delmarva does a great job hosting South Atlantic League All-Star Game as Machado heads for Frederick

June 21, 2011, 9:29pm

Orioles

Delmarva does a great job hosting South Atlantic League All-Star Game as Machado heads for Frederick

SALISBURY, Md. - The only thing that went wrong with last night's South Atlantic League All-Star game was the home team lost. The South beat the North 6-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 7,410 at Perdue Stadium. The North squad had won four straight from 2006-2009 and last year's game ended in a tie, so this was the first win by the South since 2005. But despite the fact that the team with five Delmarva Shorebirds on it came up short, everything else was pretty much a huge hit last night in...

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Frederick bound: Machado gets official word after All-Star Game

June 21, 2011, 6:43pm

Orioles

Frederick bound: Machado gets official word after All-Star Game

SALISBURY, Md. - The news that was very expected became official after tonight's South Atlantic League All-Star Game. The Orioles are sending top prospect Manny Machado from low Single-A Delmarva to high Single-A Frederick. Machado played his last game representing the Shorebirds tonight and went 2-for-4 with a run scored as his North team lost 6-3 to the South in front of a sellout crowd. Before tonight's game Machado said he had not been told anything about his next move, but shortly...

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South leads 6-2 at Delmarva (updated)

June 21, 2011, 5:10pm

Orioles

SALISBURY, Md. - After four and a half innings of the South Atlantic League All-Star game, the South team leads the North 6-2 at Perdue Stadium. The South plated five runs in the third, getting two-run homers from Adam Duvall and Cory Vaughn. Single-A Delmarva's Manny Machado is 1-for-2 with a single and a run scored in the first and he struck out in the top of the third. His Shorebirds teammate, Ty Kelly, starting at second base, is 0-for-1 after a third-inning ground out. Delmarva lefty...

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Ty Kelly

June 21, 2011, 2:31pm

Orioles

SALISBURY, Md. - Manny Machado is not the only Delmarva Shorebird position player here at the South Atlantic League All-Star game. Ty Kelly is batting ninth at second base for the North team. Kelly is 10th in the league batting at .312 in 52 games with seven doubles, three homers and 27 RBIs. He went 8-for-16 over his past four Shorebirds' games and, after hitting .259 for Delmarva last year, has taken his game to a higher level in 2011. "The more I think about it, there were times I...

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The Earl of Baltimore: Weaver a hit with the fans in Salisbury

June 21, 2011, 2:15pm

Orioles

The Earl of Baltimore: Weaver a hit with the fans in Salisbury

SALISBURY, Md - Orioles Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver headlined the Fan Fest festivities today in Salisbury at the South Atlantic League All-Star game and signed autographs for around two hours for a steady stream of fans. Earl said the fans here kept asking him about returning to manage. "Since (80-year-old Jack) McKeon went back, if I would," Weaver said. "There is no way I can go back (with my arthritis). You just saw me hobble in here. I couldn't get up and down the dugout...

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Ty Kelly on Machado: "He deserves all the attention he gets"

June 21, 2011, 12:29pm

Orioles

Ty Kelly on Machado: "He deserves all the attention he gets"

SALISBURY, Md. - Orioles top prospect Manny Machado singled tonight in his first at-bat in the South Atlantic League All-Star game. Machado fell behind 0-2 on the count, got back to a full count and drove a ground ball up the middle for a single against Savannah's Taylor Whitenton. Machado was batting second and his single sent Hagerstown's Blake Kelso, who had singled, to third base. After a wild pitch sent Machado to second, Bryce Harper hit an RBI groundout to second to give the North a...

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Delmarva's David Walters is unlikely All-Star

June 21, 2011, 12:14pm

Orioles

Delmarva's David Walters is unlikely All-Star

SALISBURY, Md. - There are seven first-round draft picks on the rosters here for the South Atlantic League All-Star game, but Single-A Delmarva reliever David Walters is not among them. The 23-year-old, right-hander, who leads the league with 17 saves, was actually signed by the Orioles as a free agent in June, 2009 after the draft out of Francis Marion University in South Carolina. He saw 50 rounds come and go and his name was not called. "I just wanted an opportunity and glad the Orioles...

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Machado on his hot start, his knee injury and tonight's All-Star game

June 21, 2011, 11:27am

Orioles

Machado on his hot start, his knee injury and tonight's All-Star game

SALISBURY, Md. - In what is likely to be his last appearance for the Delmarva Shorebirds, Orioles' top prospect

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Checking on the O's offense and preparing for a trip to Salisbury

June 20, 2011, 9:39pm

Orioles

Checking on the O's offense and preparing for a trip to Salisbury

I am not ready to say the Orioles' offense has turned the corner or that it's finally living up to its preseason hype, but I will say it is functioning on most of its cylinders right now. Maybe for the first time all year. The top six in last night's order all are hitting pretty well right now. That is J.J Hardy, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Derrek Lee, Matt Wieters and Mark Reynolds. The Orioles are not getting much offense out of left field right now, but most players manning the other...

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For the O's, usually the first is the worst

June 20, 2011, 3:42pm

Orioles

For the O's, usually the first is the worst

The Orioles, who took a 5-0 lead in the first inning tonight at Pittsburgh, began this game as major league's lowest-scoring first inning team. They come in averaging just 0.26 first-inning runs per game to rank last in the majors. 0.26 - Orioles 0.29 - Seattle 0.32 - Oakland 0.36 - Kansas City and Washington The Yankees lead the majors in scoring with 0.76 first inning runs per game. The O's got five runs on six hits in the big inning as Adam Jones delivered a two-run single and they got...

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Checking on the Pirates past and present

June 20, 2011, 1:25pm

Orioles

Checking on the Pirates past and present

The Orioles have lost two World Series against the Pirates, in 1971 and 1979. Tomorrow night, before Game Two of their series with the Orioles, the Pirates will celebrate the 40th anniversary of that 1971 team. The Orioles won the first two games, by scores of 5-3 and 11-3 at home, but then lost three straight in Pittsburgh. When that series returned to Baltimore, the O's Game Six win was followed by a 2-1 Game Seven loss with Steve Blass besting Mike Cuellar. The Orioles and Pirates will...

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No longer under the radar: McCurry got to Triple-A in a hurry

June 19, 2011, 8:32pm

Orioles

No longer under the radar: McCurry got to Triple-A in a hurry

Sometimes in the minor leagues you can find players who actually put up better stats as they move up to higher levels. You wouldn't think that possible, but some players mature and learn more about the game and themselves, and it happens. Joe Mahoney hit .222 his first year at Single-A Delmarva in 2008. He returned there in 2009 and hit .278. Then in 2010, Mahoney hit .299 at Single-A Frederick and then .319 at Double-A Bowie. His game took steps forward as he moved up. For lefty pitcher...

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Some impressions from the weekend series against the Nats

June 19, 2011, 1:18pm

Orioles

Some impressions from the weekend series against the Nats

Some thoughts after the end of the weekend series in Washington. The clubs split six games this year and today's O's win keeps the Orioles ahead, 19-17, in the all-time series versus the Nationals. * We've said it before, but maybe this team will finally get hot on offense for an extended time. It seems that Nick Markakis and Derrek Lee have heated up and maybe those hot bats will join those of Adam Jones, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy to see this club finally put up some runs. Markakis is...