Spoone to the DL

Spoone to the DL
When the Orioles officially added new pitcher Wynn Pelzer, acquired in trade yesterday, to the Bowie Baysox roster tonight, he took the spot vacated by right-hander Chorye Spoone, who went on the disabled list. Spoone, who is on the O's 40-man roster, is dealing with some shoulder fatigue. The 24-year-old underwent shoulder surgery in September of 2008 but this setback is not considered major at all. "It's precautionary right now," O's assistant director of player development, Tripp...
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Surhoff lends a hand in the minors

Surhoff lends a hand in the minors
It is not an official coaching position, but former Oriole B.J. Surhoff has recently been seen at Frederick and Bowie. He's lending a hand with some Orioles minor leaguers and was also recently seen observing the Orioles from a press box suite at Camden Yards. "B.J. has been kind enough to do some consulting on some player development issues," O's director of player development, John Stockstill said. Surhoff was at Bowie last night and is there again tonight. Surhoff played the game...
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Minor matters

Minor matters
Some notes from around the O's minors: *Triple-A Norfolk (50-57) plays at Scranton tonight with Chris George (5-4, 4.00) on the mound. He has allowed two runs over 12 innings in his past two starts. Robert Andino has hit .356-2-8 during a ten-game batting streak. Corey Patterson and Rhyne Hughes each hit in 11 in a row earlier for the Tides, a Norfolk season best. Norfolk relievers on a roll: *Armando Gabino is 2-0, 0.47 over his last six games with 18 K's in 19 1/3 IP. *Dennis Sarfate...
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O's sign two more draft picks

O's sign two more draft picks
The Orioles have now agreed to terms with 31 of their 49 draft picks from last month. Thursday they came to terms with 10th-round pick, right-handed pitcher Clayton Schrader, from San Jacinto Junior College in Texas. He was the 298th overall selection. Today, the O's have come to terms with 8th-round pick Wynston Sawyer, a catcher from Scripps Ranch high school in San Diego. He is a 6'3", 185-pound, right-handed hitter that is 18 years old and was taken with the 238th pick. He had a...
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MacPhail on Showalter and Tejada (audio)

MacPhail on Showalter and Tejada (audio)
I interviewed O's president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail for tonight's Orioles radio network pre-game show. Click below to listen to the entire interview. He talked about the hiring of Buck Showalter, what it means for the current coaches, how he and Showalter will work together and the trade of Miguel Tejada. Audio: If you didn't have time to hear the entire interview here is what MacPhail said on a few topics: Why hire Showalter now and not wait until next year? "The plus of...
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O's get Pelzer in Tejada deal (now official)

O's get Pelzer in Tejada deal (now official)
The Orioles will get 24-year-old right-handed pitcher Wynn Pelzer from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Miguel Tejada. The Orioles are expected to eat some of Tejada's remaining salary. The move opens up third base where the O's will take a good, long look at Josh Bell for the rest of this season. Pelzer is a 6'1", 205-pounder that was rated as the Padres 7th best prospect before the season by Baseball America. This year he is 6-9, 4.20 in 22 games, 18 starts with Double-A San...
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Kurkjian's quote on Showalter

Kurkjian's quote on Showalter
ESPN's Tim Kurkjian knows Buck Showalter probably as well as just about any reporter after working with him at ESPN. During a live interview on that network a few moments ago, here is what Kurkjian said about Showalter coming to Baltimore to manage the Orioles. "It's a great fit for the Orioles, that's for sure. They get as prepared a manager as I've ever met in 30 years of covering baseball. They get one of the most observant baseball people that I've ever met in my entire life. "I...
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Showalter has two months to make an impact

Showalter has two months to make an impact
ESPN's report that Buck Showalter will take over next Tuesday as Orioles manager comes as good news on many fronts. I like the fact that the new man will be in place for part of this season. The time to change the losing culture and the clubhouse dynamic is now. It's due. It's past due. If Showalter can start that process now, there is no reason to wait on that until Opening Day next year. I like the fact that it gives him a chance to get to know the players this year. Despite this...
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Joe Mahoney talks about his big year on the O's farm

Joe Mahoney talks about his big year on the O's farm
If you had to pick a player to be named Orioles minor league player of the year for 2010 today, many might pick first baseman Joe Mahoney. The sixth-round pick out of the University of Richmond from 2007 is having a breakout season and making quite an impression. It started at Frederick where Mahoney put up solid power numbers. Since July 9 it has continued at Double-A Bowie where Mahoney's bat has been sizzling hot. In 17 Baysox games since his promotion, the 23-year-old lefty batter is...
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Not again: O's fall 5-0 at Toronto

Not again: O's fall 5-0 at Toronto
This time, the Orioles got good starting pitching. In fact, they got excellent starting pitching. Yet, they still lost to Toronto. The Jays posted a 5-0 win over the Orioles Wednesday to sweep this three-game series and improve to 12-0 vs. the O's on the season. Gary and Mike talk with Juan Samuel after the O's 5-0 loss to the Blue Jays Toronto got just one run off O's starter Jeremy Guthrie and led 1-0 heading to the last of the eighth before they scored four vs. the O's bullpen to...
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Three innings, 23 pitches

Three innings, 23 pitches
Tonight is the first time the O's hitters have ever seen Toronto lefty Brad Mills. Despite that, once again, they are not seeing many pitches at the plate. The O's trail 1-0 after three innings and Mills has thrown just 23 pitches to get nine outs. He has faced ten hitters, so that is just 2.3 pitches seen per hitter so far. He threw just seven pitches in the first inning, eight in the second and eight in the third. They are hoping to go over ten in one of these innings. The O's were...
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The Britton debate

The Britton debate
O's president Andy MacPhail comfirmed in an e-mail last night that the Orioles are considering calling up their top pitching prospect Zach Britton later this summer, although it likely won't happen this weekend. This brings us to the great debate - should the O's call-up Britton to the Majors this year or just let him finish the season at Triple-A? A Britton call-up would be exciting to see and many fans would welcome it to spice up this miserable season. But would that be the right...
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Jays pound O's 8-2 to go 11-0 vs. the Orioles

Jays pound O's 8-2 to go 11-0 vs. the Orioles
The Orioles futility vs. Toronto continued tonight in a 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. The Orioles are now 0-11 on the year vs. Toronto and have been outscored in the season series 65-23 and out-homered 23 to 4. The Orioles fall to 2-10 since the All-Star break and are now 31-69 after 100 games. They have lost 10 in a row and 19 of their last 21 games at Rogers Centre Juan Samuel talks with Gary and Mike about the starters struggles and the O's 8-2 loss Kevin Millwood took the loss and again...
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Another mismatch (Britton tonight)

Another mismatch (Britton tonight)
Can you believe there are people, some considered very astute in the baseball industry, that we're picking the Orioles to finish ahead of Toronto this year. It now looks like the O's are on their way to 0-11 vs. the Jays as they trail 6-0 after the fourth. It is like Ground Hog day. An O's starter gives up early runs, meanwhile the opponent starter records quick outs vs. O's hitters who nightly seem to refuse to work the count. At this point, I blame the players and coaching staff. No...
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Britton not being considered for this weekend

Britton not being considered for this weekend
In a brief e-mail exchange with O's president Andy MacPhail, he said Zach Britton is "not" being considered to join the Orioles to start this weekend. So we can rule out any talk of Britton starting in Brad Bergesen's spot on Saturday. But Britton is being considered to join the Orioles later in the season, MacPhail said. Britton, who is scheduled to start for Norfolk tonight, is 1-1, 2.05 in four Triple-A starts since he moved up from Bowie. Over his last 11 starts between Bowie and...
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It's the offense, too

It's the offense, too
While there has been a lot of focus on the O's struggling starting pitching lately - as there should be - the offense has not been pulling its weight either as the club is 2-9 since the All-Star break. The O's have scored three runs or less in seven of those 11 games and they are 3-51 this year when scoring three runs or less. Over the last six games, the O's are batting just 4 for 42 (.095) with runners in scoring position. After hitting eight homers in four games at Texas before the...
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Kendall has IronBirds flying high, chasing elusive playoff berth

Kendall has IronBirds flying high, chasing elusive playoff berth
Since their first season in 2002, the Aberdeen IronBirds have been a successful minor league franchise. I said a successful, not winning franchise. The IronBirds are an amazing business success. They sellout Ripken Stadium every night, have a top-notch staff and have a respected and well-known name within minor league baseball circles. They put on a great show for the fans that pour into Ripken Stadium. But in eight seasons in the New York-Penn League, the IronBirds have had just one...
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Wieters homers twice, but O's fall at Toronto

Wieters homers twice, but O's fall at Toronto
Matt Wieters came up with his first career two-homer game, but the Orioles fell behind 8-0 after five innings and lost 9-5 to Toronto tonight. The Orioles are now 0-10 on the year vs. the Blue Jays and have been outscored 57 to 21. Gary and Mike talk with Juan Samuel following the O's 9-5 loss to Toronto The Orioles, who have lost nine games in a row at Rogers Centre, have now lost ten straight to Toronto for the first time since May of 2000. Wieters, who came off the disabled list Sunday,...
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On the farm (another Luke homer)

On the farm (another Luke homer)
Nate Moreau, who pitched a no-hitter for Frederick on June 30th at Salem, in his first start with the Keys, tonight struggled vs. Lynchburg at Harry Grove Stadium. He entered this start with an ERA of 1.89 in his first three Frederick starts, but gave up seven runs and seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs in the first inning and has given up four homers after not allowing one over 19 frames in those first three starts. Tyler Townsend, who went 0 for 7 in his first two...
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Talking about Bergesen

Talking about Bergesen
I checked to see if Brad Bergesen was getting as many ground ball outs this year as last year and he is. Last year he averaged 1.57 ground outs for every fly out and this year he is at 1.59, actually a little better. But Bergesen clearly is not getting the great sink on the ball he was last June and July when he was rolling and too many of his pitches are finding the middle of the plate this year and tonight at Toronto. It's hard to figure. Why can't Bergy recapture the sink on the ball...
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