Steve Melewski

Fewer Boston and New York road woes for the O's

April 12, 2013, 12:20pm

Orioles

Fewer Boston and New York road woes for the O's

In recent years when the Orioles would play at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, it usually didn't go well and often didn't end well. But since the start of last season, all that has changed. From 2008-11, the Orioles went 10-26 at Boston and 9-27 at New York for a combined mark of 19-53. But since opening day 2012, the Orioles are a combined 15-6 at the two parks. So that was a win percentage of just .264 for a four-year period beginning in 2008, but one of .714 over those last 21...

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Is Gausman close to major league-ready? He looked the part last night

April 11, 2013, 9:14pm

Orioles

Is Gausman close to major league-ready? He looked the part last night

BOWIE, Md. - It seems a little crazy to say this but, after just 28 professional innings, is Kevin Gausman ready for the major leagues? He may be - or at least he may be close. Double-A Bowie manager Gary Kendall is not one to rave about or overly hype players, but after seeing Gausman's strong six-inning outing last night against Akron, where he allowed just two hits and one run, Kendall sounded like a skipper that just might endorse Gausman for the majors right now if Dan Duquette and Buck...

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Kevin Gausman talks about his strong outing tonight at Bowie

April 11, 2013, 6:35pm

Orioles

Kevin Gausman talks about his strong outing tonight at Bowie

BOWIE, Md. - Showing a mid- to sometimes high-90s fastball and a slider that was much improved over his first start, Kevin Gausman picked up his first professional win, pitching Double-A Bowie to a 5-1 victory over Akron tonight in front of 4,673 chilled fans in the team's home opener. Gausman threw 92 pitches, 66 for strikes over six innings, allowing just two hits and one run. He didn't walk a batter for the second straight start and fanned five. He is now 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA. "I felt...

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Gausman gets off to a good start tonight at Bowie (Baysox win)

April 11, 2013, 3:31pm

Orioles

Gausman gets off to a good start tonight at Bowie (Baysox win)

BOWIE, Md. - Kevin Gausman has retired the first six batters he has faced tonight in his first home start for the Double-A Bowie Baysox. Gausman pitched a perfect first on 15 pitches, 11 for strikes. He got, in order, two groundouts and a swinging strikeout against Akron No. 3 hitter Chun Chen. In a very quick top of the second, he sandwiched two outs on grounders around another swinging strikeout. It was just an eight-pitch inning. So far, he has thrown 17 of 23 pitches for strikes. He...

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Orioles will field two Dominican Summer League teams (plus other notes from Bowie)

April 11, 2013, 2:02pm

Orioles

BOWIE, Md. - For the first time since 2010, the Orioles will field two teams in the Dominican Summer League when play begins in June. The O's entry in the league went 34-36 last season after making the playoffs in 2011, going 46-24. Four organizations - the Yankees, Mets, Cubs and Pirates - fielded two teams in the DSL in 2012. This is the latest sign that the Orioles are looking to upgrade their international efforts under executive vice president Dan Duquette. In this interview last month,...

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Some pregame notes from Bowie before the Baysox home opener tonight

April 11, 2013, 11:52am

Orioles

Some pregame notes from Bowie before the Baysox home opener tonight

BOWIE, Md. - The Double-A Bowie Baysox, after completing a 3-4 road trip to Harrisburg and Richmond with back-to-back wins the past two days, open their home season tonight at 7:05 against Akron and Kevin Gausman will start on the mound. This will be Gausman's first time pitching at Prince George's Stadium. The Orioles' 2012 first-rounder made a start for Bowie on the road in the playoffs last September, pitching three scoreless inningswith five strikeouts. He made his 2013 season debut...

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Some pregame notes from Bowie before the Baysox home opener tonight

April 11, 2013, 11:51am

Orioles

BOWIE, Md. - The Double-A Bowie Baysox, after completing a 3-4 road trip to Harrisburg and Richmond with back-to-back wins the past two days, open their home season here tonight at 7:05 facing Akron and Kevin Gausman will start on the mound. This will be Gausman's first time pitching at Prince George's Stadium. He made a start for Bowie on the road in the playoffs last September pitching three scoreless with five strikeouts and made his 2013 season debut last Saturday at Harrisburg. Over...

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Machado's huge homer provides latest example that his power potential is on the rise

April 10, 2013, 8:32pm

Orioles

Machado's huge homer provides latest example that his power potential is on the rise

A lot had to happen last night before Manny Machado could stun about 30,000 Red Sox fans and delight who knows how many Orioles fans looking on from the homefront and places beyond. Chris Davis had to hit a massive center field homer. Ryan Flaherty had to get his first base hit of the year when he was down to his last strike on a 2-2 pitch. Nolan Reimold and Nate McLouth had to work walks and McLouth, especially, took a few close pitches to get on base. But after the tying run scored on a wild...

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Machado smokes three-run homer as O's score five in ninth to stun Fenway

April 10, 2013, 6:46pm

Orioles

Machado smokes three-run homer as O's score five in ninth to stun Fenway

Down to their last strike, the Orioles erupted for four of their five runs in the top of the ninth to storm back and beat Boston 8-5 in front of a stunned fan base at Fenway Park tonight. Joel Hanrahan came on in the ninth to protect a 5-3 Red Sox lead, but Chris Davis greeted him with a leadoff homer, his fifth, to pull the Orioles within one. After two outs were recorded, Ryan Flaherty singled to left for his first hit of the year, ending an 0-for-17 drought and Alexi Casilla came on to...

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Orioles move Devin Jones from Frederick to Bowie to join Baysox rotation

April 10, 2013, 5:48pm

Orioles

The Orioles are moving Single-A Frederick's opening night starting pitcher, right-hander Devin Jones, to Double-A Bowie where he will enter the Baysox rotation on Friday night. Jones will take the rotation spot of Julio Rodriguez, who went on the Baysox disabled list this week after allowing six runs and six hits with seven walks in just 2 2/3 innings on Monday at Richmond. The 22-year-old Jones, drafted by the club in the ninth round out of Mississippi State in 2011, pitched well in his...

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Will the Red Sox try to run on Wieters? (plus other notes)

April 10, 2013, 1:59pm

Orioles

Will the Red Sox try to run on Wieters? (plus other notes)

Here is a surprising stat: At this early point, the Boston Red Sox lead the American League with eight stolen bases in 10 attempts. Jacoby Ellsbury is 4-for-4. No other team has more than six steals. But can the Sox steal on the Orioles and Matt Wieters? Shane Victorino tried, but was gunned down by Wieters in the fourth inning on Monday. Right now, the Orioles lead the AL in caught stealing percentage and lead by a huge margin: .833 - Orioles (5-for-6) .400 - Boston (2-for-5) .400 - Chicago...

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Glynn Davis adds some weight and it paid off recently for Frederick

April 10, 2013, 9:34am

Orioles

Glynn Davis adds some weight and it paid off recently for Frederick

Back in August of 2010, I reported the Orioles signing of a player from Baltimore who had gone undrafted earlier that year in June. He was a rarity in that the Orioles felt they got a player with top 10 round talent that wasn't drafted by anyone. You don't see that very often. Here is the behind the scenes story I wrote that August on how the Orioles knew about Glynn Davis well ahead of just about any other organization in baseball and how they acquired this young man who was a 2009 grad of...

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An early look at the RISP stat

April 09, 2013, 6:30pm

Orioles

How do the Orioles do as individual hitters and as a team when batting with runners in scoring position? It is a stat worth tracking and one that can have some meaning. How are the Orioles doing cashing in on scoring chances when they present themselves? First of all, be cautioned that reading anything into seven games' worth of stats is foolish, but nonetheless, here are some of the numbers. As team the Orioles are batting .254 (16-for-63) with RISP. They are just 1-for-9 over the last...

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Updating Dylan Bundy and a look at the minor leagues so far

April 09, 2013, 9:17am

Orioles

Updating Dylan Bundy and a look at the minor leagues so far

Orioles 2011 first-round pick Dylan Bundy is still in Florida in rehab mode dealing with mild tightness in his right elbow. I've heard there have been no setbacks, but he has yet to throw any bullpen sessions. The club is just being cautious with a young prospect. He is now pain-free and is on a strengthening program. We are likely looking at a timetable of a few weeks or more before he could pitch in any games, since he'll have to build arm strength back up and likely pitch in a simulated...

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Machado brings talent and smarts to his approach to batting second

April 08, 2013, 5:11pm

Orioles

Machado brings talent and smarts to his approach to batting second

We already know that Manny Machado is a very talented young player. But a conversation I had with him in the clubhouse Sunday morning provided further proof that the kid is a very smart and savvy player also. Machado never batted second in the minors for the Orioles. But he's batting second now for the big club. I wanted to know if batting second means he goes into games with a certain approach or outlook to his at-bats in mind. Does he go in with a specific game plan? "It just all depends...

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Orioles fall under .500 for the first time since the final day of 2011 with loss at Boston

April 08, 2013, 12:51pm

Orioles

Last season, the Orioles never once fell under the .500 mark on their way to 93 wins and the playoffs. They won't be able to say that about this year. The Orioles are now 3-4 and lost their third straight game today as Boston won its home opener 3-1 over the Orioles at Fenway Park. It's the first three-game losing streak for the O's since last July 23-25. The Orioles, who scored 29 runs in their first four games, had gone 15 consecutive innings without a run until Adam Jones' solo homer...

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Orioles look to snap a Boston win streak in home openers today

April 08, 2013, 9:40am

Orioles

The Orioles will try to put an end to a two-game losing streak today and a Red Sox streak as well. The Red Sox have won their last eight home openers since 2005, the longest streak in club history and the longest active streak among major league teams. Boston is 16-4 in home openers since 1993. By the way, with Boston at 4-2 and in first place, yes it's very early, but it's fair to ask this: Are the Red Sox in for a big turnaround season after going 69-93 and finishing in last place in...

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Looking into some of the stats so far

April 08, 2013, 7:06am

Orioles

You say you want some stats on the Orioles? OK, here you go. Even if you don't, take a look. Something may be of interest to you. * Adam Jones is the American League leader today or tied for the league lead in batting average (.538), hits (14), runs (nine) and multi-hit games (five). He is second in OBP at .556 and tied for sixth in RBIs with seven. * Jones has four straight multi-hit games, batting .588 (10-for-17) in that stretch with two doubles and five RBIs. He is currently batting .571...

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We saw the latest example of Adam Jones' leadership after Sunday's game

April 07, 2013, 7:34pm

Orioles

We saw the latest example of Adam Jones' leadership after Sunday's game

Players have done it before. They hit a grounder that looks to be a sure out and they don't run hard to first base. That never looks good, but it does happen almost every day in the majors. Not the best example for the kids. But we haven't seen it happen often with Adam Jones. It did yesterday, when he hit a ball toward the mound in the eighth, put his head down in frustration and didn't run hard through the bag. When asked about it after the game, Jones said: "You know me, I always...

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Reimold optimistic about injury and Hammel still looking for fastball command

April 07, 2013, 1:52pm

Orioles

Reimold optimistic about injury and Hammel still looking for fastball command

Nolan Reimold doesn't feel he will have to miss any games after leaving today's game because of tightness in his right hamstring suffered when he grounded into a double play in the sixth. "I just had a little cramp, spasm whatever you want to call it that kept getting tighter and tighter," Reimold said. "Sprinted out to first to try and beat out that double play. Think (Wayne) Kirby could tell it was bothering me. Probably a smart idea to come in and evaluate it." Could it turn into a...