Last night Michael Aubrey stated his case to be an Oriole in 2010. Over the last month or so, Mark Hendrickson has been doing the same thing. He got the win Saturday night, giving up six hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings vs. Toronto. Hendrickson is now 6-5, 4.37. Since September first, in seven games, four starts, he is 1-1, 3.55

On the Mark - Mark Hendrickson got the win in his first start of this year, on April 10th vs. Tampa. Tonight, in his 11th start, he picked up his second win as a starter. Hendrickson, now 6-5, 4.37, pitched 6 1/3 and gave up six hits and three runs. He threw 90 pitches, 55 for strikes. In four starts since he re-joined the rotation on September 17th, he is 1-1, 4.15. In six games since September 1st, he is 1-1, 3.55. He has now recorded three straight quality starts.

Game Preview Toronto (75-86) at Orioles (63-98) Now that they won't end this season losing, say, 20 games in a row or with 100 losses, what's left for the O's to play for in today's 2009 finale? Probably the chance to end the year on a four-game win streak and with a series sweep of Toronto. Today, at 1:35 p.m. the O's host the Blue Jays in the final game of this season. Jeremy Guthrie (10-17, 5.05) faces lefty Ricky Romero (13-9, 4.26).

RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-17, 5.05) today makes his 33rd start of this season, his 17th at home and the 11th in his career vs. Toronto. Over his last four starts, Guthrie is 0-4, 5.68. In the previous four starts, he went 3-1, 1.33. He leads the American League in losses, earned runs allowed and homers allowed. Guthrie's 17 losses is five more than his previous career high. It ranks him tied for 6th in all-time single season losses by an O's pitcher. A loss today would move him into a tie...

Brian Roberts got his 30th stolen base in the first inning - check. A couple of batters later, Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer to up his RBI total to 101 - check. Jeremy Guthrie has pitched through the 6th and needs to 7 2/3 innings to hit 200 for his career high - no check yet.

What a wacky way to end a season. With runners on first and second and no outs in the last of the 11th, Jeff Fiorentino dropped a sac bunt. Pitcher Brandon League's throw was low and skipped off the first baseman's glove, allowing Michael Aubrey to score from second with the winning run. The O's celebrated an 11-inning, 5-4 walk off win over Toronto.

It's over now - The O's ended the season with a three-game sweep and four-game win streak. They finished 64 and 98. They went 39-42 at home and 25-56 on the road. They ended up 24-48 vs. the AL East. They went 6-20 in September and 4-0 in October. The three-game sweep was the O's first since taking three at Philly June 19-21. It was their second three-game sweep vs. Toronto after taking three from the Jays May 25-27. The O's and Toronto each won nine games in the season series,...

An added bonus in having Andy MacPhail running the Orioles baseball operations is that we are all getting to learn a new baseball vocabulary. On Andy's watch, the O's don't call up players from the minors, they "introduce" them to the bigs. Major Leagues meet Matt Wieters, Matt meet the Majors. Brian Matusz meet the show, show here's Brian, good luck trying to hit his changeup. The 2009 Orioles made plenty of introductions that all should lead to some improvement in 2010.

Dave Trembley was asked about leadership. What makes a leader? Do the Orioles have one? "Leadership is not what you say it's what you do. The way you go about it, the ability to offer suggestions or make corrections with younger players. Leadership is a presence. It's reliability, it's etched in stone like concrete. It's day in and day out, what you stand for." He provided an example from this year where he felt Brian Roberts showed leadership.

Should O's fans be concerned that Baseball America has released its top 20 prospects for five leagues where O's have affiliates and just three O's players have been mentioned? RHP Matt Hobgood was named the 4th best prospect in the Appalachian League while LHP Brian Matusz was rated number two and LHP Zach Britton as the 15th best prospect in the Carolina League. The O's had none of the top 20 prospects in the Gulf Coast League, the South Atlantic League or the New York-Penn League.