The Orioles' loss to Cleveland Thursday night continued a recent slide that has fueled pessimism for some fans. At this exact time of year in 1957, as the O's faced the same team on the diamond, the opposite scenario played out during Baltimore's first non-losing season since moving from St. Louis in 1954. Back then, there was plenty of reason for optimism in June, thanks to some remarkable work by the O's pitching staff.
The '57 Birds took three of four from the Indians during a series...
Right now, despite the Orioles doing relatively well so far this season, it has been apparent that there's been an issue with the starting pitching outside of Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen.
On Tuesday night, southpaw Brian Matusz struggled on the mound again in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels. He gave up five runs in five innings, plus gave up a career-high 13 hits.
Matusz's season has been filled with some ups and downs, but fans have to start wondering if the bright young pitcher we...
As fans, we all want the Orioles to win. That's a fair statement, right? In fact, it's probably the only thing we all agree on. Finding common ground can be hard, but there's always the team. We want it to do well and, there, we're actually united.
In a lot of ways that's enough. A winning team. It's just sports, after all, right? To some extent, yes, but there's another layer to it, this thing over which we bond. Meaning that when the Orioles win, we in fact are together in a less...
The Orioles are winning and there have been a lot of heroes during this magic stretch of baseball - Adam Jones, Jason Hammel, Jim Johnson, Matt Wieters. The contributions of those players are obvious.
But on any winning club, there are always unsung heroes. And my favorite unsung hero this season has been lefty reliever Troy Patton.
But this isn't just about 2012. Truth be told, I have always been a Patton fan, ever since December 2007 when the Orioles acquired him from the Houston Astros...
Can the Orioles' Chris Davis become the first player to hit the B&O Warehouse with a home run during game action? That's the question I've been asking myself since Davis hit a broken-bat homer June 13 against the Pirates. The display of strength by a power-hitting lefty has had me pondering the possibilities ever since. My prediction, equal parts bold and foolish, is that Davis will become the first batter to hit the Warehouse.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been open for 20 years. There...
It has not been a very good week for the Orioles up in the Big Apple. They did not get beat by the rival Yankees; however, the surprising Mets swept the Birds over a three-game set.
Baltimore's offense got stifled by the phenomenal knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the veteran Johan Santana in the first two games. They made it close in the final contest. As much as the offense struggled, I'm not too worried about that and ready to push the red alert button on that front.
Sadly, as fans, we...
Is there anything Chris Davis can't do?
Even though I held my breath every time a ball was hit to right field this weekend, Davis has added the job skill of "major league right fielder" to his resume.
It has been a remarkable season for Davis, as he continues to do things that he has never done before in the majors. He has played the outfield and pitched in his first major league game, but even more remarkable are the things he is doing at the plate.
Davis' OPS+ of 132 is the highest of...
Every year, as the trade deadline approaches, fans who are fortunate enough to find their team in contention get the luxury of engaging in a fun debate: Should our team be buyers?
Should they, in other words, make a play for one or more guys who might take a group from pretty good to very good, possibly playoff
good? Or should they stick with what they have and hope it's enough?
As Orioles fans, we typically sit this out and instead engage in some deadline variation of "sell or do...
Today, I told a co-worker that it might be nice to see Jeremy Guthrie back in Baltimore. I'll leave out all the details of her response, but it started with a harsh glare, followed by an "Are you crazy?" look. Granted, the former Orioles ace is not known for his great record or low ERA. But, could he bring some value back to the Orioles rotation if he was to leave Colorado?
In Baltimore, the right-hander pitched to a 47-65 record with a 4.12 ERA over his five-year tenure. Beyond that losing...
Because of a vendor distribution problem, the Oriole Park 20th anniversary tumbler giveaway scheduled for Saturday, June 23 will not arrive in time to be handed out as originally planned, the Orioles announced Saturday.
Instead, those eligible for the original promotion (the first 10,000 fans 15 and over) will receive a "Greetings from Birdland" T-shirt on June 23, along with a voucher to be redeemed for the tumbler once they arrive.
The voucher will explain the methods of redemption, but...
The Orioles tagged Erik Bedard for seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings Thursday night, hanging a rare interleague loss on the former O's lefty. For his career, Bedard was 9-3 with a 1.86 ERA, 1.011 WHIP and 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings in interleague play prior to last night's game. Some of his finest interleague outings came in Baltimore, including a dominating run through the senior circuit in 2006.
Bedard went 3-0 against the National League in 2006 with a 1.29 ERA, 0.714 WHIP, and...
If you use a pen on your calendar - assuming, of course, that you're not one of those tech-savvy folks who keeps all their appointments and events on a smart phone - I've got some news that's going to mean big scratched-out mark on a Saturday in July.
The date in question is Saturday, July 14. That's when the Orioles are hosting the Tigers and the Jim Palmer statue is to be dedicated in the new center field picnic area (joining Frank Robinson's likeness, which was unveiled in April and...
It has been an extraordinarily good week for the Orioles, as they have shone in interleague play, taking two out of three games from the Phillies and taking the first two in their series against the Pirates.
The Orioles had struggled until the middle last week during a brutal stretch, but found a way to turn it on against Boston. As of now, they are 36-26 and trail the New York Yankees by a game in the American League East standings.
The Orioles are off to their best start in many years, and...
Truly, there is nothing else like baseball.
Countless sporting trends have risen and fallen since this game arrived in our popular culture. Boxing and horse racing, once huge, today fade even from the margins. Auto racing comes and goes in various forms. Tennis had a moment but can't really make a dent anymore despite the fact that three of the greatest players of all time currently ply their trade. Anyone want to take bets on skateboarding or motocross?
Through it all, there has been...
They say you never forget your first, and I never forgot Dave Boswell, the first major leaguer I ever met and talked with at length.
Boswell died yesterday of an apparent heart attack at 67, and a tweet from Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter, followed by a Facebook post from Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, brought the sad news on an already gloomy morning. I'd spent the past couple of weeks researching Boswell's career - and reminiscing about that long-ago encounter with the...
Earlier in the season, I wrote about how great the Orioles bullpen was doing and in the weeks since, the relievers have not only kept it up, they have gotten even better. Heading into this evening's game, the Orioles have the best bullpen in baseball in terms of ERA.
But what you may not have known is that the Pittsburgh Pirates come to town, and they are bringing the best bullpen in the National League with them, the second best in baseball behind Baltimore.
So if you're going to do some...
When it comes to the All-Star Game, I've always functioned under one simple mantra: one man, one vote.
Each summer since balloting was returned to fans in 1970, I've gotten one ballot on a visit to either Camden Yards or Memorial Stadium and punched out my dream team. I usually wait until near the end of the voting - wouldn't want to have an untimely slump or injury make me regret a certain selection, right - and dutifully use my car key to punch out the appropriate player's slot. Heck,...
My baseball memory begins somewhere in the 1980s on 33rd Street. I can remember the first batting practice baseball I caught (Dante Bichette, Milwaukee Brewers), the nachos I helped spill during a rare visit to Memorial Stadium's blue box seats, and the lesson I learned about appropriate ballpark decorum by violating it with an obscene heckle. At its best, the ballpark can teach a kid a lot about the game.
I got to thinking recently about the game I attended when Fred Lynn stroked two home...
Groups are the backbone of baseball attendance numbers. It's a simple equation, really - a block of tickets sold to a group inevitably includes ducats in the hands of casual fans or people who have never been to a game before. They come to a game at a usually discounted price and hopefully like what they see and feel. Amid all the sodas and hot dogs, beer and peanuts, souvenirs and actual baseball action, maybe you entice them back again at full price. And maybe a non-fan or casual fan becomes...
As "Oops" moments go, the one committed by Fred Valentine in his rookie season with the Orioles in 1959 was a whopper. But the affable 77-year-old now laughs off his error of aggression as a youthful indiscretion.
"Paul Richards was the manager when they brought me up in '59," Valentine said. "Gus Triandos was catching, and they put me in the lineup, hitting behind Triandos. Sure enough, he hit a ball off the right-field wall - and Gus was slow, really slow - and stopped at first base....