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Needing to push back pitching Jason Hammel further as he continues to recover from a stomach virus, the Orioles announced they will recall left-handed pitcher Zach Britton to make Tuesday’s start in Detroit.

After right-hander Jake Arrieta was awarded a spot start against the Tigers on Monday, Britton was held out of his scheduled start for the Tides with the thought that Hammel might need more time to regain his strength after a virus required him to have intravenous fluids and kept him away from the ballpark for two days over the weekend.

Britton will be making his second start of the season for the Orioles after suffering a loss in Seattle on April 29. The 25-year-old allowed six earned runs and 10 hits in six innings of work before being optioned back to Norfolk after that start.

In his last five starts for the Tides, Britton is 2-1 and has allowed only seven earned runs in 31 innings while striking out 26 and walking 11. He is 3-2 with a 3.28 earned run average in 11 starts in Triple A this season.

One of Britton’s best starts in an otherwise disappointing 2012 season for the Orioles came against the Tigers on Aug. 18 when he pitched seven shutout innings to earn the victory in a 3-2 final. In two career starts against Detroit, Britton is 2-0 with a 3.75 ERA in 12 innings of work.

Reports from Detroit indicated right-hander pitcher Miguel Gonzalez received word that his wife was ready to give birth to the couple’s daughter and he departed for California on Monday evening.

The Orioles optioned Arrieta to Norfolk following Monday’s loss to presumably make room for Britton on the 25-man roster before Tuesday’s game. If the club wants to bring rookie Kevin Gausman back to Baltimore for further starter reinforcements, they could recall him prior to the 10-day waiting period’s conclusion if he were to replace Gonzalez, who is expected to be placed on the paternity leave list.

I know well that Baltimore Orioles fans weren’t REALLY mad that a pitcher was thrown out of a game for hitting a batter on the first pitch after giving up three straight home runs.

I know very well that Baltimore Orioles fans were mad about late Saturday afternoon was THEIR pitcher getting thrown out of a game for hitting a batter on the first pitch after giving up three straight home runs.

As much as I wasn’t interested in fighting with baseball fans on Twitter, I was certainly happy to see the passion. The passion has been perhaps my favorite part of the Birds’ resurgence over the last 14 months.

I was up close and personal (okay, ten rows back) from that very passion Friday night. I had a great friend invite me down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards after our live broadcast of “The Reality Check” at Hooters Friday afternoon. My fiancé and I spent the evening wandering through the ballpark with our friends, taking in the Centerfield Bar, the Orioles’ corporate suite and our fantastic lower level seats at the sold out game against the Detroit Tigers. (I don’t say those things to rub in how great my night was, but instead to offer another thank you to my friend Mike-who might very well be reading this. He was a tremendous host. Indulge me for his sake, please.)

When Nick Markakis came to the plate to lead off the 9th inning, I couldn’t find a single person that wasn’t standing. By the time Chris Dickerson sent everyone home happy, the 40,000 or so in attendance were whipped into an absolute frenzy.

It was one of the more amazing moments I could ever remember as a baseball fan…and it might not have even been the most exciting victory the O’s had all week.

There was more passion inside OPAC Y Friday night than any sunrise Easter service I’ve ever attended in my life. It was a night full of fire, a night full of madness and a night full of, well, Orange Fever.

Dickerson perhaps supplied the final act of “Orioles Magic” with his three run, two out walk-off jack; but the displays of “Orioles Magic” were bountiful from the time I hit President Street at 1pm and couldn’t get to Harborplace until 1:55 because the city was packed.

There were displays of “Orioles Magic” as fans came by to see Larry Sheets while we were sitting at Hooters. There were displays of “Orioles Magic” as a group of Orange and Black supporters shouted down Tigers fans who came to visit at Hooters and declared they had made the trip because “the Tigers were winning the World Series and they wanted to see as many games during the World Series year as possible.” They also couldn’t believe Luke Jones would describe the Orioles as having the American League’s best offense. I’m so glad the Birds were able to make them second guess by Sunday evening.

There were displays of “Orioles Magic” as we walked to and from the stadium. They were of course more after the game, including many who wanted to go out of their way to throw high fives or start a “Seven Nation Army” chant back up.

“Orioles Magic” was everywhere. The passion was real.

The passion was real again Saturday, but I wasn’t necessary as close to the action for it. I had to attend an ex’s wedding in Pikesville Saturday night and watched the better part of the game from my couch.

I’ll admit, it didn’t give me quite as good of a view of Matt Tuiasosopo’s shoulder as home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt did when Jason Hammel plunked it. My view also included a MASN broadcast where Mike Bordick wasted no time in letting me know the pitch was a slider and barely more than 80 miles an hour. Obviously no pitcher could ever purposefully hit a batter with such a pitch.

Obviously.

I took to Twitter to say the following…

It lead to a 30 minute back and forth that included legitimately ANGRY responses from 20-30 Orioles fans absolutely bullish about how disastrous of a decision Wendelstedt had made to toss Hammel without a warning.

Because apparently giving up three straight home runs suddenly needs to come with a warning.

Hendelstedt of course had every right to toss Hammel from the game. He didn’t have a radar gun available behind the plate, but even if he could tell the ball wasn’t thrown with Nolan Ryan heat, he had the right to decipher the pitch may well have been thrown with frustration.

Warnings come when an umpire fears retaliation. Ejects come when an umpire fears a pitcher throw a ball merely out of frustration.

Sometimes those decisions come with collateral damage. Hammel (and just about everyone connected to the organization) wanted to let you know after the game that there was no intent involved in the pitch. Of course, if you can remember the time a pitcher admitted intent after a game I’d love to have you forward it to me. (It’s glenn@wnst.net by the way.) (Edit from GC: I absolutely meant to say “admitted intent after a game and wasn’t suspended. I did not. It’s my fault and I apologize. Thanks to those of you who reminded me that Cole Hamels had indeed admitted intent after plunking Bryce Harper.)

Sadly, no umpire has the time to stop the game and conduct a full trial to determine intent on a pitch. I don’t necessarily think Jason Hammel intended to plunk Matt Tuiasosopo, but I don’t know for sure he didn’t, either.

Neither does anyone else, despite how many of you angrily Tweeted otherwise.

But I get it. It’s passion. It’s magical.

It’s way better than everyone getting together to ignore Eric DuBose’s most recent start together.

-G

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BALTIMORE — Contrary to what many will say following Kevin Gausman’s home debut in a 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers Sunday, his six strong innings against a powerful lineup don’t yet prove the Orioles’ decision to promote him after eight Double-A starts was the right one.

In the same way, definitive proclamations that the Orioles had made a mistake calling up the 2012 first-round pick after an 11.00 earned run average in his first two starts were premature with Gausman just getting his feet wet in the big leagues.

But Sunday’s outing against arguably the best offense in the major leagues showed the kind of talent that had the Orioles so giddy and willing to see if he could help their winning cause despite the 22-year-old still being in the midst of his first full professional season. A day after the Tigers pounced on Jason Hammel and the Orioles bullpen for five homers and 10 runs, Gausman held Detroit to just one earned run and five hits for the first quality start of his career.

“I felt comfortable,” said Gausman, who credited a bullpen session with pitching coach Rick Adair in which they tinkered with his mechanics and focused on keeping the ball down in the strike zone as the main reason for the turnaround. “Today was probably the most polished and calm I’ve been out there since I’ve been up.”

In addition to not walking a batter over six innings, Gausman recorded 12 ground-ball outs including two double plays induced with Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera at the plate. Working with a fastball consistently hitting 95 miles per hour for most of the afternoon, Gausman found another gear in his final inning of work when he threw several sinking fastballs clocked at 97 against Cabrera, retiring the 2012 Triple Crown winner on a called strike three to end his day after six.

It was all part of his revised plan after pitching up in the zone far too often in his first two starts, especially against Washington when he surrendered three home runs.

“Get on top more, have more of a downward plane on my ball, and get back to getting ground-ball outs,” Gausman said. “That was something big for me. It’s huge to get ground balls, double plays, and quick innings.”

The early concerns about Gausman weren’t eliminated entirely with the strong performance as the right-hander only had four strikeouts and seven swinging strikes over the course of the outing. His slider was improved from his first two starts but remains more of a novelty than the impact breaking pitch needed to go along with an exceptional fastball-change combination.

Gausman appeared to be heading toward a shorter outing early in the game as Tigers hitters continued to foul off pitches and work deep counts at an alarming rate despite the rookie facing the minimum number of hitters over his first two innings. In the second, a nine-pitch at-bat that resulted in a swinging strikeout of Prince Fielder and a eight-pitch battle with Jhonny Peralta that ended with a groundout contributed to Gausman’s pitch count standing at 42 after two frames.

You can certainly argue that Gausman’s command was so good that hitters weren’t able to do much damage aside from Fielder’s solo home run in the fourth, but he still appears to lack that put-away pitch necessary for collecting strikeouts and keeping his pitch count a bit lower in those situations. The power pitcher has only nine strikeouts in his 15 innings of work in the majors after striking out 49 in 46 1/3 innings at Double-A Bowie.

However, it would be difficult to dispute that Gausman got stronger as the game went on, evident by his increased velocity and two strikeouts in his final inning of work. He retired the final six batters he faced before turning the game over to the bullpen for the seventh inning.

“I look at the positive side that his stuff was so good that they fouled a lot of balls off,” manager Buck Showalter said. “You go back through how many fouls balls there that they couldn’t quite square him up. You can tell by body language of the other team. I say a lot of times, they’ll tell us how he’s doing. You can tell by the body language.”

Showalter said in the aftermath of Gausman’s poor showing against the Nationals last week that you can’t hide it for long if you’re good enough to play in the big leagues and the rookie rewarded the Orioles’ confidence by bouncing back against a lineup known for crippling opposing pitchers. The manager credited the Louisiana State product’s confidence and reminded us once again that what Gausman lacks in professional experience is complemented by his time pitching in the highly-competitive Southeastern Conference.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Gausman is ready to swim at this level and the talk of him being sent back to the minors is gone for good, but Sunday showed more than enough to see why the Orioles and talent evaluators are so high on the 6-foot-3 pitcher.

An uneven major league debut against Toronto and an ugly start against the Nationals weren’t going to change their opinion that easily.

“He’s talented — that’s the thing,” Showalter said. “As much as you talk about a lot of other factors that affect guys, he’s talented. He’s got a good hand, which allows him to do some things with the baseball. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

His six innings of work not only gave the Orioles a chance to stage a late comeback with a three-run seventh inning but prevented a repeat of Saturday’s blowout in which the bullpen needed to work six innings following Hammel’s ejection.

It was a critical factor in the Orioles’ series win over the defending American League champions and sent them to Monday’s off-day at seven games above .500 as they begin a six-game road trip. Perhaps even more exciting about the outing was the glimpse at what the future may hold as the Gausman experiment continues for at least another start or two.

“I just tried to put my team in position to win,” Gausman said. “I just tried to keep the ball down. This was a big series win for us.”

It sounds so simple, but Gausman gave the Orioles everything they could have reasonably asked for on Sunday.

Now, the challenge will be doing it again the next time out.

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BALTIMORE — Needless to say, the main topic of conversation following the Orioles’ 10-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers was the fourth-inning ejection of starting pitcher Jason Hammel.

The right-hander had just surrendered three consecutive home runs before plunking left fielder Matt Tuiasosopo in the left shoulder on the first pitch of the at-bat. Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt immediately tossed Hammel — the first ejection of his career — despite objections from the pitcher, manager Buck Showalter, and catcher Matt Wieters arguing that he had thrown a slider.

Many fans were infuriated by the decision with it commonly accepted that pitchers will use their fastball to drill hitters intentionally, but allowing three straight homers eliminates most benefit of the doubt in that instance. The Orioles’ position was predictable, acknowledging where the umpire was coming from but maintaining Hammel’s innocence as the pitcher expressed there was “zero intent” to drill the Tigers outfielder after the game.

Truthfully, I don’t believe Hammel was throwing at him intentionally and a warning probably would have been as effective considereing it was a breaking pitch, but the starter’s own ineffectiveness eliminated most benefit of the doubt and put Wendelstedt in a difficult position that can escalate quickly and become very emotional if not treated with assertiveness.

“I understand his position; I still don’t understand why he threw me out,” Hammel said. “That was the quickest toss I’ve ever seen. It was almost immediate, so, he didn’t have time to asses the situation.”

Unless you talked to the Tigers fan base, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who is 100-percent convinced that Hammel was intentionally throwing at the batter in frustration. His command was poor throughout the short outing and both he and Showalter mentioned that several sliders had slipped out of the pitcher’s hand on a 90-degree day in Baltimore.

But, ultimately, no one knows for sure whether Hammel was trying to hit Tuiasosopo on purpose other than the pitcher himself, so it’s a tough call to make with almost two-thirds of the game remaining. In most situations like these, umpires are instructed to err on the side of order before an altercation can potentially take place later on.

“It’s tough on umpires trying to judge intent, but they get a lot of pressure from the major league offices,” Showalter said. “But obviously we’re biased, very biased. I understand what the umpire’s trying to do, but it’s very tough for them to judge intent.”

The decision in this case was more about taking a preventative measure than it was about disciplining Hammel. And in the heat of an emotional moment, the umpire threw him out even though Tigers manager Jim Leyland told reporters after the game his club didn’t feel Hammel hit Tuiasosopo on purpose.

The Orioles were understandably unhappy, but there’s no way of proving the general rule of using the fastball to hit someone intentionally as an absolute. And it’s likely the hometown fans would have been calling for the same outcome if opposing starter Justin Verlander had done the same exact thing.

“I know you’ve seen guys trying to get by with doing that with a breaking ball,” Showalter said, “but most guys that I’ve ever seen do it want to make sure everyone knows. If you’re doing that, you’re going to throw a fastball — not a breaking ball.”

As for the impact of Hammel’s ejection on the game, it didn’t really matter as the right-hander was clearly unable to command his fastball like he had in each of his last two starts — both victories — and T.J. McFarland, Troy Patton, and Tommy Hunter went the rest of the way for the Orioles.

Showalter said after the game he felt the bullpen should be in decent shape for Sunday’s series finale in which rookie Kevin Gausman goes against the Tigers’ powerful lineup. Steve Johnson only threw four pitches on Friday night and should be available in a long-relief role while Hunter was appearing in his first game since Wednesday and threw only 12 pitches in a scoreless ninth.

A day off on Monday should do the trick in providing the necessary rest to get the bullpen back on track, regardless of how Gausman fares.

After the game, Hammel was angriest about the position his ejection put on the bullpen — telling Showalter after the game he could pitch in relief on Sunday if needed — but he put himself in position to be judged harshly.

“You can issue a warning there,” Showalter said. “Obviously, three balls left the park and then a breaking ball hits the guy. You put yourself in their shoes and put yourself in our shoes. That’s what I try to do. I can’t speak for the umpire. I understand the intent of what they were trying to do.”

And maintaining control of the game was more important than giving Hammel a break in that situation.

Even if it might have been the wrong call.

Our WNST Purple Roadtrip to Detroit will leave White Marsh Mall area on Susaturday, Dec. 14 at 8 a.m. We’ll arrive in Canton in time for lunch at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We’ll depart Canton at 4 p.m. and will be in Detroit in time for dinner on Saturday night. We’ll be staying at the Detroit Courtyard by Mariott.

WNST.net will host a Sunday NFL viewing party in Detroit. Details TBA.

Our Gunther Motorcoach will return from downtown Detroit at 8 a.m. on Tuesday arrive back in Baltimore around 5 p.m.

TRIP INCLUDES:

Roundtrip Gunther Motorcoach transportation

One entrance to Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday afternoon

One upper deck game ticket at Ford Field

3 Hotel Night at Courtyard by Marriott Detroit

Snack and sandwiches for the ride to be washed down with a limited supply of beer, soda and water

Plenty of DVDs, purple films and trivia for the ride to and from Detroit

SINGLE — $600

DOUBLE — $500

TRIPLE — $450

QUAD — $400

Simply click on ADD TO CART below…

How many in your room?

SINGLE $600.00 USD DOUBLE $500.00 USD TRIPLE $450.00 USD QUAD $400.00 USD

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Junior long pole Pat Kiernan (Ridgewood, N.J.) and senior goalkeeper Nolan Hickey (Garden City, N.Y.) anchored a stout defensive effort that surrendered just three goals in the first three quarters of play, as Navy scored an 11-7 victory over Detroit Friday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.  It’s the first time Navy has gotten off to a 2-0 start since 2009 when the Mids beat VMI (13-5) and Ohio State (8-6).

“We had a big defensive effort tonight and Nolan made some big saves for us,” said second-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell.  “I felt like our defense could match up pretty well against their attack and we did a nice job of containing them.”

Detroit took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game when senior defenseman Jamie Hebden intercepted a Sam Jones (Annapolis, Md.) pass and ran the length of the field before finding junior attackman Shayne Adams for the first of his game-high four goals.

Navy finally tied it up just before the quarter break when Jones picked off Detroit goalkeeper Chris Kelly right in front of Detroit’s goal and Kelly then grabbed hold of Navy junior attackman Tucker Hull (Charlotte, N.C.).  The official whistled Kelly for the hold and Jones quickly took the ball and fed Hull on the crease with 1:20 to go in the quarter.

The Mids scored the first two goals of the second quarter, including a beauty by sophomore midfielder Gabe Voumard(Cape May, N.J.), who fired off a shot running left to right from 12 yards out to give the Mids a 3-1 advantage.

Detroit cut the lead to one, 3-2, when redshirt freshman Damien Hicks won the faceoff following Voumard’s goal and took it straight to the goal.

Navy, however, put together a run scoring three goals in two minutes and 27 seconds, including a perfectly-executed play with junior attackman Austin Heneveld (East Hampton, N.Y.) playing behind the goal and finding Hull who cut up the middle and was left untouched.  The run was capped by junior Sean Price’s (Millersville, Md.) second goal of the year, giving the Mids a 6-2 lead at intermission.

The Mids scored just 37 seconds into the second half when Hull punched in his third goal of the game on a shot that Kelly never saw.  With nearly no angle, Hull fired the shot from the left side, leaving Kelly stunned.

Freshman Patrick Keena (Vienna, Va.) gave Navy an 8-2 lead when he took a pass from junior middie Erik Hoffstadt(Dover, Del.) and sent his side-winder in on an extra-man play.

After being held scoreless for nearly 19 minutes, Detroit finally got on the scoreboard as Alex Maini’s cross-the-field pass was deflected by Hickey into the stick of Adams who was standing at the crease and scored his second of the evening.

The Mids scored three of the next four goals, including a man-down goal by Kiernan to give Navy 11-1 advantage with 8:16 to go in the game.  It’s the second straight game Navy has scored a man-down goal and marked the first time since 2006 that Navy has scored two man-down goals in a season.

The Titans, however, mounted a run of their own scoring three goals over the next three minutes, including back-to-back strikes by Maini and sophomore midfielder Mike Birney less than a minute apart.  The rally would fall short as neither team scored over the final 4:30.

Hull paced Navy with his 10th-career hat trick, while his three-assist effort on the night pushed his career total to 43 and now stands tied for 20th all-time on the Mids assists list.  Eight different players accounted for the remaining eight goals, including Kiernan who is the nation’s seventh-leading active scoring defenseman with 12-career points on nine goals and three assists.  It was Kiernan’s first goal of the 2013 campaign.  Additionally, Kiernan, who was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week this past Monday, turned in a career-high 11 ground balls and forced two turnovers.

“Pat Kiernan is special,” added Sowell.  “He’s a tremendous defender and has a nose for the ball.  Not only can he pick up the ball, he manages to battle sometimes with three or four guys draped all over him.”

Hickey, meanwhile, made a career-high seven saves for the Midshipmen, including three doorstop saves in the second quarter.

“Nolan played unbelievable tonight,” said Kiernan.  “He was able to make some big saves and we just built off of that.”

Navy’s faceoff game continues to be sufficient as senior Evan McGoogan (Cranberry Township, Pa.) had one of his best games in a Navy uniform, winning 10 of the 15 draws he took, while rookie Sean Reilly (Doylestown, Pa.), who was 13 for 18 last weekend against VMI, won two of his five faceoffs against the Titans.

“Evan pretty much did everything from the x tonight and made it easier for the wings for sure,” said Kiernan.  “He played a great game.”

Adams led the way for Detroit with five points on four goals and one assist, while Kelly turned in 11 saves and gave up all 11 goals.

“Wins are hard to come by in this sport, so I think we are going to enjoy our second win of the season and then get back to work on Sunday.”

The Midshipmen will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Connecticut to battle 16th-ranked Fairfield.  Game time is set for 3:00 pm.  The game will not be available on radio, however, an audio broadcast will be carried live on Navy All-Access with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller calling the action.

As always, this week’s 15-7-0 is brought to you by Roofing By Elite. Visit them at roofingbyelite.com. We make 15 observations about football ELITE, 7 about football “not so ELITE” and one “zero” who deserves to sleep on the roof from outside of football.

(As a reminder, we don’t do Baltimore Ravens game analysis here. We do PLENTY of that elsewhere. This is about the rest of the world of football.)

The “ELITE” 15…

1. Towson football continues to be a hell of a way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Let’s recap. Beautiful afternoon…great crowd…competitive game…key win over a conference rival…national TV. Yeah, all of that sounds good to me…

Here was the video shown at Unitas Stadium before the game. It honestly makes me want to go hit somebody…

But if Rob Ambrose REALLY wants to get his team fired up, perhaps he should go the lip-dub route fellow CAA coach (and former Baltimore Colt) Bill Curry went…

Righteous.

2. As of this moment, the Houston Texans are the best team in the AFC.

And also, the Jacksonville Jaguars are not particularly good…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txnPXpJ7_m8

The offensive numbers in this one for the Jags are absolutely staggering, by the way. Blaine Gabbert finished 7/19 for 53 yards (53 yards!), the Jags finished with 117 total yards of offense and did not convert a single third (or fourth) down attempt all game.

“Jaguars football: still inexplicably happening!”

3. As of this moment, the San Francisco 49ers are the best team in the NFC.

This was a big win for the 49ers, so they decided to turn to Alex Smith, Michael Crabtree and….ummm….Aziz Ansari? after the game…

Also, I’m sure a lot of Niners fans told Smith they wanted him to be more like Tom Brady, but I don’t think they expected this…

Also…apparently Owen Wilson is now a 49ers fan or something(?) and also decided that he wanted to do everything in his power to look like Eric Byrnes these days…

At least he wasn’t reading “Don’t Jump.”

Oh, and Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz got along just fine in the postgame, but that’s presumably because Schwartz wanted to see if Harbaugh could help him get the tail from out between his legs.

4. Manti Te’o went through a lot this week. Even if you don’t like Notre Dame like me, it’s hard to not be happy for him.

Both the girlfriend and grandmother of the Fighting Irish LB passed away during the week leading up to the game at Michigan State, making his effort all more emotional…

I can’t help but notice that ND’s big win came just days after “Rudy” Ruettiger threw out the first pitch before the Orioles won their 14 inning marathon against the Tampa Bay Rays…Oriole Magic rubs off?

Next up for the Irish is Michigan. Here’s Denard Robinson doing something quite cool against UMass Saturday…

And hey, at least Spartans LB Max Bullough still has his awesome tattoo…

5. So, Stanford pretty much just owns USC at this point.

Yup. So much for Matt Barkley’s “unfinished business” I guess.

Also, an excellent amount of Stanford trolling in this one. First, USC’s drum major was breathalyzed on the way in to Stanford Stadium…

Then came their own band leader…

Not bad.

6. Speaking of Stanford, there were a few moments where Andrew Luck looked like that other guy against the Vikings.

I mean, he ISN’T that guy (you know the guy we’re talking about…the guy who plays in Denver now) yet, but this wasn’t bad…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG5mwY-Fmgc

Hey, the Vikings did have ONE effective offensive play…

Whatever works, I guess. Congratulations to Chuck Pagano on his first win as a NFL head coach. May there never be one against the Ravens.

Oh, and I thought it was nice that the teams decided to give everyone a nice preview of Sunday night’s WWE Night of Champions Pay-Per-View…

Who says replacement officials can’t keep control of games? I mean, how were they supposed to see that after Donald Brown spit that green potion in their eyes?

I guess fans in “The Friendly Heart of the Midwest” are excited?

7. Eli Manning threw for a Tim Tebow season’s worth of yards against the Bucs.

510 yards? 510 yards? I mean, what the hell? Was he playing the University of Colorado?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenI-bUCeWY

It looks like everything is fine, at least according to Tom Coughlin in his postgame handshake session with Greg Schiano…

U mad bro?

(Continued on Page 2…)

One of the featured Week 2 NFL matchups this weekend takes place between the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions, which has already sparked much discussion about the heated exchange between head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz that took place in the moments following the 49ers’ win last season.

Both coaches have already dismissed any notion of a lingering grudge, but last year’s incident is sure to be a major point of interest when the teams play on Sunday night.

Hardly an objective third party, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked Tuesday if he thought there would be any more drama between his brother and the Lions head coach. Harbaugh is a well-known history enthusiast, so his reference was far more interesting than what you’d hear from the typical head coach.

“I don’t think there’s been so much attention paid to a handshake since Grant and Lee shook hands at Appomattox,” said Harbaugh during his Tuesday press conference, drawing laughter from everyone in the room. “You like that? It took a little time to think about that today. I thought it was appropriate.”

After the Ravens coach made reference to the conclusion of the Civil War, he then went on to ask reporters if they had any other suggestions of controversial handshakes over the years. One reporter referenced former Jets and Browns coach Eric Mangini’s conflict with Patriots czar Bill Belichick, but the room remained relatively quiet.

As for the example that came to my mind, I couldn’t help but think about the handshake between The Rock and John Cena leading up to WWE’s Wrestlemania XXVIII, but I decided to keep that one to myself.

As was the case in the Ravens’ preseason-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons, you can’t take anything away from the final score after the Detroit Lions won by a 27-12 margin at M&T Bank Stadium Friday night.

On the surface, the first-team units struggled once again as the offense twice drove inside the Detroit 30-yard-line — one taking them all the way to the 7 — before settling for field goals and the defense was unable to stop a high-octane passing attack for the second straight week. However, what’s lost in the scrutiny and excitement of this particular preseason is that the Ravens are reinventing themselves on both sides of the football.

And that remains a major work in progress with 23 days remaining before the regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 10.

“I thought we played well early,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We just need to finish the drives [offensively], finish the drives on defense and get off the field on third downs.”

Offensively, quarterback Joe Flacco and the starting offense once again utilized a no-huddle attack for their three series of work. Unlike the preseason opener in which they went three-and-out three straight times, the Ravens developed a decent rhythm early as they used three-wide sets of Anquan Boldin, Jacoby Jones, and LaQuan Williams — Torrey Smith sat out with a lingering ankle injury — and dropped back to pass on 16 of the 26 play-calls the first offense ran.

It remains to be seen how committed the Ravens are to executing the no-huddle offense when the regular season begins, but it’s becoming clear that offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is taking a page from new quarterback coach and former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell in trying to make the high-speed attack a proficient option they can use in larger doses than in the past. The Ravens are facing the challenge of being without top tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta for the remainder of the preseason, but they’re utilizing a third receiver instead of having Pitta work in the slot as he did late last season.

Success with the no-huddle is contingent upon timing and sustaining drives in order to bring your own defense adequate rest.

However, the same problems we’ve seen in the past crept up when the Ravens were moving the ball well. On their second drive, Flacco guided Baltimore inside the 10 before Williams could not bring it what would have been a touchdown and left tackle Michael Oher committed a holding penalty that pushed the Ravens back to the 17. They settled for a 33-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff.

A drive later, they moved the ball to the Detroit 29 before reserve running back Anthony Allen whiffed picking up a blitzer for the second straight week and Flacco was sacked on a third-and-1 situation, leading to a 50-yard field goal by rookie Justin Tucker.

At that point, you could close the book on the starting offense’s night, with the same lack of efficiency — in terms of scoring touchdowns, anyway — inside the 30 hanging over their heads.

“That’s why when you do get those two chances, that’s why it’s all about finishing off, finishing off,” Flacco said. “The biggest thing with that is if we’re going to be the offense that we want to be, in order to put up 30-some points every week, you have to score touchdowns. You don’t want to get in the business of just not converting and kicking.”

The most positive news to take away from the offensive side Friday was the improvement of the offensive line. With veteran Matt Birk back at center, the Ravens once again used Oher at left tackle and rookie Kelechi Osemele at right tackle while Bryant McKinnie stood on the sideline. Run blocking had mixed results as the bulk of their rushing yards came courtesy of a 35-yard run by Jones, but the Ravens did a much better job protecting Flacco than they did in Atlanta when the quarterback was repeatedly running for his life.

“We’re definitely starting to come together,” offensive tackle Michael Oher said. “We’re still learning and guys are still getting used to some things, but we’re getting better every day.”

Once again, McKinnie did not work with the starting offensive line as you wonder more and more if the Ravens are serious about going with the more athletic combination of Oher and Osemele and how that might be a better fit for their ability to utilize the no-huddle offense. The mammoth veteran tackle blocked well against second-team defenders, but the assumption that he would eventually regain his starting left tackle job appears more uncertain after he wasn’t even rotated in for some work with the first unit.

Watching the Baltimore defense Friday, the most definitive conclusion I took away is that the Ravens are fortunate only to have to play Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in a game that matters once every four years. The best pass-catcher on the planet torched the Ravens in the second quarter with a 57-yard reception matched up against Cary Williams and an 18-yard touchdown over a well-positioned Jimmy Smith.

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