Recently Andy McPhail said in an interview that he was happy with where the Orioles stood at this point in the hot stove season. My response was basically “Really?”. I thought that we still were “in the pitching business” and still DESPERATELY needed another corner infielder who hopefully had some pop in his bat to place in the ol’ #4 hole in the order to get some protection for Jones and Markakis in the lineup.

I wonder whatever happened to the potential re-acquiring of Erik Bedard that was put out there big-time a month or so ago. Weren’t we looking to get him back for the right price as long as his medical reports came back OK? Does anybody out there in WNST-Land know what happened with that?

I must admit that, although I wasn’t jumping up and down, I was generally pleased with the acquisition of Kevin Millwood and moderately enthused about Mike Gonzalez and Garrett Atkins as far as what they could do to improve the club overall. Still, I was under the clear impression that they were by no means done this offseason. As we get past the holidays it becomes less and less likely that anyone of quality will still be available for the Orioles to pick up, notwithstanding the issues of how much we’re willing to pay, or even if they’d be interested in coming here.

Every day I get on the “official” Orioles website to see if there is any news, and every day the silence is deafening, unless you count the endless smiley-face comments about how wonderful it’s all going to be now. While, on the sidebars, we read about the Red Sox picking up Lackey and the Yankees getting Granderson and Vazquez.

C’mon, Orioles. Don’t stop now. We need at least one more reputable starting pitcher and someone who can hit more than 20 homers a year to help out in the infield. I know that our beloved GM said that we weren’t going to trade any of our prospects, but we seem to have so many to keep track of these days that I think we could spare one or two to really improve the club over the next year or two until hopefully the rest of the baby birds bloom.

I just got pinged by a friend who tells me that WBAL slipped out a quiet report a few days ago that the Orioles have again made one of their more outlandish moves of 2009. (And that’s saying something, when you consider the kind of season they slept-walked through this summer.)

Remember a few years ago, when Angelos and the boys set up camp in Farragut Square near their “Orioles Store” in downtown Washington, D.C., to feign interest in the market after holding it hostage for five years in exchange for the MASN TV rights that were supposed to buy the Orioles some semblance of respectful balance on the playing field in the AL East. That day — with a 7:05 game looming in another summer of distress — they shipped the entire roster on a bus down to a big city square and served free ice cream and hot dogs and soda to everyone in the park.

We, of course, opined that the Orioles have NEVER given away free hot dogs and ice cream in Baltimore. And Angelos’ true interest in D.C. extended about as far as how much he could extort out of Bud Selig and MLB, then Comcast, then pass it along to each and every one of you who pay a cable TV bill in the state of Maryland. Angelos is in your pocket for a few bucks a month and 90% of people in the Free State don’t even KNOW it.

The result: the Orioles lost 98 games this season, will spend nearly NOTHING on free agents this winter, Andy MacPhail will pocket a big “bonus” check for his role in the profiteering and Angelos and Co. will make upward of $40 million in profit this calendar year while continuing to eschew common decency toward its own community and heroes and continuing as the worst franchise in North American sports.

Now, after holding Fort Lauderdale up for well over a decade and playing a political shell game with half of the real estate from Orlando to the Florida Keys — at long last Sarasota, Florida is getting the Orioles for spring training. I’m not sure if that’s considered “good fortune” or stupid politicians who will live to regret working with this ownership group, like everyone else in their wake.

Here’s a dream photo of what the project is supposed to look like at its finish:

So WBAL via an Orioles press release announced that an offseason “Fan Fest” will be held in two weeks in Florida with a bunch of Orioles players and dignitaries.

“In celebration of their new spring training home, the Baltimore Orioles will join with The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau to host Orioles Family FanFest-a free event for the entire community-at Ed Smith Stadium on Saturday, November 14 from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. The afternoon will feature autograph sessions with current and former Orioles players, Orioles giveaways, fan forums, a variety of kid-friendly family activities, including Kids Run the Bases, and a free hot dog and soda for every person in attendance.”

So, for all of about 250 people who might be interested in seeing the worst team in MLB over the past decade with the WORST reputation for hijacking Floridian communities in modern sports, come to their town to bring “civic spirit and cheer.”

Fact: there are a LOT of pissed off Sarasota residents that this deal was ever done and a lot of speculation about its merits in the community. The Orioles already have a problem before they dig dirt at Ed Smith Stadium. (Not to mention their reputation in their own community, which is apparent to everyone but the local “journalists” — or propagandists — who look the other way past the stench to draw a paycheck).

Maybe, the Orioles could ask that everyone brings a covered dish?

The report says that “Orioles Manager DAVE TREMBLEY, centerfielder and 2009 All-Star ADAM JONES, outfielder NOLAN REIMOLD, pitchers BRAD BERGESEN and JIM JOHNSON, and Hall of Fame pitcher and current MASN broadcaster JIM PALMER, are expected to attend the event. The Oriole Bird will also be on hand to greet families throughout the afternoon. Free parking will be available for all fans.”

Well, a little civic spirit might’ve been nice last Monday night here in their “branded hometown” of BALTIMORE when the most celebrated Oriole of all time was being honored for the final time of his life at the Meyerhoff and the franchise couldn’t find a way to get one single heartbeat to the event to speak on behalf of the current players and their respect for the brand and franchise that Brooks Robinson and his ilk built for our parents that’s now been left for dead by the Angelos family and this last 15 years of civic-hostage baseball.

Meanwhile, they’ve taken what formerly was a weekend-long, sold-out, line-down-Pratt-Street event in Baltimore known as “Fan Fest” (and before that, “Moonlight Madness”) and destroyed every ounce of goodwill guys like Brooks Robinson spent their entire adult lives dedicated to building and preserving and turned it into a half-assed, thrown-together “day before the season begins” chilly disaster that isn’t cheap, but somehow FEELS cheap. Like an “obligation” before the season begins…and the same refrains of “improvement.”

The team follows it up with disgraces from Aubrey Huff to the manager calling out the organization’s professionalism during a post-game press conference. And MASN shows goofy house ad after goody house ad. I’m glad the season ended just so I could regroup after seeing those two chicks trying to hit on the Oriole Bird six times a night for six months. And that’s BEFORE they lost 98 more games…

And the owner never shows his face, never spends money, never answers questions and the team never wins. And Red Sox and Yankees fans take over the city (and, once again, THIS is the biggest disgrace in the whole dreadful fiasco of the last 15 years — just disgraceful!). And the downtown business district — sorely in need of assistance — is left for dead except when half of the Northeast quadrant of the United States descends upon the Harbor for the routine of pinstripes and chowder.

Oh, and while Daniel Snyder is down the B/W Parkway banning signs and threatening the media and suing the fans, Angelos is here doing the same thing here and no one dares talks about or ask questions of any substance.

I wonder when Snyder will tell The Washington Post they no longer have media access. (But, apparently that wouldn’t happen because the NFL wouldn’t allow it.)

Shame, shame, shame…

I watched Bud Selig squirm in David Letterman’s chair the other night and it’s no wonder MLB is a damaged brand despite the innate greatness of the game of baseball, which has been decimated over the last 15 years since the strike in many ways (steroids, Hall of Fame, bad pitching, greedy owners, sleezy agents, difficult “heroes” like Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle and their ilk, All Star fiascos, Pete Rose, World Series games in November, etc.) but is printing money. Just like Angelos is here.

They’re all ringing the cash register so that justifies it all.

Just like MacPhail — a leading candidate in baseball’s collusion in the late 1980s and whose sole function as President of the Chicago Cubs was to field cheap baseball teams to make the Tribune money (yeah, that company once wasn’t in bankruptcy like they are on Calvert Street these days) for fans who were too drunk to care and who were addicted to Wrigley Field and lore of the loveble, fuzzy, loser Cubbies. The Cubs fans ACCEPTED losing a birthright and a way of life as MacPhail padded the pockets of the shareholders.

It’s all pretty well documented but here’s the worst-kept secret in Major League Baseball:

MacPhail is reading Selig’s cue cards for the direction of the game so as to be able to take the throne when Selig decides to walk away from his $18 million-a-year job. (We’ve written many times: Selig doesn’t own a computer, doesn’t have email and doesn’t have a Black Berry. Just take a second and THINK about that in 2009 if you’re the C.E.O. of of of the biggest brands in America?)

Think Andy MacPhail would be interested in an $18 million-a-year position in 2012? (Me too…)

But as we’ve pointed out many times, they have no shame. Or common sense or decency. But they DO know how to make money. And they do have anti-trust exemptions by our federal government that are so laughable it completely masks the corruption.

Just look at the product on the field here in Baltimore. And look at the empty stands. And the amount of “house ads” on MASN.

To STUPID people, they look “broke.” But they’re not. FAAAAAR from it!

And watch all of the “Confederate money” that MacPhail won’t be waving in free agency in a few weeks. All of sudden, they’re “building through the farm system” which is the code word for “pocketing the goodwill of the Maryland people.”

The REAL money is going in their pockets and no one sees it or talks about it or writes about. And more $$$ is about to come out of the pockets of the good people in Sarasota. Just wait. This will end badly. It always does.

Not a low blow, just a fact.

UPDATE: 1:01 — Searching the web, I found a wonderfully delusional blog here from a Sarasota newspaper columnist named Doug Fernandes:

“We’re getting two renovated public assets that desperately need rehabbing, we’re getting the Orioles to pay for their operation and maintenance, we’re getting it funded primarily through tourism tax revenue, and we’re getting it far south of Baltimore’s original demand.

I don’t know about you, but I call that savvy negotiating. And to those who label the $31.2 million expenditure as too exorbitant amid this crummy economy, I respond thusly:

The economy will turn, it always has, and a far greater burden would have been the cost of losing spring training.

So it appears safe for stadium czar Pat Calhoon to begin purchasing gallon upon gallon of black and orange paint.”

We’ll see how “tourism dollars” equates in Sarasota. The Orioles can’t get people to come to BALTIMORE to see them for $1 on summer nights. How the hell are they gonna get fans to Sarasota in March? Mark my words: the crowds will be DOWN from Fort Lauderdale, and that’s really saying something…

Just take a look at the comments under this blog. People in Sarasota are apparently VERY up in arms about the $32 million sweetheart deal that Peter Angelos got from the good people of Florida.

One more city about to be held hostage…just wait and see!

Naturally, the Orioles theme of the offseason — after the firing of Dave Trembley at some point this Monday — will be “progress.” Isn’t that what Jim Hunter and Rick Dempsey talk about after all of these losses, night after night?

Andy MacPhail (and after 2 1/2 seasons of this perpetually sinking ship that knows no depths, we might revert to Chicago’s theme of referring to him as “MacFail,” but that would be giving him too much credit) will preach youth and patience and the injuries to Brad Bergesen and Adam Jones derailing an otherwise promising campaign in 2009.

Brian Matusz is Mike Mussina. Matt Wieters is Joe Mauer. Adam Jones is the next Eddie Murray.

Blah, blah, blah.

Look at the standings. Look at the scoreboard. Look at the 11-game losing streak that they’re adding to every night with complete disasters coming out of the bullpen on a 24-hour cycle. (Oh, that’s right, you forgot they were even playing back around the time Route 140 opened toward Westminster on July 30th!)

I sat the at the bar at Piv’s Pub in Cockeysville last night in a sea of NFL watchers as the Orioles played on one little TV with no one watching them find a way to blow another game.

The Orioles are entering some very dangerous territory here this week: losing 100 games would almost surely convince even the most “bleeding orange” fan that this is not a franchise in the midst of a dramatic “Tampa Bay-like” turnaround.

Wouldn’t it?

Oh, that’s right: the people who STILL believe that the Orioles are “changing their ways” can NEVER be convinced that this civic disaster of a franchise is anything but:

A. Doing the right thing.
B. Changing for the better.
C. Going to the playoffs next year.

It’s too easy to pile on at times like these. With the Orioles, it’s always like shooting fish in a barrel to drop a steamer on them — usually on the field, but ALWAYS off the field.

When they lose 30-3. When one of their pitchers start headhunting. When they’re in the middle of an 11-game losing streak. When the bullpen is a band of arsonists. When steroids allegations come. When they ban free speech from the media. When they treat anyone with an IQ over 90 like a moron. When they tell 1,500 real Baltimore sports fans to “stay home.” When they say they want to promote goodwill and community loyalty while pissing on the biggest media entity on the internet in the city.

It just never ends, does it?

For those of you who hate me remember this: I can’t WAIT for the day when they stop giving “haters” like me this most obvious of material.

The ONLY thing that matters is winning. Because no matter how poorly they continue to treat people who want to help them, they really believe the floodgates will open with fans the nanosecond they go two games over .500.

But here’s the cold reality circa September 2009:

They’re 60-96. They have six games left.

They need to SPLIT the final six games to avoid triple digits losses for the season — and this would be the first time since 1988 that this has occurred and the lowest depth of the Peter Angelos era. (The Birds also went 54-100 in 1954.)

Can they avoid the supreme embarrassment of 100 losses?

I don’t know, but you’d think pride would take over at some point this week, wouldn’t you?

Guess we won’t be seeing those Dave Trembley MASN ads with him treating his wife poorly come next spring training, huh?

Bon Voyage, Dave. I’m sorry I never spoke to you but there was nothing I could’ve done to help your image or keep your job.

You were doomed from the start…

Let’s start with these simple facts: the last three days have been the best weather days of this or any other century and Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been pretty much devoid of any signs of life from Baltimore fans. There have been roughly 10,000 Orioles fans at the ballpark each night while the team is en route to probably getting swept tonight by the New York Yankees.

The evil empire. The doers of bad deeds, like paying the best players on the planet the most money to come and continue a winning tradition. They’re easy to hate but it’s mandatory that you respect the New York Yankees.

They play to win. For the most part, they exclude class. And you get your money’s worth.

And you know how much tickets have been for these games?

Yeah, eight bucks. So for just $8 anyone in a four-state area could come and watch the Orioles play under the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.

So, clearly, people aren’t as turned on by Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, Brian Matusz, etc. as the ownership hoped we’d all be.

To my way of thinking, after 12 consecutive years of putrid, rancid baseball you’d think any signs of life and youthful exuberance would at least put a spark under people to support this seemingly nice young group of men who wear “BALTIMORE” on their road jerseys, except on Friday nights.

So it’s bad enough that no one really cares about the Orioles. Once again, for the 12th cruel summer in a row, we’ve been subjected to making the Orioles irrelevant in the sports landscape.

But what’s worse? It just occurred to me while seeing the sea of empty seats and hearing these MASN commercials continue to make me want t puke that not that many Baltimoreans have any interest in seeing the best baseball players in the world play for $8, either.

You would think between Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, local frenemy Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettite, some folks here would love the sport of baseball to come and see several sure-fire Hall of Famers play.

And, like on Opening Day, the ballpark had the potential to be overrun with Orioles fans but it’s not.

They’ve had 25,000 available empty seats the past three nights that the Orioles can’t seem to get their own fans to occupy for as little as eight bucks. And if people don’t want to see the Yankees play for $8 and they don’t want to see this group of “exciting young group of future Hall of Famers” what do they have left to sell?

Pretty sad.

The Orioles were reeling out of the All-Star break having won 9 of 25 games going into August. As Ravens training camp bega, the only things keeping fans somewhat interested in the team were names like Tillman and Matusz as people are curious to see the “arms” in action.

Brian Roberts- B+  …He can’t wait until October 1st. Still a very solid player and among league leaders in doubles and runs scored. He is one of the best in the league —-

Adam Jones- B+   …His average dropped aout 20 points in August. He was hurt and missed about a week. Still plays too shallow in CF at times. Lots of balls get over his head -

Nick Markakis – B+  …Probably the best right fielder the Orioles have had since Frank Robinson.—

Melvin Mora – C- Has shown he hasn’t lost his power, but only 6 home runs all season doesn’t get the job done —

Luke Scott – C … slump slump slump..He’s way out of position at 1st base.. Having 20 HR going into August is a bright spot.

Robert Andino - B.. Was a solid performer when he got the chance. With Izturis back and hitting, Andino plays 2 times a week in the Trembley platoon system—

Felix Pie- B  ..  His hard work paid off and he has finally shown he CAN hit and hit for power. His baserunning blunders have to stop though. I am pleased to give him a B this month –

Ty Wigginton- B+ .. He’s been playing 3rd and 1st base and playing pretty well—

Matt Wieters - B ..  He’s been reunited with most of his minor league mates. Doing a good job calling games. He hasn’t been the force many fans hoped he’d be —

Nolan Reimold - A-.. This guy flat out hustles every play. His power numbers have been way off since early July.  That’s how you lose playing time to Felix Pie.  —

Cesar Izturis – B .. Not a #2 hitter but there are no other options with the lack of a power hitter in the cleanup spot -

Various Pitchers;

Jeremy Guthrie- D ..  Still allowing too many home runs.

Koji Uehara - STILL MIA  .. -

Danys Baez - C- .. the new set up man…he sets up the opposition and gives them a chance to win-

Jason Berken -C- .. This kid has guts. He goes out there every 5th day and does his best. He won

Jim Johnson..  B+  .. Has done a good job as closer thus far. -

David Hernandez - C.. His big problem…he can’t consistently get past the 5th inning.

Brian Bass- B …Gives them much needed middle relief when the majority of the starters can’t get into the 6th inning.

Mark Hendrickson – A- .. Has given the team stellar efforts out of the pen. He should be the primary lefty middle man next season. Forget starting him unless in emergencies..

Brian Matusz - B .. He has to learn how to pitch at this level. He hasn’t been as unhittable as he was in the minors, but didn’t he skip the AAA level?

Chris Tillman – C ..  He gets into trouble by allowing the home runs. He needs  to continue learning like Matusz. It’s going to be up and down until the light bulb comes on for these 2 guys. 

Dave Trembley- D .. The Orioles are 24 below .500 and at 54-78,  they are playing .409 baseball going into September. That happens to be the 4th WORST record in the major leagues. Trembley’s record as Oriole manager is 162-223 for a paltry .420.  IF the Orioles decide to bring him back in 2010, they’d better keep him around the whole season. If he is going to go into 2010 with an axe hanging over his head should the team get off to a slow start, then they should at least give the man the respect he is due for being a loyal company man and cut the ties come October 5th.

Overall -  As we get into September, the rosters will expand to 40 and Trembley will probably shut down most of the rookie pitchers because they aren’t used to pitching so many innings. They DO have the entire winter to rest. Are they somehow miraculously going to be able to pitch 175 to 200 innings next season?  Hell, most of them have only averaged 5 innings per start anyway, so what’s the big deal?  I want to know what is going to change next season that will make this team better than it is now.

As the biggest critic of Orioles ownership over the last decade, I’ve purposely refrained from being particularly hard on the team in 2009. Unfortunately for you, the WNST fans and true Baltimore sports lovers, they have me right where they want me. I’m back on the radio without a press pass to their games and no one is going to tune into my show if all I do is tell the truth, and bury them for their ineptitude, mean-spiritedness and general incompetence over the past dozen years for four hours every day.

And at this point, what do I have to lose? Short of them killing me, what do they have left to take away from me?

The team is awful (again), there is not an iota of pride remaining in being an Orioles fan and I’ve watched about 90% of the action this season and I’m here to tell you that it has NOT been a fun or memorable summer for baseball here in the land of pleasant living.

And really, telling the truth — see the paragraph above — is NOT what Baltimore wants to hear from me about the Orioles. It’s like a broken, freaking record — me bitching about the Orioles.

And, here in the summer of 2009, the truth hurts and this blog hurts!

At their current pace, the Orioles “defining moment” of 2009 might be their 100th loss sometime around October 1st and that would certainly speak volumes for where the organization stands in the MLB cosmos.

As every sports fan in Baltimore has uttered at some point since the turn of the century: “Thank God for the Ravens!” And anytime we even think about talking Orioles baseball at WNST, someone will send a nasty note over stating this: “Just forget about the Orioles and talk about the Ravens.”

Well, as I said three years ago during the Free The Birds campaign, I will not be letting Peter Angelos or any of his servants off the hook for this decade-and-a-half civic tragedy — the worst stretch of bizarre local ownership and strategy since Bob Irsay pilfered the Colts off in the middle of the night back in March 1984.

No, we’re not done with the Orioles. As Drew Forrester has said many times: “We’ll either kill them or fix them. It’s their choice.”

But this current dismal summer of dreadful baseball — in a season when “miracle-man” Andy MacPhail has talked about promise for young players — still has six weeks left on the schedule and there are no creampuffs left on the docket and there is no end to the bleeding in sight.

You can piss on me in the comments below all you want, but this current team they’re fielding might be the worst of them all on some nights because we all want to buy into some hope and promise for a better team in the future.

Here is your stat of the day: the Orioles were 40-48 at the All Star break, which is hardly acceptable or decent, although MASN’s lame coverage and “state run” media would tell you this was a team “on the rise.”

Now, the Orioles are 48-72, which means they’ve managed to go 8-24 since Adam Jones doffed the cap in St. Louis.

Folks, that’s .250 baseball and 32 games is about 20% of the season by my math. Of course, when you’ve already put up a legendary 4-32 a few years ago — and for now, we’ll just let the 1988 team off the hook because that had nothing to do with Peter Angelos or 2009 — somehow 8-24 doesn’t sound like it sucks so bad.

But it sucks. And this team sucks. And this ownership still sucks. And the broadcasts still suck. And MASN still sucks. And — once again — it’s another set of broken promises, lies and “come ons” about progress, youth, getting better and competing in the AL East.

And this was supposed to be the time of the season when the team starts to exhibit some signs of hope for the future and some momentum going into 2010?

What stat do you want me to throw at you? They’re 4-14 this month. They haven’t won in a week. They can’t score runs with the bases loaded and nobody out.

They’ve dealt away three veterans and gave Aubrey Huff away for nothing. Every night the team is behind it seems.

And I’m not really sure that any of these young players know how to win or are surrounded by any positive role models who’ve won. Gregg Zaun was the only guy with a ring and they gave him away, too.

Here’s where the orange Kool-Aid drinkers will say: What about Adam Jones? And Nolan Reimold? And the promise of Matt Wieters? Blah, blah, blah…I hope they all step up in 2010 or beyond and make me eat my words. But for now, we report the truth.

And here’s the truth:

The ownership group of this franchise has lied to the city for years about just about everything.

“We’re close” or “we’ll win next year” or “we have some exciting young players” all sounds like incoherent babble at this point. MacPhail has bragged about all of the pitching in the system with the likes of Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen and Jake Arrieta coming to “The Show” and making the Orioles competitive in the elite AL East division.

I’ve now seen them all. They all have some nice strengths but some glaring weaknesses. None of them have the hype of a Ben McDonald and if they’re all as good as he was the Orioles might sniff .500 at their zenith of this era. Pitching is never a sure thing in the majors. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that.

Ok, so now what happens? This offseason won’t be much different from any in the past. How can this team possibly get better or find talent outside the organization during the winter to compete in the AL East?

When does this team finally turn the corner and even feign some competitiveness that will lead them somewhere near a .500 record in the future?

When will the team be able to attract any top free agents to come to Baltimore and help the team compete with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox?

Where’s that “veteran, straw who will stir the drink” that the Orioles will bring in to show some leadership?

Once they fire Dave Trembley, who will be the “next victim up” to try to get the Orioles out of the cellar?

When will the team stop banning free speech and allow the legitimate media back into the stadium to ask questions?

When will they stop running these stupid, mind-numbingly phony commercials on MASN that make the games all but unwatchable on top of a team that has been wretched over the past month?

When will residents of Boston and New York stop filling our city and our ballpark with out-of-town fans who boo and jeer young Orioles players from the moment they arrive?

It’s just a dreadful, dreadful product right now — the entire package of Orioles baseball. Going into September, I can’t remember a season worse than this because the promise of these young players from lips of MacPhail and the baseball “establishment” back in the spring was palpable.

We were supposed to feel better about the team at the end of the summer, not worse…

From going to the games to watching the games on TV to following the progress of the team even through the box scores and the standings every day — this really isn’t any fun.

It’s not fun to watch. It’s not fun to talk about. It’s not fun to listen to me on the radio talking about it.

Honestly, to any thinking person this is about the worst summer yet in a dozen horror shows since 1997.

But you don’t really want to hear that from me, do you?

They promised hope. They promised progress. They promised excitement.

They’re dangerously en route to playing the last two weeks of the season and not trying to hit triple digits in the loss column.

They made promises not only to you and me but also to Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis, who were the latest to sign multi-year contracts here under the guise that the team would show progress and get competitive.

Of course, Jim Hunter will tell you every night that 8-24 is progress.

Obviously, from where we sit today, it just looks like the latest batch of lies from Angelos and his henchmen.

Orioles Baseball 2009 — Feel The Tragic!

Ooops. That’s right. I’m not supposed to criticize the home team, am I?

A month or so ago, Dave Trembley was furious that an umpire allegedly told him his guys weren’t hustling. People were jumping on the Dave Trembley bandwagon after that show of fire and passion for his team.

My, how things have changed. The All Star break began exactly one month ago Thursday. The Orioles were on a mini-streak of winning 2 straight series against Seattle and Toronto and were winners in 4 of their last 5 games and pulled to within 8 games on the .500 mark at 40-48. So much for momentum.  Did Criss Angel make the real Baltimore Orioles suddenly disappear?

Since that break, the Birds have played 24 games and won only 6, that’s right, SIX games. Now sitting at 46-66, they are the 2nd worst team in the AL and 4th worst in all of baseball. Trembley now sits in the dugout looking like he just found out his girlfriend wants to date other guys. The Orioles have reached their lowest point in the season and people are now starting to get a little more than disgusted with this team. 

 I mentioned a few months ago in a blog, they needed to bring in a solid winning veteran pitcher to teach these young guys how to pitch to major league batters. There is no one on this club who is experienced enough or qualified to teach, and that includes the manager and pitching coach. Those guys have proven time after time, either after throwing 100 pitches or lasting 5 innings, they are going to take the pitcher out of the game and turn it over to the bullpen.

Brad Bergesen is the only pitcher on this staff who looks like he knows what he is doing out on the mound. He IS a pitcher. If the other guys follow his lead, maybe they’d be successful. Bringing Tillman and Matusz up were PR moves to try to put fannies in the seats. Neither has really looked like the world beaters they appeared to be in the minors. It is a totally different world in Norfolk and Bowie. The things you get away with pitching against Columbus, Reading or Pawtucket will get you knocked around in New York, Detroit and Toronto.

I think it was a huge mistake to bring Tillman and Matusz to a club that has pretty much packed it in and is simply going through the motions at this point in the season. Yes, it gives them experience at the major league level, but they were winning in the minors and should have remained there for the rest of the season. Everyone is quick to make the excuse about innings pitched during a season. The minor league season is about over and these guys are extending it a little longer. Trembley had talked about using a 6-man rotation as the season winds down, just to give everyone a few extra days off. How did Maddox and Glavine both get to the 300 win plateau? They were pitchers who learned how to get batters out, get into the 8th innings by throwing less than 100 pitches, and most importantly, they knew how feed off of the success of each other while with the Braves. I do not see an inkling of that happening here.

Being 20 games under .500 and 23 games out of 1st place is, in itself, and EMBARRASSMENT to the city of Baltimore. I don’t want to hear, “well, if they played in the Central or West divisions, they’d be better”  They’d be 13.5 out in the Central and 21 out in the West. They have done NOTHING to improve and will continue to lose fans if they keep up that practice.  By packing it in before the season began and telling the fans, “We’re not going to win this season, but be patient, we will,”  they have totally ruined ANY chance of getting a high level free agent to come to Baltimore unless they grossly overpay him. Players do not want to play for losing teams unless they are going to be paid rather handsomely, especially teams that don’t even look like they want to get better. Look at Miguel Tejada. The Orioles signed Tejada by offering more money than any other club was willing to give him. They didn’t before Tejada, didn’t win with Tejada and they aren’t winning without him. What’s that tell you?

TWELVE seasons of watching sub-par baseball being played by the Baltimore Orioles makes me sick. I don’t buy the belief that the future will hold good things. I see no one in that clubhouse that is able to sit down with Tillman, Matusz, Berken, Hernandez, and Bergesen and actually TEACH them the ins and outs of being a successful pitcher in the major leagues.  By signing a Roy Halladay, they could get just that, a guy who is a winner, knows how to pitch, and could be an extremely positive influence on these young guys. They aren’t going to learn on their own and Jeremy Guthrie sure isn’t enough of a winner to show them anything positive.

I said it before and I’ll say it again.  Get the stench of 12 years of losing baseball away from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. FIRE Dave Trembley and his ENTIRE coaching staff. Do NOT replace them with any ex-Orioles. Sign a top-notch free-agent pitcher who is a proven winner and still knows how to win games.  Sign a power hitting 1st or 3rd baseman who can hit 25 to 30 HR a season. The team needs balance andthey aren’t going to have balance with a lineup of mostly 2nd and 3rd year players. They need that veteran winning presence in the locker room.

The Orioles have lots of dead weight hanging on to the 40 man roster. Mora, Huff andBaez are gone after the season if not sooner. I’d dump Guthrie, Pie and Ray as well.  They have a good nucleus with Reimold, Jones and Markakis in the outfield, Wieters behind the plate and Bergesen, Hernandez, Johnson, Albers, Bass and Hendricksonall proven to be adequate on the mound. Izturis and Andino have given them decent play at SS, Roberts is going to remain at 2nd unless he gets totally disgusted and wants out of here, and Wiggintonis a valuable utility infielder. The DH is pretty much set with Luke Scott who should get 500 at bats in that position.  Tillman and Matusz are not proven major league starters just yet, but mixing in a few veteran pitchers may help them develop.

I go back to the record. 46-66  .411 baseball, losing 18 of 24 games, and with 28 being the lowest magic number, they could be mathematically eliminated from winning the division by August 31st.  No more excuses from the warehouse, broadcasters, players, coaches, manager or those wearing orange colored glasses or sipping the orange kool-aid!  No more defining moments. The team has given you nothing but a load of garbage since 1997. When are people going to reach the breaking point and be mad enough to not take it anymore?

 Regardless of what the front office feeds you about the not-so-distant promising future, doesn’t the past and present state of Orioles’ baseball make you mad and less willing to forgive them for making a mockery of the team you love as the losing continues?

It is August 6th and the O’s are mired in last place, 17 games under .500.  Lots of good things have happened but the bad things just keep rolling on and on.

Brian Roberts- B  …I think he’s tired of losing and it shows sometimes—-

Adam Jones- A   …He is one of the few bright spots on this team. His All-Star at-bat was very productive. He won’t be a stranger to the All-Star game in the future -

Nick Markakis – B+  …He has been up and down but is still the best player on the team and still leads the AL in outfield assists—

Aubrey Huff – C-  .. His slump hurt his chances of being dealt to a contender, so why is this guy not hitting 6th or 7th? —

Melvin Mora – D..  A simple case of an older player thinking he is better than he really is. I didn’t realize he was second to Brooks Robinson in games played at 3rd base. Sadly, he never played a meaningful game or was part of a winning team while an Oriole, but he made a lot of money doing it —

Luke Scott – C … No clue what happened to him, but he had a terrible month of July at the plate. Still hitting a respectable .275 though —

Robert Andino - B.. Hasn’t done a thing to hurt his presence on the team—

Gregg Zaun – C..  He earned his spotty playing time by looking so bad for the first 3 months of the season. For a while I thought he was going to put up Wayne Gross numbers…10 HR and 20 RBI —

Felix Pie- C- ..  He has made the most of the playing time he got and hit close to .300 for July.  He has busted his butt working with the Crow but still looks way overmatched on occasion. He still doesn’t belong on this team. Can’t believe Trembley sent him up to pinch hit (strikeout) last Friday night

Ty Wigginton- B+ .. The team’s premier utility player, with some pop. He has been more productive with less at-bats than Mora. He should be playing every day until he stops producing —

Matt Wieters - B- .. He’s still growing up and can only get better. Hasn’t turned out to be the phenom that people believed he’d be from day 1, but he’s only been here 2 months..time will tell —

Nolan Reimold - B+.. Power numbers dropped off a bit in July but he’s still one of the top rookies this season. Why does Trembley feel the need to rest Reimold more often than Jones and Markakis and play Pie out there?  —

Cesar Izturis – B .. Came off the DL and played the way he did before the appendicitis. He’s adequate and solid at SS for what they get from him. -

Various Pitchers;

Jeremy Guthrie- C- ..  His stock is going down as the HR’s allowed pile up. Dempsey was making excuses for him after his last start. Maybe the Orioles were right in cutting his salary, maybe they should cut ties with this guy altogether  —

Koji Uehara - MIA  .. I thought they were targeting his return for late July. What’s going on? I haven’t heard a thing about him in almost a month -

Danys Baez – D .. The new home plate special…..DANYS GRAND SLAM   nuff said -

Brad Bergesen- A+  ..He has improved enough to be the Orioles ace this season. A very pleasant yet unexpected surprise —

Jason Berken - D.. He had endured butt kicking after butt kicking. I hope his psyche isn’t damaged. Hard to say what will happen to him in August and beyond. I think he deserves a chance to remain in the rotation and work things out. Don’t we have a pitching coach on this team?

Jim Johnson..  B  .. Has been a decent set-up guy. Now he is the closer with the trade of Sherrill to the Dodgers. Let’s see how he handles the job. -

Matt Albers- B .. Middle to late inning relief on the Orioles can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Albers hasn’t hurt his spot but throwing much gas on the fires. -

David Hernandez - B+.. Started 8 games and has a 3.28 ERA, best of the current starters. He earned a spot in the 2010 rotation.

Brian Bass- B … Still the most valuable long-relief guy the Orioles have. Tied for 2nd in wins with Hendrickson.

Mark Hendrickson – B .. Great move taking him out of the rotation. He’s been a pretty good reliever and has gotten out of a few tough jams.

Rich Hill-  F…  wow….talk about miserable… Look that word up in the dictionary and see Hill’s picture next to it. Now on the DL and probably shut down for the season. If he was hurt all year as he claimed he was, why didn’t anyone figure it out? Was it a slick way to remain on the team and get paid?  Of course.

Dave Trembley- D- .. Camera shots of him on the bench sometimes make him look  like he lost his best friend. After October 1, he’ll probably lose his job too. Good managers make adjustments and improvements, Trembley makes excuses. He’s got enough talent on this team to win ball games, but he isn’t getting the most from his players.

Flagship – D .. Like many people, I usually listen to Oriole games on the radio while driving to or from home.  Anyone heard the pre-game shows on the flagship station?  It’s really brutal. You get maybe 60 seconds of Tom Davis/Dave Johnson followed by 3 minutes of commercials, followed by another 60-75 second segment, then 3 more minutes of commercials. I know they have to pay the bills and try to recoup some of the money they invested in getting the broadcast rights, but OMG, it’s so hard to take sometimes.  And what’s with Joe Angel and the “Mr Jones” thing?  Fred Manfra still over-says the batter’s names.  I counted 23 times he said Luke Scott, Luke, Scott or the Oriole DH.  I have to turn it off when Manfra is doing play-by-play. Thank God for JACK and the classic rock stations.

MASN - F ..  What’s my defining moment?  Changing the channels when those stupid commercials come on. Buck Martinez and Rick Dempsey have to go.  Martinez sometimes sounds like he’s had too many adult beverages before the broadcast. And what’s with that hair?  Lately Dempsey has been very quick to make excuses. When they are on the road, the studio has those monitors in the background showing the same highlights over and over. That is pretty distracting. Are they trying to make it look like a professional news/sports broadcast studio. They are doing a terrible job for all the money they made off this network.

Team overall grade- D .. They claimed they weren’t going to win in 2009 and they are correct on that prediction.  They were 9-16 in July after starting the month 5-6 prior to the All-Star break.  They did finish the month on a 3 game “Sunday” win streak. Last month’s battle cry that had everyone buzzing was “the comeback.”  That is a distant memory.  This month it’s the 6-0 record the team has when a pitcher makes his major league debut. Next month (August) when the team is 30 games out and 20 games under .500, it’ll probably be GOOOOOO RAVENS!!!!!!

Future - The future is now as Wieters, Bergesen, Tillman, Reimold, Matusz, Hernandez, Jones, Roberts, and Markakis are all together on the field. That leaves Jake Arietta as the last remaining piece of the original McPhail rebuilding plan. With the addition of the AA 3rd baseman and pitcher coming in the trade for Sherrill, it appears the wheels are still turning to continue developing the minor leagues. The “arms” are here. Most likely they will all continue to perform under the Dave Trembley “100 pitches by the 5th inning = a quality start”  program.  Let’s see how they do.  

 This team needs to get rid of the stench from having a losing record in 12 straight and 13 of their last 15 seasons. Right now on August 6th, Dave Trembley’s 2 1/2 season managerial record is 153-208  (.423), the worst since Mike Hargrove’s .414 from 2001-2003. Hargrove finished at .425.  Sam Perlozzo’s record was .426 in a year and 2 halves. Even the much maligned Lee Mazzilli had a .479 winning percentage before the coaching staff he inherited stabbed him in the back. Ray Miller had the best managerial record in the post-Davey Johnson era with a .484 winning percentage. If ownership wasn’t pleased with Ray’s performance, then Trembley is definitely out. Then again, Ray Miller came in on the heels of the ALCS loss in 1997 and the subsequent Johnson/Angelos feud.  If they Orioles front office decides to let Trembley go, they should also fire all the coaching staff and let the new manager bring in his own coaches. Start fresh with a totally new attitude and that means no more ex-Orioles as manager or coaching staff, please!!!

For those who chose to attend or watch tonight’s game after the rain delay, it was a different kind of game than what we all bargained for more than four hours ago.

In the end, it was a happy night. The Orioles beat the Royals 7-3 with a flurry of late offense and a huge night from Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, who each had 3 RBIs. Matt Albers pitched some key middle relief and Jim Johnson was unhittable at the end.

But the real reason this meeting of two last-place teams caught everyone’s attention was the pitching matchup: Cy Young current vs. Cy Young future in Zack Greinke vs. Chris Tillman. It was a bit of a long and tedious game and it wasn’t because of great pitching.

The Orioles got to Greinke early when Jones hit a moon shot that just kept going over the left-centerfield wall. Tillman battled but threw 93 long pitches in just 4 2/3 innings and left the game in trouble. Greinke threw a whopping 116 pitches in six innings. Tillman gave up three home runs.

In the end, neither factored in the decision.

Trembley said in the postgame that the most amount of pitches Tillman has thrown this season was 102. He also said Tillman is going to throw a lot of fly ball pitches.  He also said he didn’t pitch in enough.

Aubrey Huff got off the rocks with a big hit. Trembley was almost giddy in the postgame. Jones and Markakis were rock stars. It was a nice night at Camden Yards.

Here’s the box score…

While we were all busy following the tragic death of Steve McNair over the weekend the Orioles were still busy losing and playing bad baseball. It seems like the franchise goes further into the witness protection program when they play on the West Coast but all of the mistakes and lousy pitching hasn’t been lost on me.

I actually watched all of the late-night garbage over the Fourth of July weekend.

Where to begin?

Well, they’re still in last place at 36-46. They managed to cross the official “midseason” point in the cellar. They still manage to regularly find ways to blow big-early game leads. And, thankfully for me, Jim Palmer is still employed by MASN so I can actually have a few chuckles with my unending yield of losses after midnight.

Palmer continually called it “bad baseball” and reinforced his opinions with many facts, observations and criticisms that would qualify as comedy after midnight if it weren’t so sad. I think he’s almost bored with it and was more interested in making funny faces with Gary Thorne than watching the Orioles blow one more game after a decent starting effort.

I could itemize the entire weekend and point specific fingers but I’ll limit my abuse to simply discussing the Nick Markakis-Brian Roberts fiasco in right field on Saturday night and wonder how the team’s two best players – Adam Jones’ All-Star berth not withstanding – could watch a game-changing routine, can-of-corn pop up land at their feet late in the game.

Of course, after giving up six more runs in the ensuing innings, this boneheaded play seems irrelevant but it was the greatest source of my personal frustration over the weekend.

The Orioles lost three of four in Anaheim. They’re now headed to Seattle before coming home to play Toronto here this weekend. Something tells me there will be a giveaway or a special “2110” promotion.

All I want is some quality baseball and some decent pitching.

Another All-Star Break looms at week’s end and the Orioles are once again in last place.

Some things never change…

I’ll be back on the air at 2 p.m. to discuss all of the baseball you didn’t watch over the weekend because you had better things to do than watch this lousy team lose again after midnight.