Wow, what a weekend at CBP!

Had the chance to visit the home of the Fightin's for all three games, and while the corporate tix I got from the boss got me 10 rows from the field on Friday and Saturday, my own quick pick of a couple of cheap standing room tix for yesterday were the real winners of the weekend.

The O's really played wonderful baseball, except for all of the frustrating RISP that were still haunting them on Saturday.

My top five highlights from the weekend -

1. The Roberts homer on Saturday. Down to his last strike, he hammered the crap out of that ball. The Phils were one strike from celebrating, and with one mighty swing BRob silenced 45,000 screaming fans. I think I heard about twenty "Yes" cheers as he rounded the bases - but the silence that fell over that place in the blink of an eye was a thing of beauty.
2. Georgie pitching lights out on Sat and then yesterday. He was wicked good.
3. The standing room seats @ CBP. You can travel anywhere in the park, just don't try and take a seat. I spent 3/4 of the game standing above the field level seats behind home plates, in a beverage stop complete with cup holder, etc. Awesome.
4. Dinner @ Tony Lukes on Oregon Ave both Sat and Sunday. We love us some Boogs, but these guys make the best roast pork and roast beef sandwiches in the world. Hands down.
5. Being able to come into work today and laugh out loud at my Phille Phanatical office mate.

As the newest Oriole Hall of Famer prepares to make his MLB debut tomorrow, and then the answer to my question will moot to say the least,  I thought I would take this opportunity to ask my fellow O's fanatics on this wonderful site....

Who is your favorite Oriole catcher, besides he who hath, nor requires, no name?

Hoiles?Gil?Quiroz?Dalrymple?Hendricks?Johnson?Others?

For me, it was Andy Etchebarren. Caught tons of great pitchers, had an ok arm, and when I was a kid growing up, that was one of the first long words I learned how to spell....etchebarren.

Your take?

This fall, our number one draft pick Matt Weiters is playing his baseball in the Hawaii fall league..wooden bats and all. He is playing for the Honolulu Sharks. The league has a pretty decent site, with daily box scores and game recaps.
You can track his, along with a few other O's prospects, by going here:
http://www.hawaiiwinterbaseball.com/teams/sharks

The worst part of having Kris Benson on the DL this year has been not having his lovely, yet perhaps a bit wacky, spouse to discuss and look at.
Found this on the internets and thought I would share..
Now here is one fine way to show your O's colors!!!
Now, in order to post this lovely pic, I must post a minimum of 300 characters.
ok- how bout
ooooooooooooooh baby!

Number 5, the greatest third baseman to ever step foot on a diamond, turns 70 years old today!
A very Happy Birthday to my childhood idol, and the one professional athlete whose autographs I have kept to hand down to my grandchildren when I leave this place.
Brooks, along with Carl Yaz, are the only two ball players in Major League history, to have played all of a 23 year career in the bigs with the same club.
A first ballot Hall of Famer, 16 time gold glove winner, MVP of the American League, of the World Series, and the greatest ballplayer I ever saw at the hot corner, Brooks is the face of the wonderful organization that we now know as the Orioles. My, how things have changed!
Many Happy Returns, Brooks. You are still my hero!

See you guys when the Front Office decides that the once proud Oriole organization finds it within their  tiny little brains to hire a true baseball professional to lead this team from a manager's role.
Sam Perlozzo may actually be the worst manager in the history of this franchise.
Today's meltdown after the near shutout by our young Guthrie, and the subsequent failure to close out this game, is the end for me.
I will not waste one more minute listening to them, watching them, or reading about them until PA or Flanny gets rid of Perlozzo, and his walk happy Leo Mazzone. They suck. Period.
I'm sick of, I can't take it, and I certainly have better things to do with my time than to waste it on garbage like this.

We are a month in to this season, and we have two new media outlets doing the games for us.
My critiques as of today:

MASN - Gary Thorne, bloody sock comments aside, has been a decent change from Jim Hunter. He is enthusiastic without being a total homer, and calls games like a true professional.
Jim Palmer has been his usual obnoxious self, and gets on my nerves it seems like every time I watch the games.
Buck is solid, and I only wish he would just supplant Palmer and do the home games too.
The TV coverage has been ok technically, but the GIANT graphic for the score, count, etc is way too big. I do wish they would spring for HD cameras and dolby sound, but such O's suckage is just as easliy watched in analog as HD.

FHS -105.7FM -
The pregame coverage is nothing like it used to be on WBAL...the manager's show is gone replaced by the pregame media gaggle with Sam..and it sucks.
Tom Davis has been useless going back to his HTS days. Just a waste of air other humans could be breathing. A straight homer.
Dave Johnson is as bad at coverage as he was pitching, which ain't saying much.
Joe Angel is funny, informative, and a true O's fan. He doesn't tow the company line, and he may eventually find himself like Jon Miller and run out of town.
Fred Manfra is a bombastic butthead, slow to the call, boring, and very unprofessional.

Comments?

The Boss issued a press release today that he fully expects his team and the staff to improve and give the Skankee fans a championship season before it's all said and done..the dreaded vote of confidence!

Torre has changed pitchers a whopping 95 times in April, the second most in Baseball history, according to the Elias Sports bureau.
Gosh, I thought that Perlozzo was doing it more than that, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe it only seems that way.
Our suckage is great, but at least we don't have a $200 Million payroll that is underachieving.
So, while we flounder below 500 for the 10th consecutive year, we're not in pinstripes and sitting in the cellar.
They are currently the 3rd worst team in baseball, and that is my silver lining so far this season.
I know, it won't last. They'll find someone to bail them out and pitch some innings, but it sure feels real nice tonight.

I know I am.
Last night, I had to go up to North Philly for a job. It was over at 8, so I tried to dial up 105.7, but got some classic rock station on the Jersey Shore instead of the O's game. So, I tried to listen for a score on the Phillies game and of course nearly fell asleep listening to Kalas and "Wheels", so it was the last resort to get 880 WCBS and our beloved John Sterling. Tuned in just as Veritek had tied it 2-2, and then heard A-Rod hit his 2nd of the night as Crisp did a back flip into the bullpen.
Finally, I heard the O's score and was excited that D Cab was still tossing and we were 2-2 in the 6th.
Finally, as I made my down I-95, I got the O's game somewhere around Wilmington.
I used to be able to hear WBAL at night all the way to New York on some evenings, so I'm not sure that I'm liking this switch to FM very much. Yeah it sounds better, but the reception outside of Maryland is not real good.
Anyway, back to the game.
Listened as D Cab walked the lead off guy in the 7th, and then proceeded to load the bases and get pulled. Manfra then cursed Parrish, saying he is NOT a situational pitcher, and he can get righties as well as lefties out. Next pitch- bullet off Melmo's glove and a 4-2 deficit.
So, I get home, and start talking to the wife. She's watching something, and heads to the bathroom. Turn the channel to check the score, and they had ties it up!
Then, great at bat by Corey and a clutch base knock. Bako lays it down, and they walk our lead off guy.
Melmo gets the walk, and then our own superstar in the making gets the grounder through the drawn in infield!
Man, this team is fun right now. In years past, I never ever would have expected us to come back on Toronto twice in the same game. We are actually playing heads up baseball, and being patient at the plate. Two nights ago they were patient with Kazmir, got into the bullpen, and scored late. Last night, they forced Burnett into a ton of deep counts and got into the Jays pen again.
Finally, they seem to be on the right path.

Roch has on his blog that Penn missed his split squad start today because he left his bag on chair, figured someone would load it in the bus for him, and proceeded to go out for breakfast.
He then realized that his back was back at camp, and drove back to pick it up.
By the time that he go to the game, they were already stretching, and Sammy bumped Penn to a relief role.
Now that's the way to impress the big club, Hayden.

Getting ready to begin a long road trip, and do some heavy travelling over the next several months.
I want to hook up with a satellite radio system, but not sure which way to go.
People at work are saying Sirius is the best, but they don't do MLB...just NFL.
Any help from my fellow CC 'ers would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to have something I could use not only in the car, but also in Hotels on the road.
Thanks ahead of time.

I started watching Baltmore Orioles baseball in 1965. My grandfather and father were fans when the team moved to Baltmore in the '50's.
I was brought up hating the Yankees. I have always hated the Yankees, and I will always hate the Yankees.
Seeing how this is our first of 19 against those stinkin pinstripers, I thought this would be a great opportunity to vent for all of us here at CC, and to let the rest of the Blogosphere how much we Oriole lovers despise those damn Bronx ballplayers.
So, fire away.

Steve Davis, the sports guy from  WBAL radio 1190AM, the O's flagship, was in spring training all week last week, doing live interviews with everyone from Flanagan to Chris Ray. I was on the road a lot last week, and had the chance to hear about 50% of the interviews, so I'll try and recapture some of the themes from the sessions.

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For all of us die hard O's fans that populate the board here @ CC, there is a really cool blog happening at the Baltimore Sun.
Roch Kubatko, the O's regular beat writer, has been posting with great regularity on his blog, Roch around the Clock.
Registration for the Sun's site is free, and it's been a real good resource for me to catch up a couple of times a day with our beloved Birds. Some of the Mazzone stories that he has posted already have been enjoyable and informative.
Here is the link to the Kubatko blog..enjoy!
http://blogs.baltimoresun.com/sports_custom_roch/

The Baltimore Sun and Orioles flagship station WBAL 1190AM are reporting that Orioles coach and fan favorite Ellie Hendricks suffered a massive heart attack yesterday at a BWI airport area hotel, and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at a Baltmore Hospital.

Ellie had been a coach, player, consultant, and organizational smiler for almost 37 years. Ellie had been named bullpen coach in 1977 by Hall of Fame Oriole manger Earl Weaver following his retirement from playing.

Ellie played in three straight World Series from 1969 thru 1971, and shared catching duties with Andy Etchebarren during that time.

Best wishes to Ellie's friends, family, and the whole organization, as this gentle man's passing will be one that will be very hard to take for many many Orioles fans and their extended family, including me.

I first met Ellie when I was a sophomore at Towson University in the spring of 1978. At the time, former legendary Oriole third base coach Billy Hunter was the head baseball coach at the university, and Ellie had come to our practice to put on a catching clinic for the four of us that were with the team at the time.

Ellie was nothing but a gentleman, and after the session he took the four of us to the local favorite Pizza Palace on York Road for some pizza and a beer or two. He sat with us, signed autographs for the students that came and went, and told us great "war stories" about the Birds and their exploits. His Weaver stories were hilarious, and we laughed until we cried. I ran into Ellie many times over the years at Memorial Stadium and OPACY, and he always remebered my name and shared a tale or two.

I will miss his smile, and his stories, and his passing makes this holiday season a little sadder for me and, more than likely, most of you.

God Bless you Ellie. You will be missed.

The New York Post is reporting today that the Mets are ready to deal Benson to the Orioles in exchange for our beloved Jorge "blow the lead" Julio. Along with Kris will come his lovely wife and FHM cover girl Anna Benson.
Benson seems to be a little injury prone, but he can surely help in freeing up either RLo or Bedard to be traded in either a Dunn deal, or the young first bagger from Texas, Adrian Gonzalez. Actually, if we could secure Benson than the deal of Bedard for Dunn, and the Rlo for Gonzalez deals together, then we could go after Byrd and Millwood and have a very good looking rotation.
I hope that they can move Julio. Every time I see him, all I can think about is him blowing that lead in Pittsburgh last year. He just aggravates the living crap out of most of us!

It looks as thought the Bosox are ready to swing a deal for Beckett and Lowell, giving up their premier minor leaguer SS and a couple of other youngsters.
The Marlins have been looking to dump at least 40 million in payroll, their stadium deal is dead for now because of "resource" shortages due to hurricanes, and they have terrible attendance numbers.
Beckett had a great second half, and at 26 yrs old, he can certainly throw heat. He has been on the DL 9 times in the last 5 yrs, mostly for blisters on his pitching hand.
He has never started 30 games in a season, and this past year his 179 innings were the most of his young career. How do we O's fans feel about this trade?

Anybody catch our future closer, one Chris Ray, stick a 95 mph heater in Sheffield's ear in the 8th inning last night?

That one play told me more about that young man's future in the majors than anything I've seen from any other of the O's young guys this year. He just played some seriuos chin music against the big bad Bronx boys, and never even gave Sheffield the courtesy of a stare back or anything.

It was way awesome!

The Baltimore Sun has reported this morning that Brian Roberts, the starting All Star second baseman in 2005, will need to undergo season ending shoulder surgery on his left shoulder within the next couple of weeks.

Trainer Richie Bancells expects Brian to participate in spring training, but the front office has admitted that Brian may miss opening day.

You can read the article here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-roberts21,1,4188703.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

If youi had to dismantle the starting lineup, as Cleveland has so successfully done, and you were only allowed to keep two players from the following:
Roberts
Mora
Tejada
Gibbons
Javy Lopez
Matos
Byrnes
Freire
who would you keep?

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Time to sit back and watch the youngsters try and establish themselves, and some of the older fellas play for one final time.
I don't know about you guys, but this has been one crazy m-fer of a year.
From the middle of the winter, we have had one of the most topsy turvey baseball years I can remember, and I've been watching this game since Maris hit 61!
Winter brought us Sidney's drunken Christmas Day follies, followed by the Sosa signing.
Then came Majewski's season ending shoulder surgery, and more Sidney follies, this time drunk driving in Florida during spring training.
We started on a great note, with RoLo pitching lights out to beat Zito on opening day, the early season sweep of those dreaded Skanks, and a whole lot of winning series. I don't think we lost 2 in a row until May...and by the 15th of June had a 4 or 5 game lead and were 14 games over .500!

But it wouldn't, just like any other year for the past 8, last. Injuries became the norm, with Bedard, Javy, Mora, Brob, Matos, Sammy, BJ, and Bigbie all missing significant starts during the spring and early summer.

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MLB.com is reporting the Orioles have just.....

"The Orioles today placed RHP Sidney Ponson on unconditional release waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, for conduct which violated the terms of his Uniform Players Contract. "

I guess that PA is going to go ahead and eat the $10 million, or at least is prepared to fight it out in court.
Things are starting to happen around this team that finally make a bit of sense...
Walter Young and Castro have both been called up to play during roster-enhancement season.

So, Hasta la vista, Shamu. Got room for Raffy in that suitcase?

Is this the level of fandom that we have succumbed to?
Is this story just so unreal that no board member wants to even discuss it? SC even mentioned it in his game thread yesterday, and no one commented on it.
Are our expectations for this ragtag bunch of major league wannabes so low that a once proud member of the 500/3000 club wearing earplugs so that he doesn't hear the booos does not warrant even one mention from anyone here?
Is there a thread that I have missed over the past two days?
Has the circus formerly known as the Baltimore Orioles gotten just so sublime that a future Hall of Famer ( maybe )? winding down his career inserting cotton into his ears so he can really concentrate on his current sub .100 month unimportant to us?

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The Orioles, according to the Baltimore Sun this morning, are strongly considering voiding the pitcher's(?) contract under the morals clause. They would face stiff objections from the MLBPA, yet sources tell the Sun that PA may be the only guy around that could win the battle.

The O's are also considering suspending Sir Shamu for his "during the game" visits with friends in Suite 22 of the Club Level during Wednesday's game.
Here is a quote from the article:

According to several ballpark sources, Ponson left the clubhouse in uniform pants and an Orioles pullover jacket during the first half of Wednesday's game and joined friends in the fourth-level suite No. 22, which he periodically rents.

He stayed between one and two innings before rejoining the team. One ballpark source said he was drinking soda and not alcohol while in the suite. It was at least the second time he has visited the suite during a game, another ballpark source said.

Interim manager Sam Perlozzo said he still needs to set some team policies, but, "I would assume if you are here and in uniform, you are on the bench."

He did not notice Ponson's absence from the dugout Wednesday but said when informed of the report: "If that's true, I would think that is grounds for a suspension"..

Here is the link to the article:
Happy Reading!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-te.sp.ponson26aug26002012,1,3023900.story?coll=bal-h ome-headlines

From the Baltimore Sun this morning....

The arrest was made after a traffic stop at 1:31 a.m. on southbound Interstate 95, south of I-395, said Maryland Transportation Authority Police Corporal Pamela Thorne.

Thorne said Ponson was driving a 2005 Mercedes-Benz and was stopped for following to closely. He was subsequently arrested for the traffic violation, DUI and DWI and has been released.

Ponson was previously charged with driving under the influence in Broward County, Fla., in January. That arrest came just weeks after he spent 11 days in an Aruban jail for a Christmas Day fight at a beach. He apologized for the fight and reached a settlement that involved community service and a charitable contribution.

I guess he spent so much money at the bar that he couldn't afford cab fare home. Maybe he should have called BJ Sams for a ride!

Editor's Note: Are you freaking kidding me, Ponson?

Why oh Why do they insist on letting him play every day? His OBP is now hovering around .310, or to put it another way, lower than Sal Fasano's!
He kills rallies, swings at bad ptiches, and never , it seems, gets the big hit. How many game winning RBI does the guy have this year? I can only remember the double aginst Toronto back in the early part of the season. Even for just the paltry Five Million he's being paid for the season, we have not gotten much value for the investment. I would like to see him benched, and let others play. Thoughts?

Source: Baltimore Sun

Mazzilli was hired before the 2004 season to replace Mike Hargrove. He went 129-139 in his first stint as a major league manager, including 51-55 this year.

Who'd have thunk it? Here we are, 68 games or 42% of the way through the season, and we have won the 3rd most games in the Majors, second most games in the AL, five full games up on the dreaded Yanks, and eight full games up on the Yanks vs. Eastern Division teams. We have won 62% of our Road games, have a winning record (finally) against NL Teams, and that road record is third best in the Majors. Compare this to a team that at this time last year was 29-39, and floundering.We've struggled with injuries to the AL's best hitter, an All Star catcher, our starting centerfielder, and our ace who was on the biggest roll of any Oriole Pitcher since Mussina left a few years ago.

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