A fine finish

Ain't the beer COLD again!

I truly enjoy the resilency of this team. Last year if the team was down in the late innings they were done! This year they just keep on plugging and never get up and because of that they are a pleasure to watch win or lose.
looking forward to seeing what moves we make at the deadline because the deals made thusfar have improved this team alot.

T-Bone wrote:

I truly enjoy the resilency of this team. Last year if the team was down in the late innings they were done! This year they just keep on plugging and never get up and because of that they are a pleasure to watch win or lose.
looking forward to seeing what moves we make at the deadline because the deals made thusfar have improved this team alot.

As long as the O's have a winning record and are filling the stands going into the All Star break. I don't see them making any big trades.

Joy!!

In the last 7 years of baltimore baseball the O's have done everything possible to blow games. Now if it is a 2,3 run defecit going in to the 7th inning I can't seem to turn the TV off and the good thing is you never know. There are two things I think that they need, Adam L to come around after being on the DL, one maybe two good power hitters.

As long as the O's have a winning record and are filling the stands going into the All Star break. I don't see them making any big trades.
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And that would be an enormous mistake. That's the potential downside of winning early.

Regardless of the .500 record, the team is poorly constructed and has little in the way of a future.

Great come from behind wins have been lacking for years. They may have along way to go offensively but clutch hits cure alot of weaknesses.

Stealthy Ghost Oriole wrote:

As long as the O's have a winning record and are filling the stands going into the All Star break. I don't see them making any big trades.
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And that would be an enormous mistake. That's the potential downside of winning early.
Regardless of the .500 record, the team is poorly constructed and has little in the way of a future.

Strong words, Stealth. Would you care to elaborate? How do you figure that the O's are poorly constructed and have little in the way of a future? Many folks, including myself, would disagree with you. We have several good, young arms and we probably have the best young outfield in baseball. Our bats could use a little more punch so I agree that we should keep looking into trading some of our mediocre veterans. We aren't going to be the Red Sox anytime soon but both the front office and the team on the field are very well poised for the legitimate rebuilding effort.

This team has made a lot of big comebacks, and that is great. But it may be time to increase expectations a little. By that I mean, let's see if we can stop going up, down, and back to .500. The Yanks were doing that all season until about a week ago, and they seemed to have turned a corner. Let's see if WE can do the same.

My biggest concern is that for the first 55 games, we had FOUR EXCELLENT starters. Now, in general, they seem to be faltering (not so much Guthrie, but the other three). Our starters regaining their excellence will be VERY KEY if we are to indeed up the ante, and get a good seven or eight games above .500. Our offense and relief pitching has stepped it up in bailing out our starters lately, but they likely won't be able to keep that up all season. The key: OUR STARTERS need to REGAIN THEIR FORM of the first two months of the season.

Mora had a great at bat, never gave in and waited for a good pitch. Maybe that's why he's batting over .380 w/runners in scoring position. Kinda reminds me of Brooks! Never had a high batting average but always seemed to come through when the Birds needed a hit.

Don't change that channel!!!

While the Birds are exceeding my expectations to this point in the season, I still think a .500% finish is alot more than what we all initially expected this years Birds to accomplish. You don't go from garbage to the top overnight and the O's will need to keep developing over the next couple years to be a true contender. Let's keep everything in perspective folks. For now i'll just keep loving the energy and competitiveness of this team.

In response to how this team is constructed, this team is constructed the best McPhail could do being hamstrung with bloated contracts on players (Huff, Hernandez, Mora, Millar) that have little trade value. All those players will be gone at the end of 2009. The big bats in the minors (Weiters, Rowell, Snyder) will be up by 2010. In Weiters case, maybe sooner. Most of the young pitching at AA will be ready next year as well.

So we sign some key Free Agents (Texeira and maybe Adam Dunn) get a solid 3-4-5 to build around, make wild card run in 2009 and go for it all in 2010 with a young team that can contend for several years.

We're fine people. This is a fun team to watch, get a grip.

I don't see the Orioles being above .500 at the end of the season. That doesn't mean I'm not going to cheer them on the rest of the year. The bottom line line is that the starting pitchers have leveled off to where they were expected to be. However, this is a rebuilding project and hopefully this experience will teach them.

I think that we should see a deal for Millar by the trade deadline. I have a lot of respect for the guy, but the bottom line is that his biggest contribution to the team has been in the cheer leading department. If the front office can get half of what they got for Tejada or Bedard for Millar, then it would be crazy not to sign the deal. It could be for a legit slugger to put in the DH spot and move Huff to first base. Or maybe move Scott to DH, Huff to first, Payton to Left field, and finally get a stopper at short stop.

A response to several posts:
From LoneCrow asking Stealthy Ghost to elaborate - While his wording might not match my thoughts exactly, he has a good point: let's not lose sight of the fact that we still have a lot of holes in this team, and trading away a few older players to bring in upper-level prospects would help us a lot. I don't want us to lose perspective on the overall goal and not trade the older players when we have a chance. While it would be tough to see most of them go, it would also continue the rebuilding process.

Orioles Fan from NY: I agree that the starting pitching needs to get back on their feet. If our hitting continues and the SP comes back, we can get hot too. The reason the O's are at .500 is because 2 out of 3 aspects of the team is clicking at once - not all 3.

Macphail is not going to change the direction he has finally got this team on now by making foolish deals to try and get in playoff position for this year. 35-34 is fantastic for a team that was SUPPOSED to win 64 games this year. But the bottom line is that this is a long term plan to be in position to compete for a # of years not to be blinded by the current success and trade these prospects for temporary fixs.

I called it yeasterday that they lost by not having Mora in the line up and watching him having the winning 2 out double in the 8th inning! After the hit off of the Astros closer I knew that the game was over! Sherrill came in the ninth and shut them down giving the Orioles their 35 victory of the season! This has been a string of come back wins that they have had the past few games that has shown the resurgants of this ballclub against these National League foes! Maybe this will be the year that they come out of the 10 year drought of having a losing record! Go O's!

Mike wrote:

In response to how this team is constructed, this team is constructed the best McPhail could do being hamstrung with bloated contracts on players (Huff, Hernandez, Mora, Millar) that have little trade value. All those players will be gone at the end of 2009. The big bats in the minors (Weiters, Rowell, Snyder) will be up by 2010. In Weiters case, maybe sooner. Most of the young pitching at AA will be ready next year as well.
So we sign some key Free Agents (Texeira and maybe Adam Dunn) get a solid 3-4-5 to build around, make wild card run in 2009 and go for it all in 2010 with a young team that can contend for several years.
We're fine people. This is a fun team to watch, get a grip.

I agree.#1 priority - a legitimate clean-up hitter. That'll cost a ton of cash but it'll be worth it.

I was at the game Saturday night and the game last night. Maybe it's just the excitement from the comebacks or the good old feeling of hearing "Orioles Magic", but I'm losing my skepticism and starting to believe that this team can compete for the wild card. I know stranger things have happened.

Concerning trades, I trust MacPhail and whatever he decides to do. I think we sometimes forget that he's a much smarter baseball guy than we are. Anyway, I think Millar's clubhouse value is better than his trade value. I wouldn't mind trading Huff since I don't care for his work ethic (or lack thereof) and its potential influence on our young guys. I wouldn't be upset if we capitalized on Sherril's high trade value at the break either. But it really does seem like we can compete, and I'd hope that any moves made hamper neither our ability to rebuild nor our ability to compete.

Just some food for thought: what's to prevent Atlanta from trading Texeira to us this year? His contract's up and he's probably not staying, so you may as well get something for him. I know we wouldn't give up a whole lot, but is it possible?

Brian Starks Jr wrote:

I called it yeasterday that they lost by not having Mora in the line up and watching him having the winning 2 out double in the 8th inning! After the hit off of the Astros closer I knew that the game was over! Sherrill came in the ninth and shut them down giving the Orioles their 35 victory of the season! This has been a string of come back wins that they have had the past few games that has shown the resurgants of this ballclub against these National League foes! Maybe this will be the year that they come out of the 10 year drought of having a losing record! Go O's!

GREAT CALL, BUDDY! I've said before that I LOVE Melvin Mora, because he HATES to lose to the Yankees. Last year, on September 28th, his bases-loaded, two-out bunt against the Yanks was the game-winner. This year, he looked like a little kid when he scored the tying run from first base on a double against the Yanks in the bottom of the tenth of that great, 10-9 comeback win. You could see the smile on his face from ear-to-ear when he fell across home plate... it was both a smile of joy AND relief.

There is NOT A PLAYER IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES that cares more about winning than Mora.... ESPECIALLY when we play the Yanks.

There are better teams in the league...but none are more fun to root for right now. A big thank you to the players who are obviously giving it their all.

However, the team is not yet complete. As others have stated, we do need a legitimate clean up hitter and need to find an answer at SS. Our best days are still ahead when those questions are answered and the youngsters in the minors reach their potential.

So yes, we will probably see some trades (hopefully NOT Roberts but that is likely).

Trembley for manager of the year (and possibly Mayor, Governor, and President). And if MacPhail makes more great deals at the deadline like he did in pre-season, he'll be in line for King.