Baltimore Orioles fall to Atlanta in spring opener

As we go along in these spring games, keep in mind that the Baltimore Orioles (and other teams) don’t usually bring their starting players on the road. So this afternoon’s 5- loss to Atlanta, and starter Chandler Shepherd’s outing, could look deceiving. Shepherd’s line: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 0 K.

After his outing Shepherd acknowledged that he has an opportunity to compete for a starting job, and needs to take advantage of it better than he did today (Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

Obviously there’s a lot of names in that lineup that I’ve been watching on TV for a long time. Yeah, it was super cool, but at the end of the day I just had to go out and focus on what I was working on in my game. It’s cool to get that opportunity, but I’ve got to go out and take advantage of my outings.

Shepherd loaded the bases in the last of the first right off the bat. Duvall’s RBI-single Gabe Atlanta a 1-0 lead. Atlanta would also add two sac fly-RBI later in the inning, running the score to 3-0. Again, not the start Shepherd wanted. But he was slated for two innings this afternoon, and he pitched two innings. If there’s a silver lining it would be that they didn’t have to pull him prior to then.

Ty Blach followed Shepherd into the game, and provided a much better result. He gave up a run in the third when Duvall grounded into a double-play with the bases loaded. You don’t want to surrender runs, however you’ll take that all day long. Especially in spring training, it’s good to see guys live to fight another day by getting out of a jam. Remember folks, it’s not about wins and losses. Especially in the road games.

Atlanta would add an additional run on a sac fly-RBI in the last of the fifth, sending the Birds down to defeat, 5-0. Keep in mind however that while Shepherd’s shaky outing set the tone, there are two coins to every game. When you don’t score any runs you can’t win. The Orioles can take solace in the fact that often times Atlanta hitters got on base via softly-hit bloopers, but they still got on base.

The O’s will host their “spring home opener” tomorrow afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium as the Boston Red Sox come to town. Wade LeBlanc gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Mike Cazza. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles open Grapefruit League play

It all starts this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. Today they’ll travel to the other side of Sarasota County to take on the Atlanta Braves. For what it’s worth, Atlanta opened CoolToday Park in Southern Sarasota County late last spring. They played one spring game there last season. This is their first full year training there.

We probably aren’t going to learn too much from this game, as I suspect most of the “regular players” will remain behind in Sarasota. We’ll probably see them tomorrow against Boston. But we’ll begin to see what could be in the future.

But whatever 2020 holds in store for the Birds, it unofficially begins today. Baseball will be played, and a team with BALTIMORE across their chests will be on the field. All is thus right with the world.

As I said, the O’s will begin the spring this afternoon with a visit to CoolToday Park. Chandler Shepherd gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Atlanta’s Felix Hernandez. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles add exhibition game at the Naval Academy

The Baltimore Orioles announced yesterday that they’ve added an exhibition game to the end of the schedule. They’re slated to play the NY Mets on Tuesday, March 26th at 2 PM. The game will be held at the Naval Academy, and by broadcast on the Orioles Radio Network.

The Birds will play the NY Mets the day prior as well in their Sarasota finale. This game will count towards the Grapefruit League “standings” – for what that’s worth. The O’s open the season two days later on March 26th against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Two years ago the Washington Nationals “hosted” a final exhibition game against Boston at the Naval Academy. The Orioles stepped in however and ensured that they would be the only team allowed to do so again, as Anne Arundel County is located within Baltimore’s television market. The Birds did some outreach last year at the Naval Academy prior to the regular season starting, and now this.

The Orioles also announced that Chandler Shepherd will get the start in tomorrow’s exhibition opener at Atlanta. I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming. Shepherd ironically started the regular season finale last year against Boston at Fenway Park. He’s only expected to pitch a couple of innings tomorrow, but he gets the start. Still no word on who starts Sunday at home against Boston.

Baltimore Orioles: How crisis’ are handled does matter

Along with the rest of MLB, the Baltimore Orioles have to be looking towards West Palm Beach where the Houston Astros train while shaking their heads. Not only because of what they were doing in terms of the cheating scandal. But how they’ve handled it since the news of it brok. How one handles a situation can often begin to take on a life all of it’s own in cases like this. Needless to say with Houston, that’s what’s happening.

First off, when Houston won the 2017 World Series there’s not a fan across baseball that wasn’t happy for them. They had rebuilt their organization from the ground up. It appeared they had done it the right way, and that they had succeeded. Save for the fact that they cheated, that may well have been true.

But the players came across as less than humble about their success. They were loud and proud about the fact that they were the champions. Some people might not have an issue with that per se, however when it later comes out that you were cheating…yeah you’re going to get some blow back when you were less-than-gracious winners to begin with.

But it goes well beyond that. Players have come off as less than contrite when talking about this matter. And that’s a real problem. ALL PLAYERS from the 2017 squad should be counting their blessings that they got immunity. Instead, in their minds they seem to have done nothing wrong. That’s a major problem.

Each time they speak on the matter they put their foots further and further into their mouths. We’re supposed to believe that someone’s wife just didn’t want him taking his shirt off? And then we’re later supposed to believe that he had a bad tattoo he didn’t want shown? We’re just supposed to accept that?

This story isn’t going away. People are still talking about the 1919 Black Sox scandal, they’re still talking about gambling in baseball, and they’re still talking about PED’s. This isn’t going away. But engaging in self-preservation tactics such as excuse-making isn’t going to make it go away faster. It’s going to keep it in the national discussion.

The moral of this story is that organizations need to engage in proper damage-control when things like this happen. Because if you don’t, the poor manner in which the situation is handled will blow right up in your face.

Baltimore Orioles: Who starts on Sunday?

Many fans will want to know who gets the ball in the Baltimore Orioles’ spring opener on Saturday against Atlanta. And for sure, it’ll mean something when manager Brandon Hyde tells us who it’s going to be. That will happen sometime between now and Saturday!

But keep in mind that many starters and/or regular players don’t play in road games during spring. At least not until the end of the spring. So whether Saturday gives us a fair representation of who might be in the rotation might be tough to gauge.

That’s why Orioles fans should be more in tuned with who starts on Sunday afternoon against Boston. That’ll be the “home opener” in Sarasota for the Birds. And generally the regulars will play in the home games. So it stands to reason that whomever gets that assignment might be looking to be in the rotation.

Baltimore Orioles: Commissioner Manfred is miscarrying justice

The Baltimore Orioles and the rest of Major League Baseball is being set up to have big problems this season – set up by Commissioner Rob Manfred. The commissioner has come out in the past few days and said that it would be inappropriate for teams to target Houston Astros players in games due to the cheating scandal. Former Oriole Nick Markakis said it best:

I feel like every single guy over there (on the Astros) needs a beating.

Quote courtesy of AM-680 “The Fan,” Atlanta, GA.

At first I thought that the penalties handed down were appropriate. I’m now re-thinking that. I get why the league had to grant immunity to the players in order to hold the organization accountable. But all in all it does seem like a miscarriage of justice. And what’s more is that players across the league are expressing similar sentiments to what Markakis said above.

This truly is the perfect storm. Because Houston seems to feel that they’re being treated unfairly. If you listen to their players, there seems to be very little contrition. If anything, it’s the league and other players and teams who are having the audacity to target them. Baseball’s always policed itself in many instances. Odds are this will be no different.

The moment one Houston Astros’ player is hit by a pitch, their bench is going to be chirping and saying that the guy should be suspended. And eventually that’ll probably happen – but not before someone incites a bench-clearing brawl presumably. And is Commissioner Manfred okay with giving worse discipline for guys retaliating for a legitimate reason than he did for the group who committed the act to begin with?

It’s not only that. The commissioner also said that he wasn’t taking the trophy away from them because it’s only hardware. So you’ve just disrespected every other World Series champion in the history of the game. In the name of what? Protecting the Houston Astros and their flimsy ego’s?

The commissioner is miscarrying justice. There isn’t anything that can be done about it, but he’s miscarrying justice.

Baltimore Orioles: Presidential First Pitches

The Baltimore Orioles will open the season on March 26th at home against NY. The rest of the league opens that day as well, and we’ll see first pitch ceremonies across baseball that day. But as of right now, to my knowledge, there’ll be one guy specifically NOT throwing a first pitch: President Donald Trump.

This is one of my favorite repeat or annual columns that I write. I do a variation of it every year on President’s Day. There’s no sport in America which has the relationship with the White House that Major League Baseball has. And in large part, that’s due to baseball being America’s Pastime. It was our only sport of consequence for some time.

But it’s also due to the fact that in 1910, President William Howard Taft was invited to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day for the Washington Senators. And the tradition stuck. President Barack Obama commemorated the 100th anniversary of Presidential First Pitches in 2010 on Opening Day at Nationals Park.

Generally these Presidential First Pitches come on Opening Day or in the World Series. Obviously one of the most famous was in 2001 when President George W. Bush threw out the first ball in the World Series after 9/11 in New York. But there are plenty of other notable times a President has thrown out the first ball.

President Calvin Coolidge did the honors on numerous occasions. Ironically however “Silent Cal” wasn’t a huge baseball fan. Instead it was his wife who followed the sport, but he appreciated the opportunity to take her out to the ballgame every year. In 1940 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first pitch (on Opening Day at Griffith Stadium in Washington DC) hit a Washington Post camera. Roosevelt was President for 12+ years, and he did the honors many times. He just had poor aim!

President Harry Truman, being ambidextrous, threw two balls in 1950 – one right and one left-handed. President John F. Kennedy also opened the 1962 season by throwing out the first ball at the new DC Stadium. Ironically, it would be renamed years later for the President’s slain brother, and is still known today as RFK Stadium.

President Richard M. Nixon, in the absence of baseball in Washington, took the tradition to the west coast in 1973 and did the honors in Anaheim. Finally in 1979, the tradition came to Baltimore. President Jimmy Carter threw out the first pitch in the 1979 World Series at Memorial Stadium. President Ronald Reagan came to town in 1984 for and did the honors, although not on Opening Day. President Reagan was also the first President to throw the pitch from the field. Previously Presidents would sit in the first row near the home dugout, and throw the ball to the catcher from there.

President George H.W. Bush came to Memorial Stadium in 1989 for Opening Day, and he returned later in his term with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. I remember that well, as they sat in a suite during the game and got to meet players and coaches from both the Orioles and Oakland A’s. I recall in the lead up to the game people were wondering if the Queen would eat a hot dog, requiring her to remove her white gloves. President Bush also came to Camden Yards for the inaugural first pitch on Opening Day in 1992.

The last President to do these honors in Baltimore was President Bill Clinton. He came to Camden Yards twice, most recently in 1996. However baseball returned to Washington in 2005, all but guaranteeing that future Presidents would most probably a throw out first pitches exclusively at Nationals Park. George W. Bush did so twice, and Barack Obama once.

Which brings us back to President Trump. I’m not naive, folks. I’m aware of the controversy surrounding this President. I have strong views on the situation, which I choose not to share in this column. But this is a fun, and non-partisan tradition. I wish it would continue.

Especially for a guy like Donald Trump, who apparently had a tryout with the Philadelphia Phillies. It nevertheless, I’m of the opinion that the President should throw out the first ball on Opening Day in Washington DC every year. Trump did attend a World Series game in DC last October, but didn’t throw a pitch. I call on the Washington Nationals organization, and the White House to make this happen. In closing I’ll say it again (and I always close this column in this manner): The President of the United States should throw out the first ball in Washington DC on Opening Day EVERY YEAR.

Baltimore Orioles: Flu bug biting the Birds

One thing that manager Brandon Hyde had learned about managing the Baltimore Orioles is how precarious guys’ health can be. And I’m not talking about labrums, quads, knees, etc. I’m talking the flu.

Pitchers and catchers reported last week, and sure enough so did the flu bug. All it takes is one guy to have something, and suddenly the entire clubhouse is at risk. All the Orioles can really do is send guys home when they’re taken ill. And that’s exactly what they do.

However the problem is that with any virus you’re at your most contagious in the 24 hours before you show symptoms. So you could be exposing other guys and not know it. Kind of a big issue.

This happens to almost every team on an annual basis. Last year it happened to the O’s in April – during the regular season. That’s certainly worse than having it happen now. It just goes to show you that players aren’t superhuman. They’re just as susceptible to germs and virus’ as you and I.

Baltimore Orioles: Houston’s embarrassing themselves

Along with the rest of the fans around the league, I have to imagine that Baltimore Orioles’ fans were appalled earlier this week when the Houston Astros offered their apologies for the cheating scandal. Various players spoke from the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach. As did ownership and manager Dusty Baker.

Baker came off as genuine. And why not? He’s the one guy who legitimately had nothing to do with this. All he can do is talk about the future, and how the organization’s going to move on.

But players and ownership sounded like they were reading from prepared texts. Odds are they were. I’ve said since the beginning that I thought the penalties were appropriate. However the situation’s only gotten worse since the news broke. More people were involved and knew about it. There was obviously an attempt to hoodwink every other team in the league. And they did, because they won the World Series.

Am I saying that the lack of remorse should make MLB dish out more discipline? No, I’m not a fan of doing that either. I firmly believe that you shouldn’t “re-discipline” people if it was unpopular the first time. But Houston’s really testing the limits of that point.

Another sentiment that’s circulating is that teams are going to target the Astros this year. And it wouldn’t shock me to see their players plunked more than often. And ultimately a guy could face more discipline for that than the Houston players did for the cheating to begin with. Where’s the justice there?

Baltimore Orioles sign Tommy Milone

The Baltimore Orioles have made what appears to be a minor signing, but one that could have implications for the 2020 season. They signed LHP Tommy Milone to a minor league deal. The contract also comes with an invitation to spring training.

Milone, 33, made his debut with Washington in 2011, and has pitched for six teams since then. He has a career 4.47 ERA, and a record of 50-47. Now a veteran, Milone has primarily been a reliever the past couple of seasons after being a starting pitcher before that.

My understanding is that the Orioles are going to attempt to work Milone out as a potential starter. And why not, given that he’s started before, and he isn’t costing them too much money. And on a minor league deal at that.

But Milone has the potential to be a veteran back-of-the-rotation presence who could eat some innings. A guy to whom perhaps the Means’ of the world could look for guidance. The rotation is the biggest question mark for this organization going into Grapefruit League play, so if Milone can step up and look good in spring outings he has a real shot at breaking camp as a starter for the Orioles.