Baltimore Orioles Soundoff

Who remembers last year?

Who can recall that the Orioles struggled to get base hits and score runs?

Who recollects the garbage that was the Orioles offense during the second half of last season?

I do. And guess what?

They're back!!!

Sure, Dontrelle Willis is one of the league's top pitchers but this was the first spring training game and hitters are supposed to prosper over pitchers this early in camp. Maybe the D-Train was on his game, but come on, the O's offense was still almost non-existant.

Six hits in a spring training game? Not acceptible.

The anemic offense must pick up, everyone knows that. I am not saying that this opening spring game is any kind of indication on how the Orioles will hit during the regular season, that would be ridiculous and unfair, but it would make me feel better if the O's could put some runs on the board, get some base hits, and, some home runs would be nice too.

At least he got a run-scoring hit

You want to trust Luis Matos. Want to think he will put last year behind him and become the player he was destined to be.

And he came through in the Orioles first spring game when he laced a run-scoring single, one of the only hits the O's could muster.

But, it seems, with Luis anyway, that good always is coupled with bad. And the bad eventually happened.

Miguel Cabrera lifted deep shot to center and Matos made a great play to get to it and then, oops. The ball bounced off his mitt and the result was a triple for Cabrera. Not the impression you want to make when you are vying for a starting position, especially when it will be the only impression you can make for a while due to the World Baseball Classic.


Lopez passed his first(base) test

Hallelujah! Now pass the next one.

And freakin stop trying to catch grounders like a catcher. I don't care if it is efficient, you look like you don't know what you are doing. Mike Piazza looked dumb doing it and you do too!

Repeat after me, Javy, "I will not drop to my knees when a ground ball comes my way," again, "I will not drop to my knees when a ground ball comes my way," one more time, "I will not drop to my knees when a ground ball comes my way."

Good. Now do it again!


Sal Fasano sighting

While playing beer pong in a local New York City bar last night, I happened to glance at the taped version of that day's exhibition game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Geriatric-Yankees.

My jaw dropped as the Phillies' catcher threw out a speedy runner at 2nd and I realized that catcher was none other than former Oriole backup, Sal Fasano.

And I hate Sal Fasano.

Sure, he did the best he could for the O's when they lost Javy last year, but that is no excuse. That man should be bagging groceries or fixing cars, not playing baseball.

Sure, he has his fair share of home runs for the O's last year, but in between the home runs was, most of the time, a sure strike out. The man swings and misses like he was intentionally swatting at something other than the ball.

He is Pedro Serrano from the movie, "Major League." The man can not hit a breaking pitch. Give him a fat fastball right over the plate and he is all over it, but give him a curveball, low and away in the strike zone and it is whiff city, with a capital W. (sorry for the bad Dick Vitale reference)

So, good luck Sal, you need it. Oh, and Phillies: God have mercy on your souls if he makes the team.

Picture this:

Mexico has made it far into the tournament, led by its ace pitcher Rodrigo Lopez.

Dominican stars Daniel Cabrera and Miguel Tejada are excited to be leading their star-studded team.

Panama, says New York Yankees (Geriatrics) closer Mariano Rivera, has no shot of advancing, but the smooth pitching of Bruce Chen has brought them a few victories.

Even Canada is doing well with Erik Bedard dominating the U.S.A. in a shutout victory and then Adam Loewen completing the victory against South Korea.

But now, picture this:

Cabrera unleashes a wicked 100 mph fastball at the head of the opposing hitter, he just let one get away from him. Venezuela's Ramon Hernandez tries to get out of the way of the speeding bullet but it hits him in the head causing a concussion and a delay to the start of his season.

It is one thing if a Roger Clemens fastball hits Tejada because they aren't teammates. But you don't want hardcore competition among teammates do you?

These scenarios are all highly unlikely and the truth is that nothing like this will probably happen, but, what if...

This WBC will create rivalry. But not Yankees vs. Red Sox vs. Orioles (we wish) type of rivalry. No, this is the type of rivalry that is based in pride of country.

Think about it.

Obviously Tejada and David Ortiz and Pedro and Vladimir Guerrero all think that baseball from the Dominican is tops. Bruce Chen wants to prove that Panama is no pushover. Jason Bay, Erik Bedard and company thinks even Canada can strip itself of its Olympic hockey blunders and advance in the WBC.

This isn't the pride of fans. This is pride of players. Later this season, when Baltimore takes a trip to Boston to play the hated Red Sox what will happen?

We all know that Miguel Tejada and David Ortiz are close friends. But, will they know get together with the binding spirit of triumphant Dominicans, or be separated by the hate-hate Oriole-Red Sox relationship?

I wanna see hate. Playful hate, but hate. I don't want Ortiz and Tejada laughing about Chen's Panamanian losers or Bedard's pitiful Canuck showing.

Now, I am not saying the Dominicans will win and the Canadians and Panama teams will lose, but it works both ways. I want team unity. I don't want the fact that they represented their own country to outweigh the fact that they first and foremost represent their Major League Baseball team.

That is the problem with baseball these days. It has become such a business that rivalry dies out amongst the players.

Look at College Sports. Duke and North Carolina hate each other. Maryland hates Duke. Florida and Florida State and Miami's feelings towards one another aren't much better. And these aren't the feelings of the fans, but of the players who meet face-to-face on the field of battle.

Sure, Orioles fans hate the Yankees. Hate everything about them. The fans, hate 'em. The team, hate 'em. A-Rod, a nancy boy. But, do the Orioles players hate the Yankees?

They may be frustrated by the fact that they can not seem to finish above them in the standings but I assure you, the teams do not mind each other.

If you ask a Bostonian what the worst act of treason they have ever witnessed was, they wouldn't give you some historical reference. They would point to this baseball offseason.

Johnny Damon in a Yankees uniform? Unheard of! Preposterous! Fact.

How could Yankee killer #1 join his most hated rival? Easy. He doesn't really hate them. Sure he gets caught up in the hoopla surrounding the fans about the rivalry, but, deep down, it isn't about I'm from Boston and you New York for Damon. It is about winning, and, more importantly, money.

And now, with the World Baseball Classic approaching, all players, yes, I said players, can talk about is representing and rooting for their countries. They are playing for something other than money. They are playing for pride. Pride of a nation. Pride of their upbringing. In many cases, pride of their struggle.

Pride. It used to be what Major Leaguers played for all the time.

Let's hope that all this pride makes the players realize that, once the WBC is over, they have 162 more pride-filled games to go.