Here are some photos from the 2010 All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade along with some images from the contest itself.

Having the All-Star Game in Southern California was fun, and the weather was fairly nice with the exception of the temperatures climbing into the 90's at the end of the trip. Then again, the humidity is fairly low in that part of the country, so it was not nearly as bad as the East Coast possibly would have been.

As you all know, David Ortix won the Home Run Derby and the National League won the game, 3-1 as Brian McCann drove the deciding runs with a three-run double.

Much of the attention yesterday after the game centered around the non-use of Alex Rodriguez (which was really surprising).

Othee than that, in the pre-game introductions, pretty much every Red Sox, Yankee and Dodger player got booed pretty badly. It's amazing how on the West Coast, they really, really detest the Yankees and Red Sox - just as much as we do on the East Coast.

I will say that the ushers and the staff at the All-Star weekend were nothing short of pleasant and fairly laid back; however, the security situation was overbeating especially when it came to camera usage and bringing in items to the stadium.

Angel Stadium's security was by far the strictest I'd even witnessed in Major League Baseball. Sometimes too much security along with crazy regulations is not a very good thing.

Finally, the Home Run Derby - usually my favorite part of the weekend - didn't fill up the ballpark at all. According to reports in the local papers out there, there were upwards of 5,000 empty seats and being there in person, you could clearly see it. Perhaps Major League Baseball really might want to look at the pricing structure when it comes to their 'Midsummer Classic'.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away early this morning. I think it is safe to say that Steinbrenner is a name that many an Orioles fan has cursed throughout the years. To Baltimore fans he embodied everything that was wrong the game. Steinbrenner bought championships and the Yankees were less a team than a collection of travelling all-stars. They were more Harlem Globetrotters than "Murderers' Row" now. But those callous statements wane today in the wake of "The Boss'" death.

Steinbrenner had been battling various health concerns for years and now in his passing the indelible mark he left on the game is clear, we are currently Steinbrenner's league and we will remain in his league for the foreseeable future.

Steinbrenner ushered baseball into the world of mega-contracts and uber-inflated salaries. Much like the United States during the late nineties George opened his wallet, invested wisely and let the dollars flow. The last team to out-spend the New York Yankees was the 1998 Baltimore Orioles. After coming up short the previous year in the playoffs the Orioles opened their wallets and spent a MLB high $70.4 million. The next year Steinbrenner's Yankees went out and added Roger Clemens and upped their payroll to $88 million; Steinbrenner would not look back. $92 million the next year; $112 the next; $125 in 2002 etc. until we come to today's $206 million pricetag.

During his reign the Yankees won seven World Series. He pioneered the idea of the Regional Sports network, something that virtually every team now needs to remain competitive in the marketplace. Steinbrenner never apologized for the way he spent the money, culminating in the billion dollar palace that the Yankees now call home. The most expensive ballpark in the country to still have obstructed views. But what Steinbrenner did more than any other owner is truly usher in the era of a stratified league. Baseball has always had its small, middle and large market teams and the larger market teams have always spent more money than the smaller ones. New York has always spent more money than Kansas City but with Steinbrenner's Yankees we truly see how each of the teams have to play the game differently.

Orioles GM Andy MacPhail summed it up perfectly at the start of this season during an impromptu meeting with the Oriole blogging hive mind in the MASN box. When speaking on a possible Adam Jones contract extension he responded how each level has to play the game differently. To Andy teams like the Rays have to sign players very very early. Now, Evan Longoria could have broken his leg and missed the entire year and never been the same afterwards, he could have been Rocco Baldelli, but the Rays don't have the luxury to sit around and wait to see what they have. They have to take risks and sign players very early. The Yankees can wait as long as they want, because if they have to they can outbid anyone and will outbid anyone for a player they deem as worth it. The Orioles fall somewhere in-between.

Teams that do not reside in the larger markets of the country (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, to a lesser extent) have to play very smart ball. They have to be sure their minor league systems continue to churn out ML-ready talent and be very conscientious about whom they give the big dollars.

I present to you the case of Albert Belle. Orioles fans know about Albert Belle all too well. The slugger was signed to a monster deal only to see his career sidelined by a degenerative hip-condition forcing early retirement. The contract would fiscally hamstring the Orioles for the next couple of years. Compare this to the Yankees and Carl Pavano. The Yankees signed Pavano before the '05 season to a four year contract at about $9 million a year. This put Pavano in the 5th percentile of MLB earners and he was only the 11th highest paid player on the team. Pavano, turned out to be one of the biggest busts of the young century spending the better part of the next few years on the DL.

Any other team would have been put in a very tough place having all that money tied up in a player on the DL for so long, but the Yankees kept on plugging.

Steinbrenner's policies and open wallet had an effect all over the game. Now teams were having to pay premium money for players that were largely considered mediocre, especially pitchers. Carlos Silva making $12 million a year at one point is proof enough of that. Teams who develop players now have to ask not if that player goes into free agency but when. The Rays are in the biggest trouble here. The young Tampa team, whom everyone looks to now as a model of how to build a contender in small markets is seeing their window close rapidly as most followers of the game assume that left-fielder Carl Crawford is already being measured for his pinstripes and possibly taking DH/first-baseman Carlos Pena with him.

Every report for every high-profile agent begins and ends with "are the Yankees interested?". And Steinbrenner's Yankee empire has made the team the lead story of every national baseball discussion.

You simply can not deny the impact that this man has had on the game. Good or bad, The boss would never apologize for winning - nor should he. We here in the middle markets of the baseball world may not like it, we may clamor for reform all we want but we simply can not deny that we are playing in George's League and I think I can honestly say that if roles were reversed he would simply find a way to win.

This morning, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away in Tampa, Florida after suffering an apparent heart attack.

Really, no matter what you think of him as a person or as an owner, he sure did change the culture and economics of baseball - much less sports - perhaps for the better, or worse.

No matter what, the man spent what he could on his team and showed an insatiable desire to win - even if it came at a detriment.

In turn, Steinbrenner's teams rewarded him with seven World Series titles. Even as an Oriole fan who could never find himself rooting for the Yankees, I have to respect what he did.

He used the system in place to win and win big.

A lot (especially in the last two decades).

Amazing.

Rest in peace.

Finally good to see the Orioles have something good to happen. On Sunday, they completed an improbable four game sweep against the Rangers by beating them, 4-1. This was their first series on the road this year...

Jake Arrieta was strong on Sunday, going 6 1/3 innings and only giving up a first inning run. Alfredo Simon got the save, and Corey Patterson once again came through with a huge hit – a two-run double – that plated two and broke a 1-1 tie in the second inning.

Good to see Arrieta bounce back after a tough patch there.

What was even more impressive this weekend was the pitching of Chris Tillman on Saturday against Cliff Lee. Most expected Lee to steamroll over the Orioles and show why he was the most coveted pitcher on the market; however, he got lit up to the tune of six runs – all earned.

Baltimore used three homers to send Lee to the Rangers to a loss. Then again, for the Orioles, the story was Chris Tillman – not Lee.

Tillman, who had been sent down this season after a promotion due to his struggles, flat out dominated on Saturday. He allowed two singles and a run – unearned – in 7 1/3 innings.

The kid threw well and it was very good to see. I know a lot of people have been kind of wondering about him considering his struggles in the majors, but he’s only 21, still has room to get better and one can’t give up on talent like that.

Not to say that Tillman may be special or whatever after only one start, but if you look at what Clay Buchholz and Phil Hughes had to go through throughout their young major league careers, the future may not be bad for him.

Other than that, I’m in California for the All-Star Game this year. I’ll let you all know my thoughts throughout the week.

Staying up sometimes after a long day is worth it, and last night proved it. After seeing Stephen Strasburg in Washington on Friday, I made it home in time for the O’s game to start – thanks to a two-hour-plus rain delay in Arlington, Texas.

Friday night/Saturday morning’s game looked like another Oriole loss in the top of the ninth inning against the AL West leading Rangers; however, with two outs in the ninth with the bases loaded and against of the best young relievers in the game – Neftali Perez – Corey Patterson was at the plate.

I honestly assumed the game was over as the Orioles were down 6-2, but for one night, something amazing happened. Patterson took a Perez pitch with two strikes and launched it into the upper deck for a grand slam and tie the game at six.

At near two or so in the morning, I reacted with glee as if the Orioles won a playoff game or something.

Jake Fox decided in the game in the 10^th inning with a homer off Dustin Nippert and when all was said and done, the Orioles earned a dramatic 7-6 victory.

The win came at 2:30 in the morning here on Saturday, and Baltimore is now 27-59 on the season. It’s been a long season already for us fans, but it was good to see what happened last night. The Orioles are 3-3 in the past week, and while it may not be anything all that special, it’s been better than they have been playing in the past few weeks.

After his brilliant start in Boston last week, Brian Matusz – who started the game for Baltimore on the mound – was shaky again and got hammered in the fourth as he gave up four runs in the frame. He went three innings and gave up four runs in the loss. I’m not sure what happened in the third frame, but he just got hit pretty hard and just labored through that period.

The relief corps did their job in stop the bleeding from Matusz’s outing – highlighted by Matt Albers’ three scoreless innings; however, two errors by Miguel Tejada and Ty Wigginton in the eighth made a Texas 4-2 lead become 6-2, but again, the comeback averted another painful loss.

Aside from the great win, there was cause for concern with the Orioles as both Felix Pie and Matt Wieters found themselves out of the game due to injury. Pie was diagnosed with a quad strain and Wieters had a hamstring issue according to the Baltimore Sun. They say both injuries are not serious, but seeing both guys out of the game and hurt is disconcerting. I guess it may be safe to assume that both may not play until after the All-Star break.

Injuries have killed this team and certainly no one wanted to see anymore.

As you all probably know Cliff Lee didn't wind up going to the New York Yankees, but instead he ended up with the Texas Rangers in quite the deal done.

Good to see Lee not end up in pinstripes.

Now, the bad news -- um, the Orioles face him on Saturday night according to various media reports.

How wonderful. Not really, facing Lee this year is quite a tall order.

In other news, the Orioles signed a 16-year old Dominican prospect Hector Veloz. Great - the bad news: he tested positive for steroids earlier on this season.

Major League Baseball required 40 of the top Dominican prospects to undergo mandatory durg testing and Veloz got caught.

Felix Pie is back and picking up right where he left off. In his first three games back Pie is batting .308 with an OPS of 1.049, a homer and three RBI. he has been playing a solid left field and, most importantly, is not showing any lingering effects of his back injury. A healthy and productive Felix Pie is one of the few things that Orioles fans have to look forward to this Summer.

I was never the biggest believer in Pie when he first got here. He fumbled and flailed his way through his first six weeks as an Oriole and was consequently benched by then manager Dave Trembley. Pie's benching allowed for the promotion of Nolan Reimold who quickly took Pie's starting spot in left field and went on to have a Rookie-of-the-Year caliber season. So Felix was on the bench how he reacted to it made me a believer. Did he sulk? Did he whine? No, he was always there on the bench with a smile rooting on his teammates he was always a great teammate. Behind the scenes Pie was working his butt off with hitting-coach Terry Crowley and when injuries gave him an oppoortunity to get back in the lineup he took it and he took off. Pie earned his spot in the lineup through determination and hard work and it feels good to see him seemingly hit the ground running.

Pie is the future of this team a future that needs to step up in the second half.

Yes, believe it or not O's fans we have another HALF OF A SEASON left to go. I know that this year has already seemed like the longest in recent memory but there is a lot of ball left to play.

Looking at another player trying to get back: Nolan Reimold.

Reimold has to be easily one of the largest disappointments of a brutal Spring. Reimold was almost the ROTY last year but nagging injuries and off-the-field issues have seemed to derail the young man's career for the time being. Nolan has spent most of this season in AAA trying to rediscover his game, while being converted to first base.

Reimold, Matt Wieters, Pie, Adam Jones: four prospects all of which were expected to take the next step this year that have either been sidelined, stagnated or stepped back this year. Combine that with key injuries, bad signings and a pinch of good ole' fashion bad luck you see where the Orioles are right now. Jones still only has eight (EIGHT) walks on the year but he seems to be turning things around. We are all still waiting for Wieters to go on a tear...anytime now...soon? Please? That is what this Summer is about.

This second half is about these players. Throw in Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta to round out the cavalry. These are the guys that we need to see real improvement and consistency out of. Arrieta had a solid start the other night, short-ciruited by a poor offensive showing. Tillman is dominating in AAA yet again, though will he be able to translate it to MLB success?

There are a lot of questions hovering around this team right now, and this Summer is vital. It is vital to the future of the team. When future historians look to the past will this Spring be seen as growing pains - or the point when it all came crashing down in Baltimore yet again?

It was ugly on Monday in Detroit, as the Oriole pitching corps just tanked and Kevin Millwood struggled to get out of the first as they lost to the Tigers, 12-9. The loss for Baltimore was their 57^th of the season in 82 games.

In one of the craziest losses I’ve seen in quite a while, the offense wasn’t a problem – it was the pitching. After Matusz’s inspired start against the Red Sox on Sunday, the Orioles faced a tough task with the Tigers and they could not repeat the magic on Monday.

Millwood, by far had his worst start as an Oriole pitcher as he only pitched an inning, allowed five runs and threw 45 pitches. It was painful to watch on MASN, and after looking a lot better than he has the past few weeks, it was beyond ugly to see. He didn’t have much in terms of life on his pitches and labored out there.

Falling behind 5-1 at the start of the second inning, the Orioles pouched on Detroit starting pitcher Andrew Oliver – who probably was just as bad as Millwood. Oliver, who was handed a gift in the second inning, pissed it all away as the Orioles plated in five runs, and sent him to the dugout (much like Millwood.

It should go without saying – the Orioles are a little concerned with Millwood. Who knows how this outing will affect any future dealings on the trade market. And now… the team might put him on the DL.

Baltimore had a 6-5 lead … um, for about a few minutes.

Then, the Tigers struck again and plated three more runs in the second inning off reliever Mark Hendrickson – who was saddled with the loss.

With the score 8-5 at the start of third inning, the Orioles would add one more run off a Jake Fox homer, but would never get the lead back.

The bullpen for Baltimore could not get their team back in the game as Koji Uehara and Matt Albers – each allowing two runs in their respective turns on the mound – let the Tigers to build on their lead.

Ty Wigginton has been selected by AL Manager Joe Girardi as the Orioles All Star representative. Wigginton leads the Orioles in homeruns and has been a pleasant surprise in an overall horrendous season. However, please forgiven me Ty, I am underwhelmed. I find it very hard to get excited about a player who has been chosen to represent the Orioles who is likely to be playing in another uniform August 1, not when Nick Markakis is on the squad and healthy.

Nick Markakis leads the American League in doubles; his on-base percentage is hovering in the low stratosphere; he is playing great defense and he is easily the most recognizable Oriole. I know that last part is not saying much, but it is the truth. Markakis is the young future of the team and Girardi knows that. Now maybe Girardi needed another infielder but somehow it feels as though Girardi asked: "who leads in homers?" and made his selection.

Again, I love Wiggy and I am happy for him. Chief Wiggumton should do us well at the game. But I can't help but feel like Markakis is getting overlooked yet again.

Buster Olney handicapped the Orioles managerial search, he gave Buck Showalter the heavy odds to be named. Former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge has had his name floated heavily in recent days much to the dismay of some. Some feel that Wedge would be another Hargrove/ Trembley type manager; soft-spoken and demure not up to the antaean task of the AL East. Showalter on the other hand is boisterous, active and has a "damn-the-torpedoes" air about him that makes weary O's fans perk-up at attention.

Buck or Eric?

Now, I have thrown my lot in with Showalter from jump-street. I agree that the Orioles need a guy with a proven track-record and instant credibility. Wedge may very well be a fine manager and he may very well do a great job if he gets it, but I don't think the Orioles need someone who would need to "prove" himself to the fans and players. Having said that, I present:

The case for Wedge.

Eric Wedge, at 42, is the youngest of the managerial candidates. In his time with Cleveland he won Manager of The Year once and has a managerial record just under .500. He took the Indians to the playoffs once and was run out of town after two terrible seasons that were riddled with injuries and under-performance. Wedge obviously knows what he is doing, his record is short but he has some legit accomplishments. Wedge never had much of a playing career, but then again Showalter never played at all in the majors. Wedge seems like a decent enough manager and someone who has experience dealing with younger teams, I don't think he would be a bad choice for manager.

The thing is, Showalter is just a better choice.