"The Warehouse Wire" email popped into my mailbox today, and the man at the helm -- Andy MacPhail -- gives us a pep talk video as he discusses the trades and players signed, and a summation of the team so far.
Thank God Spring Training is here and at least it will take our mind off the trouble in the world, along with the drug scandal for a while.
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MASN Goes HD & Announces Baseball Schedule: MASN, the local leader in live sports entertainment and the television home of the Nationals and Orioles, announced its 2009 baseball schedule which includes 210 high-definition game broadcasts. With expanded high def coverage, the network will televise at least one game in HD every day throughout the season. Each team will have more than 100 games on MASN's new dedicated HD channel, MASN HD, which launches on April 1st.
The Orioles will play 95 games on MASN and 66 games on MASN2. Viewers in the Baltimore area will be able to watch 20 MASN-produced Orioles games simulcast on the network's over-the-air partner, WJZ-TV Channel 13.
Download the schedule here: Link
no commentsI guess the Phelps story will end at some point; however, it's not anytime soon. Now, in an effort to save face overseas -- he's apologizing ... again, this time being forced by the Mazda car company to the people of China.
From the New York Times: At the behest of a sponsor, Michael Phelps 
has recorded a video apology to the people of China, expressing his remorse over the recently published pictures of him using a marijuana pipe and thanking them for their support and forgiveness.
Ah, I guess there was a reason why the news of Alex Rodriguez's failed drug test was brought out when it was -- and now, the author of the now infamous Sports Illustrated article -- Selena Roberts -- has decided to move up the release of her book on Rodriguez up.
Right in the smack of the beginning of April, and three days before the Yankees play their first regular season game at their new stadium.
Oh boy. Does anyone not doubt that he'll be the talk of the 2009 season?
From MSNBC: Publication of Selena Roberts' "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez" has been moved up from May 19 to April 14 as scrutiny builds on the New York Yankees slugger after he acknowledged using banned substances from 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers.
"A-Rod," which reportedly includes salacious details about Rodriquez's private life, was originally titled "Hit and Run: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez." Publisher HarperCollins, which this week listed the new release date on its Web site, has announced a first printing of 150,000 copies.
Does anyone not see a deliberate reason for all of this to take place? I guess you might as well strike while the iron is hot.
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As start of Spring Training is upon us, one has to look at the work Andy MacPhail has done so far. I know that there were a lot of fans – myself included – who thought the man at the helm of the Orioles was well, a tad slow.
I guess we all jumped to conclusions, and although Baltimore may not be a contender this season, or next – the organization is in a lot better shape than it has been in the past. So we didn’t get Mark Teixeira, Derek Lowe or A.J., but I see improvement.
While the Orioles didn’t get the marquee or veteran arms we like, he finally made inroads into Japan and Far East by acquiring Koji Uehara and rid us of Daniel Cabrera. Meanwhile, he stockpiled on arms and got Rich Hill – a pitcher who started with such high hopes with the Cubs, but is a work in progress – David Pauley, and a litany of others. no comments
As the world knows, baseball has been rocked by a steroids scandal for the past few seasons -- however, it has reached a crescendo this week with Alex Rodriguez's admission of drug use and the saga of Miguel Tejada.
The Commissioner of Baseball -- Bud Selig -- is obviously not pleased with the turn of events despite the implementation of drug testing and the public relations hit baseball continues to take. Thursday morning, he spoke with USA Today's esteemed journalist Christine Brennan about the steroid era.
Although Selig has taken a lot of lumps from fans and the media alike during his tenure, a different side of him was shown in Brennan's piece -- an upset, and saddened leader who may be ready to strike the hammer.
"It was against the law, so I would have to think about that," Selig said of possible action against Rodriguez. "It's very hard. I've got to think about all that kind of stuff."
As for the game's once-revered record book, he said, "Once you start tinkering, you can create more problems. But I'm not dismissing it. I'm concerned. I'd like to get some more evidence."
Were Selig to act, he would find precedent not in his game, but in the Olympic world, which is much tougher on cheating and misbehaving athletes than baseball is, at least partially because it doesn't have to face an impossible, stonewalling players union. no comments
For Oriole fans, Brian Roberts is a name synonymous with hard work, hustle and being of one of best lead off men in baseball. That being said, right now we all know that the second baseman is in final year of his current contract in Baltimore, and question now is will he remain a part of Birdland?
After the 2008 season, I would have said he would be traded before Spring Training; however, now the answer is no.
In the past few weeks, Brian Roberts has shown a willingness to stay in Baltimore as his representation and the Oriole front office along with Andy McPhail are actively working to extend his deal. He has said over and over that he would not be willing to have contract discussions after a certain point in Spring Training to focus on baseball. Considering the market for players and the economy, Brian may find it in his best interest to stay in Baltimore. no comments
This week has not been a good one for hard-core fans of the game, and perhaps one of the sadder stories of the steroid era came to a conclusion yesterday.
Miguel Tejada this week was charged with lying to Congressional investigators about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. He pleaded guilty yesterday to the charges, and his punishment -- if any -- should be coming shortly.
However, the saddest part of yesterday was seeing Tejada in Houston yesterday evening during a press conference after appearing in Washington. He was signed to a handsome contract to be part of the rebuilding process in Baltimore as a free agent from Oakland -- where he was considered one of the better shortstops in the game at the time -- and vault the team into contention.
Despite having a career year in 2004, and being relatively solid at the plate until 2007, he never did really make the Orioles into a better team. Later on, some of us perhaps saw the dark side of Tejada with the whole Palmeiro episode, demanding his way out of Baltimore, his age discreprancy, and his questionable work ethic despite his talent at the plate.
In the end, after the 2007 season, Miguel left to Houston (via a trade) as a pariah to some in the Oriole community.
Although most fans probably do not at all feel sorry for a multi-millionaire who lied about his misdeeds, there's a tragic part about this with Tejada.
Now, I don't know him at all; however, I saw the way Miguel was with fans -- nothing short of wonderful and engaging for the most part -- and thought he interacted with people well. Furthermore, everyone for the most part when he came into town talked about his infectious love for the game and upbeat attitude.
Then again, in the last year, he's been exposed as one of many who probably took the dirty road to the top; alas, to me it's kind of sad. Realize, Miguel Tejada is nothing short of revered in the Dominican Republic -- where baseball is a religion -- and came from what we would consider abject poverty and became wealthy beyond his or any one's dream.
He looked like a broken man yesterday and someone who sold his soul to be better, but instead got exposed in the end.
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