By Zach Wilt, on May 17th, 2012  It’s May, which means it’s the time of year for Ed Reed to say something concerning about his future with the Ravens. Today he told SiriusXM that he’s “not 100 percent committed right now to playing this year.”
According to Rich Gannon, Reed is concerned about his health and long term future.
After Reed’s comments hit air, the local Ravens beat writers quickly extinguished the fire. ”Reed has also said this offseason that he’d like to play four or five more years,” The Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec tweeted.
Zrebiec also points out that Reed said nearly a month ago that he was not 100 percent committed to returning in 2012.
Not only is this story just Ed being Ed, but it’s something he’s already said.
By Zach Wilt, on May 17th, 2012  Yesterday we determined that “yes, in fact it is still okay for Baltimore fans to boo Mark Teixeira.” Today we pose another question to the boo birds of Camden Yards.
Is it time to cut Kevin Gregg some slack and stop booing him?
In Gregg’s last six outings for the O’s he’s surrendered zero runs on just three hits in 8 1/3 innings of work and has walked three and struckout eight. Oh, and he recorded the win in the Orioles fifteen inning Marathon against the Royals last night.
Yet somehow, every time Gregg gets up in the pen, Baltimore breaks the internet with #KevinGreggSucks tweets.
Yes, I know he blew seven saves last season, lost the closer’s role and wasn’t happy with the demotion. But that was 2011, a season in which the Orioles were 19-21 on May 17. They’re 24-14 now, this is clearly a different team.
All I’m saying is, there are plenty of guys in pinstripes and red socks that deserve heckling. Gregg has proven to be no longer deserving of the grief.
By Zach Wilt, on May 17th, 2012  Adam Jones and Bill Hall strangely celebrate AJ's go-ahead homer in the top of the 15th. Adam Jones should get used to hitting bombs at Kauffman Stadium. The American League is going to need that power when he’s starting in centerfield during the All-Star Game.
After going 0-for-6 with two strikeouts during the first fourteen innings of play, Adam Jones came up big again for the Orioles with a solo homer in the fifteenth that ultimately secured the Orioles 4-3 victory over the Royals.
This is nothing new for Jones though. Just ten days ago he smashed a three run blast over the monster seats in Fenway in the seventeenth inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jones is the first player with two game-winning home runs in the 15th inning or later in the same season since Mark McGwire in 1988.
MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweeted that nine of Jones’ 12 home runs this season have tied the game or given the Orioles the lead.
That’s clutch hitting.
READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on May 16th, 2012  Try to argue against fan interference on this one... While DC has ignited their Natitude initiative to clean their ballpark of Phillies fans, Baltimore is still working on their own evil scheme.
Last night a Yankees fan spoiled a shutout for Wei-Yin Chen by interfering with a ball in play at the wall in left field. As rookie Xavier Avery leaped to make the catch on a Curtis Granderson fly ball, a fan snatched it from him. ”Hell yeah I had a shot,” Avery told reporters after the game. ”But they had that tenth man out there helping them out.”
Avery was clearly upset with the fan. ”I think (the fan) raised up his beer can or something to taunt me a little bit and I just turned around, went back to playing,” Avery said.
The Twitterverse exploded with Jeffrey Maier memories and many questioned why Buck Showalter didn’t argue the home run or request a review.
“I knew what the answer was going to be,” Showalter said according to MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko. ”I don’t know if it was somebody in midnight blue or black and orange there. I’ve got an educated guess, so our goal was to play well enough so they can’t get a ticket.”
By Zach Wilt, on May 16th, 2012 The Orioles finally cracked CC Sabathia. Last night Baltimore put up four runs on the Yankees ace and cruised to victory behind a dominant seven inning performance by 26-year-old Taiwanese stud Wei-Yin Chen.
The performance was not only enough to make Chen the AT&T Player of the Game (take that to arbitration), but it earned him a shaving cream pie from his teammates.
 A "pie" is baked...  Jim Johnson watches as his teammates torture Chen  My eyes burn just looking at this picture READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on May 15th, 2012  Not many Ravens fans questioned Billy Cundiff’s ability until he shanked a potential game tying 32-yard field goal in the AFC Championship. I still blame head coach John Harbaugh, who failed to call a timeout while Cundiff raced to the field to kick the most important field goal of his career, but that’s beside the point.
This summer, Cundiff will receive some competition from undrafted rookie Justin Tucker and the early reports from rookie camp on the new kid are pretty good.
I can’t wait to head out to Westminster to check out this competition! …wait…
Tucker kicked a 55-yard field goal and almost made one from 60 out at Owings Mills according to Jason Butt of CBSSports.com. ”All I can say is I look forward to it, competing with a guy who’s had success,” Tucker said.
If you’re worried a rookie in a clutch situation, Tucker, from the University of Texas, is most famously known for hitting a game winning 40-yard field goal against Texas A&M during his senior year.
By Zach Wilt, on May 15th, 2012  Even Wieters knew it was a rocket. Last night Curtis Granderson became the fourth player to hit a home run to Eutaw Street in 2012. Of those four homers, only one has been hit by an Oriole.
Chris Davis’ 418 foot blast on April 28 is the O’s lone Eutaw Street slam of 2012.
Granderson’s homer in the 61st to reach Eutaw Street and he’s the first Yankee to hit one since Nick Swisher in August of 2010.
Shockingly, the Orioles lead all of baseball in home runs with 57, but they have hit 29 of them on the away from Camden Yards.
By Zach Wilt, on May 14th, 2012  In 2006, Billy Rowell was the 17-year-old slugger selected in the first round by the Orioles who confidently told Baltimore fans he would one day hit the warehouse.
Today he’s the guy the O’s selected ahead of Tim Lincecum who was attempting to convert to pitching and was suspended 50-games for a drug violation.
Rowell finally made it to Double-A Bowie in 2011 after spending six seasons in Blue Field, Aberdeen, Delmarva and Frederick. He hit just.227 with no home runs and 11 RBI with the Baysox.
By Zach Wilt, on May 14th, 2012  Perhaps the best thing that could happen to the Orioles tonight would be if this bad weather holds up and they get a freebie off day. Roch Kubatko at MASNSports.com says that there’s a 90 percent chance of rain this evening, I couldn’t tell you because I literally never check the weather.
I look out the window.
Jake Arrieta’s 3 2/3 innings of work on Sunday certainly didn’t help an already overused bullpen and the O’s next off day isn’t until May 24. Their last off day was May 3.
The Yankees come back to town for a four game series between the 6th-9th of September with an off day on Monday the 10th. Sounds like a perfect time for a makeup game.
While injuries continue to pile up in Baltimore, guys like Jason Hammel (sore right knee), Nolan Reimold (herniated disc), Mark Reynolds (strained oblique) and Matt Lindstrom (right middle finger injury) could all use the rest.
By Zach Wilt, on May 14th, 2012  The Sun's Eduardo A. Encina proves that beat writers CAN snap good pictures from their cell phones... and that fans showed up to OPACY on Sunday. Okay, I admit it, I was wrong.
I questioned the loyalty of Orioles fans and they made me look like a fool this weekend.
After 11,938 people showed up on Monday to welcome home the Birds after their 5-1 road trip in New York and Boston I wrote this:
The Ravens will likely get bigger crowds at their practices this summer.
If you want the Orioles to do well, you’ve got to go out and support them when they do. If you want Adam Jones to re-sign in Baltimore, go out to the Yard and cheer him on.
This team just took five of six from the Yankees and Red Sox. What’s it going to take to put some butts in seats?
Apparently all it took was a battle for first place in the AL East between the O’s and Rays. 26,669 fans attended game one on Friday, 32,862 came to the Yard on Saturday and 29,552 showed up for the Mother’s Day matchup. Well done Orioles fans.
The fans were so ruthless that Rays third baseman Evan Longoria told them to simmer down. Mark Viviano tweeted that Saturday’s crowd was “by far the loudest” of the year even beating out Opening Day.
READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on May 14th, 2012 
This gimmick where I take a screenshot of the AL East standings and post it every Monday morning hasn’t gotten old yet. I’m not tired of it and I’m sure you aren’t either.
It could be because the Orioles sit atop baseball’s most difficult division with their 22-13 record. Or maybe because they have the second best record in the entire American League.
Any number of reasons, really. They’re playing damn good baseball right now.
While we’re talking about standings can we mention how soft the AL Central is? The Blue Jays sit in fourth place in the East at 19-16, they would lead the Central by a game over the Indians and two over the Tigers.
Time for a balanced schedule.
AMIRITE?
By Zach Wilt, on May 13th, 2012  If the Orioles keep winning games at the pace they are on now, I’ll wear my O’s hat Strop Style every day for the rest of my life.
In case you were wondering, the Orioles would finish in the ballpark of 108 wins at their current pace. That would be quite the turn around from 2011.
As the O’s continue to dominate the AL East — yes dominate, they just won three straight series against the Yankees and Red Sox on the road and the Rays at home — many are wondering when reality is going to set in and Baltimore will slide back down to the bottom of the standings.
Stud reliever Pedro Strop doesn’t think it’s going to happen.
“A lot of people are surprised, but we’re not,” Strop told Roch Kubatko. ”We are going to keep winning games.”
I really hope he’s right.
I’m ready to order my hat one size to big.
By Zach Wilt, on May 12th, 2012 The Orioles Mother’s Day giveaway hat was too pretty for Gary Thorne to pass up. Thorne put on the hat during last night’s broadcast with Jim Palmer and Liam McCusker tweeted us the outstanding picture you see below.
By Zach Wilt, on May 11th, 2012 
Ravens safety Ed Reed stopped by Camden Yards to watch the Orioles battle the Rays for first place in the American League East tonight. Before the game he shagged some fly balls and took batting practice with the team.
The Sun’s Dan Connolly reports that both of Reed’s Achilles “look OK.”
Too soon?
By Zach Wilt, on May 11th, 2012 
The Orioles have struggled to get fans excited about their hot start to the 2012 season.
You’ve heard me complain enough about it already.
After sweeping the Red Sox in Boston for the first time since 1994, the O’s are hoping to get some fans to travel north to support their team on the road.
This afternoon the Orioles sent an email out to fans encouraging them to make Boston “Camden Yards North” for the Orioles series with the Sox between June 5-7 and offered links to the Red Sox box office to purchase the tickets.
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It’s May, which means it’s the time of year for Ed Reed to say something concerning about his future with the Ravens. Today he told SiriusXM that he’s “not 100 percent committed right now to playing this year.”
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