By Matt Lund, on May 8th, 2012 
Norfolk recently completed an impressive 10-game homestand in which they went 6-4 and embarked on yet another 10-game stretch, this time on the road traveling to Durham, Louisville and Indianapolis.
The Tides took two of three over the weekend in Durham, including a split of a doubleheader against the Bulls. Chris Tillman picked up win number three by pitching six innings of relief, allowing two earned runs and striking out two.
Jason Berken started the ballgame that was delayed nearly four hours because of rain. Zach Phillips picked up his second save in as many days (third overall) and the offense received two RBI’s apiece from Xavier Avery and Bill Hall.
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By Avi Miller, on May 3rd, 2012  Pitching coach Rick Adair walking along side catcher Matt Wieters Yes, THE Baltimore Orioles. The same Orioles who couldn’t string together much of any pitching last season are currently atop the American League in Team ERA with a 2.83 mark. Before last night, the Texas Rangers held the lead in this category in the AL, but after Toronto scored a whopping 11 runs off of them at the Rogers Centre, the Orioles have taken over.
The only two teams in all of baseball pitching better than the Orioles (in terms of ERA) are the Cardinals and the Nationals, both of which have stacked rotations full of star quality names like Stephen Strasburg, Edwin Jackson, Adam Wainwright, and Chris Carpenter.
The Orioles rotation made it through the month of April without any changes, and includes Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter, Wei-Yin Chen, Jason Hammel, and Brian Matusz. The worst of those guys in the ERA category is Matusz at 4.67, which isn’t terrible right now considering the 10.69 he posted in 2011 along with the fact that he has shown major progress in each start over the last month. Hammel leads the group with a 1.97 ERA. READ MORE >>>
By Matt Lund, on April 16th, 2012 After the Tides split the first four games of the season, they came back home to Harbor Park for a seven-game homestand starting April 9th. They were swept by the Gwinnett Braves in the first three games, including a devastating, 14-12 loss on April 11th in which the Tides had a 12-5 lead going into the top of the 9th before Gwinnett scored seven times to knot the game at 12.
Instead of rolling over and folding after being swept, Norfolk gained their first series victory of the season, taking three of four from the Charlotte Knights while only allowing a total of 11 runs in the series combined.
Tides pitching getting it done
Tides starter Chris Tillman gained his first victory of the season in Game 1, outpitching Knights starter Dylan Axelrod in the 1-0 victory. Tillman pitched 5 2/3 strong innings, allowing just three hits while striking out eight.
Dana Eveland gave Norfolk back-to-back strong starts as he pitched 6 2/3, allowing three earned runs, walking two and striking out three. The bullpen shut the door the rest of the way, throwing seven scoreless innings before Tides catcher John Hester hit a solo homerun to win it in the bottom of the 14th. Oscar Villarreal worked three innings, striking out two and earning the victory.
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By Matt Lund, on April 9th, 2012
In Charlotte for the first series of the season, the Tides arrived to face the Knights only to be washed out by rain on Opening Day.
Instead, Opening Day began on the 6th of April with a doubleheader against the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Brad Bergesen started the opener and was lit up for five runs, all earned in the first two innings. Bergesen finished with five strikeouts, but allowed six earned runs total in 4 1/3 innings in his first start.
Tides first baseman Joe Mahoney is a player to watch this season and in the first game of the doubleheader, got the power going with a three-run shot off Knights starter Charles Shirek in the 4th inning that cut the Knights lead to 5-4. Charlotte tacked on another late run to win the first game 6-5.
Chris Tillman started game two for the Tides, also going 4 1/3 innings in his 2012 debut. He allowed four earned runs, while walking two and striking out two. Norfolk couldn’t muster much against Knights starter Dylan Axelrod as he struck out nine batters in the 6-3 loss in Game two. READ MORE >>>
By Matt Lund, on April 6th, 2012 Welcome to the first edition of Tidal Waves. Baseball season is here and I’ll be covering the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides. The Tides are what Orioles fans hope will be the eventual pipeline between the minors and “The Show” in Baltimore for highly-touted prospects.
Last season the Tides finished 4th in the South with a 56-87 record as they struggled through injuries and inconsistencies. Of course, AAA is also a place where pieces can be moved back and forth between Norfolk and Baltimore, so that added to the end result as well.
This season under manager Ron Johnson, the Tides will look to improve on last season’s mark, relying, at least initially, on pitchers that have options after the Orioles spent much of the winter adding depth to their pitching staff.
The Tides open their home portion of the 2012 schedule, April 9th against the Gwinnett Braves. Let’s first take a closer look at what the 2012 Norfolk Tides will look like. READ MORE >>>
By BSR Staff, on March 22nd, 2012  Incarcerated Bob, the sports world’s biggest news breaker, joins the podcast to talk about breaking the Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow stories. The guys also vent about taxpayer dollars being spent by Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Governor O’Malley on food and drinks at Ravens games.
Join Zach, Patrick and Matt for this week’s edition of the best sports podcast in Baltimore, the BSR Podcast.
Here are some of the topics discussed on this week’s show:
Mayor Rawlings-Blake And Governor O’Malley Spend Nearly $6K In Taxpayer Money At Ravens Ravens
- Baltimore’s Mayor and Maryland’s governor hosted folks in their skyboxes all season long and treated them to nearly $3,000 a piece in food and non-alcoholic drinks.
- Rawlings-Blake and O’Malley spent taxpayer money during these Ravens parties.
- The guys ask for one of the red velvet cupcakes Rawlings-Blake gave out during Steelers week.
Incarcerated Bob Talks With The BSR Podcast (7 minutes 30 seconds)
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By Zach Wilt, on March 19th, 2012  While the Orioles have seen good things from Brian Matusz, and Chris Tillman this Spring, they have gotten some more bad news on Zach Britton’s health.
The 24-year-old lefty showed up to Spring Training still bothered by a lingering shoulder injury he suffered in August of 2011 and on Sunday night he was scratched from his start in a Single-A game at Twin Lakes Park. Manager Buck Showalter acknowledged that the shoulder injury was to blame.
Britton’s chancing of being on the roster on Opening Day are becoming increasingly more slim, but Showalter still isn’t giving up hope that he’ll be ready. ”Dr. Wilckens doesn’t think it’s anything serious. Just something we’ve got to manage and try to get it quieted down,” Showalter told MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko.
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By Zach Wilt, on March 13th, 2012  It’s mid-March, which means I’m allowed to be optimistic about the Orioles and not get made fun of. As of right now, the Orioles are tied for first place in baseball with a 0-0 regular season record.
.500! Woohoo!
Even though the O’s are likely headed towards another 90ish-loss season, there have been some encouraging signs coming from Sarasota.
We should start over the weekend with Brian Matusz who threw four shutout innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. I was critical of Matusz’s spring debut in which he struggled with his velocity and got hit around over two innings.
But he bounced back against Philadelphia and the velocity returned. Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com says that Matusz was clocked in the 90-91 range the first two innings and hit 94-95 over the last two innings. He struck out four including slugger Jim Thome and Hunter Pence back-to-back in the fourth inning. Matusz turned some heads on Saturday and was the talk of O’s camp. It was a pleasant surprise.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 24th, 2012  If I were setting odds in Vegas, I’d say the Orioles chances of landing Prince Fielder are about 100:1. But after witnessing the heartbreak that the Ravens just endured in New England, I have to have something to wish before September.
Just as Lloyd Christmas found hope in his one in a million shot of landing Mary Swanson — or Samsonite — I too have to take Prince’s last remaining hours as a free agent and wonder what the next 5-10 years would be like with him in a cartoon bird hat.
More than anything I wish to see the Orioles turn the ship around and put a winning product on the field. I long for meaningful September baseball — and not just the kind where the O’s send the Sox (and their fans from Delaware and Virginia) home disappointed. I don’t see those days in the near future, but some Orioles buzz would be generated if Dan Duquette could bring Prince Fielder to Baltimore.
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By Mark Brown, on January 9th, 2012  Right from the start new Orioles GM Dan Duquette said that the O’s wouldn’t be pursuing any top free agents. His plan was to lay back and wait for the best bargains. But will that plan put a winner on the field? Spending too much money hasn’t worked for Baltimore, as we saw with Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez, and Rafael Palmeiro. Not spending and building from within has also not worked, as we saw with a young rotation of Matusz, Arrieta, Britton, and Tillman. So will finding a happy medium and doing nothing but filling the holes be the answer? No way. So the Orioles have to make smart “good bargain” moves. And it surely isn’t impossible to still have a good off-season at this point. Take a look at the bargain players the Pirates have already acquired. They added small pieces for limited money that I think have major upside for that team. Guys like Erik Bedard, Rod Barajas, Ryota Igarashi, Nate McLouth, and Jake Fox could be steals for them. And yes, I mean former Orioles Bedard and Fox. So are there still good enough players out there for the Orioles to get in order to have a successful off-season? So far we have gotten 3 guys that I actually feel have been nice bargains. Tsuyoshi Wada, Endy Chavez, and Dana Eveland. None are superstars, but all could play a large role for the limited money they are making. Who else can the birds bring in to add to that list? Let’s take a look position by position at unsigned free agents. They are ranked in order of who I think the Orioles should sign.
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By Mark Brown, on January 1st, 2012   With all the hot Orioles talk lately from the readers of BSR, I figured I’d stir the pot some more. Trying to invoke some New Year’s spirit, I’ve decided to address the New Year’s resolutions of our beloved Orioles team. I’m not sure what the actual resolution of each guy truly is, but I can easily tell you what they should be.
2012 Baltimore Orioles New Year’s Resolutions:
Matt Wieters’ New Year’s Resolution is to surpass the offensive statistics of Brian McCann- Along with guys like Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez, McCann has been considered one of the league’s elite catchers over the past 6 years. When Matt Wieters was drafted scouts were saying that he would hit for the average of Joe Mauer and with the power of Brian McCann. Bypassing McCann would be a major feat and would immediately put Wieters into elite status. In 2011 McCann put up .270/24/71. Wieters put up .262/22/68. So they were already close. Wieters will be entering his 3rd full major league season and is still only 25 years old. If he were able to jump McCann in 2012, then the Orioles know they have a legit #3 batting switch hitting catcher. Have I mentioned that his defense has already surpassed McCann’s?
Mark Reynolds’ New Year’s Resolution is to at least reach his career batting average- It’s only a .238 career average. That seems pretty bad right? It’s actually pretty solid compared to the .198 he put up in 2010, and the .221 he put up in 2011. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on July 19th, 2011 Coming into the 2011 season, the O’s starting rotation looked to have a good deal of promise. They had a group of young guys (Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen) that all showed flashes, some more than others, of being very good pitchers in this league. They also had a veteran in Jeremy Guthrie, who brought some experience and leadership to the group. Matusz was the most promising of the young bunch especially after finishing last season on a roll, winning six decisions in a row and seven of his last eight. He looked to be on the fast track to be the ace of the staff and lead the charge of the O’s young and talented arms. That is, until he was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the start of the season with a rib injury. READ MORE >>>
By Ross Gore, on July 15th, 2011 
On the Thursday July 14th edition of ESPN’s Baseball Today, Keith Law brought up the following: Why are all the O’s pitchers losing velocity? Law’s comments exactly where: “Some this, what is going on with their pitching, might be their own fault. Matusz gets hurt, loses velocity. Tillman gets to the big leagues, loses velocity. Matt Hobgood, first round pick a couple years ago, first year in the system, he blows out his shoulder, he loses velocity. Brandon Erbe, top prospect, hurts his shoulder, he loses velocity. There is a long list of guys, pitchers, in that Orioles system who have had major arm problems, often shoulder, and have lost velocity. I don’t know what is going on and it could just be a run of really bad luck, but if you’re Andy MacPhail you have to sit down with player development, maybe independent of player development, and say ‘What the heck are we doing wrong that all of these really talented pitchers we are getting into the system are getting hurt and/or losing their fastballs.’” Law is completely right on this issue. Furthermore, he didn’t even mention former first round pick Adam Lowen who will never pitch again after a stress fracture in his elbow in 2008. I had actually noticed this issue independent of Law and noted it in the comments of Daniel Moroz’s summary of Brian Matusz’s shelling on June 30th. As of the Allstar Break the three young Orioles starters whom we have multi-year MLB data for have showcased the following velocity decreases.
Law didn’t mention Arrieta and I’d be perfectly willing to admit that his decrease in velocity is in the noise, but the other two pitchers have a better pedigree than Arrieta and seem to be losing velocity at an extremely high rate. What compounds the matters is that both Mark Connor and Rick Adair seem insistent that the O’s starters throw their fastballs more than any other staff in the majors (O’s starters have the highest fastball usage rate of 7/14). I don’t know enough about scouting or player development to determine if the injuries and decreased velocity are simply bad luck or symptoms of a systemic problem in the organization. Regardless is a very disturbing trend and one that deserves extreme attention in the future.
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By Zach Wilt, on May 17th, 2011  All appeared to be going well for the Orioles mid-way through last night’s game against the Boston Red Sox. Chris Tillman looked as though he would be winning his first back to back games this season, but left after just five shutout innings and 88 pitches.
After the Orioles lost the six run lead and the game to Boston, Buck Showalter told the media that Tillman was dealing with back tightness prior to his start. ”That last inning it grabbed on him a couple times,” the Orioles skipper told Gary Thorne on MASN.
The Birds were also forced to play Jake Fox at first base after Derrek Lee left with a left oblique strain. Lee suffered the injury running to first base and was removed in the third inning. ”We’ve had enough experience with them [oblique injuries], haven’t we,” Showalter asked.
By Zach Wilt, on April 14th, 2011  The Orioles fell in New York 7-4 on Wednesday night after a 1.2 inning outing from starting pitcher Chris Tillman. The 22 year old has seen declining numbers in his statistics since his 6 inning no hit performance on April 2 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Following the game, Manager Buck Showalter told Gary Thorne that Tillman has to improve. “Not good. Not good. Not good enough,” Showalter said. ”He’ll have to get better than that.”
Showalter commented on Tillman’s control saying that he saw only three first pitch strikes on seventeen batters. “I don’t care if you’re playing a real good club like the Yankees, you’re going to have some troubles [without throwing more strikes],” Showalter said.
It was six earned runs Wednesday night and four against Detroit on April 7 in 4.2 innings. Showalter says that he feels Tillman is “forcing” pitches. “I thought he was forcing his last outing, [his] first time was good even though he had some command issues.”
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