hOvering

wayward o is back from n'awlins. he knows all city's hot spots now. first off is MAPLE LEAF bar go there on a TUESDAY NIGHT and you will meet RABBIT the bouncer. he is OLD FRIEND and POKER BUDDY of NEWLY SIGNED ORIOLE RYAN O'SHEA. those louisiana boys can play some hardball. on tuesday night you will also hear REBIRTH BRASS BAND. those fellers can honk.

this is special picture of french quarter at night time. what is so rare as night in june? AN ORIOLE SUNDAY WIN, THAT'S WHAT!



N'Awlins
also wayward o met a famous RUGBY PLAYER ... daragh hurley from the munster, ireland team. a nicer guy you shall not meet. he was hanging around with a very pretty lady at THE WORLD FAMOUS APPLE BARREL on frenchman street which is BEST BAR IN WORLD.

here are THREE RESTAURANTS at which you MUST EAT if you go dere:

• BAYONA,
• JACQUES IMOS
• and DICK and JENNY'S

... tell 'em the Wayward O sent ya! (and that won't mean anything but it will be random and funny.)

team seemed to hover just above .500 for last week or so ... nice series win vs. cubbies. lacking direction is a good thing especially when direction is DOWN. yesterday was a let-down but it happens georgie boy. shake it off.

very much looking forward to tonight's game and quiet night with baseball. also wayward O will eat nothing but CARROT STICKS for a few weeks until ADDED BACKFAT from TRIP TO BIG EASY is GONE.

checking Out

hello. wayward o is sad that freddy the bee was sent down. surely there was some misunderstanding. or perhaps freebie was simply 'misunderestimated.' anyway ... we'll see us some freddy again soon. probably not long after oscar salazar actually plays short for the first time as a reserve.

after series with cubs team plays nats, rangers, royale, jays and red sox before all star break. that's two really good clubs and four beatable clubs. that means team should be above .500 at all-star break.

wayward o is checking out until june 30 ... flying down to n'awlins to see what that's all about. will be checking box scores on handy telephone that also has the infernets on it. if you know any great spots in big easy, don't keep 'em to yourselves!

audiOfile, part 4

baseball team is not stingy with magic! here is game-winner from night where wayward O was in attendance - in super club suite thanks to well-connected friends of wayward o (f.o.w.o.s.). it's like they say in SONG --- YUO MAKE MAGIC HaPPEN especially on RETRO CAP NIGHT and $2 NaTTY BO day at Pickles. Oh Wait that's every day in Land of Pleasant Living...


sorry about poor video quality! in fact do not EVEN WATCH VIDEO. who cares? much more important is that DARVIN HAM from the WUZZNarTZZ i mean WIZZNUTZZ has been digging around in VIRTUAL CRATES and he has found actual .mp3 of ORIOLES MAGIC THEME SONG ripped FROM ORIGINAL 45 VINYL!!!



Orioles vinyl ... feel it happen!
listen/downloaddon't forget to say "thanks" in commentz!
OMG-WTF-BBQ that FRENCH HORN INTRO is enough to make EDDIE MURRAY'S FRO stand on end!

download and enjoy and to one particular F.O.W.O. who suggested that there is NO NEW INFORMATION ON SITE, put that in your pipe and smoke it!! and put it in your ipOd -- or should wayward o say opOd -- and listen to it.

and to SUITE OWNERS, sorry there may not be any more MGD's in your FRIDGE. it's not my fault!!

and to MILWAUKEE BREWERS i worry a little about upcoming series but not too much.

and if you think that was a LUCKY DIG by darvin boy are you mistaken. and you have never been to see GOD SHAMMGOD'S MIXTAPE (not to be confused with TIM SHAMSTOPPARD and DON SHAMAASE) your home for all things MD/DC/VA sports oriented and many other nuggetzz to boot!

PS. and lastly to CATONSVILLE YOUTH RED SOX!! YOU RULE THOSE OTHER GUYS JUST LUCKED OUT ANY GIVEN DAY!!!!!!

this, that and the Other...

wayward o doesn't consider it to be a comeback unless team comes back at least twice and, more aptly, thrice.

also there was so much melmOsity at yard last night. it was as if a melmostic weather front set in and held sway over all things!

and nick markakis can't hit with two strikes. why is that? but he can hit with every other amount of strikes. perhaps it is something that ... um ... er ... a COACH might want to address?

we have some very special posts in pipeline but traveling is cutting into blog schedule. so for now just words. boring, boring words. but lately there has been SO MUCH TRAFFIC and SO MUCH COMMENTS on site! this makes wayward o's heart very full with melmoliciousness and also feels as if one too many boog sandwiches was eaten. but please keep 'em coming and tell wayward o what is what! preferably also do so after several frosty beverages have loosed your TRUE THOUGHTS on crucial matters such as whether Oscar Salazar could beat Kevin Millar at Wii arm-wrestling!

also wayward o will finally make it to yard tonight! this means team will lose 2-1. or something. no wait, they will win! no wait they will ... I DON'T KNOW! anyway it has been long road since knee operation and it's nice to be getting on track.

ps. how did yamkeys get to be five games over .500? it matters not.

last chance to stOp the madness...

here are just a few scenarios for MLB to think about before implementing video replay:

• batter hits a ball down line, barely fair, but umpire calls it foul. batter keeps running but defense doesn't play the ball because of the foul call. batter scores on an inside-the-park home run. replays show ball was fair. can you take the run off the board? where do you put the batter? 2nd? and how long will it take to sort it out after both managers have hissy fits?
• batter hits squibber behind bag at first, runs down line until umpire calls it foul. first baseman, sure it's actually fair, plays the ball and tags the batter out. replay shows ball was fair. is batter out? and how long will it take to sort it all out?
• a batter gets screwed over a couple times on replay calls and, not wanting to get screwed again, refuses to stop running every time he hits one near the line regardless of the call.

surely there are more scenarios like that. if you think of one, let fly in comments.

just to be clear. this stuff

• is GOING TO HAPPEN (assuming any extensive replay system is adopted)
• and it's going to happen in IMPORTANT GAMES
• and it gives the UMPIRE MORE POWER, not less
• and it will take MORE TIME, not less
• because they will have to make JUDGMENT CALLS about what WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

in wayward oriole's opinion it's a massive cluster(bomb) waiting to happen. the players need to trust the umps, for better or worse. the replay will undermine players' trust in the umps and force them to make their own decisions in "real-time" as to whether balls are fair or foul.

9:46 a.m. update: thanks to hans bungle for pointing out that replay right now seems only to involve questionable home run calls (i'm wary). hans bungle is a yankee fan so he rarely comments here but it's usually worth reading.

diaspOra, part 7

name: unknown
location: bronx-bound 4 train in lower manghattan
status: unknown


gear of choice: fitted wool alternate Os cap with matching polo tee (nice)
quote: unavailable
wayward o says: possible fan, possible fashion statement, maybe bOth

Open thread

wayward O is enjoying team's road trip, working on new melmOmeter reading and also preparing fresh MLB-wide post. but wayward O works slowly and also is distracted by soccer at moment. what's on your mind today?

11:48 a.m. update: apparently eric bedard took himself out of a 1-1 game up in boston yesterday having thrown 99 pitches and rumor has it the seattles might be shopping him ahead of the july deadline.

rOster changes

these two .gifs kind of remind wayward o of luis hernandez' time in majors this year:




each portrays a child, unaware of true depths of surroundings, beset by ill fOrtune and yet doggedly attempting to persist, survive, and even smile.

luis' struggles are metaphor for sad beauty of life's rich pageant. and also his failures open door for freddy the bee. who is awesomer than an august cumulonimbus cloud about to shake the chesapeake to its core.

speaking of awesome portent, this note, in balto. sun, is the larger truth as lost season continues apace:

With rookie reliever Jim Johnson winning Monday night against the Boston Red
Sox [and Radhames Liz' win Tuesday night], the Orioles had pitchers earn their first major league victories in consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 1-2, 1978, when Dave Ford and Sammy Stewart beat the Chicago White Sox on back-to-back nights, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

our time is coming, friends. our time is coming.

baltimOre

wayward O is delighted to read this morning that 'baltimore' will be back on team's road jerseys. that way everyone will know where orioles are from!

and team won't be retarted anymore, bucking ancient MLB tradition in favor of newbie owner's silly dream of marketing to midlantic region.

thank goodness for this news because listening to 'sweet caroline' playing at yard last night was almost more than wayward o could bear. don't ever say that pete the owner doesn't know how to chase down a dollar.

of course perhaps playing bosox song is a CHALLENGE to team's fans to come to YARD. maybe but wayward o isn't feeling all that conspiratOrial today. anyway it's probably a fine time to AGAIN DEBUNK misnomer so often stated on-air when boston visits balto.: the red sox fans are not coming down from boston. FOR THE LAST TIME, THEY LIVE IN MD/DC AREA AND WORK AT FED. who would want to live in boston?* the pay sucks and the winter lasts until june 15th... but they have lots of GUILT and the ROMANTICIZE boston so they CHANNEL that through BASEBALL TEAM. for more on this please re-visit last year's interlopers post.


here's some sketch-age on team members, based on their performance so far, placed in seven categories:

EXCELLING: big bird, george sherrill, brian roberts, albers

ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE EXCELLING: garrett olson

STREAKY BUT TOTALLY STILL THE MAN: the young savior

HOLDING THEIR OWN: burress, guthrie, melmO, huff, paytOn, sarfate, quirOz, walker, bradfOrd, luke scOtt

GETS PASS FOR ENTIRE SEASON: adam jOnes, jim johnsOn aka young houdini, freebie, luis hernandez

BARELY ADEQUATE: ramOn, cintrOn, cOrmier

BELOW the WATERLINE: millar, trachsel

kevbo, you know wayward O likes ya but damn. you're killing team on basepaths, on defense and on offense. play hard. it's ok. we'll always appreciate what you done for team during lost season.

overall there's so many reasons for hope. and just one or two more upgrades, either from farm or from league, and team will be hitting on at least four cylinderzzzz.

* actually boston ain't so bad, really...