Orioles Spring Training Report #1

March 8, 2006

Greetings. I had a wild hair and jumped in the RV and drove to Vero Beach and watched the O's and Dodgers play today. I'll stick around and watch 4-5 games over the next several days. 16 hours is a long way to drive for a single game.

Today's game started out optimistically enough, with the O's taking a 3-0 lead sparked by Cory Patterson's first spring homer to lead off the 3rd. Unfortunately I was just returning to my seat after chit-chatting with Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette, so I actually didn't see the play till Cory was rounding second.

Later I teased Flanagan, that I was his good luck charm, to which he replied with his dry wit, "where have you been all spring?"

Unfortunately the "luck" didn't last long, as the O's dropped the game 9-3.

The highlights:

• Dubose, Hawkins and Mitchell all looked sharp on the mound covering 4 scoreless innings amongst them.

• Patterson made two VERY nice catches in the outfield, and hit the homer and walked
  

• Whiteside had a couple of hits and looked good behind the plate
  

• Markakis didn't show me much today, but he did walk twice
  

• Hawkins made JD drew look absolutely pathetic in a good morning, good afternoon, good night confrontation in the 5th
  

• Calzado hit a triple in the 3rd. He is WAY faster than I ever thought he was. The ball was a gapper played well off the fence and I thought it was a clear double. I was surprised to look up and see Nap taking long quick strides between second and third!
  

The Lowlights:

• Patterson failed to get a bunt down in the first
  

• Gomez got picked off second in the 6th
  

• Brower, Bottalico were absolutely brutal and got hit very hard. They pitched behind throughout their stints and were not commanding the strike zone. Leo went out to talk with Bottalico at one point. It didn't seem to help him.
  

• Val played first and did an ok job over there. But I noticed that every time he threw the ball he had a very noticeable "short-arm" motion. I'm no orthopedist, but he looked like someone who has not yet regained full extension of the elbow since his surgery…just my observation.
  

• Calzado played ok at 3rd, but he played like someone not completely comfortable with the position.
  

• Most of the vets didn't make the trip to Vero == as per usual. But the team seemed flat to me and could have used some of that touted veteran leadership.
  

The Lighter side:

• Flanny and Duq looked relaxed and dapper, munching popcorn and talking continuously throughout the game.
  

• Flanny was on a lengthy phone call during the entire 6th and 7th innings
  

• When Bottalico pitched, Duq left his shaded seat in the “pressbox” and went down and sat right behind home plate at nearly ground level. I hope he doesn’t need therapy after that close-up. :-)
  

That's it for today. I'll try to get some time to chat with Flanny sometime while I'm down here.