14,203 April 29, 2009

That’s your paid crowd. I don’t think more than 4, 203 are actually here.
Leading off the 8th, Adam Jones weakly hit a grounder to left that was kicked around by a pair of Angels. Call it the O’s first good break of the day as the O’s finally get a lead-off guy on late in [...]

Taking Their Best Shot April 29, 2009

It only took one pitch in the top half of the 7th for the Angels to take the lead. Torii Hunter absolutely destroyed an Uehara offering to left field.
 
Try 405 feet. At least that was the announced distance. It looked more like 500 feet.
 
3 pitches later, Kendry Morales took Uehara out to center. 3-1 Angels [...]

Quite A Game April 29, 2009

On the way back from two trips outside of the press area, I’ve missed both runs this afternoon as the O’s and Angels play on in the 4th inning at Oriole Park.
 
That’s tough to do.
 
A Morales RBI triple brought in the Angels first run of the afternoon. Then it got interesting.
 
On a ground ball [...]

That’s Koji With A “K” April 29, 2009

Koji Uehara loves cold weather.
 
At least in Baltimore in late April.
 
Uehara has five strikeouts through three innings this afternoon against the Angels.
 
It’s a shame that no one cares that much about it.
 
Here’s the general breakout of those at the Yard today:
            *90% – Kids who are skipping school
            *9% – The unemployed
            *1% – [...]

Pulling A Moeller April 29, 2009

Talk about a career at-bat for catcher Chad Moeller.
 
Watching the L.A. Angels play soccer in left field, Moeller hustled (kind of) to leg into a triple to lead off the second inning.
 
Then it went horribly wrong.
 
Felix Pie knocked a hotshot directly to Kendry Morales, which the first baseman played splendidly to look back [...]

Uncle Charlie April 29, 2009

 
Tim McCarver, pretty much the authority on baseball and Ally McBeal once said “at a base-ball game, odds are you’ll always see something that you’ve never seen before.” Or something like that. I probably shouldn’t have put that in quotes.
 
Anyway, in the away half of the first inning, the Orioles had the unusual combination of [...]

Game Notes April 29, 2009

We’re 25 minutes before first pitch and there are three things that sticks out from my perch at the Park:
 

The in-house TV has C-SPAN 2 on. Maybe we’ll see Sen. Arlen Specter take his new seat on the other side of the building. Maybe not.

 

They are playing “The Hustle” on the in-house sound system. With [...]

IT’S A DAYGAME April 29, 2009

Field trip day brings many things to Oriole Park.
 
Mostly kids.
 
And lots of ‘em.
 
Walking down to the main concourse about an hour away from the first pitch, I counted about 100 kids from local schools who got to play hokey on a grey Wednesday afternoon. Beats class, right? Matter of fact, it beats real work [...]

Come Clean April 29, 2009

One of my favorite HD channels is called Palladia. Call it MTV in HD…and you actually want to watch it.
 
Waking up this morning to the music video collection, Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean” came on during a downpour in Baltimore. Talk about life imitating art.
 
I don’t like Duff, the song or rain in general, yet [...]

Bad Break April 27, 2009

Quality Road, the winner of the Florida Derby and favorite for the Kentucky Derby, still waits to race at Churchill Downs.
 
He won’t make the trip this weekend when the best 3-year-olds in the world gather in Louisville for the most prestigious horse race in the world.
 
Quality Road has a quarter crack on his right hind foot, [...]