Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.
Last week, the Orioles celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1983 World Series title. That was the last time the once-proud franchise won a championship, in case you were wondering, and it's been a decade since they were relevant.
To an outsider it might look like the latest gaffe from a front office that has been as hapless as they come since the days of the Clinton administration. But spend a few days with the team at Camden Yards and you get an entirely different vibe.
MacPhail has overhauled the organization in such a way that there's very real hope for the very near future. In perfect concert, manager Dave Trembley has changed the clubhouse culture, stressing things like accountability, respect and appreciation. It's enough to make you see the light at the end of the tunnel, if nothing else.
As I've said before, the Orioles have always been MY BOYS so I'm trying desperately to do that rosey goggles thing and see them for what they are in a positive light: The Bad News Bears if you replaced all the children with goofy looking white teenagers and Hispanic guys. I'm hoping for some karmic retribution for that 69 World Series loss in the form of a Miracle Season where the Orioles win a hundred games out of nowhere and make it deep into the playoffs.
I will settle for Albers and Sarfate being adopted by a homeless guy. This is Birdland~! after the jump.
Hold on, I'm going to change into my Sports Writing pants for a second.
How dare you, Miguel Tejada. How dare you treat the citizens of this great state of America with such disregard, such painful abandon, such un-sincerity. How dare you point your cold, skeletal finger at our government and say, "I did not have sexual relations with that steroid." How dare you, Miguel Tejada. How dare you indeed!
/takes off pants
I hope we find out that Miggy is 100% clean, that he only stuffed creatine up his butthole to keep his iron up or something, and that we find out how big of a jackass any sportswriter is who'd vilify a sports celebrity for something like this. After the jump, I kind of condescend on people who aren't from America in a secondhand, found art sort of way, and then rats attack!
I've been an Orioles fan since birth. I watched them win a World Series when I was three. I collected Cal Ripken, Jr. and Eddie Murray cards from the back of boxes of macaroni and cheese. I put stickers of guys like Larry Sheets into sticker books even when they couldn't use the logos and everybody wore solid color hats. In the last few years I grew up, moved to Cleveland, and discovered that practically everybody who has ever been an Oriole snorted weed off of Jose Canseco's rippling abdominals and hates me.
Maybe it's just Peter Angelos. Maybe he knows some deep, dark secrets about the bubbling potential of Matt Albers that I don't know, but I don't think he does. I think he wanted to unload a guy who was mailing it in anyway. Yeah, that's fine. I'm glad we got 5 Houston Astros jobbers instead of Manny Ramirez and Matt Clement. We should've gone even farther and just gotten five players to be named later. Players that aren't even born yet. Let the Astros sit on it for a while, see how they like their All-Star shortstop for several seasons of divisional contention.
I like my Orioles like I like my Dugouts: with overwhelming apologies to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.
Just before the 2006 trade deadline rumors abounded that Miguel Tejada would be traded to the Houston Astros in exchange for Roy Oswalt. The deadline passed, though, but Houston never lost a taste for Tejada. They traded five players to Baltimore today to acquire the four-time All Star.
Tejada, 31, isn't coming off his best season. He hit 18 homers, drove in 81 RBI and posted a 799 OPS in a season interrupted by his first career trip to the disabled list. That OPS was his lowest since his first full season, however, and it isn't as if the Astros got much production from Adam Everett at shortstop. There was talk of moving him to third because of glove issues but he'll likely stay there for now. That's good as his offense isn't all that special from a third baseman.
The Orioles did very well in return. They pick up outfielder Luke Scott, third baseman Michael Costanzo and pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate. Patton ranks third on Baseball America's list of top Astros prospects while Costanzo ranks sixth. Albers ranked third, behind Patton, on last year's list. Scott posted an 855 OPS in 369 at-bats this season and should provide the Orioles with cheap power in a corner outfield spot.
For a team that's short on young players, the Astros dealt a lot of them for two years of Tejada. Everyone knew that the Orioles were desperate to move Tejada's salary. To get so much in return for a player coming off a down year is a feather in the cap of Andy MacPhail.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
Cleveland Indians (87-62) vs. Detroit Tigers (83-67 )- 7:05PM Est.
If the Tigers want to win the AL Central, they better get started tonight. The Indians are currently 4.5 games up on the Tigers, with a magic number of 9. A couple of wins in this series for the Tribe, and it's good night Tigers. It's not going to be easy for Detroit, because Paul Byrd is taking the mound for Cleveland tonight. All he's looking to is join C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona as 16-game winners in in Cleveland's rotation. Byrd's having the best year of his career, and he's won five of his last six starts. Against Detroit this season he's 2-0, but does have a 5.30 ERA. Kenny Rogers starts for the Tigers, and would like to prove that lefties make the best soft-tossers. He doesn't have much of an argument though as far as success against Cleveland. The reason Byrd is 2-0 despite an ERA of 5.30 against Detroit? Rogers gave up seven runs in 0.2 innings of work in one of those games. Something tells me The Gambler will last longer than that tonight.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Atlanta Braves (64-59) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (71-53)-1:05PM Est.
What was once an incredibly tight four-team race in the NL West is quickly starting to become a three-team battle for second place. The Diamondbacks have won their last four games, and have opened up a 5-game lead on the second place San Diego Padres. It's not only the NL West they lead to, as the Diamondbacks are the only team in the National League with 70 wins on the season, and have a one-game lead over the Mets for homefield advantage in the playoffs. Brandon Webb hasn't given up a run since July, and Micah Owings is not only pitching well, but he's outhitting his opposition as well. Today the Diamondbacks look to complete a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, a team they've dominated that last few seasons. Since last season these two teams have met 12 times, and Arizona has come away with a victory in 10 of the meetings. The Braves meanwhile have fallen to 5.5 games behind the Mets in the NL East and are growing desperate for wins. John Smoltz will get the start this afternoon in hopes of stopping the bleeding, but Smoltz hasn't picked up a win in his last four starts. Yusmeiro Petit starts for the Diamondbacks, replacing the recently DFA'd Byung-Hyun Kim.
The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Chicago Cubs (16-15) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (14-18)-2:20PM Est.
The Cubs got back to their winning ways last night, and look to start another win streak this afternoon. Carlos Zambrano will go to the mound looking to improve on Jason Marquis' three-hit gem last night. Speaking of streaks, Alfonso Soriano's solo home run provided all the scoring in yesterday's affair, and another hit today would extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Of course, whether that's impressive or not is up to you.
Minnesota Twins (17-16) vs. Chicago White Sox (15-15)-1:10PM Est.
The White Sox are hitting a Major League worst .223, but their bats have seemed to come to life as of late. They look to continue that trend this afternoon against Carlos Silva and the Twins, and if history can show us anything, it's that the Sox are likely to continue hitting today. As a team the White Sox have hit .353 with 14 home runs and 34 RBI against Silva, so he's going to need a lot of help from Torii Hunter to keep them off the board today. Speaking of Hunter, he's looking to extend his hit streak to 24 games. Cincinnati Reds (14-20) vs. Houston Astros (16-17)-12:35PM Est.
The Reds are hoping to avoid the embarrassment of being swept in a four game series at home this afternoon at the Great American Ballpark. A lot of the blame for the first three games can be pinned on the Reds less than impressive bullpen, so it will be up to Aaron Harang to go deep into today's game. Matt Albers will pitch for Houston, and he's coming off the first win of his career after holding the Cardinals scoreless in 7.1 innings.
When your rotation consists of Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Roger Clemens you don't have to worry much about who starts after them because you're going to win a lot of games. When that rotation gets broken up, suddenly fourth and fifth starters become much more important. That's the situation the Astros find themselves in this spring and they're having trouble filling the rotation out.
With less than two weeks remaining before the start of the season, the Astros still haven't answered any of the key questions they had when spring training began one month ago.
At the top of that list is the competition for the fifth and final spot in the pitching rotation, which is a four-man race among young righthanders Matt Albers, Fernando Nieve and Chris Sampson and veteran righthander Brian Moehler.
They have had their ups and downs this spring and will have only a couple of more chances to show manager Phil Garner and his staff what they can do.
"They're all scheduled to pitch right on through to the exhibition series against Kansas City (March 30, 31 at Minute Maid Park)," Garner said. "It may take me that long to figure out what I'm going to do."
It seems like as easy as it was for the Cardinals to answer their rotation questions, it's been every bit that hard for the Astros to answer theirs. With the way the four competitors for the spot have pitched, it's pretty hard to even call any of them the "winner" for the final rotation spot, no matter who ends up with it.
Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.
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Hold on, I'm going to change into my Sports Writing pants for a second.
I've been an Orioles fan since birth. I watched them win a World Series when I was three. I collected Cal Ripken, Jr. and Eddie Murray cards from the back of boxes of macaroni and cheese. I put stickers of guys like Larry Sheets into sticker books even when they couldn't use the logos and everybody wore solid color hats. In the last few years I grew up, moved to Cleveland, and discovered that practically everybody who has ever been an Oriole snorted weed off of Jose Canseco's rippling abdominals and hates me. 
Just before the 2006 trade deadline rumors abounded that 
When your rotation consists of Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Roger Clemens you don't have to worry much about who starts after them because you're going to win a lot of games. When that rotation gets broken up, suddenly fourth and fifth starters become much more important. That's the situation the Astros find themselves in this spring and 
