Quick Hits: The Roundup -- Oriole News...

The Orioles had a well needed off day, as they head into Washington D.C. to take on the surging Nationals. I’ll be at the majority of the games this weekend, taking pictures, meeting new friends and rooting on the two teams I cover, the Nationals and Orioles.

Like I said in a previous entry, this series may not have the sexiness of Yankees-Mets, but it should be fun to see.

The big news during the off-day was that the Baltimore Orioles were allegedly going to put the city back onto road uniforms by an announcement on WNST; however, that has been since refuted by the Orioles and Roch Kubakto from the Baltimore Sun in a series of posts yesterday on his blog.

As we all know, the Orioles are in a dangerous tailspin in which the job security of Sam Perlozzo was rumored to jeopardy, there was nearly an episode of WWE in Smackdown after a Blue Jays game, and now news Freddie Bynum was upset too.

I know the Orioles want to just win, but I am perplexed why things seem not to be going their way. In today’s Baltimore Sun, Jeff Zrebiec notes that players are troubled by that quandary, but they do want to win, considering the talent on board.

Spencer Fordin from the Orioles.com reports, despite the record of the team, the O’s still think they can contend in the American League.

As well, Spencer also has an article on Miguel Tejada, and reports on the shortstop’s success, plus the admiration his teammates have for him.

In more gloom and doom for the Orioles, Rick Maese of the Sun writes a great article comparing the Baltimore Orioles organizational philosophy versus what is going on in Washington D.C. with the Nationals and their rebuilding. The Nationals may be losing, but there’s a plan in place to ascend to prominence, while the Orioles seem to be stuck in neutral.

In today’s Washington Post, beat reporters Barry Svrluga and Adam Kilgore have an article in the paper about the organization approach of both the Orioles and Nationals. The article looks at payroll, players, and how both teams plan to attack their losing ways.

‘Baltimore’ on the Road Jersey -- The Story That Was, or Wasn’t, More WNST and the Steinbrenner Video (AGAIN)

For nearly a generation, many Orioles fans have not ad the privilege of seeing the word ‘Baltimore’ on their grey road unis. Many have clamored over the years for the name of the city to reappear on the uniforms to restore civic pride and to bring back some nostalgia.

I would love to see this happen. Although I grew up in the Washington suburbs, I consider the Orioles my favorite team, and seeing ‘Baltimore’ on the uniforms will bring some of the old school feeling – you know, the days of Frank, Boog and the Human Vacuum.

Well, this morning, WNST radio personality, Drew Forrester announced that the Baltimore Orioles were in plans with MLB to restore the city’s name on the road uniforms.

Looking around on the boards, websites and the various blogs, there was a feeling of euphoria and happiness with the Orioles that they perhaps for once gave the fans what they wanted.

However, the good feelings were in place for only a short time.

This afternoon, Greg Bader from the Baltimore Orioles refuted the announcement from WNST this morning. He said in an email (from Roch Kubatko’s blog), "Despite unfounded rumors to the contrary, there has been no decision made to change the Orioles' uniforms. We sincerely appreciate all of the enthusiasm our fans have in the operations of the ballclub and the interest surrounding this particular issue."

Well, the air got deflated from the balloon for many people, and Drew Forrester went on the offensive in his blog. Long story, short, Drew wrote back the Orioles and could not get a confirmation, while other members of the Baltimore media were able to.

Baltimore Sun writer Roch Kubatko in his blog got first hand info from the Baltimore Orioles and MLB, that for now there will not be a uniform change.

From my point of view, I’d love to see ‘Baltimore’ on the road uniforms, but I’d prefer to see a winner first. I think it would be a nice touch and a gesture of goodwill for fans for the Oriole to use the name of the city on the jerseys, but they’ll do as they wish.

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Well, since we are on the topic of WNST, two days ago, Jim Palme abruptly cancelled his appearance on the ‘Bob Haynie Show’.

It looks like Jim Palmer was told by the O’s brass to not appear on that show.

Perhaps the Orioles are still very much pissed at WNST’s role in the protest last year, Nestor Aparcio, or where their talent can interview or not interview.

Anyhow, I think there’s just a lot of bad blood all around, and it is too bad both sides cannot come to a common understanding and work their issues out.

Neither side is looking good at this moment, but they both have the right to be angry at one another.

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Right before the baseball season, my video of George Steinbrenner I took while I was in Tampa ended up in a New York Newsday article by Jim Baumbach called “From The Boss to the Donald?”

Pretty Cool, huh?

Anyhow, here’s the video again…