Soccer Dad

Orioles - past and future

Sports Illustrated has a great profile of Earl Weaver.

It was Weaver's shortcomings as a hitter that informed his approach to managing. Midway through the 1968 season, Baltimore general manager Harry Dalton named Weaver, then an Orioles coach, to replace Bauer as the manager. After the season Weaver asked Bob Brown, the team's public relations director, "Will you put the stats together on how each of our players has fared against opposing pitchers, and also the reverse of that--how our pitchers have done against opposing batters?"

Before each series, Brown and his staff would give Weaver the batter-pitcher matchups, handwritten with a blue Bic medium ballpoint pen on 8 ½-by-11-inch sheets of paper. (Weaver also famously kept index cards on which he recorded tendencies and individual scouting reports.) Weaver would use the matchup information to choose his starting players and his pinch hitters, much to the consternation of beat writers such as Ken Nigro of The [Baltimore] Sun. "Nigro used to ask, 'How can you do that?'" Weaver says. "'How can you choose between Lowenstein and Crowley?'"

One time in 1975 Weaver let shortstop Mark Belanger, a career .228 hitter, bat against Nolan Ryan in a tie game in the 10th inning with runners at second and third, even though the Orioles had Don Baylor and Doug DeCinces on the bench. Belanger, a lifetime .244 hitter against Ryan, knocked in both runners with a single. "And Nigro went nuts," Weaver says.

Says Nigro, "Mark Belanger couldn't hit anybody, but Earl knew he could hit Nolan Ryan. It made so much sense. If a guy was 1 for 24 against a pitcher, well, Earl knew he wasn't due to get a hit. He was due to make three more outs."

And for those of us Orioles fans who believe that there's something to look forward to in the nto too distant future, here's a profile of the Orioles' outfield - Jones, Markakis and Reimold.

"We're still under .500, but this is a different scenario than '04, '05 and '06," said hitting coach Terry Crowley. "Now we have legitimate young guys who are going to get better because they can play the game. It might not come to the surface every day because of their youth and inexperience. But when the smoke clears, these guys can play the game."

• Jones, acquired from Seattle in the Erik Bedard trade, is making good on Trembley's April declaration that he might be the most improved player in baseball this season. He's hitting .305, drawing enough walks to keep opposing pitchers honest, making great defensive plays seem routine, and playing the game with the panache of a kid who knows he's good.

Validation arrived Sunday in the form of an All-Star Game selection. Barring a major surprise, it will be the first of many for Jones.

• Markakis has suffered from a mysterious power drop-off recently and has only one home run since May 21. But he's batting .348 with runners in scoring position, ranks fourth in the American League in doubles and is tied for the league lead in outfield assists with eight.

• Reimold, the AL Rookie of the Month for June, has nine home runs and a .471 slugging percentage in 155 at-bats. The Orioles drafted him out of Bowling Green in the second round in 2005 largely because of his power. After being held back by foot, back and oblique injuries in the minors, Reimold is showing the Orioles a more athletic side than the scouting reports suggested.

"I didn't know he could run like that," Jones said. "He's a gazelle."