Britton optioned after rough start! Freddy Garcia the answer?

The Baltimore Orioles turned to once promising young pitcher Zach Britton to start the series against the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. The time was right for the starter going against a Mariners team who has struggled against left handed starters so far in 2013.

Britton gave up 6 runs in 6 innings getting only 2 runs from the O's on a Matt Wieters two run homer. Britton's night got off to a rough start allowing a solo home-run on the second pitch of the game but the O's got him the lead before he allowed the lead to be gone for good.

Yesterday the Orioles optioned him to Norfolk while recalling Zach Clark to give the team another bullpen arm. The O's have only had one starter go 7 or more innings in the first month of the MLB Season.

With the move another corresponding move could come Friday or Saturday against the Angels when the team will need another starter. That move could be the veteran Freddy Garcia who recently agreed to extend his opt out in the minors league at Norfolk. For the Tides Garcia has pitched to a 4-0 record in 5 starts with a 2.67 earned run average. The move won't give the team a big name starter but a starter who has been effective in the majors.

For now Garcia may be the answer but the O's need some of the teams young arms to live up to the hype Baltimore fans have been hearing about for a number of years!

Big 4 for O's could help you at Fan Duel!

While the Baltimore Orioles have been playing good ball over the start of the first few weeks the team has four hot starters in the top 5 spots in the lineup. The four include leadoff hitter Nate McLouth, Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Chris Davis.

All four of these guys are must start in all fantasy leagues including on FanDuel where you can set daily fantasy lineups to win real money!

The four combined for 12 hits in 20 at bats in yesterdays game while McLouth and Machado each picked up 4 hits. Machado joins Baltimore Orioles Hall Of Famer Brooks Robinson as the only 20 year olds in team history with 4 hits in a game.

In addition to the 12 hits yesterday each of these players have put up some big stats this year with McLouth leading the American League in on base percentage while Chris Davis leads the American League in home-runs.

Look for the O's top half of the lineup to continue to hit and if they can get production out of the bottom four the rest of the American League will have to watch out.

Zach Britton looks to get Orioles big win in Seattle!

The Baltimore Orioles coming off a four game series against the Oakland A's in which the team had the chance for the sweep on Sunday. With Jim Johnson being used 5 of the previous 6 days the team elected to stay with Brian Matusz who gave up a game tying two run shot in the ninth before losing in the tenth.

Look for Zach Britton who was recently called up to keep the O's rolling on this ten game road trip. Britton will go up against former Orioles starter Joe Saunders in game 1 of the three game series against the Mariners.

Britton was 1-0 in three starts for the Norfolk Tides before getting called up. While not striking out many Britton used his fast sinker to induce a lot of ground balls helping him pitch to a 1.98 era in the three games. Britton will go up against a Mariners team who struggle facing lefties. If Britton want's to stay in the rotation he will need to pitch well or you could see the team make another move and bring up the veteran Freddy Garcia.

Brian Roberts bounces back in 2013!

Brian Roberts once was one of the best leadoff hitters in Major League Baseball is now sitting at the bottom of the Baltimore Orioles line up in 2013. Now the spot in the lineup in my opinion has no real big deal as this leadoff hitter and power hitting spot in the lineup is just part of the tradition of baseball. After the first inning a different player leads off the rest of the way so with Roberts in the bottom of the lineup gives you a guy who will give them team speed and extra base hits before the lineup flips.

Now the fans are hoping for big things from Roberts or should I say the one's that are still on his side. Roberts has been slotted in the nine hole to start the season which isn't a bad thing for the lineup when you have speed and pop in the bottom of the lineup.

Brian Roberts Prediction for 2013:

Batting Average: .303
Doubles: 31
Triples: 3
Home-Runs: 11
Runs: 85
SB: 25
RBI's: 65

2013 Baltimore Orioles Lineup Projection

The Baltimore are coming in to 2013 with high hopes from the fans of Baltimore as well as the players and organization. The team looks to build on a 2012 playoff season with another strong season. I have high hopes personally for Brian Roberts as well as Brian Matusz if he makes the starting rotation. Matusz pitched great out of the bullpen but this guy has the ability to be a 15-18 game winner. If that is not with us maybe we should look for a trade partner. Come opening day on April 2nd 2013 against the Tampa Bay Rays here is the lineup I would go with.

1. Nick Markakis (RF)
2. Brian Roberts (2B)
3. Adam Jones (CF)
4. Chris Davis (1B)
5. Matt Wieters (C)
6. Nolan Reimold (DH)
7. Manny Machado (3B)
8. J.J Hardy (SS)
9. Nate McLouth (LF)

Now this lineup doesn't give you the prototypical leadoff hitter but Markakis at the top of the lineup gives you one of your best hitters the chance more at bats. In the leadoff role Markakis will look to drive the ball in the gaps as well as being able to not worry about driving in runs. This will allow him to focus on hitting. Brian Roberts could be swapped to the bottom of the lineup but the double tandem if Roberts is healthy at the top of the lineup allows a big run producing opportunity for Adam Jones and Chris Davis.

O's pitchers and catchers report to spring training!

The Baltimore Orioles pitchers and catchers reported to spring training early this week with the rest of the team expected by end of the week. The only problem with that is majority of the club has been here working out and are ready to go.

With the excitement building the idea of the Orioles not adding that big bad via free agency has had fans up set around the Baltimore area. Not me though as the possibility of having a healthy Nolan Reimold for the entire season as well as a bounce back season from Brian Roberts. The offense will be a big jump from last season as the O's look to win more games by more then 1 run.

My projected lineup looks a lot different then many:

1. Nick Markakis
2. Brian Roberts
3. Nolan Reimold
4. Adam Jones
5. Chris Davis
6. Matt Wieters
7. Manny Machado
8. J.J. Hardy
9. Nate Mclouth

Now as you look at that lineup you see some power but the idea of having speed through out the lineup gives me something to smile about. Now Roberts could go to the bottom of the lineup or possible lead off but with how Markakis handled the leadoff spot and the real idea that the leadoff hitter only leads off guaranteed in the first this will give him more at bats. If Markakis is hitting doubles this gives the O's a great bunter in Roberts as well as a contact hitter to get him moved over for the middle of the lineup. Giving more chances for the 3,4 and 5 hitters to drive in runs.

Baltimore Orioles New Logo Brings Back Memories!

The Baltimore Orioles made a few key changes going in to 2012 with the biggest being the change from the real life bird logo back to a logo similar to the logo they played with in the 60's through 80's in. The hat is more of a cartoon logo and is a big hit with fans of all ages and fans not even located in Maryland. Baltimore made a huge jump in merchandise sales in 2012 with the added logo and the success the team had. 

The O's hat also made a top 5 for hat logos as well you can check that out here!

Baltimore Orioles nab 3 gold gloves!

The Baltimore Orioles started the 2012 as one of the worse defensive teams in MLB but down the stretch the defense got better behind strong play of J.J. Hardy, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. All three of those guys got Rawlings Gold Gloves to back it up to start the awards for the O's!

Now the defensive improved when Buck Showalter moved Mark Reynolds to first base full time and called up Nate McLouth in slotted him in full time in left field as well. The team also called up the young super star Manny Machado to anchor down a third base position that lacked a true fielder.

Congrats to J.J. Hardy on his first Gold Glove while Jones & Wieters both got their second. Wieters anchors down a very young staff and does a great job calling a game!

Bryce Harper & Manny Machado future for MD & DC market!

The Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles both moved in the right direction in 2012. The Nationals finished first in the National League East with the best record in major leage baseball. While the O's had one of the best turnarounds ever as they finished second in the American League East. The Nationals have a young core of pitching led by Stephen Strasburg and called up the young superstar Bryce Harper to help get things going in 2012.

The O's called up fellow young superstar Manny Machado late in the season to help keep the club playing great ball. The callup not only gave them a solid option at the plate but a great fielder at third base.

Both of these clubs have great futures with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper in the Majors. Look for a possible beltway World Series in the near future! Both of these superstars are also making a buzz in the sports memorabilia world as people from all around are trying to collect these two players along with Mike Trout. From autograph baseballs to baseball cards to McFarlane SportsPicks they are on the top of the game. Bryce Harper made his debut on the SportsPick collection just this week the same day he turned 20 years old. While Manny Machado autographs have jumped from $50-$60 range to over $100 on some sites and stores.

The game of baseball has so much promise and for areas of Baltimore and DC they have so much to look forward to going in to 2013!

A Big Thank You To the Orioles!

As a die hard O's fan I want to take the time out to say Thank YOU to all the Baltimore Orioles, Buck Showalter and the rest of the O's staff. I have only experienced this excitement a few times as 7 year old with the WHY Not O's of 1989 and the O's teams of 96,97.

The team played every game and didn't let what the media had to say get in front of their goals. They played as a team if one guy wasn't playing well the next man stepped up. No major superstar not taking anything away from Adam Jones. Jones is a great ball player but Super Stars focus on me me me and Jones played as part of this team. From the shaving cream pies to the bubble gum bubbles in the outfield. 

Lets Go O's in 2013! Can't wait for free agency and spring training to start!

Joe Saunders pitches O's to playoff matchup against the Yankees!

Buck Showalter decided to hand the baseball off to Joe Saunders on friday night against the Texas Rangers even though his stats were not good at the ballpark in Arlington. His decision was the right call as Saunders went 5 2/3 innings striking out 4 Rangers while only allowing a first inning run.

The O's would get him a run in the first on a JJ Hardy base hit after Nate McLouth stole second base. They would add on in the 6th with a sac fly off the bat of Adam Jones and that is all the team would need. The O's would add rbi's from McLouth in the 7th, Machado in the 9th  and McLouth again in the 9th.

McLouth finished the game 1 for 4 with 1 run scored and 2 rbi's. He also stole a base. Jim Johnson would come on in the 9th to wrap it up moving the O's in the best of five match-up with division rival the New York Yankees with game 1 on Sunday.

O's look to Saunders in 1 game playoff against Texas!

The Baltimore Orioles will travel to Texas to take on the Texas Rangers tonight in a battle of 2 wild card teams in the Major League Baseball Playoffs. Buck Showalter has elected to give the ball to Joe Saunders tonight over the rookie Steve Johnson. This is the first time the O's have made the playoffs since 1997 with many people around baseball having us as one of the worse baseball teams in the Majors.

The O's will go up against rookie ace Yu Darvish who over the past month or so has been one of the best pitchers in the American League. This won't stop the O's led by Adam Jones and Chris Davis as tonight's contest could be a high scoring game with the way the ball fly's out of the stadium in Arlington!

Lets Go O's! I got the O's winning 8-5 ballgame and moving on!

Orioles sweep Boston out of Baltimore!

The Baltimore Orioles are on the verge for the teams first postseason birth since 1997 but had to get through Boston first. Last Season the O's spoiled the Red Sox chances to head to the playoff behind Robert Andino. This season the Red Sox had the chance to be spoiler but the O's had other ideas in store.

The Baltimore Orioles swept Boston on Sunday to move their record to 92-67 on the Season. They are currently tied in the American League East with the New York Yankees. The O's hit 3 solo homeruns including shots from Nate McLouth, JJ Hardy and Chris Davis. That is all that Joe Saunders would need to win his 3 game for the O's.

The O's will travel to Tampa to take on the Rays while the Red Sox could help the O's as they take on the Yankees in the remaining 3 games of the Season. Both teams will be fighting to win the division with a good chance the other team getting a wild card spot. The O's need a Angels loss or a O's win to lock up a wildcard spot!

Ravens looked ready for the regular season against Jaguars!

The Baltimore Ravens have had many doubts about their offense and if Joe Flacco could lead them through the air. The only problem is that he did that in the post season last season when he put up better numbers then future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. The only problem was Lee Evans didn't hold on to the ball! Now in the third of four pre-season games Joe showed that he can be calm and run the offense.

Ray Rice ran for 30 yards on 2 carries while making 1 catch for 13 yards for his day to be over. Rice didn't need to show much and no one wanted him to get injured. The team, the fans and the opposing teams around the NFL know how good this running back is. Most of the evening consisted of Joe Flacco throwing to different receivers. Flacco was 27 for 36 for 266 yards and 2 touchdowns. He did throw 1 interception but that was a deep ball thrown before the half that you wouldn't normally see in the regular season. These two players look poise to help the Ravens offense put up big numbers this season. Look for both of these players to be big fantasy producers.

While the Ravens put up 48 points against 17 of the Jaguars many positives came out from the starting squad as the starting defense only allowed 3 points in their tune up for the regular season. The only problem I saw was the 7 penalties for 57 yards while Michael Oher still showing false start issues at the tackle position.

Last thing I saw is the rookie kicker Justin Tucker who booted 2 field goals with one being from 53 yards to stay perfect through the preseason. This puts pressure on the Ravens as who should be the opening day kicker.

In all the team looks ready to play on Monday Night against the Bengals to kick off the season.

Ray Rice a top five fantasy football player!

Ray Rice just keeps putting up numbers on the ground while also reeling in passes from Joe Flacco. Rice has put up over 1000 yards rushing and over 550 yards receiving in each of the past three seasons. While Rice gives you a dual threat coming out of the backfield it gives the Ravens offense a little security blanket that a lot of other teams don't have. Add in his stats and the fact I love to draft running backs and it makes him very attractive.

                                     Rushing Stats                                              Receiving Stats
                           Attempts   Yards    Touchdowns          Receptions    Yards     Touchdowns
2011 Season:         291         1364          12                         76               704               3
2010 Season:         307         1220           5                          63               556               1
2009 Season:         254         1339           7                          78               702               1
2008 Season:         107          454            0                          33               273               0

Those stats have continued to get better along with the amount of touchdowns going up. Last year he had the most yards from scrimmage, the third most rushing touchdowns and was second in rushing yards.

The only teams I would put ahead of Ray Rice in my draft would be a select few and at this moment a gamble as we don't know what injuries will pop up and if Adrian Peterson will return to his old self. The players I would draft ahead of him are Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Calvin Johnson. Now I would draft Adrian Peterson if I knew he would be 100 percent as long as the league is not a point per reception.

Keep an eye out for my fantasy rankings, fantasy tips and mock drafts.

Three tips to think about before your fantasy football draft!

The 2012 NFL Season kicked off with the Hall of Fame game on Sunday while many teams get their first pre-season games in tonight. With this happening it means it's almost time to draft your fantasy football team or if your like me your multiple teams. So I have three tips to consider before drafting.

1. Print out ranking sheets for each position you need to draft. This will give you an idea and a way to track who gets drafted. You can also use this to build your draft list. 
2. Rank all players on a piece of paper or on a note pad on your computer. Take in counts the type of league your in and the points each position receives. For example one of the leagues I am in you get 6 points for field goals over 50 yards or if you are in a league where you get point per catch. Don't just go through quarterbacks followed by another position bounce around on how you would draft.
3. Research all rookies and injuries that have happened in the pre-season games. Stay to your plan and don't draft players on their name. 

Those are 3 draft tips I use before drafting my team! Now keep looking back for my mock drafts, rankings of top players for each position including quarterback, runningbacks, wide receiver, tight ends, defense/st and kickers. 

Manny Machado called up as Steve Johnson gets his first win!

The Baltimore Orioles had a lot of things to be happy about at the end of the day on August 8th. The team just swept the Seattle Mariners with a strong outing from Steve Johnson and big production from Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters. After the game O's nation found out that O's have called up Manny Machado the organizations top prospect to make his Major League Debut on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals. We also learned that Dylan Bundy will be moved up to double A Bowie Baysox. Steve Johnson's first win in his first Major League start is the big news around Baltimore as 23 years ago on August 8th, 1989 his father Dave Johnson won his first big league game for the same Baltimore Orioles. Steve was brilliant in the Win while striking out 9 batters in 6 innings. The O's would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first and add 2 more in the third inning and 3 in the fourth. That would be plenty of run support for Johnson to pick up his first Win. O's got home-runs off the bat of Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds while Matt Wieters collected 5 Rbi's in the win. Adam Jones also added 3 of the 14 hits for the Birds who have won 5 straight games. After the game we learn that the O's top prospect Manny Machado was being called up to start at the third base for the O's in the opening game of a 4 game series against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night. Machado was batting .266 for the Bowie Baysox but has been hot since the all-star break. The O's are hoping Machado can get off to a hot start while helping the team such as other big name rookies Mike Trout and Bryce Harper has done for the teams they are playing for. The O's nation will be all eyes on the T.V. set with many more fans deciding to head down to Camden Yards to watch the game live! Wait so fast that is not all the O's did on Wednesday as the O's decided to move Dylan Bundy up to the Baysox where he will make his debut August 14th. As a O's fan we all have a lot of things to be happy for! Let's Go O's!

O's fall to Yank's look to bounce back against the Rays!

The Baltimore Orioles were unable to complete the sweet against the Yankees on Wednesday as Zach Britton gave up 7 runs in 2.2 innings. The O's would end up losing 12-3 but still took the series in New York.

Now the O's will travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays for 3 games. Tommy Hunter will take on Matt Moore in the first game of the series. The O's will need Nick Markakis to thrive in the leadoff spot.

The O's and Rays are tied at the moment with a 55-50 record. In game 2 the O's will have Wei-Yin Chen oppose Jeremy Hellickson. The O's will have Miguel Gonzalez versus the Rays ace David Price.

The O's need to jump on both starts for games 1 and 2 to avoid having to win a game against Price for a series win. This is a big series for the O's as a playoff spot is still up for grabs for the Birds!

The Orioles look for sweep against Yanks!

The Baltimore Orioles have rode a up and down roller coaster all season. They play really well for a stretch lose a couple games and then find ways to win games. The same thing happened on Tuesday Night in New York as Chris Tillman gave up 5 runs in the first inning. The O's bounced back in the top of the second to score 7 with the big blast coming on Chris Davis first career grand slam. The O's would go on to add 4 more runs and win the game 11-5. O's got 3 hit games from Nick Markakis & Wilson Betemit in the win.

The O's & Yankees will wrap up a 3 game series today at 1:05 pm in New York. Zach Britton will throw for the Birds while Phil Hughes will throw for the Pin strippers. The O's have picked up 2 games in the standings and now trail the Yankees by 5 1/2 games.

A look at the A's, Rangers & Royals!

A quick mid-season look at three different teams the Oakland A's, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. The Oakland A's are currently the hottest team in baseball winning 8 of the last 10 games they have played and positioned themselves in a wild card chase.

Texas has played to a 58-40 record on the season and are 31-18 at home at the Ball Park in Arlington. The best place to see them play get your texas rangers tickets today and catch an up and coming game. The Rangers have made 2 consecutive runs at the World Series and this could be the season behind Josh Hamilton.

Oakland A's are currently in position for the second wild card spot and would take on the Los Angeles Angels in a one game playoff. The A's are riding high while playing great ball at home and oakland athletics tickets are still available. Come watch Josh Reddick and Billy Beane's moneyball team make a run at the playoffs!

The Royals are a team on the rise with many young talents and a unique ball park. The team has a few big name young stars with Billy Butler, Mike Moustaskas & Eric Hosmer and with a little time could be a contender. The Royals also just hosted the 2012 All-Star game with all the big names in the game playing at Kaufmann Stadium. Come check out these young superstars on the rode to glory kansas city royals tickets still available. Let them know your still routing.

Texas has a test down the stretch as the Angels just added former Royals ace Zack Greinke to a rotation that has Weaver, Wilson, Haren & Santana. The A's another team that has to fight off teams for the wildcard such as the O's, Tigers and Tampa Bay. The push for the playoffs should be fun get out there and support your team!