Baseball Writers

Free Bert Blyleven! Don't worry, the 6-foot-3 native of Holland hasn't been seized by leftist guerrillas or anything. By most standards, Blyleven, who pitched 22 seasons for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels and now broadcasts for the Twins, has led a charmed life. But make no mistake, Blyleven resides in a kind of purgatory, that limbo of indisputably excellent ballplayers who, for whatever reason, never left strong impressions on the seamhead masses.

WITH another baseball season upon us, my friends are asking me the same question they always ask me at this time of the year: "Are you ready for Opening Day?" They know that, at least with me, it's a question sure to produce a smile and a warm exclamation.I do love the game. People ask me why, and I can never really explain. I'm too prosaic with words to emulate the great baseball writers (and too smart to try).Not too many years ago, however, I had a baseball experience at the other end of a season which -- if I can just capture it in words -- said more than I ever could about the wonders of the game.

THE SUN'S annual Major League Baseball preview section appears in today's editions. It remains part of the annual rite of passage for many Orioles fans who can't wait for the regular season to begin. But when thousands of spectators stream into Camden Yards tomorrow for the season opener against Oakland, many will feel a sense of trepidation - not only about the Orioles' chances in the powerful American League East, but also about the character of the team and the game of baseball itself.

SEATTLE - When Orioles rookie phenom Manny Machado lined a RBI double in the seventh inning Sunday against the Oakland Athletics, he ignited an important rally for the Orioles, again demonstrating his value to the bottom third of the team's lineup. His next at-bat in the eighth, his 131st since his surprise Aug. 9 call-up from Double-A Bowie, represented something a little more disappointing for Orioles fans. It pretty much guaranteed that the 20-year-old third baseman will not become the club's first American League Rookie of the Year since pitcher Gregg Olson in 1989.

'TC The Hall of Fame Board of Directors will make it official tomorrow. Barring an unexpected attack of common sense, it will vote to rubber-stamp a rules committee recommendation that any player banned from baseball also should be kept off the Hall of Fame ballot.This will henceforth be called the "Pete Rose Rule," since it was formulated to prevent Pete Rose's appearance on next year's ballot. The rules committee met in early January with the expressed purpose of making a general review the Hall of Fame's eligibility requirements, but neither the focus nor the outcome of that meeting ever was in doubt.

Dan Connolly joined The Sun in 2005. Prior to his arrival in Baltimore, he previously covered baseball and was a columnist for the York (Pa.) Daily Record four four years. His 14-year career also includes stints at Coatesville and Williamsport, Pa. newspapers Confused in OPACY, Baltimore: With all these balks, I'm not sure what they were doing wrong. In order to pick off a runner, the pitcher has to step off the rubber before doing anything else. If he moves his shoulders or hand before stepping off, he has to throw home?

Peter Schmuck has been at The Sun since 1990. He is in his 25th year of covering major league baseball and has been a Hall of Fame voter for 15 years. During his newspaper career, he has covered the Dodgers, Angels and Orioles as well as writing a weekly column on national baseball. Greg Luckenbaugh, Queensbury, N.Y.: I have the misfortune of being an O's fan trapped in Yankeeland. But considering the way baseball is structured, I'm starting to think that America is Yankeeland. Is there any reason to believe that a small-market team like Baltimore - even without getting squeezed by a team in DC - can ever consistently compete with the likes of the Yankees?

The debate was supposed to have ended on that night last month in Seattle when Rafael Palmeiro stroked his 3,000th hit, a well-placed double that bounced in front of the left field fence at Safeco Field, a spot in baseball immortality landing with it. As one of four players with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits, Palmeiro - who has had a career cast in the background for so many years - appeared to be destined for baseball's Hall of Fame. That, at least, was the prevailing opinion until less than a week ago when the Orioles first baseman was suspended for 10 days on Monday after testing positive for steroids, making him - according to the results of a Tribune Publishing newspapers survey - now a long shot to gain admission to the halls of Cooperstown, N.Y. In the survey, conducted among 147 of the approximately 500 Baseball Writers' Association of America members who are eligible to vote on Hall of Fame entry, only 20 percent of the respondents said they would vote to elect Palmeiro.

I had a chance to talk to former Oriole Rafael Palmeiro about Wednesday's Hall of Fame announcement that the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not vote in anyone for the 2013 induction class . That includes Palmeiro, who was on his third year of the ballot and is one of just four players in the game's history to have at least 500 homers and 3,000 hits. He's also the only one on this year's ballot to have tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. In 2005, months after he told a congressional committee that he had never taken steroids, a drug test found stanozolol in his system and Major League Baseball suspended him for 10 days.

Quote: "Yep, I'm joining you baseball writers. I've finally hit rock bottom." -- former Orioles manager Davey Johnson, who is writing a baseball column on the Internet.It's a fact: Cleveland was shut out for the second time in eight days and third this season -- all on Sundays.Who's hot: The Blue Jays' Woody Williams has allowed eight hits and two runs in 22 innings for an 0.82 ERA in his past three starts.Who's not: The Red Sox's Bret Saberhagen, who began the season 5-0, has an ERA of 11.84 in his past five starts.