Bluefield

With less than two weeks remaining in the minor-league season, only rampaging Bluefield among six Orioles minor-league affiliates is guaranteed a playoff berth.The Rookie-level Appalachian League Orioles have parlayed a near-.300 team batting average and a strong rotation into a 44-15 record (through Monday).They have clinched the Northern Division title and will meet Kingsport, Tenn., (New York Mets) in a best-of-three series for the league championship.Bluefield's accomplishments include a 16-game winning streak, longest in the minor leagues in three years.

Ronnie Welty understands where he is in pro baseball's hierarchy. The Single-A Delmarva right fielder is flying under the prospect radar. "That's how I kind of feel," said Welty, who is leading the Shorebirds with a .303 average (90-for-297) and 45 RBIs and is tied for the club lead with seven homers. "Every game is an opportunity to show what I've got and to turn some heads in the future." This status is nothing new for Welty, whom the Orioles selected in the 20th round of the 2008 draft.

As Orioles manager Ray Miller waits for longtime Dominican scout Carlos Bernhardt to be added to his staff, the club's former bench coach has resurfaced in the lower level of the minor-league system.Andy Etchebarren has been appointed manager at Bluefield, the Orioles' rookie-league team in the Appalachian League. It's the same position he held for three seasons before joining former Orioles manager Davey Johnson's staff two years ago.Etchebarren and first base coach John Stearns weren't retained by Miller, who was named manager after Johnson's resignation.

Orioles first-round draft pick Matt Hobgood will pitch one or two innings in his professional debut, which is expected to take place Saturday night when Rookie-level Bluefield hosts Johnson City at Bowen Field. Orioles director of player development David Stockstill stopped short of confirming the appearance, saying it depends on how Hobgood feels after he returns to Bluefield from Los Angeles, where he attended the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards on Wednesday night. "You never know about plane flights and all of those things, so we just have to wait and see when he actually gets back to Bluefield and see how he feels and all of that," Stockstill said.

Orioles first-round draft pick Matt Hobgood will pitch one or two innings in his professional debut, which is expected to take place Saturday night when Rookie-level Bluefield hosts Johnson City at Bowen Field. Orioles director of player development David Stockstill stopped short of confirming the appearance, saying it depends on how Hobgood feels after he returns to Bluefield from Los Angeles, where he attended the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards on Wednesday night. "You never know about plane flights and all of those things, so we just have to wait and see when he actually gets back to Bluefield and see how he feels and all of that," Stockstill said.

Chorye Spoone, a right-handed pitcher who was the Orioles' eighth-round pick in the recent draft, signed last week and has been assigned to Bluefield (W.Va.), which opens its Appalachian League season for rookies tomorrow. The Bluefield Orioles open on the road with a three-game series against the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Twins, a Minnesota Twins affiliate. Bluefield's home opener is set for Friday against the Danville Braves. Spoone, who is from Pasadena in Anne Arundel County and has a 94-mph fastball, signed for bonus money in the $75,000-$80,000 range.

Total games remaining - 17 Home games remaining - 10 Highlight: On June 13, 1978, Ripken signed with the Orioles and was assigned to Bluefield of the Rookie-level Appalachian League.

Up Hayden Penn / / The right-hander lowered his ERA at Triple-A Ottawa to 2.26 with eight shutout innings Saturday. Billy Rowell / / The first-round pick has raised his average to .329 and is second at Rookie-level Bluefield in on-base percentage and doubles and first in runs. David Cash / / The son of Bluefield coach Dave Cash is hitting .301 in his first 19 games for short-season Single-A Aberdeen. Down Ryan Ouellette / / The pitcher has struggled at Bluefield with a 2-7 record and a 5.92 ERA. Zach Britton / / The team's third-round pick is 0-4 with a 5.29 ERA at Bluefield.

On September 24, 2004 MARIA M., of Towson, beloved wife of Gordon L. Morgret, devoted mother of Karen L. Morgret and husband David P. Dean, of Germantown, MD., and Joanna Lette Wells, grandmother of Tina Marie Wells, sister of Helen Mathena of Beckley, WV., Fannie Farmer of Bluefield, WV., Reese Farmer of Bluefield, VA., Robert Farmer of Bluefield, VA., Norma Lawson of Bluefield, WV., Jesse Farmer of Bluefield, VA., and the late William Ray Farmer and...

They signed with the Orioles the same day, shared the same Baltimore roots, drove to rookie ball in the same car.Wednesday night, Cal Ripken is scheduled to break Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record at Camden Yards. Tim Norris will report for his usual shift at a Baltimore printing company, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.L "Before the game's over, I'll be heading for work," he said.Funny, they seemed headed for the same place as teen-agers in Bluefield, W. Va., nearly two decades ago. But Norris, hampered by tendinitis in his pitching elbow, never advanced past Double-A.

Last hurrah With his wild beard, love for beer and passionate gesticulations from the upper deck, Wild Bill Hagy taught a generation of Baltimoreans what it meant to be a fan. Hagy, who died in August at 68, was the face of a rowdy Memorial Stadium crowd that helped propel the Orioles to improbable comebacks in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When he stood and began forming with his arms the letters "O-R-I-O-L-E-S," thousands knew it was time to deliver some magic. Hagy was a cabdriver by day but rarely missed a game by night, until he stormed out to protest a new rule preventing fans from bringing beer to the park.

The Orioles were able to divert their attention from their beleaguered bullpen yesterday, but only so they could attempt to patch up their rotation. The club still has problems with its pitching staff. They've just expanded. Erik Bedard won't make Saturday's start in Boston because of a strained right oblique muscle. Rookie Garrett Olson will rejoin the team after a brief stint at Rookie-level Bluefield to take Bedard's turn. "He has marked improvement today," manager Dave Trembley said, "but I'm going to skip him a start."

The Orioles needed a long reliever for their bullpen last night, so they put Jim Johnson on a plane to Baltimore and Garrett Olson on hold. Johnson made one appearance for the Orioles earlier this season, allowing two earned runs in two innings in an April 25 game against the Boston Red Sox. Olson is 1-2 with a 7.33 ERA and 21 strikeouts in five starts with the Orioles covering 23 1/3 innings. He went five innings in Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader, allowing six runs and throwing 107 pitches.

BLUEFIELD, W.VA. -- The handshake, a quaint form of sealing a deal, has worked for the Baltimore Orioles and their Rookie-level team for half a century, an affiliation unmatched in organized baseball. "We've never had a contract," says Bluefield Orioles general manager George McGonagle. "When the team leaves town Sept. 1, we say, `See you next year.'" In today's modern sports world, where moving vans come and go and owners change the name of their city of affiliation on a whim, a simple and dignified gentlemen's agreement is a throwback.

BOWIE -- Bubba Burger, $11 (pictured). One pound of meat, bacon and cheese in a bun, slathered in barbecue sauce and topped with a deep-fried, cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno popper. "It can be shared by a couple on a date," says Jennifer McGinn, the food service manager. SALISBURY -- The Sherman Gelati, $3.75. Layers of soft-serve vanilla ice cream and diamond-size chunks of orange or blue raspberry sherbet. "Have the blue," counsels counterwoman Lauren Follebout. "It tastes like a party in your mouth."

Up Hayden Penn / / The right-hander lowered his ERA at Triple-A Ottawa to 2.26 with eight shutout innings Saturday. Billy Rowell / / The first-round pick has raised his average to .329 and is second at Rookie-level Bluefield in on-base percentage and doubles and first in runs. David Cash / / The son of Bluefield coach Dave Cash is hitting .301 in his first 19 games for short-season Single-A Aberdeen. Down Ryan Ouellette / / The pitcher has struggled at Bluefield with a 2-7 record and a 5.92 ERA. Zach Britton / / The team's third-round pick is 0-4 with a 5.29 ERA at Bluefield.

Who were those guys?Allen Plaster and Bobby Chouinard didn't exactly make names for themselves in the Orioles' farm system, and now they're gone to the Oakland Athletics for Harold Baines.The A's apparently decided to go for future rather thaimmediate help when they accepted right-handers Chouinard and Plaster for the veteran left-handed slugger.Both had losing records but impressive numbers while pitchinin Single-A last year. Both were repeat performers at that classification, with 85-mph fastballs.

The Orioles today announced that they have hired five people to complete their minor league coaching staffs for the 2006 season. Blaine Beatty was hired as the pitching coach for Single-A Frederick. He spent the past two seasons as a pitching coach in the New York Mets organization after serving five years as pitching coach in the Pittsburgh system. Originally drafted by the Orioles in 1986, Beatty appeared in 7 games for the Mets over parts of three seasons, 1989-1991. Alex Arias was named as field coach for the Keys.

It's a few years too early to render any sort of judgment on the Orioles' 2006 draft. But most of the selections have at least a month as professionals, so they've begun to give samples of what they might offer. As has been the case for several years in the organization, the arms seem to be ahead of the bats. That's not to say that top pick Billy Rowell has been a disappointment at Rookie-level Bluefield. The Orioles drafted Rowell, 6 feet 5 and 205 pounds, with visions of a power-hitting infielder dancing in their heads.

The line on Orioles prospect Kieron Pope coming into this season had always been the same. He had the foot and bat speed to be a superstar. But those abilities did not always translate to excellence on the baseball field. Take Pope's professional debut last year for Rookie-level Bluefield. He put up an eight-game hitting streak in his first two weeks but overall, he batted .228 and struck out 62 times in 149 at-bats. That would equate to more than 200 strikeouts in a full season. Pope was raw enough that he didn't start with a full-season team this year.