Starting Rotation

Quote: "I just took my grandson to `Star Wars,' and this home run would have fit right in. It was galactical."Vin Scully describing Mark McGwire's home run that cleared Dodger Stadium, over the roof of the outfield pavilionIt's a fact: Last year, the Padres had nine players make a total of 10 trips to the DL. This year, eight Padres have gone on the DL.Who's hot: The Mets' Benny Agbayani has homered in three straight games and five of his past seven starts.Who's...

The Cleveland Indians can expect a soft ride in the American League Central this year, but that should not keep general manager John Hart from moving decisively to upgrade the pitching staff.The club can get to the postseason as configured, but the loss of right-hander Ben McDonald -- apparently for the season -- leaves manager Mike Hargrove with a starting rotation that is less than World Series-caliber.What to do? What to do?If you're Hart, you should do what you do best. Pull off another breathtaking deal and send another message to the rest of the American League.

After the injuries to Brady Anderson and Doug Drabek in Toronto, Orioles manager Ray Miller said he was "the lowest I've ever been" -- a powerful statement coming from the manager of Team Titanic."

The Chicago Cubs glowed like a super nova -- winning 10 straight games to climb to the top of the National League Central standings -- and raised the question again.Are they good enough to get to the World Series for the first time since 1945?The answer is not clear. The Cubs were a popular dark-horse pick in the preseason because of the off-season acquisition of several key veteran players. They would appear to be an even more popular pick now, since the emergence of pitching phenom Kerry Wood and the re-emergence of veteran Steve Trachsel have solidified a pretty good starting rotation.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- More remarkable than the Orioles' ninth consecutive win Friday night was the way it ended. Ray Miller rushed toward his bullpen and was rewarded with 3 2/3 scoreless innings in a 4-1 decision. No longer does that segment of his team resemble a quarantine ward."They're all pitching well," Miller said before last night's game against the Anaheim Angels. "It's nice to see our pitchers able to fit into roles instead of just grabbing whoever's available."Thanks to a recovering starting rotation, Miller no longer winces when he motions for maligned left-hander Norm Charlton.

Braves: Andruw Jones' two triples doubled his season total. Jones entered the season with two career triples in 184 at-bats.Cubs: Mickey Morandini extended his hitting streak to a career high 13 games with his fourth-inning single. His previous career high was set in 1993. Cardinal Francis George has been added to the list of guest conductors for the seventh-inning stretch.Expos: Dustin Hermanson, who pitched Saturday for the first time since going on the DL May 17 with a muscle strain in his back, will rejoin the starting rotation Saturday against the Devil Rays.

Maybe it's too early for turning points. Maybe it's too early to assign tremendous significance to any single game.Maybe not.Slumping starter Doug Drabek turned in a solid six-inning performance last night and the Orioles got past one of the best young pitchers in baseball to defeat the Minnesota Twins, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game series at Camden Yards.First baseman Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run homer off 1997 20-game winner Brad Radke to bring the Orioles from behind in the sixth inning and added an RBI single in the seventh to propel the club to its second victory in a row in a game delayed nearly two hours by rain.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- More remarkable than the Orioles' ninth consecutive win Friday night was the way it ended. Ray Miller rushed toward his bullpen and was rewarded with 3 2/3 scoreless innings in a 4-1 decision. No longer does that segment of his team resemble a quarantine ward."They're all pitching well," Miller said before last night's game against the Anaheim Angels. "It's nice to see our pitchers able to fit into roles instead of just grabbing whoever's available."Thanks to a recovering starting rotation, Miller no longer winces when he motions for maligned left-hander Norm Charlton.

It should no longer be up for debate. The American League East clearly is the strongest and most compelling division in baseball, even after replacing the up-and-coming Detroit Tigers with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays.Case in point: The Boston Red Sox acquired National League Cy Young Award-winner Pedro Martinez from the Montreal Expos during the trading frenzy that accompanied the expansion draft.Case in point: The Toronto Blue Jays signed free-agent closer Randy Myers on Wednesday, allowing them to make the argument that they now have the best starting pitcher (Roger Clemens)

On the field: The Orioles lost for only the fifth time this season when scoring four runs or more. They are 24-5 in such games. The loss also left the bullpen with eight losses compared to seven for the starting rotation.In the dugout: Orioles interim manager Rick Down had Brian Williams loose in the second inning but opted for Arthur Rhodes when he pulled starter Mike Johnson after three. The struggling Rhodes and Terry Mathews allowed a combined six hits, four walks and four earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -No one should be surprised, but when the Orioles dispatched their three top pitching prospects to the organization's minor league camp in Sarasota over the weekend, the whole optimism-of-spring thing sort of went along for the ride across Alligator Alley. Brian Matusz could light up Fort Lauderdale Stadium with his curveball. Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta could make the future appear as if it's just around the corner. The three of them created so much buzz during the early weeks of spring training that it was easy not to notice that the major league pitching staff they will someday lead was quietly coming unraveled.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -The most important issue facing the Orioles this spring is the makeup of the starting rotation, and the latest news is not encouraging: The club has removed right-hander Matt Albers from consideration for one of the three open slots, and right-hander David Pauley allowed nine base runners in three innings in yesterday's 4-3 exhibition loss to the Minnesota Twins at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. That was just yesterday's rotation revelations. The day before, Japanese pitcher Koji Uehara was pushed back at least a few days with a hamstring strain and manager Dave Trembley conceded it would be hard for projected No. 3 starter Rich Hill to rebound from early spring elbow soreness and start the season on time.

Orioles fan rally Noon [MASN] Ooh, new uniforms! Sure to make you start counting the days until spring training and perhaps make you forget that Danys Baez is a candidate for the starting rotation.

The name of the game is pitching and defense. That's what wins baseball championships, right? If boiled down further, though, conventional wisdom says that for a team to go far in the postseason, it must have strong starting pitching. Everything else is secondary. Look at last season, when the two teams with the lowest starters' ERA in each league - the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals in the National League and the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox in the American League - advanced to their respective league championship series.

You might have missed the small type in the transactions column, but we certainly didn't. Orioles: Announced that [your name here] will serve as general manager for the remainder of the All-Star break. How exciting, right? The downside: The gig pays nothing, Peter Schmuck keeps calling and hanging up and we have only one day. The upside: That's just enough time to make 10 important moves: 1. Anoint Markakis. Let's make this one official: Nick Markakis is the starting right fielder the rest of the way. His on-base percentage (.414)

DETROIT - Scott Erickson won 79 games as an Oriole, but when he returns to Camden Yards with the Texas Rangers and starts against his former team tomorrow, he'll have more on his mind than renewing old acquaintances. Erickson, 36, is trying to extend a career that has included just two appearances on a big league mound since 2002. He missed all of last season with a shoulder injury, and the Orioles let him go as a free agent the minute his five-year, $32 million contract expired. After making two starts with the New York Mets last month - one good, one bad - Erickson was traded to Texas.

IT WAS BAD, but at least there was some interesting symmetry to it. Orioles starter Matt Riley gave up at least one walk and a three-run homer in each of the two innings he worked last night. Alex Rodriguez, then Derek Jeter, each registered three-run home runs to demoralize the Orioles. Then Riley was gone and the Orioles were off to see if they could match the infamous franchise mark of 15 walks. Somehow, they fell just short with 13. It did not have to be like this. It was a gamble at best, a shortsighted miscalculation at worst.

SEATTLE - Erik Bedard had watched another Orioles rookie make it look so easy last week, as if earning your first major league victory was a rite of passage for anyone who got the chance. Daniel Cabrera won his big league debut on May 13 with six shutout innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. In Game 2, Bedard looked like he might get his first major league win before giving up a crushing three-run homer to Paul Konerko in the sixth inning. It was yet another bump in the road for Bedard, who had shown so much promise when he first arrived in the majors in April 2002.

Orioles pitcher Rodrigo Lopez was the most effective middle reliever in the major leagues over the first six weeks of the season, but all the while he was pining for an opportunity to return to the starting rotation. He finally got his wish after the club's young starting rotation came unglued -- and will start tomorrow or Thursday against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field -- but the Orioles could come to regret digging a new hole to fill in an old one. In a perfectly balanced baseball world, Lopez might have realized that he had found the place where he fit perfectly on the Orioles' pitching staff, but he would concede only that the role was "necessary."

The better Rodrigo Lopez pitches in relief, the tougher it is for the Orioles to keep him out of their starting rotation, especially considering how inconsistent their young starters have been. Yesterday, Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli acknowledged that he's open to putting Lopez back in the rotation but suggested it's still too early to pull one of those young starters. "Nothing is written in stone," Mazzilli said. "I said that in spring training. If something to that effect will make the team better, then I will look at that option.