Young Pitchers

I really didn't think of Dave Trembley as a particularly spiritual man until he waxed biblical after yesterday's game. "You reap what you sow," he said on the MASN post-game show about the outlook for some of the young pitchers. "The opportunities you get, you'll be evaluated accordingly." Now, I should have suspected Dave was a religious guy, since he says "Oh God!" whenever a ball is hit to Alex Cintron. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-- --Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez has worked hard through two weeks of spring training to get to know the young pitchers in camp. He knows that's his job as a veteran and doesn't expect or want anything in return. That includes fastballs directed at his 31-year-old body. Hernandez pulled up his shirt in the Orioles' clubhouse yesterday to reveal a huge welt on his side and another blemish on the inside of his left knee. The first came courtesy of an errant pitch from one of the young pitchers - Hernandez forgot exactly which one - in live batting practice earlier this week.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles could get stung twice today. Their efforts to trade for Oakland Athletics pitcher Tim Hudson could fall short, and he could wind up landing right in their division, with the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. According to industry sources, the Yankees and Red Sox were each trying to pull off a three-team deal to land Hudson, involving Oakland and another team that could provide the prospects the A's were seeking in return....

DEAR CAL -- My son is a pretty good pitcher and throws fairly hard for a 9-year-old. Do you recommend any type of weight training for a young pitcher? Bill Delp, Baldwin DEAR BILL -- I get questions all the time about what type of strength training young baseball players should pursue and at what age young athletes should begin strength training. Since I'm not a fitness professional, I generally don't like to go into a lot of detail about these issues. So for more information please consult a certified strength and conditioning coach (CSCS)

You could see the exasperation on the manager's face, and the dialogue was all too familiar."You have to be able to locate your fastball -- and your other pitches," he said. "There's a reason why some pitchers with good arms have success and some don't."The most important things are location and knowing how to pitch. If you can't do those things up here, you can't win. It's as simple as that. You can forget about good stuff and you can forget about radar guns."If you can't locate your pitches, you can't win. Period."

Oakland Athletics From 1993 to 1998, the A's had a .395 winning percentage. But a string of remarkable drafts helped them land what has become the best starting pitching trio in baseball. Oakland grabbed Tim Hudson in the sixth round of the 1997 draft, then made Mark Mulder and Barry Zito its first-round pick in the 1998 and 1999 drafts, respectively. Over the past two seasons, those three have combined to win 92 games, and the A's have made the playoffs both years. Houston Astros After winning the National League Central title three consecutive years, the Astros stumbled to 72-90 in 2000.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Brady Anderson's bid to win the job as Orioles leadoff hitter will be delayed for at least two exhibition games.Anderson, a left-handed hitting outfielder, is recovering from a slight sprain of his right ankle, suffered a month ago while working out.As a precautionary measure, manager John Oates will keep Anderson out of the first two preseason games, the second of which will be played on the artificial surface at the Kansas City Royals...

To dismiss this as a lost season for the Orioles is overstating the matter. The year did end in disappointment, but it was not without accomplishments.The club did a wonderful job of pocketing money, for instance. With the lowest payroll in the major leagues and tickets prices up from 1989, the Orioles led all clubs in saves -- the kind for which owners really cheer.They also learned that Ben McDonald is the real thing, that Randy Milligan is a keeper at first base, that Bill Ripken can hit for average, that Dave Johnson is more than a heartwarming story.

The Orioles passed the one-third mark of the season last week, with vice presidents Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan showing no signs of scrapping The Plan. They're still committed to letting the young starting pitchers gain experience this season - no matter how painful that may be. In other words, with the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaching, don't look for the Orioles to completely shake the tree. Sure, they might trade for a starting pitcher. But it won't be a pending free agent, such as the Seattle Mariners' Freddy Garcia, who is considered the top pitcher available.

Interim manager Juan Samuel expects inconsistency from his young pitchers; he knows ups and downs are what he's going to get when he writes their names on the lineup card. That still doesn't make it easy to deal with what he has received the past two games, when the organization's two most-heralded young hurlers heading into the season were chased early in thorough and embarrassing losses, the latest Monday's 8-1 thrashing by the Tampa Bay Rays. "It's getting to the point where we don't know which guy is going to show," Samuel said.