Well the Orioles were busy today. They announced that Buck Showalter will be taking over managerial duties on Tuesday. The former manager and ESPN analyst signed a deal that will keep him in Baltimore until 2014. Showalter has a history of turning around struggling organizations and no organization is struggling more than the Baltimore Orioles.

Showlater brings instant credibility with him to the dug out and everyone in baseball feels this is the best possible move for the Orioles.

Speaking of moves, Miguel Tejada was a last second scratch from tonight's lineup because he was traded to the San Diego Padres for right-handed prospect Wynn Pelzer. Pelzer is rated the fifth highest prospect in the Padres organization. He is a fire-baller with a solid slider but sometimes has control issues. He projects out to be a ML closer.

Honestly, I am a little bummed that the Orioles didn't get a position prospect back for Miggy, but you can never have enough pitching.

Josh Bell will be at third for the remainder, and that is good I am very excited to see Bell up here and playing on a regular basis if he is to be the future of the hot corner in Baltimore then now is the time to see what he can do.

Big thanks to one of the best orioles sites on the web oriolesprospects.com for the information on Pelzer. He seems like a solid pick up for Miggy who was greatly under-performing here in Baltimore his second time around. Some fans may have expected more for Tejada but any time you can get a top-ten prospect for an aging star putting up a sub-700 OPS well, you take it.

A big day for MacPhail and his critics as well. There are a lot of people who genuinely think MacPhail can't walk and chew gum at the same time mistaking his deliberate nature as inaction. MacPhail took his time on both these fronts but the right moves were made. There are reports that MacPhail wanted Eric Wedge and it was owner Peter Angelos who pushed for Buck Showalter's hiring. Now this may well be true, but some are interpreting this to mean there is some sort of massive rift between MacPhail and Angelos and I think that is a little dramatic. Hopefully the press confrence Monday will address some of these issues and calm down the tin-foil hat set.

The Orioles' march towards infamy continued last night as they squandered a brilliant start by Jeremy Guthrie and in the end were shutout by the Blue Jays, 5-0.

For the umpteenth time this year, the Baltimore offense couldn't get going and Jays' rookie Brad Mills contained them. They only mustered three hits on the night and a huge error by Corey Patterson led to Toronto's first run of the ball game in the first inning. The Jays were held at bay until the eighth where they plated four runs off the Oriole bullpen (Koji Uehara and Will Ohman).

Wednesday's game pretty much underscores why the Orioles have been so terrible all year and easily headed for 100 losses. There seems to be no plan of attack at the plate, and they are not making the pitchers work at all in their at-bats. Whether it's a lack of fundamentals, talent, or preparedness by the hitting coach -- the results have not been good at all for the Orioles.

Finally, there may finally a decision on the managerial front with the Baltimore Orioles.

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported:

The Baltimore Orioles hired ESPN analyst Buck Showalter as their next manager, a source confirmed Thursday.

Showalter's first game as manager will be Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels, the first game of a seven-game homestand.

The Orioles, a major league-worst 31-70, fired manager Dave Trembley on June 4 and replaced him with Juan Samuel on an interim basis.

I've not read or heard anything in Baltimore media as of yet, but if the news is true, all the rampant speculation about who guides the team on the field will cease. It's too bad that Juan Samuel probably won't get to manage the team much more after this week from the looks of it (again, if the reports are true).

It seems that the players like him and that Samuel tried his best to do his job with the cards he was dealt, but it was pretty obvious that the organization was looking for someone with experience.

However, not much with the organization will change unless there's an infusion of talent at the major league level and the team continues to build through the draft.

Just my opinion.

Yet again on Sunday, another young Baltimore pitcher got roughed up, and in the end, the Minnesota Twins soundly defeated the Orioles, 10-4.

Minnesota would take three of four from Baltimore during the weekend series. Jake Arrieta got beaten up a bit as he gave up five runs, seven hits, four walks in four innings for the loss. The Twins, courtesy of the long ball, not only victimized, Arrieta, but the Oriole bullpen. They would score four times in the fourth off a Jason Kubel grand slam, add more throughout the game by solo homers from Delmon Young – who has really turned it on this season, Jim Thome and Jason Repko.

Once again, the Orioles made a pitcher look like Cy Young again as Kevin Slowey – who was struggling before Sunday’s game – got the win. The Orioles had the lead briefly off a Nick Markakis RBI-single in the opening inning, but the Twins brought it on as the game went forth.Baltimore rallied in the ninth and scored three times, but by then, the game was over.

On Saturday, Brian Matusz got hammered in his start and looking at Arrieta on the mound yesterday, do the Oriole pitchers when they get in trouble just not know what to do? Are they are afraid to pitch to contact, get flustered, or do too much?

It seems that every young starting pitcher on the staff has some upside, but it seems to me that they should be more confident in the stuff they have. It’s almost to me that they try too hard to get an out and find a way to dig a deeper hole for the team. Honestly, I don’t know if sending pitchers up and down between the majors and minors works – it might just be working a game plan to get guys out in jams.

Until the young starters pitch with some consistency and work through jams, it will be more of the same. With a bullpen that’s just being taxed and starting to lose a bit of their effectiveness (case study: Berken, Hernandez, Hendrickson to an extent), the pitching has to better – much better.

If there’s a positive to anything that happened this weekend, Guthrie had a solid outing on Friday and Luke Scott is just hot, hitting in ten straight games. I’m curious if Scott’s name will end up on the market, much like we have heard about Wigginton and tejada over the past few days/week.

Finally, it was not a good thing to see Craig Tatum to get optioned to Norfolk. Yes, Tatum is only a backup, but he's exceeded expectations and filled in nicely while Wieters was hurt. I know that there’s a business and strategy aspect to the game when it comes to roster shuffling, but it is a little troubling to see a player who has merited a roster spot by performance get demoted.

Even moreso when the team has 13 pitchers on staff.

I’m just saying.

Over the past week, Brian Roberts has been itching to play -- now he's back and off the sixty day disabled list. In a corresponding move, the team has designated Scott Moore for assignment. The 2010 season is pretty much a bust, but it will be finally good to see a healthy Brian Roberts back in the fold.

There's no way to know how Roberts will hold up throughout the rest of the season, but I'd imagine the team will give him more days off and be cautious with the way they treat him. It would not surprise me either if he ended back up on the DL with the same injury.

Moving on...

It was interesting to see Mike Gonzalez back on the mound Thursday in his first game action since Opening Day in Baltimore. It's pretty obvious that the reliever was pitching hurt and had some issues going on with him. Now, his outing against the Twins was nothing pretty - 2/3 of an inning, a walk and a hit - but he got out of trouble in the seventh inning and wasn't booed of the mound.

Hopefully, he can build upon his night.

And Millwood ... what a struggle to seem on the mound these days. I don't know what to think. Part of me knows that he's a professional and tries to get out there to win; however, do I get the feeling might he be might beat down by the losing, despite being classy about the situation he's in?

Also, James touched on Thursday's game earlier - the Twins drubbed the Orioles 5-0 and ex-Yankee punchline Carl Pavano has found his career in Minnesota. Really, the Orioles didn't have much of a game plan at the plate, Milwood struggled in the first few iinings and their night only got more bizzare.

Now, I know arguments are fun to watch and really don't help to change plays - wrongly called or otherwise; however, it was nothing short of amazing to see the tantrums thrown by Ty Wigginton (who had every reason to be angry) and Juam Samuel. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz got ejected as well, but the demonstrative displays by both Samuel and Wigginton brought back memories of Weaver (I was not alive for most of his tenure), but I guess both men had to get their frustrations out with the losing, plus umpires who seemed to be on auto-pilot.

Finally, I watched some of the second half of the game on MASN and can someone tell me what in the world happened with the fan on the field in the final innings of the game. Fans could not see what happened on TV for obvious reasons, but wy did it take so long to stop him? Were the Baltimore police being lazy, or was there a viable reason it seemed that so many minutes went by before play resumed?

On Tuesday night, the Orioles – in perhaps their craziest game played in a long time – outlasted the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-10, in 13 innings. The victory for Baltimore was the 30^th of the season and perhaps the most thrilling of the season.

Baltimore’s game on Tuesday night was filled with errors, poor pitching and just a glut of mistakes; however, the offense exploded early on, plus got the big hits at the right time. The game at times looked as if it was going to get out of hand, but the Orioles were lucky not to have been taken further advantage of by the Rays.

You’ve got to give the Rays credit – they hung in there, and they showed on Tuesday night why they are contenders in the American League.

Koji Uehara got the win in relief, and Julio Lugo’s walk-off single to right off reliever Lance Cormier that plated Cesar Izturis made the difference.

The Orioles looked like they were headed to their 64^th loss of the season, but they came back in the ninth off a Miguel Tejada two-run single and tied the game at nine. After falling behind – again – they would again tie the game at ten in the 12^th off a Scott Moore sacrifice fly.

Baltimore got back-to-back-to-back from homers from Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones in the second inning, plus, Scott added another homer to put them up 4-1.

However, despite the Orioles sudden surge of offense via the long ball, the Rays kept chipping at the lead and overtook them in the 6^th with a four-run inning off starter Jake Arrieta and reliever Jason Berken.

Tampa would score twice more in the 7^th; Orioles came in within one, 8-7, thanks to a Miguel Tejada two-run single and Luke Scott RBI-single. The Rays would jump ahead 9-7 in the 8^th off a Reid Brignac homer before Tejada’s heroics in the ninth.

A scary moment happened in the first inning as Carl Crawford was hit in the groin area by a pickoff throw by Jake Arrieta. Crawford was tagged out, but fell writhing in pain and he was down for a long time – as much as five minutes or so. I figured he was not wearing a cup considering the obvious, and it’s good to hear there was no damage.

Then again, Crawford says, he won’t be wearing one after this incident either.

Also, First Lady Michelle Obama was in Baltimore to take part in a partnership between the White House and Major League Baseball called “Let’s Move” to battle childhood obesity along with promoting healthy living. She was at the park all day working with the kids, held a press conference, and also worked on some promotion of the event.

Obama was part of the first pitch ceremony, but she didn’t throw a baseball – that part was left to two teenagers who were part of it.

However, the fans in the park – there could not have been more than ten thousand or so at the time – greeted her warmly (I didn’t hear much if any booing) and after the first pitch, she went to both dugouts (Orioles and Rays) and shook the hands of the players, plus staff.

Very classy.

Finally, Mike Gonzalez – who we all know and love – has been recalled to the Major League team, while Josh Bell was sent back to Norfolk along with picher Chris Tillman.

The second half for the Orioles so far has not been one to really be happy about. In fact, honestly, the past four games have been nothing short of frustrating to watch as a fan either at Camden Yards or on TV via MASN.

Right now, they look nothing short of awful – again .

After a four game sweep of the Rangers right before the All-Star break, they got swept by the Blue Jays this weekend, and with the Rays – a contender – in town, the Orioles needed something good to come their way. Sadly, It didn’t happen Monday.

Chris Tillman, who looked like he may turned the corner after his amazing start in Texas, just plain flat-lined in his second start on the mound after being called up from Norfolk.

In the end, the Orioles got their butts handed to them, 8-1 by the Rays, as Tillman who looked good through the first two innings, gave up eight runs in the third and pretty much buried his team.

Watching the games this weekend, I think the young pitching is just challenged right now and needs to find their own way of working through tough major league lineups.

It’s pretty obvious that Tillman, Matusz and Bergesen have skill on the mound and have had their ups and down so far as professionals at the big league level. In my opiniong, success comes from having a plan on the mound, being consistent, hitting your spots and using our pitches to keep the hitters off balance.

At this point, as much as people want to send them back down – you can’t.

The only way these guys are going to learn to pitch at the major league level is to perhaps experience face some failure and bounce back up again. From what I have seen, both Arrieta and Tillman excelled at Norfolk in ’10, and Matusz has been in the majors since last year.

Give the arms time to develop. It may be ugly some nights on the mound for the rest of the season, but hopefully things will turn around.

I mean, take a look at where pitchers Clay Buchholz and Phil Hughes are right now versus a few years ago. Heck, an even more perfect example of a pitcher develops at the various levels over the years and finds success would be Roy Halladay.

If there’s one positive to come within the next week or so, it looks like Brian Roberts will be back with the team by next week. Right now, Roberts is in the minors rehabbing and it’s so far, so good for the second baseman.

Also, a touch of Washington life has come to Charm City this week as First Lady Michelle Obama will be at Camden Yards to promote healthy living and an anti-obesity measure focused on children this Tuesday.

She will also be throwing out the first pitch tonight before tonight's Rays-Orioles game and should be interesting to see what happens…

The Orioles were swept by the Jays, again, as the second half of this brutal season shambles forward. The Orioles had opportunities the first two games of the series but were once again stymied by poor situational hitting. Adam Jones was unable to get the two-out hit Friday and Cesar Izturis failed both Friday and Saturday to come up with the tying/ go-ahead runs. Today however Brian Matusz got shelled as the Orioles lost 10-1. The Birds are 0-9 against the Jays this year, reverse that record and the Orioles would be in fourth place. Amazing how this game works isn't it?

The few rays of sunshine in the overcast Summer is the fact that Brian Roberts is progressing well through his rehab assignment and all reports are saying that the hiring of Buck Showalter is going to happen, just not imminent. Which leads us to the next question: What is the holdup?

honestly i don't know and no one outside of Andy MacPhail's office knows either. There is a world's worth of speculation out there everything from Andy MacPhail not wanting to give up any real control of the team to Showalter to hammering out the transition of multiple coaches and positions to the old chestnut of Peter Angelos not wanting to spend the money to get him in here. Could any of this be true, maybe anything is possible with this organization. One thing is clear Andy MacPhail is on one timetable - his own and fans can do little else than wait and complain.

MacPhail has a reputation of being - deliberate, and that is putting mildly. MacPhail is deliberate to the point of frustration with many fans but he is concerned about "getting it right" whatever that "it" may be. how hard is it to name a new manager? Well I am willing to bet that it is a lot harder than many of us wish to believe it is. That being said I would feel a lot more comfortable about the situation if I felt that something was getting done. All reports are contending that Showalter is the guy but nothing is in stone yet and for a fanbase that has already had to sit through this nightmare of a season, well the natives are restless.

On the trade front, Ty Wigginton is receiving a lot of looks from other teams as he and Jeremy Guthrie seem to be the biggest trade tokens the Orioles have this month. Wigginton could go to any number of teams, but I think he ends up in Texas. The Rangers having traded Justin Smoak they could use a right-handed platoon at first for young Chris Davis. Guthrie I think ends up in San Diego and his hard-luck loss Saturday night where he was touching 97mph on the gun surely helped his case as the surprising Padres look to hold off the Rockies in a tight NL West.

The Orioles should hope to get young position players back in these deals. You can never have enough pitching, but the Orioles need to stock up on hitters in the minors as there is an absolute dearth in that department throughout the minor leagues. Shortstop and firstbase is where the organization really needs to concentrate, get young and get strong. Guthrie and Wigginton will not likely bring back ML-level talent on their own but they can get the Orioles a couple prospects each.

We still have plent of baseball left to play Orioles fans - let's see what happens.

The Baltimore Orioles lost their 60^th game of the season as they kicked off the second half by being handled by the Blue Jays, 4-2.

Baltimore did get some offense going; however, pitcher Ricky Romero took care of the Orioles, despite a number of Blue Jay errors. The Orioles looked pretty much the same team in the first game of the second half, than they did in the first – lack of production in scoring opportunities and just poor execution.

Brad Bergesen started on the mound for Baltimore and wasn’t fooling anyone. He six innings and allowed four runs. Right now, it looks like he’s not got command of anything, and the hitters know what’s coming.

In other news, 'Flat and Breezy', George Sherrill was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Do you all see an Oriole reunion happening? Maybe? Who knows. He did have the best years of his career in the Oriole and Black, plus under the tutelage of Rick Kranitz.

The managerial search is ongoing and Andy MacPhail bristled at the media along with fans this week for criticizing his pace of the work involved. Honestly, I think MacPhail can take as long as he wants, even if Buck Showalter is eventually chosen for the manager (all signs are pointing to him), but unless the roster improves – significantly – it won’t matter who they bring in.

To honest, I am not sure anyone knows what’s going on aside from Peter Angelos, MacPhail and the principals involved.

Finally, there’s been a lot of talk of Cal Ripken coming back to work for the Baltimore Orioles in some capacity. I’d like for him to come and work for the team, as most fans would; however, the details have not been released on what he’d exactly do.

I’m just going to wait and see what happens – that’s all we can do.