Luis Montanez had three hits Wednesday night, including a home run, in Triple-A Norfolk's 9-1 win over Toledo.
He's a fan of this blog, in case you forgot.
I'll heap praise on the Orioles for rallying from a 5-1 deficit Wednesday before cursing how Chad Bradford missed outside by about 17 feet with his 3-2 pitch to Adrian Beltre with the bases loaded, two outs and the score tied in the eighth.
The Orioles continue to show a lot of heart, no matter how far they fall behind. I always sense that they have at least one more rally in them.
However, I would have settled for a borderline pitch from Bradford, but he came closer to finding the Mariners' dugout than the strike zone with that last offering.
The only person who gets called out on that pitch is Roberto Alomar to end the 1997 ALCS.
I don't care how big and strong Daniel Cabrera is, it's asking a lot of any starter to take the ball on three days' rest after throwing 115 pitches in his last outing.
Anyone who criticizes today's athletes for being too soft should respect Miguel Tejada for being so far ahead of schedule in his recovery from a fractured left wrist. His pain tolerance is remarkable. He gladly would have performed surgery on himself if it would have gotten him off the disabled list sooner.
Teammates haven't always approved of his late arrivals in the clubhouse, but they respect his toughness and how badly he wants to play.
Seeing how Archbishop Spalding High fired boys basketball coach Dale Chambers after one season reminds me of the time, much earlier in my career, when I covered Chambers while he played at Severna Park High and Anne Arundel Community College. And how Chambers later played for the Washington Generals - the patsies for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Maybe that's why Spalding went 10-22 in Chambers' only season at the helm. They kept falling for the ball-on-a-string trick.
roch.kubatko@baltsun.com
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