Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports
Sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel, but it¿s just the open question facing manager Buck Showalter. He continues to show tremendous confidence in pitching prospect Kevin Gausman, above, but there is going to come a point when a decision has to be made about the back end of the rotation. Presumably, Wei-Yin Chen will rejoin the club in the next few weeks, which will force the O¿s to decide between Gausman and veteran Freddy Garcia. That might not sound like a tough choice, but there¿s way more to it than just who is the guy with a future around here. Garcia is hit-or-miss, but he eats innings and has delivered a handful of big performances when the club really needed them. Gausman probably is mature enough to benefit from the school of hard knocks that he has been attending so far, but if he doesn¿t hold things together in his next couple of starts, it might be time for him to step back a level and spend some of his freshman year schooling Triple-A hitters at Norfolk.
Patrick Smith, Getty Images
How fun was it to watch the defensive clinic put on by the Orioles and Angels on Tuesday night. The biggest highlight was the fantastic catch that Peter Bourjos, above, made in center field to rob J.J. Hardy of a two-run home run, a play that brought back memories of Mike Trout's unbelievable catch to deny Hardy almost a year ago. But there were great plays all over the field by both teams in a game that would be delayed by rain and decided by one run. No one should be surprised that the Orioles play slick defense, since they lead the major leagues in fielding percentage and fewest errors, but the Angels have been a different story. They rank last in the American League in both of those categories.
Each week of the 2013 baseball season, columnist Peter Schmuck gives his take on four subjects involving the Orioles, then clears the bases with a final thought.