When the Double-A Bowie Baysox started this year going 7-23, no one would have predicted they would regroup to produce such a stellar record. But they have. They are 57-31 since that point with a very strong rotation, some solid position players and a couple of veteran coaches to help young manager Buck Britton. Buck, 33, is the older brother of former Oriole Zack Britton. Buck played many seasons on the O's farm, but never made the majors. He might one day as a skipper after leading Single-A...

Whenever an Orioles pitcher gives up a homer - and they've allowed the most in the majors this year - there is always a catcher on the other end waiting for a pitch that never gets to his mitt. The catcher can be just as frustrated as anyone that the pitch went out and Pedro Severino has been there, done that this year for the Orioles. "We all feel really bad because we don't want to miss (the location of) pitches," he told me recently. "This is the big leagues man, we are making mistakes...

I'm not sure how it is going to happen, but the Orioles need to make it happen. They need to start getting more innings from their starting pitchers. The sooner the better. In 32 games during an 11-21 start, the Orioles' starting pitchers have thrown six innings or more just four times and have made only four quality starts. The starters' ERA is 5.54 and they have gone 5 1/3 or fewer innings 26 times, including in each of the last seven games. It was not a good road trip for getting deep...

Last year, when they played in college, right-handers Ruben Garcia and Matt De La Rosa were position players that pitched for just a few innings. But after being drafted by and signed by the Orioles, they are now full-time pitchers. They are basically conversion projects similar to right-hander Mychal Givens, now a fixture in the Orioles bullpen. Givens was a second-round pick in the 2009 draft (No. 54 overall) and played shortstop from 2010-2012 on the O's farm. In three seasons, he never...