Magic, Magic, Magic, Magic

The frontrunning Baltimore Orioles ralled for three in the bottom of the ninth to beat Seattle 3-2 yesterday at the Yards.

Baltimore had very little offensive success against Mariner starter Felix Hernandez, but when the M's removed him to start the ninth, the Birds got hot. Key to the rally were a pair of hits by lefthanded swingers, Nick Markakis and Luke Scott against the Mariner situational lefty Eric O'Flaherty. Markakis began the rally with a lead-off single and Scott provided a two-out hit. The outfielder acquired in the Houston trade for Miguel Tejeda had three hits for the second straight day, and is hitting .538 on the young season.

Luis Hernandez won the game with a single to right-center, his first hit of the season.

The season is a marathon and the Orioles are ahead at the first mile-marker. It's a season with no expectations and in a funny sort of way the Orioles have already exceeded them.

Daniel Cabrera starts today versus Carlos Silva as the Birds try for a rare 4-game sweep of the M's.

In other stuff.....

Jim Phelan got into the College Hall of Fame yesterday. He deserves it as much as anyone. He'll officially be inducted the weekend before Thanksgiving in Kansas City. Should be quite an event. Along with it, the CBE Classic is played at the Sprint Center. Tournament organizers are hoping that Syracuse, Kansas, Florida and Washington advance out of the regional field to give them a great tournament field. That's right, my Orange, in the field on the weekend Phelan gets inducted. Who is up for a road trip?

Speaking of the Orange. Expect to hear final decisions from those who are considering departing the Hill this week. That means Paul Harris and Donte' Greene. If what I am hearing is true, both won't be back, but its highly likely that one returns. I maintain that as I've said all along, Greene is finished.

I like Kansas tonight. They were my pre-tournament pick, so I'm going to stay with them. Which basically means that you should go take Memphis and win some coin. The Tigers have been playing extremely well the last two weekends and could easily take the title.

And finally, Detroit is giving us more and more hope on a daily basis. The Tigers were humiliated on national TV last night, falling to the ChiSox 12-3 or something along those lines. A poor performance, of which we need 16 more, to permanently remove the Orioles from the record book. The Tigers have today off, before starting a series in Boston. Can we really root for the Red Sox?