The Orioles found themselves in a position last night in which many of their opponents had been in the recent past in that the Blue Jays called up a young starter from the minors to start the game. So in the back of my mind I thought that the O's had a decent shot at getting their first win of the season against Toronto with 25-year old Brad Mills on the mound. As has been the case for most of the season, I thought wrong. Mills definitely came across as a young and inexperienced starter, as his 88 MPH fastballs came straight in over the plate with very little late movement. However Oriole bats swung right through them, likening them to the "mighty Casey" from Mudville. In fact, the times the Orioles did make contact with his pitches they were popping balls up, which might even indicate that they were expecting the ball to come in faster. Great, so what kind of message does that send?

Ironically, the O's and Blue Jays both had the same idea when they came to the plate. Swing early and often. The Orioles presumably wanted to swing at first pitches because they were facing a young starter. However the Orioles haven't taken pitches all season long, so why start now? Toronto swung away at first pitches because they figured that they'd be getting Jeremy Guthrie fastballs down the middle. Ultimately they were right, but they were also going nowhere fast against Guthrie. I don't want to make this game out to be a one-sided affair; it only got out of hand in the eight inning after Guthrie departed. Toronto scored one unearned run off of Guthrie on the heels of a Corey Patterson error in the second. Guthrie turned in a third straight quality start, and I'm not just talking numbers when I say that (when a pitcher gives up three runs or less through a minimum of five innings it's considered a quality start). Guthrie was good...he was really good. He pitched his way out of several minor situations, which shows veteran leadership on his part.

So is Guthrie on the trade block? At this point there are probably a lot of guys that could be dealt, including Jeremy Guthrie. With regard to Saturday's trade deadline, I would tell fans to be patient. I know that's difficult, however before anyone goes and criticizes Andy MacPhail for the deals he ends up making (or not making), keep in mind that the idea is not to make a deal for the sake of making a deal. MacPhail's a shrewd business man, and if he doesn't get value in return for a player, the deal's off. Say what you want about MacPhail, but I trust him completely when it comes to this. Adam Jones is still the best trade he's made since coming here, and for those that say he hasn't produced this season, would you rather that MacPhail had not made the deal and Bedard would have walked anyway?

So starting tonight the Orioles head to Kansas City for an engagement with the Royals. I'm working my rosary beads to the effect that perhaps one or two rays of the blonde Missouri sun might shine down on 'dem O's for once. In the AP's preview of the series, they said that there's a strong possibility that either team is about to experience an offensive outburst. The Royals are 11 games ahead of the O's in the win column, however let's not kid ourselves; they aren't that good. However it seems that each time we've seen a team like Kansas City where we've said that this could be a "get well" series for the O's, it's been just that in reverse. So what's the actual problem...not enough heart, guts, etc? Heck if I know...