Not understanding this thing

I see that the Orioles have announced that they will be adding a "game-day ticketing fee" of anywhere from $1-5 on all tickets purchased on the day of the game next year.

I guess I shouldn't pick on just the Orioles here because apparently 10 other Major League teams do this as well.

Thankfully, the Tigers do not do this. As a partial-season ticket holder, I probably only buy tickets at the walk-up window 2-3 times a year and I think these tickets are actually cheaper than a pre-purchased ticket because I believe you avoid the Ticketmaster fee at the ballpark box office.

Why do teams do this? Isn't the walk-up crowd kind of considered "gravy"? "Gravy" in the "we'll take all that we can get" sense. If you could do it, I would probably be inclined to charge less the day of the game so to get every possible person who is remotely interested in the game in a seat; and then the stadium price-gouging on concessions, souvenirs can begin. Frankly, you probably could not get away with charging less on game days because that would cut into your pre-paid sales as everybody would just wait until game day to buy their tickets; but you probably get my thought process here. Why give any disincentive for anybody to come to the game on the spur of the moment?

I am just not getting this one.

Besides, if you don't keep your ticket prices low, how are these guys above going to be able to get into the park?

This sounds like child (well teenager) abuse!

Spencer Fordin of MLB.com had a quirky little "Q & A" with Orioles groundskeeper* Nicole Sherry.

Here is one question and Nicole's answer:

Fordin: Do any special years of Christmas stand out in your memory? Did you get a pony when you were 12?

Sherry: My cool BMX bike was stolen one year and Santa brought me a 10-speed! Greatest gift ever! I never got a pony, but I got a Matchbox car the year I turned 16. My parents told me they had a huge gift for me, so I of course looked outside for the car. But instead they handed me the smallest box ever and said, "Don't forget to wear your seatbelt!"

What the......?

I bet that she never leaves tickets for them on game day.

Would you?

*A few years at Tiger Fest at Comerica Park, Computer Boy and I took the groundskeeper tour and Computer Boy was a bit excited. Frankly, it was a little underwhelming as all they did was show us some wheelbarrows and piles of different types of dirt in their storage area. We skipped that tour the next year.

Memo to the Orioles

Nice hats. I like the team colors. I hear the park is nice. In little league, I was on the Orioles.

All pleasantries aside and also let me say from the outset that I am just trying to help. I see that you just picked up pitcher, Chris Lambert who was just released by the Tigers.

Did you consult with your organizational scouts or pitching coaches before doing this? I mean that is what I would do before picking up a player. That's what those guys are for, after all.

Having been to my share of Tigers games this year, I can tell you that this is quite an ambitious project that you are taking on here. I don't even have to look at Lambert's ERA*. I have a good idea as to what it is. I can tell you that from our seats at Comerica Park, you can partially see the opponent's dugout and I can remember one time when he was coming in from the bullpen in relief, I swear I saw some opposing players rush to the posted lineup card to see how soon they would be up to bat.

I am not saying that he absolutely will never be an effective pitcher in the major leagues; after all the U.S. won the gold medal in hockey in the 1980 Winter Olympics** and all but.....

To come right out and say it, he is not what you are looking for. Trust me on this. I don't care what they told you.

I would keep looking though (but elsewhere).

*I couldn't resist. I looked it up. 14.85 ERA this year. 7.90 career ERA.

**They made a movie about that called "Miracle".

Brian Roberts knows exactly how to get out of the manager's doghouse

Per Jeff Zerbiec at the Baltimore Sun, Brian Roberts* of the Orioles knew exactly what to do after committing an embarrassing base-running blunder in Tuesday's game when he forgot how many outs there were. He entered manager, Dave Trembley's office with an apology and a gift.

"I said, 'I'm sorry, Skip,' and gave him a bottle of wine," Roberts said. "I've never done that in my life. I think everybody is going to do something embarrassing at a certain time."

I never knew about this baseball tradition. Screw up and then give your manager a bottle of wine and everyting is ok. I can see the advantages for both sides.

I wonder if Billy Martin enforced this type of penance on his players.

It would explain a lot.

*Does anybody think Brian Roberts looks blitzed in this card? The eyes aren't right. Maybe the previous manager did not go for all this and gave the bottle back.

Mad Melvin!

Per Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, Orioles third baseman, Melvin Mora is not at all a happy camper and believes that he is being "disrepected" by manager, Dave Trembley after being out of the lineup Sunday for the third time in four games.

"I don't appreciate the disrespect, because I've been playing hurt for a guy who won't respect you. I don't deserve it," said Mora. "Whatever he wants to do, he can do it. But like I told you before, I need to have my respect. This is not a guy who just came to the Orioles. This is a guy who's been here for nine years busting his butt for the organization." (I hate when people talk about themselves in the third person. This is a guy writing this post that would never ever do that.)

"I'm a competitor," Mora said. "I don't like to be here and I'm just thinking about in October how I'm going to go on vacation....."

This from a guy who is hitting .256 with three home runs and 27 RBIs and doing this from the five hole.

I think "disrespect" is appropriate and even necessary here.

Sit down you or we let a real angry Oriole handle this.