The O's and Terps take small but critical strides forward

Andy MacPhail has proved yet again that he follows through with his promises made at the beginning of the offseason.

The Orioles have filled almost all of the gaps, albeit with mediocre talent, left at the end of last season. It's no mystery that the O's biggest weakness is pitching. MacPhail realized that in order to compete in one of the deepest divisions in the history of major league baseball, the Orioles need to focus on restructuring their starting rotation.

It's a shame that Jeremy Guthrie is the ace for two reasons. One, he hasn't proved that he is a capable starter for an entire season. Two, the Orioles shouldn't be forcing a man who really is a solid number 2 or 3 starter to carry the weight of being the ace. As much as O's fans love the guy's attitude and work ethic, he shouldn't be asked to do too much. At the same token, what else are the Orioles to do? They clearly aren't willing to shell out big bucks on top name starters nor are they ready to bring up top pitching prospects such as Brian Matusz or Chris Tillman.

Fotunately, the four remaining rotation spots are quickly being filled by average to below-average starters. Don't be surprised if one of the newly acquired fill-ins ends up panning out to be a decent starter for the O's down the road. Mark Hendrickson, Rich Hill, and Koji Uehara at some point in their careers have had a very solid season. Rich Hill may be the second incarnation of Daniel Cabrera for O's due to his lack of control but the dice are bound to fall in the O's favor once in a while.

I could go all day about the Orioles recent woes (if you consider 11 years 'recent') but I won't. I'll talk about the Terps woes instead.

The Terps won what may have been their most important game of the season last Saturday against Miami. It will feel like, however, that every game here on out will be their most important game of the season. For the sake of Gary Williams and the program as a whole, the Terps need something positive to springboard off of for upcoming years. The Terps have come too far to fall so fast.

Beating third ranked UNC Tuesday night would be a nice place to start. No one can expect the Terps to win in Chapel Hill (even though they shocked college basketball nation last year by dethroning the then top ranked Tar Heels) but the Terps simply cannot be embarassed for the second straight time in the tri-city area. Miserably failing against Duke two weeks ago in addition to the dissapointment during the past few seasons culminated in the lowest Maryland basketball fans have felt since the death of Len Bias.

I am not going to get too far ahead of myself. The Terps may very well finish 6-10 in the ACC likely resulting in the abrupt dismissal or retirement of Gary Williams and another trip to the NIT, if they're lucky.

On the flip side, the Terps might surprise us again Tuesday and salvage their brutal first half of ACC play.

--BK