I think if Matusz doesn't pitch decently today, he'll go to Norfolk

[Flacco Machado]

I'd be willing to bet this is what his coaches are telling him. Apparently he refuses to listen.

Weren't there stories about when Matusz first came up and Palmer tried to give him some advice through the media? Brian said something to the effect of, "I don't give a *bleep* about Jim Palmer and all his records. Am I mistaken?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Weren't there stories about when Matusz first came up and Palmer tried to give him some advice through the media? Brian said something to the effect of, "I don't give a *bleep* about Jim Palmer and all his records. Am I mistaken?

That was the story. Not sure it was ever validated though.

[El Gordo]

Weren't there stories about when Matusz first came up and Palmer tried to give him some advice through the media? Brian said something to the effect of, "I don't give a *bleep* about Jim Palmer and all his records. Am I mistaken?

That was a story tols my that reputable source Rob Dibble. No pitcher was ever named and many suspected it was Guthrie. I supect it was pure BS.

[Pickles]

I'd be willing to bet this is what his coaches are telling him. Apparently he refuses to listen.

I don't think its fair to say he refuses to listen. It may simply be a matter of execution. Lack of performance does not equate to a moral failing.

[Va Beach O's fan]

I am not a pitching coach or former pitcher beyond high school so take this with the appropriate grains of salt.

But I think Matusz might be better served by a Madduxian adjustment in his approach. Stop throwing at 100%. It's pretty obvious when he does it because he gains a few MPH on his fastball, he starts elevating, starts losing his arm slot, stops following through on his motion. The result is pitches that are released too early and come up and in to lefties and high and away on righties. It's a pretty consistent result, I've noticed, they just end up in that spot more. Not to mention they're flatter pitches.

You can be an 89 MPH lefty who has a LOT of success, especially with his secondary stuff which can be extremely good. You can't be a 92 MPH lefty who works up in the zone with flat pitches.

maddux had pinpoint control nearly every single start. It was vert rare to see Maddux go out there without an idea or a gameplan and just start throwing.

He consistently painted the corners for well over a decade and even managed to coin the phrase "madduxian strike zone". He would get pitches 3-4 inches off the plate called strikes on a fairly consistent basis because his control was THAT good that he earned those calls over years and years of consistent quality.

Matusz goes out there with little to no gameplan at times, is all over the place with his pitches and as such, rarely gets outside strike calls. So when a guy who's fastball is in the mid 80's has to throw it over the plate but can't control it enough to stay out of the middle, well, we've all seen the results.

There is only one Greg maddux. Matusz isn't even worthy of being discussed alongside him (I'm not saying that you are stating this, I'm just saying that there are far more pitchers who wind up like matusz than Greg maddux's). Yeah, it'd probably help him quite a bit to stop overthrowing but he still lacks control and honestly, lacks a tough guy mentality that you need to pitch in the majors, especially when you have the fairly poor velocity that he brings as compared to other major league pitchers.

I don't expect to see him in Baltimore again this season quite franky and I'd honestly be thrilled if another team decided to take a chance and accept him as part of a package for a top flight pitcher.

He'll never be maddux or anything even close with his below average velocity, below average control and weak mentality. He's frankly not a major league pitcher and he's proved as much over the last year and a half.

He had one good half a year or so when he first came up. The numbers of pitchers who've been able to do that is pretty large. The number of pitchers who've been able to make the adjustments after guys have seen them a couple times and still consistently get batters out is far less. The number of pitchers who can go year after year after year and get the same guys out over and over even though they've seen them alot and may even know what's coming is pretty darn small.

I don't see matusz ever being in the last two catagories. He's going to end up a loogey at best or a career minor leaguer. Very disappointing but pretty much par for the course for Orioles pitching prospects these days. It really is unbelievable how awful this organization has been at developing pitching prospects. If I were Dylan bundy I'd run for the hills......either that or just ignore every bit of pitching advise our minor league coaches try to give me.

[Going Underground]

I was at the game and Matusz looked like he was throwing in the towel in the third. The fourth inning his body language said I think this is enough. The last batter he walked in the fourth looked like he almost tried to walk him to get out of the game. I think Buck saw this and that was why they optioned him as quickly as they did. he was gone to Norfolk as soon as the game ended.