Day: April 5, 2012

Shorebird of the Week – April 5, 2012

Since it’s fairly likely that Glynn Davis will be among the top choices for batting leadoff for the Shorebirds this season, it seemed fitting he bat leadoff as Shorebird of the Week. Because we open on the road, it’s quite possible he’ll step into the batter’s box in Asheville tonight tomorrow night to unwrap the 2012 Delmarva campaign.

Davis is another diamond in the rough sort of player – plucked from Catonsville Community College after being passed over in the amateur draft, the 20-year-old Baltimore native impressed the brass enough after his inaugural season to appear in a half-dozen contests with the big club during spring training, where he went 1-for-6 with an RBI. (Only seven of the 27 on the “break camp” roster can claim the distinction of appearing in at least one spring training contest with the O’s.)

And while Glynn has just the 69 pro games under his belt, mostly with Aberdeen, he put up some extremely good numbers in 2011, batting .284/2/16/.713 OPS and making the New York-Penn League All-Star team. He was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dreadful Aberdeen season as he swiped 23 bases for the IronBirds, placing fifth in the league. If not for a handful of games where he dominated the Gulf Coast League (going 10-for-23 in 6 games) and a one-game cup of coffee at Frederick (1-for-4) he may have led the league in steals.

Obviously this will be a stronger test for the rookie as he embarks on a full 140-game season, but it looks like Ryan Minor is going to pencil him in to patrol center field. A good season puts him on the prospect radar screen, and who knows? Perhaps someday he’ll suit up with the Orioles in a game that counts in his hometown.

The inside baseball races

At the end of this month, I will be among nearly 300 Central Committee members who will vote for two of the three Maryland representatives to the Republican National Committee. As of this writing, both are contested races: Louis Pope is running for another four-year term against Anne Arundel County Central Committee member Scott Shaffer, while former party Chair Audrey Scott is running for a seat opened up by the retirement of Joyce Terhes. Her opponent is Nicolee Ambrose, Chairman Emeritus of the Young Republican National Federation.

It’s obvious that the GOP is at somewhat of a crossroads here in Maryland. The 2010 election didn’t go as well as the party would have liked at the top, since none of the statewide candidates even sniffed victory in their races. Just as a sad review, Bob Ehrlich lost by a 56-42 margin to Martin O’Malley, and he was the closest of the statewide losers. Bill Campbell lost the Comptroller race by a 61-39 count and Eric Wargotz was blown out 62-36 by Barb Mikulski. Worst of all, the party didn’t even field an opponent for Attorney General Doug Gansler, allowing him to save his campaign funds for a 2014 run and assist other candidates.

Down ticket, the state results were mixed. Republicans got back to their traditional 6-2 deficit in our Congressional delegation when Andy Harris avenged his 2008 defeat to Frank Kratovil, and they also returned to the 43-seat minority they enjoyed in the middle of the last decade – their best showing in the House of Delegates in modern history. And aside from the loss of two Maryland Senate seats in close races, the GOP was relatively successful at the local level in picking up a number of local seats.

But the Maryland Republican Party faces other problems as well. Their ongoing financial struggles meant they had to abandon their prime West Street office location for one a little more off the beaten path, a converted residence around the corner on Cathedral Street. Ambitious fundraising goals are set but not met.

Continue reading “The inside baseball races”