Jeff Nettles is slugging the ball pretty well right now. Let's be honest about why someone who's 29 years old and spent five years outside of real baseball is playing on anyone's Double-A team. First off, he's Graig Nettles' son. Which also makes him Jim Nettles' nephew! And he's an in-law of Mike Sweeney, since Jim's daughter married Sweeney. He's not a good player. He's just not. He never has been. He was in indy league baseball for about five years before the Royals picked him up to play at Wichita (AA) last season. The O's grabbed him because they have no hitting prospects. He was once a 53rd round pick of the Blue Jays, but went pro when taken in the 47th round for the big money by the Yankees, who were probably just doing Graig a solid. Not a nice bunch of stuff to say, I don't suppose, but it's not my job to make excuses for why Jeff Nettles is the starting third baseman for the Bowie Baysox.

Luis Montanez is 26 and a massive flameout with whom you may already be familiar if you're a Cubs fan. He was taken third overall in the 2000 draft and never did anything. He never even had an encouraging season, really. I mean, I suppose you could say him tearing up the Midwest League was pretty neat, if you don't take into account that he was 23 by then and was expected to already be in the majors. It's been a tough career for him. Sometimes, I wonder what it is that makes a guy like Montanez or Nettles keep soldiering on. Love of the game is one thing, but jeez. It reminds me of the line from Rudy, when one of the assistant coaches bluntly addresses the walk -on hopefuls: "Now, if any of you has any dreams of one day running out of that tunnel with your gold helmet shining in the sun, you'd best leave them right here."

Reimold is starting to hit a little, thank the heavens. He remains our second-best position prospect. Expect nothing from the rest of these guys. Like the Tides, the Baysox are struggling with hitting, although it's nice to see Jonathan Tucker getting on base the way he is. I like him for no particular reason. Just do.

Tillman is still a diaper dandy, more or less, so his control issues are (1) not a big deal and (2) pretty much totally expected. Spoone's are a little more troubling.

But the other three rotation regulars have been chewing up the Eastern League. Waters should be -- he's 27 years old. Berken's 25 and is sort of at "now or never" himself. Hernandez was regarded by Sickels and Baseball Prospectus as a sleeper dude, so him I'm actually getting a little excited about, despite the iffy WHIP. I mean look at that K-rate -- 13.32 K/9. That's nasty. Even if he never masters a whole repertoire, that kind of power arm could make him millions as a reliever.

But if it's ratios you want to focus on, jeez, take a gander at Berken's absurd K-to-BB. 15-to-1? The Baysox bullpen deserves just as much flak for the team's struggles as the flaccid lineup does, too. Mickolio, Miller and Romero are doing fine, but the rest of them are gasoline men.

Louisville 6, Norfolk 4

Scott Moore started at second base and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, leaving him hitting .133 with seven whiffs in 15 at-bats since being sent down to Norfolk. He's always going to be a high-strikeout hitter who is prone to bouts of streakiness. He's picking a bad time to slump, I'd suppose, although I'd take the Norfolk version of Moore over Brandon Fahey anyway.

Veteran catcher Chris Heintz was 4-for-4 on the day, but didn't score a run. Radhames Liz got beaten up a little, going five innings with eight hits allowed, giving up six runs (five earned) and two homers. He walked one and struck out five. Lance Cormier and Bob McCrory both had scoreless relief appearances.

Erie 11, Bowie 10

Well, the Bowie bats have come around. But they lost this slugfest on a Max St. Pierre single in the bottom of the ninth with one out, which scored Dusty Ryan from second base. The hit was to left field.

First, the pitching. Starter David Hernandez went four innings, allowing eight runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks. Hernandez struck out eight. Gerardo Casadiego gave up just one run in three innings, but Jim Miller blew the game and took the loss for the Baysox, giving up two in one and a third.

At the plate, Jeff Nettles was 3-for-5 with four runs scored, and hit two solo homers, including one in the top of the ninth that tied the game at 10. Luis Montanez was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, and had three RBIs on the day. Kennard Jones also had a three-steak day.

And even though the Baysox rapped out 11 hits and scored ten runs, Nolan Reimold continues to flounder. He was 1-for-5 with an RBI triple. He's hitting .180/.259/.280 so far.

Mike Rodriguez and Ben Davis both had two hits.

Salem 13, Frederick 6

The Keys winning streak ended at four, and Brandon Erbe got wailed on out there. But first...

Wieters Watch! He was 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Start the panic!

Erbe went five and a third, and Salem got nine hits and seven runs (six earned) off of him. He allowed three home runs, walked one, and struck out five. Erbe started his day much like Adam Loewen, giving up a double, a single, and then a three run homer. Three batters, three Salem runs. Mark Ori hit two homers off of Erbe.

Frederick had a 4-3 lead after two, but it disappeared pretty fast. Leading 7-4, Salem piled on six runs in the top of the seventh, just murdering Kyle Schmidt. None of the runs were earned, apparently. Hey, whatever.

Brandon Tripp hit a homer for the Keys.

Delmarva 10, Hagerstown 1

Matt Angle was 3-for-6 and David Cash was 4-for-6, making the Shorebirds' 1-2 hitters a pretty deadly punch on the day. Cash had a three-run homer and four RBIs total.

Tyler Henson and Joseph Nowicki had two hits apiece, and Ryan Adams was 4-for-5.

Zach Britton and Cliff Flagello teamed up to dominate Hagerstown. Britton went five and a third and gave up a run on six hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Flagello pitched the other three and two-thirds, striking out seven and walking two, allowing only two hits.

RECORDS

Norfolk 5-9

Bowie 5-8

Frederick 8-4

Delmarva 7-6

Rochester 4, Norfolk 1

Our old Triple-A affiliate shut down our newest Triple-A affiliate, as the Red Wings got two hits apiece from Garrett Jones, Randy Ruiz and Brian Buscher and five and two-thirds shutout innings from starter Kevin Mulvey en route to victory. Former Oriole Jon Knott went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts for Rochester.

Jim Johnson went four innings to take the loss, allowing one earned on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Relievers Craig Anderson (2 2/3, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 K) and Lance Cormier (2 1/3, 4 H, 1 ER, BB, 3 K) were both hit pretty hard. The Tides didn't get on the board until it was 3-0 Rochester, when nine-hitter Mike McCoy drove in catcher Chris Heintz. The Tides are now 2-3.

Reading 6, Bowie 3 (10 innings)

The Baysox extended their season-starting winless streak to five games with a 6-3 loss to Reading, giving up three runs in the top of the tenth inning after having rallied to tie it in the bottom of the seventh.

Veteran catcher Ben Davis went 2-for-5, but the runs came from the bottom of the order. Eight-hitter Jonathan Tucker was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, and Kennard Jones in the nine spot scored the other Bowie run on a 1-for-3 day. Jones also had an RBI, and the other two steaks came from Mike Rodriguez (hitting .381) and Blake Davis at the top of the lineup. Nolan Reimold was 1-for-5 with two whiffs.

On the mound, Chris Tillman made his first Junior Oriole start, and he struggled. Tillman was yanked after two innings work, allowing two earned on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Jim Miller threw three innings of relief, and Kam Mickolio and Rommie Lewis, Jr., threw two each. Old Man Manon was the goat in the tenth, giving up the three runs on two hits and a walk.

Frederick and Delmarva both had the day off.

Chris Tillman once had his picture taken with Cal Ripken, Jr., when he was an Aflac All-American back in his high school days. We present to you the evidence of this meeting between the former Oriole great and a potential future Oriole great.

The Bedard trade's effect is being felt throughout the system already. Down at Delmarva, you have big lefty Tony Butler. On the major league level, Adam Jones is getting great receptions at Camden Yards and George Sherrill is a nerve-wracking 1-for-1 in save opportunities. And at Bowie, Tillman and Kam Mickolio will be key pieces of another promising young pitching staff. Mickolio will work out of the pen.

I'm not saying all of these guys are going to pan out. Hell, maybe none of them do. But when's the last time you could say that the Orioles had legit prospects on the pitching staffs at AAA, AA, High-A and Low-A? Fans of other teams may take this for granted. I do not.

To get away from the prospects for a moment, the Orioles went out and got 35-year old Julio Manon back for the Bowie bullpen, which seems a strange move. But you do have to fill out the rosters with someone, and Manon probably knows who he is at this point -- a career minor leaguer. Plus, pitching effectively in the minors has never been an issue for him. So long as we don't see him in Baltimore again, who cares?

I also really like to look over the gaps in Manon's career. 1996 was a lost year. He didn't play in 2004 and 2005, and then the Orioles rescued him in '06. He dominated in 50 appearances at Ottawa and then didn't in 22 games for the Birds. Last year he pitched at AAA for Oakland and Cincinnati. Spending two seasons farming for the O's, A's and Reds would pretty awesome if this was the 1970s.

The ace of the staff, though, is not the 20-year old Tillman, who probably has the highest ceiling of all the Baysox. That distinction instead falls to 22-year old Chorye Spoone, who will start the opener. The 6'1", 215-pound righty is a native of Pasadena, MD, was the most improved prospect in the O's system in 2007. His walks were way down (5.58 to 3.97 per nine), his strikeouts were up (6.28 to 7.88 per nine), and he gave up less hits (8.23 to 6.39 per nine). And we're talking about a jump, too, as he went from Low-A Delmarva to High-A Frederick. He's ready for Bowie, and if all goes really well, he could be up at Norfolk by the summer's end.

The other starter to watch for is David Hernandez, another righty who, as has been said before, is in sort of a low-risk, high-reward position. He's a couple tweaks away from maybe being really good. Or he won't make them, and he won't be. If he doesn't, it's not a huge loss.

Among the hitters, the clear stud is Nolan Reimold, who just needs to stay healthy for the love of God. He's become a good outfielder, he can hit the hell out of the ball, and he actually has some plate discipline. With all respect to Luke Scott, Luke's just a placeholder. Reimold is the left fielder of the future, and a Reimold-Jones-Markakis outfield could anchor the Oriole lineup for years.

Joining him in the outfield is Kennard Jones, a former Indiana Hoosier and Beltsville, MD, native who got as far as AAA in the Padres system. He played at Frederick last year. He's got no power, decent plate discipline, speed, and no idea how to use it. He's the Sebastien Boucher of Bowie. Non-prospects Michael Rodriguez and Luis Montanez will also see time in the outfield.

First baseman Ryan Finan may be the jewel of the infield, which isn't saying a whole lot. Finan hit .284/.386/.432 at Frederick last year. A spike in power would improve his prospects a whole lot, but he's just not a power hitter. Even Mark Grace slugged .518 in the minors.

Shortstop Blake Davis was overmatched in 35 games with the Baysox last season (.209/.264/.270) but fared OK at Frederick (.291/.362/.409). Like Finan, he's a maybe, but a probably not. The Cal State Fullerton product's future may be as a utility guy if he can start hitting Double-A pitching.

And then there's Michael Garciaparra, a career .261/.355/.342 hitter in the minors. He's not his brother, to say the least.

Former (very former) Padres prospect Ben Davis will be the starting catcher. He's just another guy that didn't pan out. But he's in a place where he can be useful. The 31-year old Davis has 486 major league games under his belt, and could be very helpful in guiding Spoone, Tillman, Hernandez and the rest of the young pitchers. Think Crash Davis, but without the bat.

Like all the other levels of the O's system now, there's real young talent down at Bowie, and the chance to see some guys that are going to be good major league players.