Around the AL: O's still looking for a shortstop

For the Baltimore Orioles to be above .500 heading into the week is quite an achievement, considering that they’ve been playing a man down every game.

Almost four months into the season, they’re still looking for a shortstop.

The December trade that sent Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros brought five players in return, including left fielder Luke Scott and relievers Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate, who have made significant contributions this season. But it figured that Tejada’s big shoes would be difficult to fill.

The Orioles would settle for one sock.

Luis Hernandez was the starter on Opening Day. Now he’s at Triple-A Norfolk. So are Brandon Fahey and Eider Torres. And Freddie Bynum was designated for assignment on Sunday, leaving the job to Alex Cintron, who signed a minor league deal on Opening Day after being released by the Chicago Cubs.

Where have you gone, Kiko Garcia?

"We're on an APB right now, trying to find a shortstop as a front office," team president Andy MacPhail said. "We've sent the word out to our scouts. We're going to continue to evaluate our internal options and we're going to continue to look outside the organization as well to see if we can find something. We're not really satisfied with the productivity we've gotten out of that position to this point. We've got to keep working to try to make it better."

Orioles shortstops began the week hitting .231 with one home run, 11 RBIs and a .270 on-base percentage. Bynum was batting .192 with five RBIs, and manager Dave Trembley pinch-hit for him in the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game in Milwaukee — hardly a vote of confidence.

So how tough has it been to manage a team with such little production coming from the shortstop position?

“Can you see the bags under my eyes?,” Trembley asked.

“You give every opportunity for it to get better, but when it doesn't, you have to make a change.”

Bynum had rejoined the team on May 8 after completing an injury rehabilitation assignment stemming from knee surgery that took place during spring training. He replaced Hernandez, who batted .241 in 36 games — an average that suddenly makes him look like Barry Larkin in this lineup.

Now Bynum is gone and it’s Cintron’s turn, at least until the Orioles find somebody else. The search continues.

“We need something that it is a little bit better than what we had, with all due respect,” Trembley said. "I thought I was fair. It's just part of the game. It happens.”

Meanwhile, the Orioles returned to a 13-man pitching staff and three-man bench by purchasing right-hander Ryan Bukvich’s contract from Norfolk. Bukvich was a career reliever until moving into the Tides’ rotation in May.

And yet another chance

It appears that former Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson has landed on his feet again, which is a neat trick for someone who keeps falling on his face.

Ponson recently signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees — it has nothing to do with the theory that pinstripes are slimming — and was assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. He’s expected to be promoted in time to start a game in Friday’s two-ballpark doubleheader against the crosstown-rival Mets.

Anyone still wondering just how desperate the Yankees have become?

This is the same guy who pitched briefly, and unimpressively, for the Yankees in 2006, posting a 10.47 ERA in five games. The same guy who had two alcohol-related arrests in 2004 and 2005, claimed to be sober and then reportedly caused a disturbance at a hotel bar in St. Petersburg, Fla. the night before his May 26 start against the Tampa Bay Rays. The same guy who laid a verbal assault on Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington after being told that he’d be pitching on six days’ rest, invited the club to release him and was designated for assignment on June 6.

The Yankees are fully aware, but they’ve lost starters Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to injuries. If Catfish Hunter were alive, he’d probably be scheduled to throw a bullpen session early next week.

Instead, the Yankees are the latest team to bring Ponson’s career back from the dead. He pitched well for the Rangers, but that didn’t stop him from being booted off the team for “disrespecting teammates and club personnel,” in the words of general manager Jon Daniels.

“Hopefully,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, “whatever happened in Texas stays in Texas.”

Isn’t that supposed to be Vegas? Or a St. Petersburg bar?

To catch a thief

Only 72 games into the season, Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury already had amassed 34 stolen bases. That’s enough to break the club’s rookie record held by Amby McConnell since 1908. And it took him 140 games.

McConnell wasn’t available for comment.

Ellsbury has a long way to go to surpass Vince Coleman (110) for the major league record for steals by a rookie. Kenny Lofton holds the American League record with 66 for the Cleveland Indians in 1992.

Huge difference, surprising result

As long as we’re going back in time, the interleague series between the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals presented the biggest difference in managerial resumes since Connie Mack was patrolling major league dugouts in his Sunday best.

Tony LaRussa began the series with 4,519 games and 2,417 victories as a major league manager. Trey Hillman, in his first season with the Royals, countered with 70 games and 28 wins.

Baseball hasn’t seen a gap this big since Mack totaled 7,457 games and 3,607 wins before his Philadelphia Athletics met Jack Onslow’s Chicago White Sox in 1949. Onslow had 18 games and nine wins under his belt.

Naturally, Hillman’s Royals swept LaRussa’s Cardinals.

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