Alan Mills, the Prodigal Oriole, returned home after a season in La-La land with the dynamic duo of Kevin Malone and Davey Johnson. The pitcher, whose signing was an early "coup" of the Malone era in LA, had fallen out of favor with the Dodgers after a solid year of setup work in 1999.

For some reason, the same economic deal that had looked so bad to the Orioles a season and a half prior now looked good. Perhaps it was the fact that virtually anything the O’s could do that looked like a move would be a good thing. No one knows. But Alan, a favorite in his first seven-year term with the O’s, was now back in the fold for a season and a half.

So what happened? Mills pitched worse than he had in LA. As a matter of fact, he pitched the worst he had in his entire career except for an injury-riddled 1995 campaign. He fit right in with the rest of the O’s Arson Squad. Nearly a walk an inning. A .535 opposition slugging percentage for the first 15 pitches of an appearance.

Mills was shut down in mid-August. One can only hope that some of his terrible numbers prior to the end of his season were a result of his injury, hopefully one from which he can recover. Or, since his post-break numbers in 1999 plus 2000 result in an ERA of 4.94, it may just mean the end is near for Millsey (though actually anything sub-5 looks good to the O’s right now). If so, the O’s may be eating a $2.25M contract in 2001, but that wouldn’t be the first time. He is recovering slowly from his off season surgery.

TO BE SUCCESSFUL WITH THE ORIOLES IN 2001, MILLS MUST:

1. First and foremost, be healthy.

NOTES: Yet another Oriole who should pitch only in the daytime (2.45 ERA in 14 appearances)…if this were the staff of the Cubs, they’d be SOOOOO much better <g>…lefties mauled him for a .313 batting average and a .412 OBP.