Mike Bordick

Did it in the biggest market.

Handled himself with great grace, I thought.

You know, I think he really endeared himself to the Baltimore fans.

He's a blue-collar guy that really does care about wanting to win and worked hard at it, called the guys out in spring training.

Just exactly what every team needs is a nice veteran presence.

Somebody that's done it, you know, been to the World Series, has success, been to all-star games.

So he lends his experience.

I think...

the fans that aren't liking it right now is that he might not be producing enough, to be honest with you.

His batting average is down a little bit.

The home runs haven't come as frequent as I think everybody wished the polar bear would be slugging these home runs out every night.

He got a nice little roll, though, like this whole team did here over the past week.

So everybody, I think, the polar bear included, just trying to find consistency offensively.

I will say this.

Defensively, he has been so much better than they've put him out to be.

I think forever they said Alonzo was a below-average defender, but this guy is literally saving games every night with his defense.

He might not have the range.

He might not have the plus-plus arm for first base.

Man, he sticks his nose in there.

He makes some big-time plays, and he's helped his team a lot, even with all their defensive struggles.