When Orioles starting pitcher Tommy Hunter got shelled for five runs in four and one-third innings Sunday versus the Red Sox in a 17-inning marathon, manager Buck Showalter had little choice but to send the struggling righty to the minor leagues.

Cutting or demoting players isn’t something Showalter, a major league manager for 14 seasons, enjoys. But he goes in with a plan that could be helpful to all supervisors and human resources professionals, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The key is to appear confident and comfortable — even if you’re not.

“I make sure I get a good night’s sleep. I make sure I’m clean-shaven,” Showalter told Businessweek. “When they’re sitting across from me, I want them to know that I’ve got a clear head and that it was important to me to give them the time to explain what’s going on.”

The O’s skipper said he asks questions and gives players the opportunity to tell him what they think they did well and in what areas they need improvement.

He also said there’s always someone else in the room with him — a third party that can vouch for what was said in the meeting.

And If things turn ugly, Showalter is ready, too.

“I’ve had a bat within short reach,” he said.

The main takeaways: don’t waffle, encourage engagement and be honest. This is someone’s livelihood you’re talking about, after all.

Hunter, the pitcher who was sent to Triple A Monday, was back in Baltimore by Thursday after starting pitcher Jason Hammel couldn’t make his scheduled start against the Texas Rangers. But he won’t be the last player to be demoted or cut by Showalter, who is managing his second full year in Baltimore.

“I don’t ever want to be good at it,” Showalter said.

What he does want to be good at is managing the Birds to their first winning record since 1997.

With the Orioles sitting at 20-12 and tied for first place in the American League East, it’s so far, so good for the O’s de facto HR expert.

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The Baltimore Orioles held a sneak-peek event last night to show off the views from the improved Flag Court and the new Roof Deck above the batter’s eye wall in center field, and food offerings at Camden Yards.

The views will be hard to beat. For the last 20 years, only cameramen have been watching the game from above center field, and now fans will be able to join them in an area with a full-service bar and seating. The team also added a bar area to the Flag Court and lowered the out-of-town scoreboard wall in right field by about four feet.

Representatives from the team’s concessionaire, Delaware North Cos. Sportservice, served up some of the specialties of the stadium’s newest eateries: Stuggy’s, Gino’s Burgers & Chicken and Dempsey’s Brew Pub and Restaurant (including Dempsey’s Rock Fish Tacos, right).

Brian Rathbun, of Delaware North Cos. Sportservice, the Orioles' concessions partner, builds a "Birdland Dog."

Dempsey’s replaces the Bud Light Warehouse Bar that was open on Eutaw Street on game days. Though it will initially only be open with a limited menu on game days, the restaurant is slated for a full opening toward the end of April. Once that happens, Baltimoreans and visitors alike will get to bite into the beer braised ribs and rock fish tacos any day of the week. (Full disclosure: This amateur restaurant critic and fish taco connoisseur thinks Dempsey’s got it just right.)

Game-goers can also look forward to Stuggy’s “Crab Mac ’n’ Cheese Dog” — we’ll let the name speak for itself — and the “Birdland Dog,” an all beef hot dog topped with sweet tomato jam, beef hash and fried onions.

In the hamburger corner, Gino’s is serving up the “Gino Giant,” a two-patty cheesburger, and the “Camden Giant,” a burger that sings to the hearts of locals with a crab cake resting atop a single patty.

The new grub will be awaiting the masses Friday for the Orioles’ home opener against the Minnesota Twins.

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Baltimore Orioles TV ratings are up on MASN, according to Nielsen Research.

Through the team’s first 26 games of the 2011 season, the household audience in the Baltimore market overall is 24 percent larger than it was last year. That means an average of 61,208 area homes tuned to Orioles games this spring.

Viewing is up in all demographics, according to Nielsen, including a 33 percent increase in men 18 to 34 years of age. A year-to-year increase of 25 percent happened among males 25 to 54 years of age. Orioles audience is also more than twice as large in the Washington, D.C., market than it was last year.

The Washington Nationals TV ratings are up 78 percent on MASN over last year.

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From horse racing to the NFL’s Tom Brady to the Baltimore Orioles, sports dominated the most popular stories generated by The Daily Record’s business reporters last week. And the latest twist in the city’s quest for a new sports arena cracked the top five after only day on our website.

1. Penn National backs plan to close Laurel, cut racing in Maryland

“From a business perspective, again, these are losing operations that will continue to be in decline without some alternative revenue stream or these types of steep cuts,” said D. Eric Schippers, a Penn National spokesman. The company’s position made public rifts that have developed in the corporate family that runs thoroughbred racing in Maryland.

2. Under Armour signs Tom Brady

For its first NFL quarterback endorser Under Armour aimed high, and the Baltimore-based company didn’t miss, signing three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady of the New England Patriots to help it wrest market share from rivals like Nike Inc.

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Nope — that’s not a typo. It seems counterintuitive, right? The Orioles are stinking up the ballpark something fierce this season, losing 21 of their last 26 and with a 20-52 overall record.

But attendance is up more than 3 percent this year. And at one point (just after their last home stand against Boston) it was up by 10 percent.

I know. It seems weird. Through 35 home games, total ballpark attendance is at 802,977. Last year through 35 games the total attendance was 777,775. After the June 4-6 weekend series against Boston total attendance was 596,703 compared with 540,999. Read the rest of this entry »

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Not only did the Orioles spank the New York Mets 11-0 Saturday in their final spring training game, the team left preseason with a bang by surpassing 100,000 in attendance for the first time in Orioles history.

In the club’s first spring in Sarasota, Fla., the team drew 102,219 fans for an average of 6,815 fans per game. That’s a 39 percent increase from 2009 when the team played in Fort Lauderdale. The figure also represents the largest increase in Major League Baseball this spring, according to an Orioles news release.

“Our already high expectations have been easily surpassed by the outpouring of support from the local community, its citizens and business and political leaders,” said Orioles spokesman Greg Bader in the release, who noted attendance was a mix of the local community and “thousands of fans from the Mid-Atlantic region.”

Ed Smith Stadium’s capacity is about 7,500.

A lot of this is likely due to the excitement over the Orioles being in a new spring training location — especially since it seems like this attempt to move from Fort Lauderdale is almost as old as some of the Orioles’ young starters.

Other clubs this year have been enjoying a spring training attendance bonanza, as noted by the Fort Myers, Fla. news-press.com. The Boston Red Sox, who play in a park about the same size as the Orioles have sold out more than 100-straight spring training games (not a shocker). The New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, who all play in larger ballparks, all have average home attendance of more than 10,000.

The Tampa Bay Rays attendance, however, has dipped from 2009 (their first season after their World Series appearance) to 6,004 in 2010 from from an average crowd of 6,513.

The Red Sox move to a new stadium on Daniels Parkway in 2012 with a capacity of 11,000. Somehow I doubt they’ll have trouble filling up that place too. After Ed Smith Stadium is renovated this year, its capacity will be increased to 9,000. I wonder how the O’s will fare with keeping capacity percentage up?

Maybe 2011 will be just as good because the renovations will continue to draw people. But if Tampa Bay is any indicator, excitement only lasts a year before it goes back to product on the field. And that one’s still a work in progress.

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In today’s story about how the Orioles can sell hope to its fans (or, really, how they can’t) several people I interviewed mentioned it’s tough to sell an intangible like a feeling or emotion.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t try to measure it.

According to New York-based Brand Keys Inc.’s Sports Loyalty Index, Orioles fans rank second-to-last in the MLB. Company founder Robert Passikoff said brand loyalty was measured using four criteria:

• Play on the field
• Authenticity (i.e. is the team believable; typically a new stadium boosts this category)
• Fan bonding (does the team have people its fans can relate to)
• History and tradition

Um, guess which category is bringing the 12-straight-losing-seasons-Orioles down? Yeah. It’s that one.

And no wonder that the team’s ranking is sandwiched right between the Kansas City Royals (25 years since a postseason appearance and one winning season in the last 15) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (who hold an MLB-record 17 straight losing seasons).

“Losing isn’t everything but it’s a lot,” said Passikoff. “You don’t have to always win but you have to play well and you can’t just do it on history and tradition alone.”

But here’s some good news for O’s fans who are reading this and getting more insulted by the minute (by a New Yorker whose wife is a Derek Jeter fan, nonetheless). Fan bonding has improved over the last year, a direct effect of the team developing players within its minor league system.

“Their issue has always been of fan bonding,” said Passikoff. “Once [Cal] Ripken [Jr.] was gone you didn’t have a lot of people to look for. That changed last year.”

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Former Oriole pitcher Jamie Moyer hasn’t forgotten about Baltimore — this week his foundation announced its plans to continue the expansion of bereavement camps for children and teens who have lost someone close to them by adding Baltimore to its list of new cities in 2010.

The Moyer Foundation’s “Camp Erin” was created in 2002 and is now the largest bereavement camp in the country with 36 camps in 23 states. With the addition of Baltimore and the other new cities, it is expected to serve nearly 2,500 kids between the ages of 6 and 17 this year. The foundation has a goal of establishing as many as 60 camps around the country, including one Camp Erin in every Major League Baseball city.

Moyer played for the Orioles from 1993-95 and he’s the oldest pitcher in the majors. The father of eight now plays for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Moyer’s foundation works to help children in distress and it also runs “Camp Mariposa,” a camp dedicated to serving children affected by addiction in their families.

In Baltimore Camp Erin is partnering with Roberta’s House, a family grief and loss center, on July 23-25 to introduce the program here.

You gotta think — Baltimore’s homicide rate being what it is, there’s probably a huge need for something like this in our community. But I wonder how well it will be accepted by those who really need it. Partnering with an established place like Roberta’s House is a smart move and hopefully the relationship is mutually beneficial for both organizations.

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A fun article by Tom Verducci in this week’s Sports Illustrated takes a neat look at numbers and baseball and uses payroll, wins and post season success to determine which teams are getting the most bang for their buck.

Not surprisingly, the Orioles are one of the least-efficient teams in Major League Baseball in terms of the money spent for players vs. on-the-field success. According to Verducci’s numbers, over the last decade the Orioles have spent $717.2 million and won 698 games, or $1.03 million per win.

OK, it’s less than the $1.75 million the New York Yankees spent per win…but then again the Yanks did grab two World Series titles and four pennants in nine post season appearances. And with 12 straight losing seasons, the O’s have posted big fat “zeros” in those categories.

Sure, you could argue that the Orioles play in the toughest division in baseball. But when you look at Tampa Bay’s numbers — 694 wins at $577,522 per win and one pennant — that argument starts getting weak. True, the Rays caught lightening in a bottle the year they made it to the World Series…but at least the team didn’t waste its money the other nine years.

Hopefully with this change of focus on the farm system the Orioles can manage their payroll better. It’s funny — fans often complain that owner Peter Angelos won’t spend money on good talent. And maybe that’s been true at times…but obviously money isn’t everything.

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The company that has been the concessionaire at Oriole Park at Camden Yards since the ballpark opened in 1992 hopes that relationship will continue. But ARAMARK’s contract with the Orioles is up, and the team is considering its options, according to the team’s spokesman.

ARAMARK does not comment on potential bids, but when asked if it submitted one for its own contract a spokesman said, “we hope to continue providing services at the ballpark.”

Last month, ARAMARK, which recently lost a bid at the Baltimore Convention Center, filed a notice with the state that 609 full- and part-time employees at its Camden Yards office would be affected if ARAMARK did in fact lose its deal with the Orioles.

ARAMARK also has offices at the Warehouse (which is owned by the state), and there’s no guarantee that a new concessionaire would take the same space — or even any space.

And a drop in rent income is not something I imagine the agency wants to be staring at during the last half of an already tough fiscal year for Maryland.

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