it was that time he learned his family would stick by him and terry crowley. he was his true friend. we know crowley knows talent and saw it in pie, stuck with him and harnessed that talent and we see that now on the field. >> jim: the crew has confidence in his hitters. he has an approach if they follow will have a chance to succeed. pie bought into that and we're seeing success that terry crowley felt was there and needed to be tapped. >> and pie is doing that. there's vizquel with a 3-0 count. and there's a 4-pitch walk to begin tinning. -- the inning. >> you want the number 9 hitter to turn the lineup over. >> reporter: it's a good one. terry crowley will work with anybody as long as he sees the effort from the player. pie gave him that effort. early on, even in spring training he was what reluctant. then he hit bottom and ball a good student. >> leo borbone the rookie tried to bunt his first at bat and popped up. crowley allowed us to go in and see how he works with the players. they go into the cage and on the field and the hope is that's when they bring

terry crowley has done a wonderful job for this guy.he might learn some thins about playing the game of baseball like where to hit the cut-off man, but outside of that i think felix pie is being an asset to this ball club i'm going to be very interested to see what happens. >> second game of the four-game series. when we come back on "o's xtra," amber will visit with the veteran brian roberts. immaterial l. it is "o's xtra" presented by at&t. before taking it on, one must study it first. rushing in unprepared may prove overwhelming... with all that juicy, 100% angus beef. there! you found a point of entry! the bacon beckons like a springboard to paradise. one small bite for man... etcetera, etcetera. angus axiom number 11: bring on the bacon. the astonishing new angus third pounders. all angus. all mcdonald's. ♪ ba da ba ba ba so you can record in one room and watch in up to six others. you can do that with cable! living room. bedroom. kitchen. thank you. (announcer) get the amazing multi-room dvr from verizon fios free for 3 months. yo

i asked terry crowley, the hitting instructor. he said why not more balls to left?e defense. they pound them in. they play them to pull and he hit it into the defense. >> gary: just like that. >> jim: yeah. and you have three guys. so what do you have? one, two, three, four, almost five defenders waiting over there for you to hit them at. maybe six if you want to count longoria. >> gary: two down runner at first. luke scott, 3-0 count. sonnanstine has walked one. he surrendered the walk to izturis. scott taking all the way and that is a strike on the inside corner. luke in september hitting .194. he has had a couple of home runs, seven hits in 37 at-bats in the month of september. three ball, one strike count on him. the orioles have the 1-0 leaden the sac fly wieters got in the second. tillman has walked one, struck out none and given up only one hit to the rays. and scott fouls that one off. zaun got most of it. he. >> jim: he has been doing it for years, the nephew of rick dempsey. i think it got him somewhere in the knee or the leg or whatever. you don't want to

the one person that did not was terry crowley.y working to in the cages over that period and now that felix had a chance the play. -- to play, we're seeing the results of that hard work. when i is spoke to the felix he got emotional when speaking about his success. >> the first half of the season. i keep working, he tell me i'm going to be fine. everything changed because, i work with him, what happened now, everybody can see him. i defend the home late. i play the game better in was there a point in the season you felt people gave up on you and crowley stuck with you? >> it's very tough, very tough for me. early in the season. the only guy that stabbed -- stayed with me was him, with my family. call me and you know,. >> meant a lot you to? >> yeah. they have worked a lot together. this is a turn afternoon in the first 36 games of his season he batted .195 with 2 homers and four rbi. the last of a games a .382 with 6 home runs and 13 rbi. felix is working hard to prove he belongs to club. he wants a roster spot in the future. reme

i played and was a teammate of terry crowley early on in the 70s. it's great competition, that's why i believe that so many of the latin players are well advanced because of their ability to play winter ball. >> it's interesting, that's 6 in a row out of strike zone there. s the mindset you have to rest. the position players seem to really take advantage of it because of experiences gained. it short ended the learning curve. it does. open if you're in competition for a starting job. you get off to a great job you catch a managers eye and win the job because of advantages of winning winter ball. >> i believe he's managed 7 years in winter ball. >> and actually take -- taken a couple teams to to caribbean worlder is. >> 3-0 to buy who should be taking. >> he does. and it's back to back 4-pitch walks. mike maddux will come out and have a chat in the 6thinning with scott held -- feldman who been cruising along. >> he talks about control, command, if you take your head toward your target your pitches will follow. and he wants his pitchers to repeat the d

well, when you talk hitting with terry crowley, he'll say that consisten power the last part of the gameu're right. they have to develop a swing first. the confidence comes a little later. the power when they get bigger and stronger, and then they start luking for pitches when they guest ahead of in the count. a guy makes a mistake in this ballpark, there is no part of this park that is safe, right- handed or left-handed. easy to go out when you hist it solid. >> jim: roberts and pie take their leads. two down. markakis art the plate. looks like an off-speed pitch, and he swung through it. nippert was acquired from arizona. he was drafted by the diamondbacks in 2002, and was in the organization through 2007 before he was traded in to spring training of 2008 to texas. so he's in his second year with the rangers organization. runners will go, 3-2 with two men town, the payoff to markakis is hit towards shortstop. andrus is there, and he get l get it to first. that ends the inning, but the orioles bat around and score 4. guthrie and the birds with a 6- 0 lead. éa,  know knew when i s

and terry crowley was sitting right behind brian roberts. he has always done a terrific job.ific pinch hitter, but it was always the fourth or fifth guy that went over to sparky anderson, the cincinnati reds in 1975, 1976 when the crow won a couple of world championships as one of their excellent pinch hitters. >> gary: taken down low by pie and a two ball, one strike count on him. you see, during the time he was playing as a platoon player at best and often times the bench roll at .243 and then he got a chance to play regularly and the numbers jumped to .317, the on-base percentage way up and he came out on friday with the back spasms, and tonight he has delivered a single, a run scored and struck out twice. and pie will swing on cormier's inside pitch. some of the movements he takes away from the plate doesn't convince me that that back still is not feeling a little bit. he walks away gingerly on system of those cuts where he is really coiling his back. there is no way he is going to go out. >> and just imagine holding your hands over your head, just that right there would