Minor moves

Minor moves
Here are some roster moves made today in the O's organization: OF Lance West from Aberdeen to Bluefield RHP Scott Mueller from Aberdeen to Delmarva OF Brian Conley from Delmarva to Aberdeen RHP Joshua Dowdy from Delmarva to Aberdeen OF Kraig Binick from Frederick to Bowie IF Matt Tucker activated by Frederick off the DL. Mueller was 1-0, 0.95 in 19 innings with Aberdeen. Binick was batting .225-5-25 at Frederick. Gary Helmick today was named a second-team college all american shortstop by...
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Tonight's pitchers: Hill vs. Mitre

Tonight's pitchers:  Hill vs. Mitre
LHP Rich Hill (3-2, 7.22) tonight makes his 12th start of this season, his 8th on the road and the 1st of his career vs. the Yankees. Hill pitched in relief in Chicago. On Friday, he gave up two hits and two runs in just 1/3 of an inning. His last start was July 11th in a no decision at home vs. Toronto. In six innings, he gave up seven hits and two runs. This was after he had allowed 19ER over 13 innings in his previous three starts. Despite Hill's struggles this year the O's are 8-3...
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Hill struggles and O's fall at NY

Hill struggles and O's fall at NY
O's starter Rich Hill struggled again and it led to another O's loss at New York. Hill gave up five runs and four walks over three innings. He falls to 3-3, 7.64 and his ERA is 9.82 over his last five starts. O's pitching walked eight tonight and four of eight scored. The O's fall to 3-8 on the season vs. New York and have lost nine in a row at New York. An Alex Rodriguez two-run single gave NY a 3-2 lead in the 3rd and the Yankees made it 6-2 in the 4th which featured a two-run homer...
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Post-game Notes: O's fall again to NYY

Post-game Notes:  O's fall again to NYY
O's starting pitcher Rich Hill struggled again. He pitched just three innings and falls to 3-3, 7.64 on the year. In three frames, he allowed three hits, five runs (all earned) with four walks and two strikeouts. He threw 82 pitches. Hill has lasted less than five innings in seven of his 12 starts. He has just three quality starts. Over his last five starts, his ERA is 9.82 (22IP, 35H, 24ER). The O's have out-hit their opponent on every game of this road trip, but fall to 1-4 on the...
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Is it Tillman time?

Is it Tillman time?
While I am sure that there is more Chris Tillman could learn and more polish he could add to his game in Triple-A the rest of this season, it also seems quite clear by the numbers that he has made major improvements throughout this season. It's time for a change in the O's rotation with Rich Hill out and Chris Tillman in. Tillman is 8-5, 2.42 in 17 starts and is slated to start for Norfolk tonight. Here's hoping his next start after that will be early next week in Baltimore vs. Kansas...
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Matinee baseball: O's at New York

Matinee baseball:  O's at New York
Game Preview Orioles (41-52) at New York (56-37) Things are getting this rough for the Orioles. They've allowed just ten hits in two games and a team average of just .182 to the Yankees, but they have lost both games of their series at New York. This afternoon at 1:05 p.m. New York can wrap up its second three-game home sweep of the Orioles this season. Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44) pitches for the O's vs. A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81), New York's 82 million dollar right-hander. A loss today...
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Today's pitchers: Berken vs. Burnett

Today's pitchers:  Berken vs. Burnett
RHP Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44) today makes his 11th start of this season, his 5th on the road and the 1st of his career vs. the Yankees. Since pitching to an ERA of 2.25 over his first two starts, Berken has mostly struggled. He is coming off his second worst start of the year. Last Friday at Chicago he took the loss and allowed six runs and two homers in 4 1/3 innings. He had pitched to an ERA of 4.58 in his previous four starts. Berken has just one quality start on the year and has pitched...
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O's swept in New York

O's swept in New York
Winning pitcher A.J. Burnett picked up his 9th win as the Yankees beat the Orioles 6-4 Wednesday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep. The O's are 0-6 at New York this season and have lost ten straight games in the Bronx. Burnett is now 9-4, 3.74. He gave up two runs in seven innings. Over his last seven starts, he is 5-1, 1.93. Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano had RBI singles in the first for New York and a two-run single by Nick Swisher capped the four-run first inning. Gary Thorne...
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Post-game Notes: tough series in NY

Post-game Notes:  tough series in NY
This is the second time this season the O's were swept in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. They lost three straight by a combined 27-9 score from May 19-21. They lost the three games this time by five total runs. The O's have been swept five times on the season in three game series. All five came on the road. They were also swept at Toronto, Oakland and Florida. The O's have lost ten straight games at New York. They are 13-29 at New York since the 2005 season. The O's now...
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Tillman and Hobgood take the mound tonight

Tillman and Hobgood take the mound tonight
He may or may not make his next start in Baltimore, but Chris Tillman is scheduled to make a start tonight for Triple-A Norfolk at Gwinnett. O's Director of Player Development David Stockstill said it is anticipated to be a "normal" start and we should not expect to see Tillman pulled after just a few innings. After pitching in a doubleheader last Friday, Wednesday would have been Tillman's usual day to pitch, but he was bumped back a day. "Sometimes you give a young kid an extra day...
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More pitchers show their stuff on the O's farm

More pitchers show their stuff on the O's farm
While pitchers like Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz attract most of the attention in the O's minor leagues, having great seasons, others are emerging with strong seasons, but sometimes get overshadowed by the top hurlers. Two pitchers that fit in that category are Pat Egan and Nate Moreau. Egan, a 24-year-old right-hander began this season at Delmarva, is now at Frederick, but also made a brief and successful stop at Double-A Bowie. Pitching mostly in relief, his combined stats at three...
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New spring home to help the minors too

New spring home to help the minors too
The news this week that the Orioles are moving their spring training home to Sarasota starting next year, will help the Major League O's in many ways. The facilities will be better and spring training travel much easier. The O's will even likely now see some of their AL East rivals for spring games. But it will help the O's minor leagues in many ways as well. The O's minor leaguers have already been in Sarasota at Twin Lakes Park. Now the Major League camp will be about 10 miles away...
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Talking with Brooks and Boog after the first pitch

Talking with Brooks and Boog after the first pitch
Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell used to look like they had played together forever when they patrolled the corner infield spots for the Orioles. Today, when they talked with reporters after throwing out ceremonial first pitches at Camden Yards, it was like no time had passed since they had last taken the field. They praised each other, traded quips and handled questions as smoothly as Brooks used to handle ground balls or Boog a throw in the dirt. "It was wonderful," Brooks said. ...
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Weekend preview: O's at Boston

Weekend preview:  O's at Boston
Game Preview Orioles (41-53) at Boston (55-39) The last time the Orioles played the Red Sox the series ended with two wild games. In the middle game of three, the O's went to the last of the 7th down 10-1 and rallied to beat the Sox 11-10. It was the greatest comeback ever in O's history. But the next day, the Birds took a 5-1 lead to the 9th and lost 6-5 in 11 innings. Boston scored four in the 9th to tie the game. Tonight the clubs begin a three-game series at 7:10 p.m at Fenway...
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Tonight's pitching matchup: Bergesen vs. Penny

Tonight's pitching matchup:  Bergesen vs. Penny
RHP Brad Bergesen (6-4, 3.51) tonight makes his 18th start of this season, his 8th on the road and his 2nd start of 2009 vs. Boston. As well as he has pitched this year, Bergesen tonight is looking for his first career road win. Bergesen, 2009: Home: 6-1, 2.82 and team is 8-2 Road: 0-3, 4.57 and team is 1-6 Bergesen took the loss over the weekend vs. the White Sox when he allowed six straight hits in the 5th inning following an error. On the night he gave up 10 hits and four runs (two...
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Not yet Tillman time

Not yet Tillman time
It's looking like, for now, Jason Berken and Rich Hill will stay in the O's rotation. Will that be for just one more turn through or more, we don't know. Such was reported in a Baltimore Sun story earlier tonight. Moments ago on the MASN telecast, O's president Andy MacPhail was asked about Chris Tillman. "We haven't finalized anything yet," MacPhail said. "Most of the pitchers Tillman was with last year at Bowie are here like Berken, Bergesen and Hernandez. We should see Tillman...
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Sox take series opener, 3-1, over Orioles

Sox take series opener, 3-1, over Orioles
The bottom four batters in the Red Sox lineup combined to drive in all three runs tonight as Boston beat the Orioles 3-1, to snap a five-game losing streak. The O's loaded the bases with one out in the ninth vs. Jon Papelbon. But he fanned Luke Scott for the second out and struck out Melvin Mora on a 3-2 pitch to record his 25th save. Jason Varitek had an RBI single and Jed Lowrie a sac fly as Boston took a 2-1 lead in the 4th. An inning later, an RBI groundout by J.D. Drew made it a 3-1...
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Post-game Notes: O's fall at Fenway

Post-game Notes:  O's fall at Fenway
Since the O's scored 21 runs on 37 hits in the three-game series at Chicago to start this trip, the O's have struggled on offense. In the last four games of this trip, they have scored just 10 runs on 31 hits with only seven extra-base hits. The O's were 0 for 6 tonight with runners in scoring position and are 3 for 29 over the last four games with RISP. The O's loaded the bases in the 9th vs. Jonathan Papelbon, but he fanned Luke Scott and Melvin Mora to end the game. Papelbon is now...
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Saturday night baseball: O's at Boston

Saturday night baseball:  O's at Boston
Game Preview Orioles (41-54) at Boston (56-39) For the Orioles lately it's been a story of close but no cigar or wins. They have a similar story riding vs. Boston. The O's have lost their last four games on their current road trip by 7 total runs. Of the O's seven losses vs. Boston this year, five have come by two runs or less. The O's latest frustration came during Friday's 3-1 loss at Boston. They loaded the bases with one out in the 9th vs. Jonathan Papelbon, but he fanned Luke...
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Tonight's pitchers: Guthrie vs. Lester

Tonight's pitchers:  Guthrie vs. Lester
RHP Jeremy Guthrie (7-8, 5.12) tonight will make his 20th start of this season, his 10th on the road and the 9th of his career vs. Boston. Guthrie is coming off one of his best starts of this year. He got the win last Sunday at Chicago, giving up just three hits and two runs over eight innings. He allowed two solo homers and threw 108 pitches. The O's are 8-11 when Guthrie starts, but have won four of the last five. In three July starts, he is 1-1, 5.19. In nine road starts, Guthrie is...
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