Now it's Tillman's time

Too bad White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen didn't tweet last night. I bet he could have strung together lots of profanities in 140 characters. Brian Roberts leads the Orioles with 19 RBIs. If you predicted it back in spring training, you're wasting your talents doing whatever you do for a living. It was interesting that Roberts told reporters in Chicago he's been dealing with a sore hamstring that kept him from stealing bases. We assumed he was being cautious, at the urging of the club, because of his back. Anyway, he's apparently fine now. And it sure hasn't hurt his swing. Jake Arrieta says his right hip has been sore, but he insists it's nothing serious. Maybe so, but it's another injury/health revelation after a win. Happens all the time with this team. Hopefully, the Orioles saved some runs for Chris Tillman after scoring 10 last night. He's never faced the White Sox, and he's searching for his first win in 2011. He'd also like to take a little more air out of that 6.16 ERA. Tillman turned in a quality start by definition in his last appearance, allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Twins, but we're going back to April 18. He was skipped in the rotation because of a sore groin. Tillman threw a bullpen session at Camden Yards on Wednesday and said he's felt good for four or five days. That was a few days ago, so let's just round it off to a week. "I'm 100 percent, so I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I'm getting antsy. I'm getting pretty excited." Tillman didn't seem concerned about the long layoff and the possibility of being rusty. "I've been out there every day getting my arm loose," he said. "That's one thing I didn't take a break from was throwing. The only thing I didn't do was run. I don't think that'll be a problem. "Obviously, I'd like to have kept it going after that good start I had, but hopefully it'll carry over to the next one." Tillman wanted to make his last scheduled start, but a rainout and off-day allowed the Orioles to rest him. "I was disappointed, but Richie (Bancells) and Goose (Mark Connor) both said it was kind of a blessing in disguise we got that rainout and we were able to push me back a little bit and not rush me and give me more down time," he said. "In the long run it was good, but at the same time I wanted to be out there for my team." Here's an encouraging stat: Tillman has struggled to throw strikes in the majors, but his walks in his four starts have decreased from three to two to one to zero. Here's an odd stat: Right-handers are batting .303 lifetime against Tillman. Left-handers are batting .254. Alex Rios has a homer and two RBIs in three at-bats against Tillman, but he missed last night's game with a toe injury. Shameless plug alert: I'm joining Tom Davis and Dave Johnson on Wall to Wall Baseball from noon to 2 p.m. on MASN.