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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Brian Roberts has left the game with a strained abdominal muscle. The injury occurred when Roberts stole second base. He scored the Orioles' first run, but you could tell that he was hurting. Roberts also was shaken up last night while diving into second, but only because he took a knee in the back of his neck. The herniated disk doesn't seem to be an issue, unless it leads to sore necks and stomach muscles. If only I could find comfort in that statement. Julio Lugo has replaced Roberts...
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. ...
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...
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...
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...