He didn't pitch as well as he had been at Triple-A this year, but Chris Tillman can relax a little now. The first one is out of the way. "I had some nerves in the beginning but then I got my feet under me a little bit. I was just trying to get ahead of hitters but I hurt myself falling behind at times. The off speed wasn't there for me tonight. The mound was wet and I was slipping a little bit," Tillman said. After giving up five homers in 18 Norfolk starts, Tillman gave up three solo...

Chris Tillman got a no decision in his Major League debut. In 4 2/3, he gave up three runs and seven hits. He allowed three solo homers. He had given up just five homers in 18 starts at Triple-A. Tillman threw 93 pitches, 58 for strikes and has a one-start ERA of 5.79. Matt Albers got the win with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. He threw just 22 pitches. After giving up a key homer last night, Jim Johnson pitched the last two innings to record his second save of 2009. Johnson, who...

Game Preview Kansas City (40-60) at Orioles (43-57) For the Orioles, it's 100 games down and 62 to go in this 2009 season. The O's are 43-57 at the 100-game mark after Wednesday's 7-3 win over KC. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis knocked in three runs each. Jones hit a first-inning homer for the third straight game in this series. The four-game set comes to an end this afternoon with a matinee contest set for 12:35 p.m. Brad Bergesen (6-5, 3.56) faces KC's Luke Hochevar (6-3, 4.84) The...

RHP Brad Bergesen (6-5, 3.56) today makes his 19th start of the year, his 11th at home and the 1st of his career vs. the KC Royals. Bergesen, who has just one win over his last five starts, last worked on Friday at Boston. He gave up nine hits and three runs over six innings vs. the Sox. Bergesen has been outstanding at home this year, going 6-1, 2.82 and the team is 8-2 in those ten home starts. The O's are 9-9 in Bergesen's 18 starts on the season. Right-handed batters hit .274 vs....

Brandon Snyder must finally be warming up to Triple-A pitching. He is 1 for 2 in Norfolk's game this afternoon. That extends his current batting streak to eight games. He has 12 hits in his last 29 at bats (.414) as his average has climbed from .200 to its current .245. Snyder has 69 RBI on the year to lead all O's minor leaguers. Earlier this year, he batted .343-10-45 in 58 games with Double-A Bowie. He began today hitting .241-2-24 in 38 contests with Norfolk.

Brad Bergesen gave up just one run over seven innings to get his 7th win as the Orioles beat Kansas City 7-3 to split the four-game series. Bergesen left the game in pain as Billy Butler's liner back to the mound hit him on his left shin. Catcher Matt Wieters would field the ball and throw Butler out to end the seventh. As of this writing, there was no further update on the extent of Bergesen's injury. He improves to 7-5, 3.43. He is now 7-1, 2.68 at home and over his last 12 starts is...

Brad Bergesen talked with reporters a few moments ago in the O's clubhouse. He left today's game after seven innings. On the last out he recorded he took a line shot off his left shin and he limped off the field. "It hurts pretty bad. When it first happened, I didn't know what happened at first. When I got into the dugout, I fell down, I thought it was broken. The pain was bad, I wanted to throw up. "I took the X-ray and there was no break on there. Hopefully there isn't. They...

Josh Bell is a switch-hitting third baseman, who is 22 years old. He is currently batting .296-11-52 with Double-A Chatanooga and has 30 doubles in 94 games. He goes 6'3", 235 pounds. He has an on base percentage of .386 and a slugging percentage of .497. This year he is hitting .212 vs. LHP and .335 vs. RHP. Bell was a fourth-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2005. He is from Lantana, Florida. Power is one of his best tools and some scouts rated his power as 70 on the 20-80 scale. ...

So what must it be like to hear your son may be traded to the Orioles while you are on the air on the Orioles radio network? That's the afternoon Dave Johnson had as he was working today's postgame show with Tom Davis when reports began to surface that his son, pitching currently for the Dodgers Double-A team, may be headed to the O's organization. I should mention that as Dave agreed to be interviewed the trade was still not official, but he heard from Steve that he was told not to dress...

For Josh Bell, it is not easy to leave the only organization he's ever known, the Dodgers, but he also knows this. His chance to be a future Major League third baseman will be much greater with the Orioles. O's president Andy MacPhail stopped short of anointing him the O's third sacker of the future during a telephone press conference Thursday night, but he did say the O's are short at that position in the upper levels of their minors. "It's largely up to the players," MacPhail said. ...