Night moves

In my continuing quest to bring you the latest sports news from around the globe - or at least parts of Florida - I spent about four hours last night with the Sarasota Roller Girls at a local establishment called "Beery's." I know, I know...like we haven't all done that before. They have a blog (who doesn't?) and also can be found on Facebook and MySpace. They also hip-check if you crowd them at the bar. They actually have their home bouts at Stardust Event Center across the street from Ed Smith Stadium (there's your Orioles connection). It's a purple building with the word "Stardust" on the front. We assumed it was used for other sorts of entertainment, but people actually skate inside. So why am I talking about Roller Derby instead of posting the Orioles' lineup? Because it's a night game and the clubhouse won't open to the media until 2 p.m. And because my hip still hurts. Chris Tillman makes his fifth start as he tries to secure a spot at the backend of the rotation. He had given up four runs (three earned) and eight hits, and walked four, over his last two appearances covering five innings before no-hitting the Red Sox through three innings on Saturday. And I know that's a lot of numbers for one sentence. Tillman surrendered two runs, both coming on a Kevin Youkilis homer, and two hits over five innings. It was, by far, his most impressive start of the spring. Manager Dave Trembley told me over the winter that he'd hold an open competition for the fifth starter's job, but Tillman has been the frontrunner all along. Trembley didn't want David Hernandez and Jason Berken coming into camp feeling as though they had no shot. And Tillman's sore back and rocky outings raised a few questions about his role on Opening Day. Scott Baker starts tonight for the Twins. I'm pretty sure we've seen him a few times already. Correcting a stat that I posted: Left-hander Will Ohman has allowed only one hit in 6 1/3 innings this spring. A runner reached on an error, not a single, in his first appearance. I told Ohman that I've seen two hits attached to his record, in part to return a few of the jabs that he's fired at me, but the stats at the Orioles' Web site include only one. And Ohman took me through that first appearance batter by batter. He was adamant that he didn't give up a hit. Not that anyone's counting. So it's one hit, two walks and 10 strikeouts for Ohman this spring. Not bad for a guy who settled for a minor league contract one week before pitchers and catchers reported. By the way, Ohman's favorite movie is The Big Lebowski. I guessed wrong, figuring it would be a baseball flick. Way to stereotype the guy. Roller Derby and movies in one blog entry. You just never know.