Norris on outing and Hirschbeck exchange (with note)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Bud Norris threw 59 pitches today and headed to the indoor batting cage to continue, his day not done despite the heavy rain that forced the game's cancellation in the bottom of the fourth inning.

"I think I did 20-25 more down in the cage to simulate another inning, a couple more hitters. Just wanted to make sure we got to the pitch count again," he said.

"It's been an interesting camp for me, but I got my work in today. Threw a few more sliders. They were breaking pretty good, but I wasn't throwing enough strikes with them. Battling counts, getting behind in counts, which is kind of lazy, but I'm making the right strides and still feel pretty good and ready to get this thing going."

The stats from today don't count. Otherwise, Norris would have been charged with three runs and four hits in four innings, with two walks, one strikeout and a home run.

Norris threw seven of nine pitches for strikes in the first inning, but only 11 of 24 in the second. He threw seven of 11 for strikes in the third and seven of 15 in the fourth.

In four starts before today, Norris had allowed 12 earned runs (13 total) and 16 hits in 11 2/3 innings, with nine walks and nine strikeouts. He's also allowed five home runs, and a sixth today was washed away by the rain.

"Every outing, I've given up a home run. But you're trying to work on things, trying to get comfortable out there," Norris said.

"We had a great year last year and just trying to get the ball rolling again. Different beast obviously in the regular season and postseason. So when you're coming down here and trying to get results and work on things, it's hard to not get the results. But I'm not worried about the (9.26) ERA. I'm just trying to stay healthy and that's how I feel, so keep going."

The failure to achieve the desired results has brought some frustration.

"A little, but not a whole ton," Norris said. "It doesn't count. That's why we're down here, to get the work in. And they give us the six weeks.

"A little bit of frustration just because I care. I'm competitive and I want to go out there and do well and put up zeros. But talking to Wally (Dave Wallace) and talking to (Dom) Chiti and some other guys, we're about the process right now, so keep plugging in. And we only have 10, 11 days left, so I'm getting excited."

Norris got a bit agitated today with plate umpire John Hirschbeck, which led to a discussion on the mound in the fourth inning. Norris felt that he was being squeezed and Hirschbeck didn't appreciate the responses.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout to defend Norris, much to the delight of the home crowd.

"I had him my last couple of starts here at home," Norris said. "He's been back there for a while, so I'm just trying to learn the plate and I threw a 2-1 slider that I thought caught the corner and he said it was high. I kind of referred back and said, 'I didn't think that was high.' He didn't like my comments, so he started to make a stroll out there and I was waiting for him to see what he had to say.

"Buck comes out there and says, 'What's the problem?' Hirschbeck says, 'No problem.' I said 'Well, obviously there's a problem. Obviously, you're coming out.' We talked it through. I'm just trying to learn the zone, trying to find consistency - up, down and out. I thought I had that one, but it's neither here nor there."

Showalter noted that the strike zone was an issue. Asked whether Hirschbeck was responding more to what Norris said or the pitcher's body language, Showalter replied, "Yes. More body language."

The results aren't there for Norris, which Showalter attributes to command issues.

"Command hasn't been very good, as good as he's capable of," Showalter said. "He's an athletic guy, can throw it where he wants to most of the time. He hasn't been very consistent with that yet. He's crisp with most things, just not consistency of command."

Note: The Yankees changed their starter again for Saturday's game against the Orioles, announcing that right-hander Scott Baker will pitch instead of Bryan Mitchell.

CC Sabathia was the original starter before the Yankees twice made changes.