Reimold will take a few days off from throwing

SARASOTA, Fla. - Nolan Reimold made the decision to remove himself from today's game before he batted in the bottom of the second inning. As it turned out, he was allowed to hit and responded with a long home run. The at-bat easily was the best part of his brief day. Reimold said he's going to take a "day or two off from throwing" because of soreness in his right shoulder that, obviously, doesn't impact the way he swings a bat. "I just had a little bit of shoulder soreness and this is just a precautionary-type of deal. I just don't want to do anything that makes it worse and worse," he said. "I'm not a shoulder soreness kind of guy. I always get soreness down lower. I never felt soreness in my shoulder. But it got progressively worse, and rather than fight through it in spring training, I figured that I should pull back and see how it is. "I should be fine. I'll see how it feels tomorrow." Reimold had a herniated disc removed from his neck and two vertebrae fused in June, two months after his last game, but he stressed that today's discomfort has "nothing to do with the surgery or anything." It's possible that Reimold will get some at-bats as the designated hitter until the soreness subsides, since the shoulder only barks when he throws - and mostly on his follow-through. Manager Buck Showalter isn't going to push him. He already told Reimold that he's on the team as long as he's healthy, and there's nothing wrong with slowing down if needed. The Orioles travel to Port Charlotte on Saturday for a 1:05 p.m. game against the Tampa Bay Rays, and it's highly unlikely that Reimold makes that trip.