Should Orioles punt on idea of tossing a football?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles close out their three-city, triple time zone road trip this afternoon with rookie left-hander Josh Rogers on the mound while Alex Cobb is pushed back to Tuesday night at Camden Yards.

A blister can only be filed down so far and so many times.

Cobb had a "touch and feel" throwing session yesterday to make certain that he could grip the ball properly and release it without any discomfort. The Orioles are off Monday and he was targeting the series opener against the Athletics.

Meanwhile, rookie David Hess pitched last night with some discoloration in the corner of his left eye and a smile on his face when asked about it later. He said that it didn't hurt and joked about how good he looked.

Hess is lucky. A football striking an eye is no laughing matter. He avoided a serious injury.

His days as a receiver are numbered. The wild pitch he threw last night, with the ball somehow hooking toward first baseman Chris Davis, also eliminated his chances of playing quarterback.

Outfielder Michael Bourn lost any chance of making the club last spring after breaking his finger while trying to catch a pass during a workout on one of the back fields at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. He never made it back to the majors, his last appearance coming in the 2016 wild card game at Rogers Centre.

(I heard that it ended poorly.)

Players throughout the majors are known to start running patterns in the outfield and living their NFL dreams, especially as the summer months melt away and fall's around the corner. It's marketed as a conditioning drill. It's also about having fun and killing time before batting practice.

Should it be discontinued?

"You know, you can get hurt stepping off the curb in a parking lot," said manager Buck Showalter. "If you're going to do things like that, don't play catch in the bullpen, don't go out for batting practice. There's a million ways, stuff like that.

"I made sure I found out who could throw a football that hard that you couldn't catch hit. But it's something that most teams do and it doesn't mean that we should or shouldn't do it, but we're always looking at things, if they're productive or not productive."

Segue alert: You know who's really productive these days? Joey Rickard, who continues to play right field while Adam Jones sits.

Rickard had three more hits last night and raised his average to .249. His hitting streak is up to eight games, with 11 hits in 28 at-bats.

"Some of our guys are running with the opportunity and some are trying to, but haven't been able to," Showalter said. "Joey's taking advantage of the playing time. I think at 27 years old he kind of knows what's going on here and the opportunity that he needs to take advantage of, and I really like the way he's responding."

Rickard is 16-for-35 (.457) with four doubles, one triple, four home runs and 17 RBIs in 20 games against the Rays this season. With Jones expected to remain out of the lineup today, Rickard is likely to stay in right field and take more swings at the organization that exposed him in the Rule 5 draft.