masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – Manager Buck Showalter is in mid-season form.

Showalter thought a 3-2 loss to the Twins should have been a 3-2 victory. He pointed to two mistakes, though he didn’t mention anyone by name.

“The two things that cost us the ballgame is we had the throw to third base (Luke Scott) cost us a run, and the bad at-bat (Jake Fox) with a man on second and nobody out,” Showalter said. “We can’t have that. We should win that game, 3-2, and we lost it, 3-2. We can’t have that during…SARASOTA, Fla. – Manager Buck Showalter is in mid-season form.

Showalter thought a 3-2 loss to the Twins should have been a 3-2 victory. He pointed to two mistakes, though he didn’t mention anyone by name.

“The two things that cost us the ballgame is we had the throw to third base (Luke Scott) cost us a run, and the bad at-bat (Jake Fox) with a man on second and nobody out,” Showalter said. “We can’t have that. We should win that game, 3-2, and we lost it, 3-2. We can’t have that during the season because it’s going to turn around real quickly.”

Fox grounded to third base on the first pitch from Joe Nathan following Luke Scott’s RBI double in the seventh inning.

So what about Brian Matusz?

“He was pretty effective,” Showalter said. “He had more of a downhill plane. He was pretty good. I’d like to see him get through the fifth inning. He had 80 pitches. He wasn’t very pitch efficient.

“I thought the command of his fastball is really what I’m looking for. Eighty pitches in four-and-something, he’s going to have to get better at that.”

Tomorrow’s game will air on MASN, so you can watch Derrek Lee’s debut.

“Everything is good,” Showalter said. “If he comes in tomorrow feeling good, he’ll probably play and get two or three at-bats.”

Brian Roberts won’t play tomorrow, though he also took batting practice on the field today.

“Not at this point,” Showalter said. “We do have an option of that off-day on Monday. My plan is to have (Craig) Tatum catching (Jeremy) Guthrie in that game. Tatum was cleared to play today.”