Jake Arrieta has returned to the mound for his third inning today at Triple-A Norfolk. He's thrown 42 pitches through the second. It doesn't appear that the Orioles will purchase Arrieta's contract and give him the ball on Saturday. He would be working on short rest, so Tides manager Gary Allenson would have needed to restrict his pitch count today. Chris Tillman is the overwhelming favorite if the Orioles move David Hernandez to the bullpen. As I posted last night, Tillman has allowed one...

MASN will televise Stephen Strasburg's next expected start at Triple-A Syracuse, the network announced today. The Nationals prospect will take on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Saturday, May 29th. MASN will air the game on tape delay following Nats Xtra at approximately 12:00 a.m. It will re-air on Sunday evening at 7:30 p.m. MASN has televised each of his four previous starts for Syracuse. The highly touted prospect is 3-0 for Syracuse with a 0.39 ERA and 27 strike outs in just...

Did anyone else find it interesting that Strasburg pitched only five innings and 52 pitches against Toledo Monday? Are the Nats trying to slow him down a smidge for the long haul from June through October? It did not seem that Strasburg was being overworked Monday night. He took care of two of the innings on just 15 pitches. Are the Nats telling us they want to save the longer stints for when Stephen arrives in D.C.? The Mud Hens did get a couple of good base knocks against him but...

The Orioles have gone through three closers this season if you count Jim Johnson. All three have come down with injuries - shoulder (Mike Gonzalez), elbow (Johnson) and hamstring (Alfredo Simon). The next guy will probably get appendicitis or a really nasty cold sore. If I'm Will Ohman, I'd be hiding from manager Dave Trembley today. Rip the bullpen phone off the wall after the eighth inning. Ohman actually has told pitching coach Rick Kranitz that he'd like the opportunity to close. He...

Here is a stat that is not good for the Orioles minor leagues. All four O's affiliates lead their respective leagues in errors. Norfolk has made 47 errors, most in the International League. Bowie leads its league with 49; Frederick tops the Carolina League with 58; and Delmarva has committed a whopping 77 errors. That is the most in the Sally League. The shortstop position has become an issue on the O's farm, but the club has taken some steps to fix the problem. Pedro Florimon, a member...

We are at a point and time in sports cyberspace where fans on message boards can be nastier than ever. Sometimes when the home team loses they want to extract a pound or two of flesh. Some just need to vent and bash and the message boards are there for them. If you are part of the Orioles organization, it should come as no surprise that your team is getting crushed on those boards and on our own MASNsports.com blogs as well. No one should be surprised. At 14-31, the Orioles have...

Stephen Strasburg went five innings Monday night for Syracuse in the Chiefs 6-3 win over Toledo. He allowed only one earned run (two runs total) on five hits, no walks and five strikeouts. He threw 52 pitches and 36 for strikes which included four groundouts and four flyouts. He left with the game tied 2-2. Strasburg was happy with the work he got in Monday's no-decision. "I tried to stick the with game plan. If they want to swing early they can get themselves out. We were able to...

Triple-A Norfolk reliever Frank Mata didn't enter tonight's game in a save situation. Armando Gabino handled the last three innings, blanking Rochester along the way, for his first save. The Tides held on for a 2-1 victory. Does this mean that Mata is headed to Baltimore as one of the bullpen replacements? It's certainly fair to speculate, and we do a lot of it around here. Mata, 26, signed in November as a minor league free agent after pitching for Double-A New Britain last year. He's...

Chris Tillman isn't especially sharp tonight at Triple-A Norfolk, but he's limited Rochester to one run over four innings and the Tides hold a 2-1 lead. Tillman has scattered six hits, walked one and struck out five. He's thrown 82 pitches, 54 for strikes. I'd say a complete game is pretty much out of the question, but not a victory. Tillman threw 46 pitches in the first two innings and allowed four of the six hits. Josh Bell has an RBI double. Nolan Reimold, serving as the designated...

No. 1: Everything's still quiet regarding manager Dave Trembley. He won't be fired today. Book it. I just got further confirmation. No. 2: Second baseman Brian Roberts is feeling better after being hospitalized last week with pneumonia, but he doesn't have any immediate plans to fly down to Sarasota and resume baseball-related activities. That idea has been put on hold. No. 3: Triple-A Norfolk first baseman Michael Aubrey has been placed on the seven-day disabled list with a right hip...