Baltimore Orioles

We might be getting a look at one of our prized Future Rookies very soon. Rumors abound that have Chris Tillman joining the Orioles on Wednesday and making his first start in the big leagues. Despite being lit up in his last Triple-A start, Tillman has proven why he’s one of the best pitching prospects in the minors, posting a 99/26 K/BB ratio, allowing just five HRs en route to a sub-3.00 ERA. He’s available in many fantasy leagues already, so be sure to make the preemptive pickup if you need a pitching lift.

Fantasy Baseball Cafe

Not that his health is an excuse for what happened on the play, but Jones isn't 100 percent physically. "His knee is sore," Trembley said. "He's had some fluid taken out of his knee. He'll get some more fluid taken out of his knee, I think, after the game right now. He's fouled a bunch of balls off his shins.

"He plays with a lot of heart. I mean, the game in Seattle that we scored five in the ninth, he showed me something. The take-out slide at second, running hard on an infield ball. He's a man. And he won't draw attention to himself for being banged up and he won't use that as an excuse. But he needs a couple days to get it back." There apparently haven't been any serious discussions about keeping Jones out of the All-Star Game.

"He's fine," Trembley said. "His mother will be there. She'll take care of him."

MASNsports.com

Considered the Orioles' top pitching prospect and one of the best in all of the minors, (Chris) Tillman is expected to pitch Sunday in Major League Baseball's prestigious Futures Game in St. Louis. He also was named to the Triple-A All-Star team, but the Orioles declined the invitation, not wanting to overexpose their prized 21-year-old. That will come soon enough: Tillman is next in line for the big-league rotation and he could be promoted within a month.

"He's really excelled to this point at any level," said Orioles' vice president Andy MacPhail. "I would imagine that if he stays healthy, he'll get his chance at this level." MacPhail is admittedly conservative with his prospects, and Tillman was supposed to spend most, if not all, of the season at Triple-A Norfolk after excelling at Double-A Bowie in 2008. But his performance with the Tides has altered the timetable.

He was one of five players the Orioles received from the Seattle Mariners when they traded Erik Bedard in February 2008. Two of the others, closer George Sherrill and outfielder Adam Jones, have made an American League All-Star team. And Tillman is still considered by some to be the jewel of the deal.

"The ceiling is so high on this kid, I don't know what else to tell you," said Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin. "His ability to adjust or adapt to things very quickly at such a young age is phenomenal. I've never had a young pitcher … adapt and correct things immediately the way he can. It's something you can't teach, it's something he has within himself."

baltimoresun.com

well that didn't take long.

While the rest of his Orioles teammates were bound for Seattle after Sunday's 9-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, reliever Chris Ray was returning to Baltimore to have team doctors look at his right shoulder. Ray entered a 6-6 game in the seventh inning on Sunday with the bases loaded and no outs and walked both batters he faced, bringing in two runs.

"Today my arm slot was down," Ray said after the game. "I could feel it. I just couldn't get [my arm] up. That's why everything was going off the outside corner. Today was the first time since I've been back up that I couldn't find my arm angle. It's just been one of those things."

baltimoresun.com

Won't dilly dally with a ton of small talk chit chat today. Brad Penny brought it for me yesterday, but Chien-Ming Wang has seen his last Spot * On Pick, and Russ Ortiz likely has as well. Let's see who hasn't...

Brad Bergesen (R), BAL (50% Owned) @ Jarrod Washburn (L), SEA

Everth Cabrera is stupid fast ..

2. Over the past three seasons, Nick Markakis has hit .353 in July and .338 in August, with a combined 25 home runs, 120 RBIs and 13 steals.

6. Over the past three seasons, Jimmy Rollins has hit .273 before the All-Star break and .296 after it, and has had more homers, RBIs and stolen bases despite having 125 fewer at-bats. Over the past three years, his July batting average is .302.

16. Randy Johnson is 4-1 with a 3.25 ERA in June, with 24 strikeouts and 12 walks in 36 innings. Last year, from July 1 until the end of the season, Johnson was 7-4 with a 3.09 ERA, 97 strikeouts and 20 walks in 102 innings.

20. Since coming off the DL on May 12, Stephen Drew is hitting .264 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 41 games. But in June he hit .292 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 25 games, and last year, after the All-Star break, he hit .326 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs.

28. Paul Maholm is 3-1 with a 1.96 ERA in six home starts this season. His ERA on the road: 6.05.

38. Everth Cabrera is hitting .323 and has three steals over his past 10 games. He is playing every day for the Padres. In 2008, he stole 73 bases in the minors.

ESPN

Adam Jones will be the first person to admit that he's locked in the middle of a month-long slump, but his day off on Wednesday was nothing more than a routine day of rest. Jones is batting .219 with a .275 on-base mark in June, but he sees his struggles as a normal peak-and-valley feature of the season. "Every athlete goes through it, no matter what sport," Jones said on Wednesday. "I just keep swinging."

Jones, who was having a breakout season before the slump, said that his struggles are more mental than physical. The youngster's plate discipline has eroded as he gets more frustrated, and he'll look to Thursday as an opportunity to get back into the lineup and back into a comfortable groove.

"I haven't been pleased with it for a little bit, but nonetheless, we have been playing well, so I'm happy about that," he said before Wednesday's game, a 5-2 loss to the Marlins. "I'm just thinking too much. I haven't squared as many balls up lately. I'm just thinking in the box too much instead of just reacting like I normally do and just playing the game."

orioles.com

Koji Uehara's next start is in jeopardy as he deals with what the team is describing as arm fatigue. "Physically, I'm OK," Uehara said through his interpreter, Jiwon Bang. "Elbow-wise, not perfect. It's like a fatigue."

Uehara acknowledged that he asked out of his start Tuesday after six innings in which he allowed only one earned run and seven hits while throwing 76 pitches. Uehara (2-4, 4.05 ERA), who got a no-decision and remained winless in his past 10 starts dating to April 13, said after the game, "I couldn't really [use] my strength in my arm, so I asked to pull myself out."

baltimoresun.com

Feeling that Chris Ray has worked out the command and mechanical issues that got him demoted to Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles will recall the reliever before Tuesday's series opener against the Florida Marlins.

"It has more to do with the status of Chris Ray than it does with the status of Alberto Castillo," Trembley said. "Chris Ray went down there with some guidelines and a plan and to get himself straightened out. The reports that we got back on him are that he's ready to come back here, pitch in the big leagues and help us."

baltimoresun.com

The Orioles head to Philadelphia and Florida for two interleague series without the designated hitter. And they'll be facing five left-handed starters in six games, including three in Philadelphia, making for some interesting lineup decisions for Trembley. "I think we'll have a nice bench. The National League style of play affords you double switches, guys will have to be ready to play," Trembley said. "As the games go on, I will try to be fair to put guys in the spots I think they can succeed and balance it out."

The Orioles are 9-10 in games started by lefties this season.

baltimoresun.com