Over the past week, Brian Roberts has been itching to play — now he’s back and off the sixty day disabled list. In a corresponding move, the team has designated Scott Moore for assignment. The 2010 season is pretty much a bust, but it will be finally good to see a healthy Brian Roberts back in the fold.
There’s no way to know how Roberts will hold up throughout the rest of the season, but I’d imagine the team will give him more days off and be cautious with the way they treat him. It would not surprise me either if he ended back up on the DL with the same injury.
Moving on…
It was interesting to see Mike Gonzalez back on the mound Thursday in his first game action since Opening Day in Baltimore. It’s pretty obvious that the reliever was pitching hurt and had some issues going on with him. Now, his outing against the Twins was nothing pretty – 2/3 of an inning, a walk and a hit – but he got out of trouble in the seventh inning and wasn’t booed of the mound.
Hopefully, he can build upon his night.
And Millwood … what a struggle to seem on the mound these days. I don’t know what to think. Part of me knows that he’s a professional and tries to get out there to win; however, do I get the feeling might he be might beat down by the losing, despite being classy about the situation he’s in?
Also, James touched on Thursday’s game earlier – the Twins drubbed the Orioles 5-0 and ex-Yankee punchline Carl Pavano has found his career in Minnesota. Really, the Orioles didn’t have much of a game plan at the plate, Milwood struggled in the first few iinings and their night only got more bizzare.
Now, I know arguments are fun to watch and really don’t help to change plays – wrongly called or otherwise; however, it was nothing short of amazing to see the tantrums thrown by Ty Wigginton (who had every reason to be angry) and Juam Samuel. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz got ejected as well, but the demonstrative displays by both Samuel and Wigginton brought back memories of Weaver (I was not alive for most of his tenure), but I guess both men had to get their frustrations out with the losing, plus umpires who seemed to be on auto-pilot.
Finally, I watched some of the second half of the game on MASN and can someone tell me what in the world happened with the fan on the field in the final innings of the game. Fans could not see what happened on TV for obvious reasons, but wy did it take so long to stop him? Were the Baltimore police being lazy, or was there a viable reason it seemed that so many minutes went by before play resumed?
