This afternoon, the record will show that the Orioles lost 4-3 in exhibition action against the Philadelphia Phillies; however, today’s game was important for one main reason: Justin Duchscherer.
The right-hander, who has not pitched much the last two years due to a hip injury, plus clinical depression faced a tough Philadelphia lineup and tossed two scoreless innings. Duchscherer was solid, as he gave up one hit and ran into trouble in the second inning; however, he was able to get out of it.
The important thing: Duchscherer finished the game pain free.
Brian Matusz – in his first start since having a wart removed from his pitching finger – went 2 1/3 innings and struggled a bit. He would give up a homer to Ryan Howard, but overall, it’s good to see him on the mound and suffering no ill effects from his procedure.
The bullpen – Chris George, Mike Gonzalez, and Jim Johnson – did their job until the ninth inning where Adrian Rosario struggled and gave up a game-winning two-run to Carlos Rivera in the bottom of the ninth.
The Orioles got on the board early jumping on Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels – who went four innings. Baltimore took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off a Jake Fox RBI-double, followed up by a Josh Bell sacrifice-fly.
Bell also had another RBI in the sixth inning off closer Brad Lidge.
In light of the Orioles’ loss, they have some more pressing issues at hand. As James alluded to in a late post yesterday, they have issues – on the injury front.
First, Derrek Lee’s status is still in question and he’s going to have an MRI done to see if there’s any more damage. According to reports, he’s now experiencing in his wrist.
Second, Brian Roberts hurt his back yesterday after diving head first into first base and sat out today. I’m almost to the point where I am thinking that Lee won’t be ready for the season and we might see Luke Scott at first base, or maybe Jake Fox.
There’s some good news, though: Koji Uehara is going to resume his throwing again soon.
As with every team, the goal is to stay healthy. Then again, as we saw last year with the Orioles, if key components of a team are out for an extended period of time on the shelf, a team can suffer badly.
Let’s hope the injuries to the Orioles heal themselves and that the season doesn’t start out like a disaster film.
Finally, I’m sure most readers by now have read former Oriole manager Dave Trembley’s interview with SB Nation. It’s quite a read and it’s sad to have read what Trembley went through upon being fired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
Despite what some felt about Trembley in his job, he seemed to very much care about the Orioles and came off as a very good man. Glad to see him back in baseball again.
