The Baltimore Orioles lost to the Florida Marlins, 3-2, down in Jupiter, Florida; however, the story of the day had nothing to do with the game, but with the amazing work of Koji Uehara in his first appearance on the mound stateside.
Uehara went two solid innings, gave up a hit and struck out three. According to what I heard on the radio broadcast, his control was excellent, and his assortment of pitches kept hitters off track.
This is obviously the first look we have had with Uehara, but if he can pitch like this in the regular season, their investment will pay off big time. His start was highly anticipated by fans, the organization and the Japanese media; therefore, one could assume that he made quite a favorable impression.
Mark Hendrickson, in his first appearance in Spring Training as a member of the Orioles, took the loss. He went two innings, and was charged with three runs given up — only one was earned — on five hits.
Hayden Penn looked solid as went two innings and struck out three; Jake Arrieta and Wilfrido Perez each pitched a scoreless inning to wrap things up.
Brian Sanches got the save for Florida, as the Orioles scored a run in the ninth thanks to back-to-back doubles by Blake Davis and Adam Donachie; however, the Orioles struck out twice — the victims: Nolan Reimold and Lou Montanez — and left the tying run on second to finish the afternoon.
Chris Gomez drove in a run in the sixth inning; meanwhile, all of Florida’s runs came courtesy of two errors — one by Felix Pie and the other by Melvin Mora — in the third inning.
Finally, you have to love the “Baltimore” on the Spring Training road jerseys.
I’m not a fan of the design of the orange and white pattern on the side of the jersey — it should have been all black and maybe “Baltimore” should have been outlined in white — but it’s a nice change from last year.
- Jay Gibbons will see his old team a few times down in Florida; however, he’s not feeling bitter about his time in Baltimore.
- Greg Zaun really liked what he saw out of Uehara today; meanwhile, the hurler loved his time on the mound today.
- Steve Melewski ponders where some of the young pitching prospects will end up in 2009.
- Don’t forget, in about half an hour, the Orioles will be the focus of MLB Network’s 30 Teams in 30 Days Special…
