Bullpen

This isn't the way the Orioles wanted it - forced to go through Arlington for a one-game wild card playoff to get to the American League Division Series - but I like the O's chances in Texas on Friday night. Maybe it's delirium from a lack of sleep -- my flight leaves for Texas in about five hours -- but I've gotta think that Orioles manager Buck Showalter loves this kind of winner-take-all matchup. All signs point to Showalter turning to rookie right-hander Steve Johnson to start Friday's game.

Right-hander Jason Hammel took a significant step toward returning to the Orioles' starting rotation Tuesday, throwing a bullpen session off a full mound for the first time since re-aggravating a right-knee injury two weeks ago. Hammel threw 35 pitches in the Orioles' bullpen before Tuesday's game and tested out a new knee brace that he said was similar to a quarterback brace and was very helpful in keeping his knee stable. “I was actually surprised,” Hammel said after the session.

When one of Orioles right-hander Tommy Hunter's fastballs hit 101 mph on the stadium radar gun in the 11th inning of the O's 9-6 extra-inning win Saturday, it raised some eyebrows in the dugout. “If that gun's right, he may have found a home," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said after the 12-inning win. Hunter said Sunday that he's reached the high 90s as a starter, but his 1-2-3 inning Saturday was a little different. According to the stadium radar gun, he threw a 101-mph fastball to Dustin Pedroia on an 0-2 count.

Here's what tonight's bullpen probably looks like after the Orioles' 18-inning game and the call-up of top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy: Long relief Bundy Zach Phillips (L) Middle relief Luis Ayala Brian Matusz (L) Closer Jim Johnson Against the Mariners on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning after starter Wei-Yin Chen was only able to go 5 1/3 innings, Jake Arrieta went 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Matusz faced just two batters and threw 12 pitches, Darren O'Day went 1 2/3, Pedro Strop pitched an inning, Steve Johnson threw three innings, Tommy Hunter threw two and Johnson closed out the win, facing three batters and throwing 13 pitches.

The major league call-up of Orioles 19-year-old phenom Dylan Bundy to help replenish the club's bullpen after an 18-inning game Tuesday night is a surprise. But it's being made for the right reasons, according to franchise's most heralded and successful pitcher. “It's a prudent move, it's not a knee jerk reaction,” says Jim Palmer, MASN color analyst and the Orioles' Hall of Fame pitcher. “Because of the condition of the bullpen there is a need. It makes sense to me.” Bundy, the club's fourth overall pick in last year's draft, was in the organization's instructional league in Sarasota, Fla., after a season in which he was 9-3 with a 2.08 ERA in 23 starts at three levels.

SEATTLE - Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy was asleep in his hotel room in Sarasota, Fla., at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday when his roommate told him that Brian Graham, the Orioles' minor league instruction coordinator, was on the phone. "[Graham] told me I was on a plane at 7 a.m. and I was going to pitch here in Seattle," said the 19-year-old Bundy, the fourth overall pick in 2011. "So I said, 'Are you messing with me?' And he said, 'No, I'm not going to mess with you at 4 in the morning.' So next thing I know I'm at the airport and on my way to Seattle.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter describes Brian Matusz's exuberance to pitch out of the bullpen like this: “It's like he's found a new toy, got some real positive thoughts going and is real aggressive,” Showalter said. “He's served a need at the time that we really were in need of with (Troy) Patton out.” When the Orioles made Matusz the fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft, it wasn't with the idea that he could become a good lefty reliever. He was supposed to be a mainstay of the future rotation.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he didn't go old school by design. It was purely by necessity and circumstance that four of his young, inexperienced starters have ended up in the bullpen in September. "That's the way it used to be done," Showalter said. "You used to come up as a reliever, you build up all your innings as a starter in the minor leagues and then you came up. Ask Jim Palmer and those guys, you started out that way. You'd give them a little and see how much they could take.

OAKLAND - Orioles manager Buck Showalter likes to say his 2012 Orioles are a "sum of the parts" team, one that doesn't have anyone that really stands out, but plenty of players that help the club win. But in any successful campaign, the inevitable question is: Who is the club's most valuable player? Let the discussion begin. "Ooh, I don't know what to say on that one," said reliever Pedro Strop. The obvious answers are closer Jim Johnson, who is tied for the major league lead in saves heading into Friday night, and Adam Jones, who has hit 29 homers, including 18 that have either tied a game or given the Orioles a lead.

TORONTO -- Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz's adjustment to his new role in the bullpen seems to be going smoothly. The Orioles have used Matusz often recently. He made four appearances during the team's six-game road trip, pitching in all three games against the Yankees in New York. So as the Yankees and their lefty-heavy lineup come to Camden Yards for a huge four-game series, expect Matusz to play a key role in relief this weekend. With Troy Patton, who spent most of the season as the Orioles' sole left-handed reliever, injured with a sprained right ankle, the organization worked to convert Matusz into a reliever in Triple-A to help the Orioles through the stretch run. He's always had good numbers against left-handed hitters.