Fastball

Orioles pitcher Tommy Hunter is undoubtedly well-regarded by the club's organizational brass. Even though he's only 25, he's pitched in big games and played in the postseason while he was with the Rangers. He's a guy who the Orioles would like to be a part of their rotation for years to come. Hunter is not going to overwhelm batters with his stuff. Instead, he relies on his fastball command to work hitters. But over his past two starts, Hunter has struggled. In an eventual 7-5 win at Toronto last week, he allowed four homers, tying a career high.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter joked earlier this week that he wasn't sure which one of his top pitching prospects he wanted to start Saturday night against the Boston Red Sox - for fear the other one would hurt himself trying to outdo his buddy. Ultimately, the decision was made to put 2011 first-round pick Dylan Bundy ahead of 2012 first-round pick Kevin Gausman. Bundy got the start, but Gausman had the smoother and more eye-popping outing as the duo combined to allow just one unearned run through five innings in the Orioles' 5-2 win at JetBlue Park.

TAMPA, Fla. - One of Jake Arrieta's goals in the early part of spring training is to pound the lower part of the strike zone with his mid-90s fastball, to tempt hitters to chop balls into the ground and let his defense make plays behind him. And in his 1 2/3-inning start Wednesday afternoon against the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field, the Orioles right-hander was able to do that, keeping every ball hit in play on the ground. Arrieta got ahead of hitters - his fastball running at 94-96 mph - but he found himself at times too wild with his fastball.

For the first time in their young careers, Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman - the club's top picks in the 2011 and 2012 drafts - pitched in the same game , a 5-2 Orioles' victory over the Boston Red Sox at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla. Bundy, 20, started, went two innings, allowed one hit, two walks, an unearned run and struck out one batter. Gausman, 22, pitched three innings, allowed two hits and struck out three including Jonny Gomes twice. Bundy threw 35 pitches, 18 for strikes, and hit between 91 and 94 with his fastball.

The news caught few by surprise, especially Orioles right-hander Tommy Hunter . Hunter, who this spring competed for the club's Opening Day starter spot, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk as one of four pre-game roster moves Tuesday. The Orioles also optioned rookie outfielder Xavier Avery to Norfolk while activating outfielder Endy Chavez from the disabled list and purchasing the contract of right-hander Miguel Gonzalez from Norfolk. Hunter, who is 2-3 with a 5.59 ERA in ten starts this season, has fought to find his fastball command throughout the season, leaving too many balls up in the zone.

With her diminutive stature and cherubic appearance, Alison Kleiner doesn't look very imposing on the mound.But don't be fooled by appearances.The 5-foot Owings Mills sophomore is one of Baltimore County's hardest throwers."

Throughout the season, Jim Henneman of The Sun's sports staff will offer his inside pitch -- an analytical look at the turning point in a particular Orioles game, a trend affecting the team or an important aspect of a player's performance. There was an obvious key to Mike Mussina's success yesterday. It arrived early, and at about 90 mph.And if there are any lingering doubts about the right-hander's arm strength, he went a long way toward dismissing them in the first three innings. Until Mike Macfarlane broke the spell with a fourth-inning home run, just about every meaningful pitch Mussina made was a fastball.

NEW YORK -- The theories as to why Chris Ray has been such a rousing success in his first month as a major league closer flew all around both clubhouses at Yankee Stadium this past weekend. That will happen when a not-yet-well-known 24-year-old reliever goes into one of the toughest environments in sports and challenges reigning American League Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez with four straight fastballs with a one-run lead and two men on in the ninth inning. That will happen when a closer armed with a fastball in the high 90s eschews conventional baseball wisdom and strikes out Hideki Matsui by throwing a full-count, two-out slider with the bases loaded and the game hanging in the balance.

Now the mood is sympathetic, generally followed with words of remorse, to Leon Day and the legion of black baseball players who had the ponderous doors of prejudice slammed in their faces before R&R (Rickey and Robinson). Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the game's emancipator, signed Jackie Robinson as the first black to a major-league contract.In tandem, they, in 1945, changed an all-white establishment to a sport where it wasn't the color of a man's skin that was important but how well he got around on the fastball or fought off a sliding baserunner.

WASHINGTON -- Sometimes, well-placed fastballs speak louder than words. New York Mets ace Pedro Martinez has been known to throw his share directly at the enemy, sending the message: "I own that plate." Washington Nationals slugger Jose Guillen has been known to absorb his share of hit-by-pitches, and then relay his own message with steps toward the mound and a menacing glare that says: "I can hurt you." The two collided last week, when Martinez twice plunked Guillen, and the Nationals outfielder reacted by walking toward the mound with his bat in hand before the potential dustup was calmed.

TAMPA, Fla. - One of Jake Arrieta's goals in the early part of spring training is to pound the lower part of the strike zone with his mid-90s fastball, to tempt hitters to chop balls into the ground and let his defense make plays behind him. And in his 1 2/3-inning start Wednesday afternoon against the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field, the Orioles right-hander was able to do that, keeping every ball hit in play on the ground. Arrieta got ahead of hitters - his fastball running at 94-96 mph - but he found himself at times too wild with his fastball.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Right-hander Chris Tillman pitched 1 2/3 innings in his first Grapefruit League start of the year, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks in Wednesday night's split-squad game against the Boston Red Sox at Ed Smith Stadium. Tillman threw 43 pitches, 22 of them for strikes. He labored a bit, but said he was OK with his performance. “Yeah, first time out, I'm not really disappointed," Tillman said. “I felt OK. Command was spotty at best. I guess you kind of expect that the first time out, but other than that I felt pretty good.” If the mission was to get out there and air it out, it was a successful outing.

BOSTON - Orioles second baseman Robert Andino , who was hit in the left earflap of his batting helmet in the ninth inning of Friday night's game, didn't play Saturday because he was still waiting to pass a concussion test. Andino said he felt "normal," but he did have a welt on the left side of his neck where the ball hit after hitting his helmet. He was still aggravated that he was the recipient of a 95 mph fastball in that area from Boston reliever Mark Melancon . After he was hit, Andino angrily glared at Melancon and took a few steps toward the mound before being held back by the home-plate umpire.

[Jon Meoli writes for the Towson Times and is a senior columnist for SoxProspects.com. He's covered four of Bundy's games this season and wrote a piece on his development last month .]   To say nothing of the wisdom of the move, the Orioles' decision to bring top prospect Dylan Bundy out west to assume a bullpen role at the very least puts the 19-year-old right-hander in a position to succeed.   Bundy's repertoire as I came to know it during four looks this season is, at this point, best suited for a relief role.

The Orioles  won, 5-3, Tuesday night. Chris Tillman pitched great. Nate McLouth homered. Manny Machado had a key triple. Jim Johnson picked up his 38th save. Those are the box-score highlights. But the biggest moment of the game came in the seventh inning. Tillman was pulled with two outs and the usually reliable Darren O'Day allowed a single and a walk to the only two batters he faced. Josh Hamilton who is second in the American League in home runs (32) and RBIs (102) was up, so right-hander Pedro Strop was summoned to face the imposing, left-handed-hitting Hamilton.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles had an idea of what to expect from Taiwanese left-hander Wei-Yin Chen in his first major league season. But the 27-year-old rookie set a high standard for himself. After striking out a career-high 12 batters on Sunday in Baltimore, he expressed his frustration in being unable to go six innings. After starts, he's regularly said through his interpreter that he measures his success by how deep he's able to go into games. In Saturday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, Chen wasted few pitches, working ahead in the count and challenging an aggressive Tampa Bay lineup, leading the Orioles to a 4-0 win over the Rays in front of an announced crowd of 20,612.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - When John Stephens takes his last steps from the bullpen area tomorrow and pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers, hide the radar guns and just watch the ball. See how it sneaks past hitters who must wonder how they're missing something that looks the size of a cantaloupe. See their heads shake as they return to the dugout, certain that they won't be fooled again. His fastball might exceed 84 mph if he reaches back far enough and lets it rip. It's not exactly batting-practice speed, but he's a long way from the kind of heat most of the Orioles are packing this spring.

The All-Star Game brings more than just a midseason shot of excitement to Major League Baseball. It provides much-needed rest for the players, a four-day respite in a 162-game season that often produces fatigue and injury. The players who most need rest are the starting pitchers, who, paradoxically, get the most rest during the season, playing only every fifth day. Yet, midseason pitching swoons, like the Oriole starters have recently experienced, are not uncommon. Perhaps the best-known case of pitching fatigue to occur around the All-Star break was that of Bob Feller, the Cleveland fireballer who at age 17 struck out 17 batters in his fifth major-league start.

Granted it is just one outing, but the impression that Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez gave in his first big league start -- a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels -- was impressive. Orioles fans have seen too many pitchers without their fastball command, so they had to like the sight of the 28-year-old Gonzalez working the strike zone aggressively and effectively against an Angels team that is the second-best hitting team in the American League.  "This team hits mistakes really well, so the key was really location on the fastball first off," catcher Matt Wieters said. "And he did that great.