Fastball

After an abysmal start on Sunday in which he retired just three of the 13 batters he faced, Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz insisted that he was “100 percent healthy.” But he looked so out of sync in the 9-6 loss, Rays manager Joe Maddon said Matusz didn't look quite right. “He's not throwing as hard as he used to,” he said. Meanwhile, in the Baltimore clubhouse, Orioles manager Buck Showalter wasn’t sugarcoating Matusz’s performance, saying that he had hoped to see more improvement from his young starter upon returning from the disabled list.

Nearly a week ago, the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays faced off in a battle of the Jeremys at Camden Yards. In that one, Rays rookie Jeremy Hellickson was wild but effective while Orioles veteran Jeremy Guthrie was downright awful in one of the worst statistical outings of his career. On Friday night at Tropicana Field, Guthrie pitched much better, but the end result was the same, another Orioles' loss, 3-0, to the red-hot Rays in front of an announced crowd of 20,476. After sweeping them in the season-opening series in April, the Orioles (17-20)

New closer Mike Gonzalez wants to make one thing clear -- no matter what the radar readings say, no matter how he has looked during his first two outings, his arm feels fine. Gonzalez was able to face just two hitters in an Orioles "B" game on Saturday versus the Florida Marlins at Ed Smith Stadium. However, his abridged outing was a result of some soreness in his lower back and not anything related to his arm. "My arm feels great and everything else," Gonzalez said. "I just had a little tightness in my lower back.

- If there was any lingering concern about Chris Tillman 's back, he erased it Friday night by pitching two perfect innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his Grapefruit League 2010 debut. Tillman, relying mostly on his fastball but mixing in a few off-speed pitches and one cutter, struck out three and threw 22 of his 33 pitches for strikes. "I think it went well," Tillman said. "I just wanted to locate my fastball tonight, and they made me do that a little bit. For the first one in four months, it felt good.

Kyle Farnsworth enters his 12th big league season, somehow still a project. His tools belie his consistently disappointing results, a fact Cubs fans won't forget after his work against the Marlins in the 2003 NLCS after he replaced Mark Prior in the eighth inning of Game 6 and followed Kerry Wood into Game 7. And that didn't go so well. But it's going to be interesting to see how he does at his latest adventure. The 33-year-old Farnsworth, who still looks as intimidating as almost any pitcher in the majors, will get a chance to start for the Royals, who must figure they have nothing to lose.

JUPITER, Fla. -Koji Uehara emerged slowly from the Orioles' dugout, walking past a group of Japanese photographers on his way to the mound. When he arrived there, he circled the mound, stopped to pick up the rosin bag and stepped up to the pitching rubber. He calmly threw a few warm-up tosses to catcher Gregg Zaun before signaling that he was ready. At 1:20 yesterday afternoon, Uehara fired his first pitch, a fastball to Florida Marlins outfielder John Raynor that was called a strike. It was the start of a successful day for the Orioles' first Japanese player, who threw two scoreless innings in facing opposing major league hitters for the first time.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - It isn't often that a simple bullpen session at the start of spring training draws a crowd of 30 media members and just about the entire Orioles front office. Koji Uehara threw about 50 pitches alongside Hayden Penn and nonroster pitcher Ross Wolf yesterday morning, drawing praise from pitching coach Rick Kranitz and catcher Gregg Zaun along with the daily scrutiny of the large contingent of Japanese media and a handful of American reporters. The last time anyone drew close to this kind of interest for a throwing session at Orioles training camp was Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, when he attempted a comeback in 1991, and it really wasn't that close.

FREDERICK -- Once Adam Loewen finally reached the mound at Harry Grove Stadium last night, he didn't stay there for long. Loewen had to wait through a 1 hour, 13 minute rain delay at the start of his first injury-rehabilitation game at Single-A Frederick, as storms accompanied by lightning and heavy winds kept passing through the region. He dispatched the three Wilmington batters he faced on 14 pitches, 11 of them strikes. Loewen retired leadoff hitter Derrick Robinson on a soft liner to second base and struck out the next two hitters, including Kurt Mertins on a high fastball to end the inning.

SEATTLE -- The question has been asked about Daniel Cabrera frequently the past couple of seasons, and it's being discussed again during one of the best three-start runs of his enigmatic career. Has Cabrera, the imposing 26-year-old pitcher who has dazzled the Orioles over the past four seasons with his talent and dismayed them with his lack of consistency and control, finally turned the corner? Cabrera prefers to focus on his next start, cautiously avoiding big-picture pronouncements.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Orioles manager Dave Trembley said in the days before Daniel Cabrera's start that the pitcher might show something new. As it turned out, Cabrera had his best outing of the year Saturday by using a game plan that has brought him success in the past. Cabrera has been working on throwing a slider rather than a curveball, but in the Orioles' 3-2 victory, he threw fastballs on all but a handful of his 107 pitches, according to catcher Ramon Hernandez. It worked, with Cabrera allowing only one earned run over 6 2/3 innings.