Pitch Count

Yesterday, Sidney Ponson took the best that the Kansas City Royals can give these days. He absorbed it, then shrugged and kept moving in a manner now common for the second-year Oriole from Aruba.During the Orioles' 2-1 win, Ponson made further steps toward designation as the daredevil of his team's pitching staff while recording his third complete game, tops in the American League.In three separate innings, there were starts that spelled doom, but Ponson was still out there throwing on pitch 129 -- in the mid-to-high 90s, no less -- skull-and-crossbones territory in today's baseball.

It didn't take the Detroit Tigers long to remind the Orioles that momentum and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The Orioles were flying so high after Friday night's ninth-inning comeback that the air apparently got a little too thin. The big-swinging Tigers pierced the sky four times in an eight-run explosion in the top of the fourth inning that all but evened the series before late-afternoon shadows could reach the pitcher's mound. The assault was so quick and unmerciful that it rendered Tigers ace Justin Verlander almost irrelevant.

Ordinarily the recent exile of Doug Drabek, the disturbing degree of difficulty encountered last Thursday by Jimmy Key and nagging questions surrounding the health and effectiveness Scott Kamieniecki would leave a manager few options and even less reason for optimism.However, bolstered by Friday's acquisition of Juan Guzman from Toronto, the Orioles still see a way to make a run for the AL wild card.Reluctant to commit publicly, manager Ray Miller concedes that adopting a four-man rotation for the season's final weeks is an option if the Orioles can first pare the 9 1/2 -game gulf that separates them from the Boston Red Sox, who now lead the wild-card race.

Buck Showalter's first glimpse of closer Jim Johnson inside the Orioles clubhouse moments after his remarkable consecutive-save streak came to an sudden end Tuesday night was the sight of Johnson working up a sweat on the exercise bike in the training room. “He's grinding out on a bicycle,” the Orioles manager said, “Getting ready for [Wednesday].” Johnson's franchise-record streak of 35 consecutive converted regular-season save opportunities was snapped Tuesday night as the San Diego Padres rallied for two runs in the ninth off Johnson for a 3-2 win over the Orioles in front of an announced 19,096 at Camden Yards.

The injury that St. Louis Cardinals star pitcher Adam Wainwright suffered in the bullpen during spring training isn't just a big league problem. As baseball season approaches, Little Leaguers and other school-age players should be aware that they can damage their elbows. Dr. Anand M. Murthi, attending orthopedic surgeon and chief of shoulder and elbow surgery at Union Memorial Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, explains the surgery that is sometimes necessary for repairs. It's called ulnar collateral ligament (UCL)

On the use of pitch counts in baseball In today's game, the pitch count can be a little overemphasized - 100 pitches seems to be the cut line for most pitchers these days. I think it's viable in a number of instances, but there are also a number of variables that go into whether it's useful or not. In Japan, pitch count means nothing. A pitcher will be removed only if he is getting roughed up or he is tired.

You've seen it before. Way too many times before. Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta has an outing in which he looks great in spurts and terrible in spurts. It happened again Sunday in a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had three perfect innings. The other two were disasters. And he ended up coughing up the lead in the fifth. Arrieta shouldered the blame. And that's not a problem. Arrieta's not afraid to point the finger at himself. He's also not afraid to work hard, to try and turn things around.

It depends on which line you want to consider before truly assessing Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta's performance in the club's 5-4 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Arrieta's pitching line wasn't pretty: He lasted only five innings for the third consecutive start in this young season. He walked five, gave up three hits and threw 112 pitches, only 63 of them for strikes. Then there's the silver lining: Arrieta allowed just one run, thanks, in part, to his seven strikeouts.

BOWIE -- Hayden Penn left no doubt about his arm strength last night in a rehabilitation start for the Double-A Bowie Baysox at Prince George's Stadium. The 21-year-old right-hander buzzed a 96 mph fastball down the middle on his first pitch, then broke the webbing of catcher Raul Chavez's mitt on the second. But Penn's command was shaky in his first appearance since going on the disabled list May 23 after an emergency appendectomy. He walked two batters and surrendered a two-run home run in a 35-pitch first inning, then exited after a 1-2-3 second that left him close to his pitch count of 50. "I was a little off and wasn't in sync, but that's going to come with pitching more," Penn said after throwing 43 pitches in a no-decision against Harrisburg, which fell to Bowie, 10-7.

It didn't take the Detroit Tigers long to remind the Orioles that momentum and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The Orioles were flying so high after Friday night's ninth-inning comeback that the air apparently got a little too thin. The big-swinging Tigers pierced the sky four times in an eight-run explosion in the top of the fourth inning that all but evened the series before late-afternoon shadows could reach the pitcher's mound. The assault was so quick and unmerciful that it rendered Tigers ace Justin Verlander almost irrelevant.

You've seen it before. Way too many times before. Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta has an outing in which he looks great in spurts and terrible in spurts. It happened again Sunday in a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had three perfect innings. The other two were disasters. And he ended up coughing up the lead in the fifth. Arrieta shouldered the blame. And that's not a problem. Arrieta's not afraid to point the finger at himself. He's also not afraid to work hard, to try and turn things around.

For the fourth consecutive time this season, Orioles starter Jake Arrieta couldn't make it to the sixth inning. Arrieta allowed five runs, all of them earned, against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. He was pulled from the game with the Orioles leading, 4-3, in the top of the fifth inning at Camden Yards. The Dodgers had runners on the corners and no outs when he left. Those two runners scored after T.J. McFarland entered the game, but they were credited to Arrieta, who is in line for the loss if the Orioles don't erase this one-run lead.

It depends on which line you want to consider before truly assessing Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta's performance in the club's 5-4 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Arrieta's pitching line wasn't pretty: He lasted only five innings for the third consecutive start in this young season. He walked five, gave up three hits and threw 112 pitches, only 63 of them for strikes. Then there's the silver lining: Arrieta allowed just one run, thanks, in part, to his seven strikeouts.

The Orioles entered Tuesday's season opener against the Tampa Bay Rays with the right approach at the plate, but they weren't able to vanquish Rays fire-baller David Price to the dugout until after the sixth inning. Showing patience in the batter's boxes, the Orioles quickly ran up Price's pitch count to 60 through three innings -- and jumped out to a 2-0 lead -- as the reigning Cy Young Award winner struggled to locate his fastball early in the game. In those three innings, only one of the Orioles' first 14 batters swung at the first pitch.

After his final outing of the spring, Orioles left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada said he felt physically ready to join the big league club for Opening Day in Baltimore. But the Orioles brass believes Wada, who signed a two-year, $8.14 million contract in December, will benefit from remaining in Sarasota to build up his arm strength and his pitch count. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday that Wada will begin the season on the disabled list. He will make a minumum of two starts -- his first in an extended spring training game slated for Monday -- in hopes of reaching a pitch count of 90. His second start could be a minor league rehab assignment.

The injury that St. Louis Cardinals star pitcher Adam Wainwright suffered in the bullpen during spring training isn't just a big league problem. As baseball season approaches, Little Leaguers and other school-age players should be aware that they can damage their elbows. Dr. Anand M. Murthi, attending orthopedic surgeon and chief of shoulder and elbow surgery at Union Memorial Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, explains the surgery that is sometimes necessary for repairs. It's called ulnar collateral ligament (UCL)

ORONO, Maine -- Towson State's bid to earn a berth in the College World Series ended yesterday, thanks to a winning gamble by the University of Maine.Maine coach John Winkin gambled that senior relief pitcher Rob Higgins was capable of making his third career start and first in two seasons. Higgins, normally a closer, responded with a six-hit shutout to carry Maine to an 8-0 win and eliminate the Tigers from the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament's Northeast Regional."When I heard Higgins was going to pitch, I looked at hi numbers and saw he hadn't started and apparently he hadn't gone too many innings," said Towson coach Mike Gottlieb, whose team finished 28-23-1 overall and 1-2 in the regional.

CAN it be that baseball interest has burned hotter in some other city than in Baltimore?The name Allan Roth came up, the other day, at a meeting here of the Bob Davids Chapter of SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research). Roth, who died in 1992, was for many years the Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers' statistician.And he recorded not just every play but every single pitch. For four years, when his seat was behind home plate, Roth even wrote down what kind of pitch.No one in the other major league cities seems to have been so diligent.

— Jake Arrieta admitted after his last start on Tuesday that his body felt heavy, his legs felt weak and he didn't feel like himself physically. But as the young starter nears a professional high in innings pitched, Arrieta said he is more than ready physically to take the ball every five days for the rest of the season. "The last start was just one of those days where you get out of bed and you feel a little sluggish," said Arrieta who allowed five earned runs in six innings, but beat the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

It's early in the exhibition season, so no one should be terribly surprised that the temperature is low and the pitch counts are high. Jeremy Guthrie needed 46 pitches to get through his first two innings Sunday. Kevin Millwood threw 30 in his spring debut the day before and didn't get out of the first. New closer Mike Gonzalez threw more than his share in his first inning Friday night. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz listens to a question about some of the early command issues, immediately interprets it as a sign of irrational concern, and smiles knowingly.