Soreness

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman has been scratched from his scheduled start Sunday because of abdominal soreness that he first dealt with last week. Miguel Gonzalez, who was expected to follow Tillman, will instead start Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium, manager Buck Showalter said. Showalter said giving Tillman a few extra days of rest was a precautionary move after discussing the issue with team athletic trainer Richie Bancells. There's no set timetable on his next outing.

The Orioles have a day game at Fort Myers, Fla., today against the Boston Red Sox. Brian Matusz will start today in another important outing in the rotation's fifth-spot competition. Chris Tillman , who is dealing with a sore abdomen, also will pitch. He'll be in a minor league game at Twin Lakes. He expects to pitch three innings. Brian Roberts is making his first road trip. That's significant to the media maybe. But not to Roberts, who is coming back from a variety of injuries but has been healthy all spring.

Here are some highlights from Buck Showalter's pre-game media session: Shortstop J.J. Hardy is out of today's lineup, his second consecutive day off, because he is dealing with right arm and shoulder soreness. Showalter said it is a typical spring occurrence and that he is just being cautious, but Hardy will play tomorrow. Hardy, Showalter said, wanted to play today, but the manager said no. “I want to get it resolved, it's taking a tad longer than usual, usually (the soreness)

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman has been scratched from his scheduled start Sunday because of abdominal soreness that he first dealt with last week. Miguel Gonzalez, who was expected to follow Tillman, will instead start Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium, manager Buck Showalter said. Showalter said giving Tillman a few extra days of rest was a precautionary move after discussing the issue with team athletic trainer Richie Bancells. There's no set timetable on his next outing.

Orioles lefty Zach Britton, who has not pitched in a major league game this spring, has been scratched from his scheduled minor league start Monday due to soreness in his left shoulder - an injury that has been bothering him for months. Manager Buck Showalter said Britton felt good after throwing two innings and 31 pitches in a Triple-A game Thursday, but soreness developed Saturday. He was examined by team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens and it's believed he has inflammation, Showalter said.

Q: My daughter is now 4, and since she was 18 months old she has had pain in her vagina. Her doctor said it is probably yeast infections.Could it be anything else? What can be done to help reduce the pain and the recurrence?A: Your question presents a puzzle difficult to put together without more information. We can only work with the clues provided by your description and your doctor's reaction.We're not certain your daughter is having vaginal pain, especially beginning at 18 months. We believe the answer lies in thinking about what can cause irritation to the vagina or vulva.

Animal Kingdom's career is once again on hold. Last year's Kentucky Derby winner came up lame -- with soreness in the same leg that required surgery last June -- during a training run in Florida according to his Maryland-based trainer, Graham Motion. "Disappointed for everyone involved," he wrote on Twitter, "especially the horse. Hope to get him back on the track. " Motion and Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin had planned for Animal Kingdom, who had run in just one race since being hurt in the Belmont, to run in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31. “This is a crushing blow for our company and our partners as well as our trainer, who has done such a great job getting the horse back to this point,” Irwin said.

Q: I am expecting my first baby and I want to breast-feed. My friend who has a baby had sore nipples when she tried to breast-feed. Should I be doing something to toughen my nipples now?A: No. Though pinching, exposing or abrading the nipples during the late stages of pregnancy might at one time have been recommended as a way to "toughen up" for breast-feeding, they are of no value. In fact, they may cause soreness rather than prevent it.The most important way to avoid nipple soreness is be certain your feeding technique is just right once the baby is born.

ST. LOUIS -- Pat Combs followed a morose Wednesday with an apologetic Thursday by admitting that he had lied to manager Jim Fregosi and pitching coach Johnny Podres about the state of his sore left arm before making a dismal third-of-an-inning outing (25 pitches, five walks, five runs, five strikes) Wednesday at Busch Stadium.The Phillies placed Combs on the 15-day disabled list Thursday and activated left-handed reliever Wally Ritchie. Ritchie, who had been on the DL since Otis Nixon spiked him in the stomach in Atlanta after being hit by a pitch, served his one-game suspension for that incident Thursday afternoon.

Maturing as a major-league ballplayer involved more than learning how to pitch, experience has told Ben McDonald.It also entailed knowing when not to pitch."

Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold, who left Friday's game against the Pirates after just two innings with a sore right shoulder, said his throwing shoulder is feeling better. Showalter said he hopes to have Reimold DH on Tuesday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Reimold said he hasn't hit since the injury and has given his whole upper body time off. He's optimistic he can return to the lineup Tuesday following Monday's off day. “I had a lot of time off,” Reimold said. “I had neck surgery.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles hit a spring-high four homers off Pittsburgh Pirates pitching Friday afternoon in a 6-5 win at Ed Smith Stadium. It was the Orioles' sixth victory in seven  Grapefruit League games this spring. Second baseman Brian Roberts led off the bottom of the first inning by taking a 0-1 offering from right-hander James McDonald over the right-field fence. Nolan Reimold and Wilson Betemit then hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the second inning off McDonald to put the Orioles up 4-0. Reimold's two-run shot, which came after Nate McLouth's two-out single, cleared the picnic area beyond the left-field fence For Roberts and Reimold, two starters whose 2012 campaigns were cut short by injury, it was a positive sign.

Orioles reserve catcher Taylor Teagarden woke up with back pain on Friday and has been shut down for at least a day or two. Teagarden missed a big chunk of last season after suffering a more serious back injury in spring training, but he said Friday's discomfort is not comparable to the problem that delayed his arrival in Baltimore last year until midseason. “[It was] real stiff, pretty achy this morning, a little more than normal," Teagarden said “Just want to be a little cautious, you know.

The Maryland Attorney General's office in conjunction with the federal government and 46 other states has reached a $48 million settlement with a Texas drug company that marketed an ointment to treat bedsores even though it wasn't approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Healthpoint Ltd and general partner DFB Pharmaceuticals marketed the drug Xenaderm to nursing homes. The ointment was modeled after a drug made prior to 1962 that the FDA never reviewed. In the 1970s, the FDA determined the principal ingredient in Xenaderm was "less than effective.

Johnathan Joseph has been battling a sore groin, and the Houston Texans cornerback is not expected to practice until Friday. Joseph doesn't lead the defense in interceptions (that would be cornerback Kareem Jackson with three) or pass breakups (that would be defensive end J.J. Watt with eight), but his possible absence would be significant to the Ravens. Since being selected in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, Joseph has collected 19 interceptions - three of which have occurred against the Ravens, the most against any opponent in his career, according to Pro Football Reference.

Just over 12 hours after his team defeated the Cleveland Browns, 23-16, at M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday night, Ravens coach John Harbaugh delivered more positive news for Ravens fans on Friday afternoon. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs is “doing well” rehabilitating his surgically repaired right Achilles tendon, and Harbaugh said he expects Suggs, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, to play sometime this season. It was the most definitive that Harbaugh has been about the status of Suggs since he suffered the injury in April.

&TC Ben McDonald's recovery from tendinitis in his pitching shoulder has taken a step backward.McDonald, who was placed on the disabled list July 25, postponed throwing in a simulated game yesterday because he experienced soreness in his shoulder on Tuesday.His rehabilitation assignment at Rochester, where he was scheduled to start Monday, also has been pushed back.It appears now that McDonald will not be back before September."There's no set timetable in these types of things. They told me that from the beginning," said McDonald, who rushed back from the disabled list after one week earlier this season and suffered a recurrence of the tendinitis.

CLEVELAND - On the second day, Cal Ripken rested. Ripken said he was energized by Friday night's return from the disabled list but followed through on a promise to himself yesterday to abstain from a second consecutive game. Instead of serving as designated hitter, Ripken watched the Orioles' 8-6 win. "There was a temptation to play today, but I'm not going to give into it," Ripken said after a lengthy autograph session before the game. "You make a plan and you stick to it." Ripken, who went 1-for-3 Friday against Cleveland, said he could tell when he awoke yesterday that he had pushed himself after two months on the disabled list with lower back pain.

As a devoted Cleveland Browns fan, it's really hard to listen to the accolades about Art Modell and what a super guy he was ("NFL will have a moment of silence for Art Modell at all stadiums this weekend," Sept. 7). Conveniently, Mr. Modell always blamed his moving the team from Cleveland to Baltimore on "the politicians and bureaucrats who covered their own rear end. " Really? Art could have sold the team and kept it in Cleveland. He would have solved his money problems and not needed to hire armed bodyguards.