Throw Strikes

On the Orioles' possibly adding Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka Pass on him and wait a year. He's a great pitcher in Japan, but what will he do in America? That's an expensive crap shoot. This guy is such an unknown, I wouldn't blame any team, including the Orioles, for passing. At this money, he should throw strikes every pitch.

ANAHEIM , CALIF. // The change has been obvious. It is Daniel Cabrera's results that have been inconclusive. In Cabrera's first three seasons with the Orioles, he was known for being more of a thrower than a pitcher. When he got into trouble -- and he often did -- he responded by rearing back and throwing harder. He dominated hitters at times with a fastball that he threw in the high 90s, but confounded the organization with his lapses of command and composure. Just last season, Cabrera led the American League with 104 walks despite spending 6?

Yankees' Kenny Rogers (12-8, 4.84) vs. Braves' Denny Neagle (16-9, 3.44)(records include postseason)What Rogers throws: Fastballs and changeups, with an occasional breaking ball. A key for Rogers is to be able to throw strikes over the inside part of the plate.What Rogers has done lately: He has consistently pitched poorly in the postseason, with the same approach, throwing balls low and away and putting runners on base and needing lots and lots of pitches to get by. Yankees manager Joe Torre even considered replacing him on the World Series roster.

Pitches / / His fastball tops at 97 mph and he usually throws it at about 93, 94. His No. 2 pitch is a slider. He's got a version of a splitter, a slider and a [changeup] he mixes in. His fastball explodes and hitters don't hit it. It's not a movement where it tails or cuts; it's a movement all over the place. Weaknesses / / He is either on or he isn't. Clubs hope you can catch him when he isn't throwing strikes. When he doesn't throw strikes you can work the count and get him out of there.

SEATTLE -- Left-hander Arthur Rhodes showed Saturday night that he could handle pennant-race pressure, and then some.Manager Johnny Oates gave him an ultimatum before he took the mound against the Seattle Mariners. Throw strikes or face the possibility of being thrown out of the starting rotation."The kid rose to the occasion," Oates said, after Rhodes gave up four hits over 7 2/3 innings in the Orioles' 4-0 victory at the Kingdome. "We offered him a challenge before the ballgame. We told him that this wasn't a tryout camp.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Pitching coach Dick Bosman marvels at the difference, and he is not one to get excited easily. Manager Johnny Oates has noticed it, too, and he can't help but consider the possibilities.Arthur Rhodes has become a new man.The 23-year-old left-hander also has become a new husband and a full-time father since the last time he took the mound for the Orioles. He was forced to grow up in a hurry last season, but the maturation process has taken its course, and he has taken a major step toward being a dominating major-league pitcher.

Pitches / / His fastball tops at 97 mph and he usually throws it at about 93, 94. His No. 2 pitch is a slider. He's got a version of a splitter, a slider and a [changeup] he mixes in. His fastball explodes and hitters don't hit it. It's not a movement where it tails or cuts; it's a movement all over the place. Weaknesses / / He is either on or he isn't. Clubs hope you can catch him when he isn't throwing strikes. When he doesn't throw strikes you can work the count and get him out of there.

Certain pitching lines are so bizarre, they're worth clipping from the newspaper and posting on the refrigerator. But this pitching line is so historic, it deserves its own frame.Dempsey: IP 1, H 3, ER 1, SO 0, BB 0.Surely it was a joke.Rick Dempsey, the catcher?Or Jack Dempsey, the fighter?They'd be about the same age if the legendary heavyweight was still alive. The fact that he's not leaves us with this inescapable truth:Rick Dempsey pitched.Pretty well, he might add."I didn't walk anybody," the former Oriole said Wednesday, the day after his major-league pitching debut in Milwaukee's 14-4 loss to Boston.

Boston's Aaron Sele could be forgiven for feeling a little out of place in this week's series with the Orioles.Among the Red Sox's three starters -- Roger Clemens, Danny Darwin and Sele -- and the Orioles' triumvirate of Mike Mussina, Ben McDonald and Sid Fernandez, there are 512 major-league wins.Only 11 belong to Sele."I guess I'm just a throw-in in this deal," Sele said with a grin before last night's game. "I'm definitely not the first one you think of in this series."That's true for now, but it may not be long before Sele's name is mentioned routinely among baseball's pitching elite.

All of a sudden the Orioles are having trouble throwing strikes as they prepare for one. Their current scenario is reminiscent of the 1981 season.You might recall that was the last time baseball had a significant work stoppage. It also was the last time the New York Yankees won anything.Based on what transpired in the past 11 days, we're in for a rerun. After winning three of four from the California Angels, the best thing that happened to the Orioles was the falling ceiling at Seattle's Kingdome.

T.J. Vernes knew that to make significant gains, he would first have to lose. With C. Milton Wright needing a No. 1 starter after the graduation of All-Metro pitcher Nick Bisesi, Vernes worked hard during the summer on his conditioning, changed his eating habits and lost 25 pounds. After pitching sparingly last year, Vernes has transformed himself into a dominant pitcher. The senior is 4-0 this season with a 1.58 ERA. In 35 1/3 innings, he has struck out 44 and walked just seven. "He's assumed the role of our ace," C. Milton Wright coach Tony Blackburn said.

VIERA, Fla. -- Daniel Cabrera had two goals for this winter: Concentrate on throwing strikes and refine his little-used changeup. Mission accomplished through one spring mini-outing. "I've been working for the whole offseason for the day to be like this, to control my pitches," said Cabrera, the Orioles' 25-year-old right-hander. "That's what I did." Cabrera allowed an infield single while striking out two and walking none in his scheduled two innings yesterday as the Orioles beat the Washington Nationals, 7-2, at Space Coast Stadium.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- John Parrish is trying to squeeze into the Orioles' crowded bullpen after missing last season because of another elbow surgery. Jamie Walker is assured of being one of the left-handers, leaving Parrish to vie with Kurt Birkins and Brian Burres. He remains confident he'll accompany the team north despite not pitching in the majors since June 2005. How good are your chances of making the club? -- Very good, very good. I worked on slowing everything down, and I've been throwing a lot of strikes.

On the Orioles' possibly adding Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka Pass on him and wait a year. He's a great pitcher in Japan, but what will he do in America? That's an expensive crap shoot. This guy is such an unknown, I wouldn't blame any team, including the Orioles, for passing. At this money, he should throw strikes every pitch.

Daniel Cabrera's numbers send the mind dashing toward extreme possibilities, some fantastic and some terrible. In 6 1/3 innings this season, the Orioles' No. 4 starter has walked 16, uncorked four wild pitches and struck out 11. He has reduced batters to mere observers in his personal drama. They can't beat him by hitting his 97-mph fastballs so they let him beat himself by tossing his thunderbolts all over creation. Many baseball men believe that if Cabrera can harness his stuff like Sandy Koufax and Randy Johnson did, he will become baseball's next great pitcher.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - If Sidney Ponson can be believed, and he says it with such conviction, he has never cared where the Orioles used him in their rotation. He'll treat an Opening Day start the same as any other. Throw strikes, retire batters, win games. Slotting isn't important. Told on Saturday that he would be the No. 4 starter this season, Ponson downplayed its significance when approached by reporters before yesterday's exhibition game against the Minnesota Twins. "It doesn't matter to me where I make my first start," he said.

What the Orioles got from Roger Clemens the other night was a glimpse of the future -- and the past. Hopefully some of their young pitchers were paying attention."

Brent Gossman came on to get the final out with the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh, as third-ranked Calvert Hall held on for 7-6 victory over No. 6 Archbishop Curley in the first game of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs yesterday at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harmans.Gossman saved it for the defending champion Cardinals (22-7) and lefty Ryan Kyle by coaxing the Friars' leadoff batter Adam Schisler into hitting a fly ball to Greg Smoot in right to end it.The win puts the Cards in tonight's 7: 30 winners' bracket game at Cannon against Mount St. Joseph, a 5-4 winner over Loyola.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The first pitcher to arrive at the Orioles' spring training complex on Thursday, left-hander Buddy Groom might be the first to leave for an extended period. Groom's wife, Angela, is expecting the couple's fifth child, and doctors will induce labor this week. Groom will fly home to Red Oak, Texas, on Thursday afternoon after working out at the ballpark. He will return two days later. "I can't afford to be gone any longer than that," he said. Groom led the club in saves with 11 last season, but when he looks in a mirror, he's more likely to see a father of five than a closer.

NEW YORK - Drawing comparisons to a younger Sidney Ponson, Orioles manager Mike Hargrove says he and pitching coach Mark Wiley will continue to monitor rookie pitcher Willis Roberts after the right-hander's on-field meltdown during Friday night's 14-5 loss to the New York Yankees. "It's not a one-day thing," Hargrove promised yesterday. Roberts' unraveling in the first and fourth innings of a highly visible game against the three-time defending world champions put a different face on what Hargrove and club officials previously had dismissed as Roberts' intensity cut with youthful exuberance.