Tillman sent down again; more roster moves coming

After a subpar performance last night, the Orioles decided to send Chris Tillman back to Triple-A Norfolk. According to O's manager Juan Samuel, the move doesn't mean a whole lot:

"We figured Tillman is not going to pitch again for five days, so why not do it now and get him on his way," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "That's the decision we made instead of waiting until" Wednesday.

With Kevin Millwood scheduled to be activated from the disabled list tomorrow and slated to start against the Twins on Thursday, the O's needed Tillman's roster spot to make the move.

First off, I don't really have a problem with the decision. The O's need to get Millwood back on the roster to make a few starts since they would obviously love to trade him and get something of value in return. That will only be possible if he's able to pitch well and stay healthy, so we'll see how that goes. Second, the front office's hands are really tied at this point with Michael Gonzalez, Brian Roberts, and Matt Wieters all expected to join the team within the next week or so. That's a lot of roster moves and decisions to make in such a short period of time.

With Luke Scott taking Frank Mata's roster spot and Millwood taking Tillman's, (at least) three more choices will need to be made. Barring possible trades or injuries, here are a few options: 1) demote Josh Bell to Norfolk; 2) release Julio Lugo; or 3) designate Matt Albers for assignment (I believe he's out of options). I guess the O's could also release Jake Fox or demote Brad Bergesen, though that would probably mean that Tillman would be promoted.

In the long run, these roster moves won't mean a whole lot. But even really bad teams have to make difficult personnel decisions.

O's lose again as Tillman can't get out of the third

Remember the O's four-game sweep of the Rangers last week that at least gave fans a faint hope that the team could play better baseball in the second half of the season? Yeah, that hasn't really happened yet.

In another hard-to-watch game, the Rays shelled Chris Tillman and blew the O's out 8-1. Tillman, like Brian Matusz the day before (1.2 IP, 6 ER, 5 H), wasn't effective at all. He gave up eight runs on seven hits in 2.2 innings, officially putting the game out of reach for the O's and their overmatched offense.

Since the All-Star break, the O's have lost all four of their games -- three to the Blue Jays, and now one to the Rays. In those games, the O's have scored just six runs, which is absolutely terrible. And not that it excuses the poor pitching performances from Matusz and Tillman, but it must be rather difficult to pitch when they're (possibly) thinking that giving up just a few runs will be insurmountable for the O's inept offense.

Speaking of offense, or the lack thereof, the O's had seven hits and one walk against Rays' starter Wade Davis, who gave up just one run in eight solid innings. The O's lone run came in the fifth inning when Cesar Izturis singled in Scott Moore. Izturis and Craig Tatum each had two hits.

By the way, the bullpen was actually very good yesterday. In 6.1 scoreless innings, Matt Albers, David Hernandez, Koji Uehara, and Alfredo Simon allowed just two hits while striking out seven Rays. Not bad, guys.

With the loss, the O's fall to 29-63 on the season.

Still, there is some good news. Luke Scott returned from the disabled list yesterday and went 1-4 with a single. And Brian Roberts is in Bowie for a rehab assignment and could be back with the O's in a few weeks. The return of Roberts to the leadoff spot would be big for the O's, who, despite the hot stretch by Corey Patterson before he got hurt, have really missed Roberts's ability to work the count, get on base, and be a nuisance on the basepaths. And although Felix Pie is talented and has improved at the plate, he is not a leadoff hitter; in the leadoff spot last night, Pie went 1-4 with a single, but he also saw just 10 pitches.

One other thing: It's time to end the Miguel Tejada experiment in Baltimore. I think Tejada is a nice guy. But not only is he playing below average defense at third base, he's adding very little offensive production to the lineup while batting second for most of the season. Sure, with injuries to guys like Roberts, Scott, and Matt Wieters, the options haven't really been there for the O's to move guys around to different spots. But Tejada, who is hitting .272/.311/.368 after an 0-4 last night, hasn't given the O's anything more than a singles hitter who doesn't get on base enough or hit for much power at all.

At 23 years old, Josh Bell might not be ready to play third base in a full-time role for the O's. And, who knows, he may never be that guy. In six games and 19 at-bats, he has five hits (all singles) but has struck out eight times. But if he's in Baltimore, he should be playing just about everyday instead of sitting the bench in favor of Tejada. The same can be said of the current platoon situation at second base between Julio Lugo and Scott Moore, though that probably doesn't matter as much with Roberts close to returning.

Basically, it comes down to this: No matter who the O's put in the lineup right now or bring up from the minors, they just aren't going to win this season or maybe even next season. So who would you rather watch while the team is bad, the current versions of Tejada and Lugo, or Bell and Moore? The answer should be pretty obvious.

Birdland Blunders: Lugo strikes out bunting

After a tough 7-5, extra-inning loss to the Tigers last night, the Orioles dropped to 25-58 on the season. Going into the eighth inning, the O's led 4-1, but the bullpen couldn't get the job done, allowing a Miguel Cabrera two-run home run to tie the game at 5 in the ninth, and then a game-winning two-run homer to Johnny Damon in the 11th inning for the win.

Now, the O's weren't terrible last night. Jake Arrieta (6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 2 BB) was solid, and O's hitters put together 17 hits, 6 walks, and Adam Jones also reached base after getting hit by a pitch. Unfortunately, only three of the O's hits were extra-base hits, and the O's also managed to leave 17 runners on base. That just isn't good enough, especially when the bullpen allows two runs each in the eighth, ninth, and 11th innings.

As Stacey of Camden Chat notes, the O's were far from perfect. Runners were caught stealing, Jones misplayed a ball in the eighth inning, and Matt Wieters was thrown out running to third on a ground ball to first base (though that was a phenomenal play by Cabrera). But none of those was the worst blunder; this was: Julio Lugo struck out trying to bunt in the second inning.

First, congrats to Lugo. He collected three hits last night (all singles) and played a decent game overall. But there's no excuse for what happened last night. With a runner on first and two outs, Lugo tried to bunt with two strikes and fouled the pitch off, resulting in a strike out. I wasn't watching the game and couldn't find a video of the play on MLB.com, but on the radio, Joe Angel said that perhaps Lugo forgot the count. The stadium's video board apparently showed just one strike, so that may have been what happened. Still, it's a mistake that's inexcusable. Forgetting the count is arguably just as bad or worse than failing to run out a flyball or ground ball, which the O's have already had their share of problems with this season. Also, why was Lugo trying to bunt anyway? There were already two outs and a runner on, and it's not like his bunt would have turned the lineup over -- Cesar Izturis was batting behind him.

The O's played hard last night, and it's not likely that Lugo would have been able to drive a run in in that situation anyway considering he only has four extra-base hits in 152 at bats. But it's one thing to watch the O's simply lose games to better teams; it's another to watch them make bone-headed plays in completely winnable games. Maybe Lugo doesn't deserve to be benched for a game for that play, but hopefully one of the coaches at least tried to figure out what exactly he was doing.