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BALTIMORE — Good afternoon and happy Sunday from Oriole Park at Camden Yards as the Orioles (6-18) find themselves in an extremely rare position against the Boston Red Sox (11-13) this afternoon.
After taking the first two games of the series, Baltimore can complete its first three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Baltimore since Sept. 1974. This happened nine years before I was born to put it in perspective. The stat is a bit misleading considering the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Sox in July 1998, but nonetheless, it’s an impressive feat for a franchise that is just 30-67 at home against the Red Sox since 1999.
Here are this afternoon’s lineups:
Boston
SS Marco Scutaro
2B Dustin Pedroia
RF J.D. Drew
1B Mike Lowell
DH David Ortiz
3B Adrian Beltre
C Jason Varitek
LF Darnell McDonald
CF Jonathan Van Every
SP Josh Beckett (1-0, 7.22 ERA)
Baltimore
CF Adam Jones
RF Nick Markakis
2B Ty Wigginton
3B Miguel Tejada
DH Luke Scott
LF Nolan Reimold
1B Rhyne Hughes
C Craig Tatum
SS Julio Lugo
SP Kevin Millwood (0-3, 3.38 ERA)
As we do for every Orioles game, please join us in the Orange Crush chat at 1:30 p.m. to discuss this afternoon’s happenings from Camden Yards. For the quickest updates and analysis of tonight’s game, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@WNST).
Continue to check right here for more updates (time-stamped below) leading up to first pitch at 1:35 p.m.
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1:15 p.m. — Just a few notes to pass along from Dave Trembley in his pre-game comments.
Mike Gonzalez began a throwing program yesterday to continue to rehabilitate his injured left shoulder. Trembley did not know any timetable for the length of the program or when he would return from the disabled list.
The other interesting piece of information came after a question about Norfolk pitcher and Orioles prospect Jake Arrieta. The young right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA and appears on the cusp of being ready to make his way to Baltimore.
However, with the starting rotation performing well for the most part, what would you do if either Arrieta or Chris Tillman—who pitched a no-hitter last week for the Tides—are fully-developed with nothing left to prove in the minors?
Surprisingly, Dave Trembley wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a bullpen role for any young starting pitcher with nothing more to work on in the minors but no spot open in the rotation. It was a common practice by many of the great teams in the glory days of the organization.
“It’s only a matter of time before Arrieta will be in the big leagues,” said Trembley who reiterated there were no immediate plans or specific date in mind. “I can’t wait, but he’ll let us know [when he’s ready].”
Of course, injuries and ineffectiveness in the starting rotation will always change any plans, so it’s hard to read too much into Trembley’s comments.
All things considered, I’d be shocked to see either young prospect recalled for a bullpen role in Baltimore.
