oh great. Tillman is a 20 game winner.....in the minors.

While he did "okay", I'm still worried when I see K/W ratios of 0.5.

Can ANYONE in this organization pitch more than 6 innings in one start???

Agreed, it's nice to see him throw the ball well after such a long layoff. But the one strikeout is very concerning. You can't succeed as a pitcher without missing bats, and one strikeout out of 18 outs recorded is not a good ratio. I would really prefer to see Tillman in the big league bullpen. He's shown that he can get AAA hitters out, but I'd rather he be at the ML level learning how to get outs there. I understand that the front office and coaching staff want to make sure he's pitching, but I just don't see why they can't ensure that he gets innings at the big league level. Why can't he take the innings that Albers gets?

It really makes me nervous when our "big three" are not striking out hitters. Matusz K's have tailed off, Arrieta has a walk problem and Tillman probably will never be a strikeout pitcher. They are young so I am not giving up hope on them but it will be tough to dominate in the Bigs without striking out hitters.

Is Andino hurt? Or involved in some player movement? He had only one AB Wednesday night before being replaced, and he did not play today...

He's done all he can in AAA,,,,get him up here morons. They way they move Tillman & Bergy down shows they dont know how to take care of a guys arm

Hey Jeff any idea what his velocity was like?

In the old days, when the Orioles would put their up and coming pitching stars in the bullpen for a year or two, they had a pretty stable rotation. Palmer was there, of course, and McNally was still around until he got traded after the '74 season. When he left, Mike Torres came in and became a 20 game winner for the only time in his career. He left after the '75 season, and Rudy May came in came in the big trade with NYY that also brought Scott MacGregor, Tippy Martinez and Rick Dempsey. In the meantime, Mike Flanagan was spending 1976 in the pen before moving to the rotation in '77. MacGregor and Dennis Martinez spent '77, 22 and 23 respectively, as spot starters and long relievers and combined to go 17-12.

They still had Palmer as the mainstay and he was being joined by the youngsters after they interned in the bullpen.

Things are different now. People see Matusz and Tillman and Arrieta and probably Britton and maybe even Patton or Spoon and wonder why they can't be successful right now as starters. I'd love it if they could give Albers' innings to Tillman, though I think it would be a mistake to totally give up on Albers, his stuff can be too good.

The problem is, they don't have a Palmer to anchor the staff. Maybe in a few years, these guys can provide that stability, but right now, the Orioles can't afford to put their young starters in the 'pen. Of course, the way the pitching is going, you would think there could be a way to get a Tillman regular innings. Maybe the new manager can think of something. Certainly Dempsey is familiar with the way things used to be and the way things can be now. Showalter or Bob Melvin, too.

One final bit of irony. The verification word for this particular post is "retread". Kind of describes the basic Orioles veteran these days, doesn't it?

A future AAA All Star. Exactly what we need. Long live the glory boys of Norfolk.

I guess I can't expect any better from the ignorant so called fans I read here. They are as pathetic as the team they complain about in their lack of understanding and knowledge of the game. Tillman will be fine he just needs more experience just as the team needs one or two big bats.

I wonder if he managed to break 90 MPH...

Thanks but whoopee. He has had 3 tries at the majors and failed miserably. Pitching well at Norfolk doesn't mean squat! He will get called back up soon. Lets hope he is learning from his demotion.

Is the pitching coach at AAA really the guy who's better than Rick Krantz here? He seems to be the real "fixer". Maybe they should swap positions....

Tillman only went 6 innings because he was on a 80 pitch count and thru 77 through 6 innings. Andino is suspended for 2 games for team misconduct.

Jeff, I have a few questions. Did anyone up at the major league level determine why he was throwing a flat 88 his last time out and figure out how to fix that? Was there anything in his side sessions that pointed to him improving the one thing he really needs to do- develop a command of a moving fastball?Is anyone concerned about his lack of strikeouts last night?
I mean the guy can pretty much get 2 strikes on anyone.
I like Tillman, and I don't see any urgency in returning him to Baltimore unless he has those things figured out. He'll continue to fail.It's tough enough learning at the major league level when you've got some stuff.

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Jeff Z's reply: I absolutely agree with your last paragraph. I also am of the mindset that I would have left Bergesen down for a couple of more starts. As for Tillman's velocity, they talked to him about it and it was determined that he simply was throwing with no conviction because he was worried about making the perfect pitch and walking guys. It's not an injury situation. He was just pitching with little confidence and almost guiding it in there. As for his fastball being so straight, that's one of the reasons they are trying to get him to work on a cut fastball more.

YAWN!!!!!!! It is sad while other teams have real things to talk about we resort to talking about a pitcher that deserved to be demoted and after one outing I guess we will be screaming to bring him back and demote someone else. Nothing is going to change, the team that is playing (if thats what you want to call it) in the City of Baltimore is actually the "AAAA" affiliate of the Orioles, the real team will play here when we have someone in the front office that would make the right decisions and pay for them to play here.

Looking at the success of the young pitchers and how they are handled makes me question the Orioles ability to develop pitchers... Let their performances be learning experiences, not "if you fail you're going to Norfolk" situations.

Tillman pitched today, the same day as Millwood. Is there any significance in this? With Millwood on the trade block...

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Jeff Z's reply: No. Tillman started today because he had gone nine days without pitching and he needed to pitch.

Given the soccer craze now sweeping the country, is there any chance we could borrow the tradition of relegating from the English Premier League? (Relegation means sending the worst teams in the top league down to the level below. In this case it would mean sending the Orioles to AAA.) The Orioles seem to have a number of players who are effective in AAA, but not the majors. It would give Orioles fans a chance to see the Orioles win some games, hopefully. And the whole Orioles team would have the chance to work on their games until they were ready for the big leagues again, maybe in 2012.

I recollect reading when the O's got Tillman in the trade that he was a big right hander with a fastball in the mid-90's. But he seems to have a fastball that is high 80's/low 90's. Was Tillman's alleged high velocity more of the O's hyping prospects like we heard with Matt Riley and Hayden Penn and neither was a major league pitcher. What gives with Tillman's velocity?

Lou

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Jeff Z's reply: Like I said to a previous post, I'm not a pitching coach but every Oriole official I spoke to said that it's a confidence issue and Tillman simply isn't letting it go. If I recall correctly, he was hitting 96 late in his no-hitter. It's there.

88mph @ AAA gets those guys out, but not in the bigs!

Do the Orioles have to send an allstar?

People seem to forget, he's 22 years old.