Pregame Dave and tonight's lineup
Dave Trembley confirmed -- well, almost confirmed -- that Koji Uehara is going on the disabled list tomorrow and David Hernandez is going to take his place in the rotation until about the All-Star break. Not that he needed to confirm anything, since Hernandez is here already.
Trembley met with Koji to discuss his elbow injury and the way the club will handle it, and came away with the impression that Uehara is more than just frustrated with his inability to answer the bell every fifth day in the American major leagues.
"I know it's difficult to have a dialogue with him without an interpreter,'' Trembley said. "He feels like he's let us down. I had to tell him that is not the case. There is a lot of baseball yet to be played...What we want to do is get him 100 percent healthy and send him out to pitch."
Orioles beat reporter Jeff Zrebiec got right to the heart of the matter with the next question, asking if Uehara will come back as a starter or a reliever. The answer was non-committal but telling.
"I don't know,'' Trembley said. "For me, he's a starting pitcher, but first thing, let's get him healthy and go from there."
If you want to read between the lines a little more, here's how Dave followed up his answer to that question:
"If anything positive has come out of this, we've had some guyd who have come up and done the job for us. Bergesen, Berken, Hernandez...They've come up and done well. That's a positive for us."
Orioles lineup:
Brian Roberts 2B
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Aubrey Huff 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Luke Scott DH
Melvin Mora 3B
Gregg Zaun C
Robert Andino SS
Jeremy Guthrie RHP
> 
Comments
Where is Wieters? Come on Dave play him every day
Posted by: Scott | June 27, 2009 5:01 PM
I like Wieters in there too, but Zaun has been hitting pretty well recently. Maybe Zaun will have a big night! I really like Reimold batting 5th - I hope this continues.
Posted by: Howard | June 27, 2009 5:05 PM
Wasn't Koji a relief pitcher before this year? This year the Orioles are trying to turn him into a starter. He doesnt have the durability to go past the 5th inning unless he keeps his pitch count down which he does not do. Why not keep him a relief pitcher so he doesn't hurt himself any further. He seems like he is not in any kind of condition to be a starter.
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Pete's reply: He was a high quality starter for years in Japan, then the Tokyo Giants moved him to the bullpen, where he saved 32 games a couple of years ago. He split time between the rotation and bullpen last year and may end up doing the same thing here before it's over.
Posted by: Dave | June 27, 2009 6:50 PM
Dave - My understanding is that he was a starter for eight of his ten seasons with the Giants in Japan. So the O's were returning him to the job he had most of his career, not "turning him into" a starter.
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | June 27, 2009 7:04 PM
Pete,
Greg Zaun is a nice back-up, as is Wigginton, but I really don't want to see them more than once a week or if someone CAN"T go! Again, keeping guys happy versus keeping them sharp (we call that pinch hitting). Dave is sitting on two of finest prospect in MLB in Wieters and Riemhold, their young and full of energy, LET THEM PLAY!
Posted by: Keith Rowe | June 27, 2009 7:06 PM
Adding to above, he actually led the league in complete games twice and innings once in Japan so something is up.
stats per WIkipedia so confirm if you want
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | June 27, 2009 7:07 PM
~~Where is Wieters? Come on Dave play him every day~~
The two best catchers I have seen play are probably Johnny Bench and Pudge Rodriguez. Both were very durablee and neither ever played every game in a season, though Bench came close. Enjoy your night off Matt. Have a hot dog.
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | June 27, 2009 7:15 PM
I am liking guthrie's start tonite..he's giving himself multiple opportunities to give up the granny, yet steadfastly refuses.
That's some good pitching mixed in there.
Posted by: jim66 | June 27, 2009 7:27 PM
~~Greg Zaun is a nice back-up, as is Wigginton, but I really don't want to see them more than once a week . . . LET THEM PLAY! ~~
On the broadcast of tonight's game it was brought up that Weiters has caught eight of last nine games. So what is the gripe?
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | June 27, 2009 7:28 PM
Guthrie needs to go down...he's horrible bring up a new kid and let Mr. Stanford get his head right.
Posted by: mike | June 27, 2009 8:31 PM
I have suggestion for when Zaun is catching and Weiters is off . Why not develop Weiters into DH on games he is not catching ? This way you get Weiters to rest from rigors of catching at the same you can still plug his much needed bat into O's line up .
I was going suggest making him 1B , but playing 1B would defeat the purpose of Weiters recovering from catching
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Pete's reply: Dave already has used Wieters as a DH when Zaun is catching, but against right-handed pitching, I think Luke Scott is more productive right now..
Posted by: Allan | June 28, 2009 2:28 AM