Tillman's two-sided start (weather permitting)
There are two reasons why tonight's start by Orioles rookie Chris Tillman might be significant, the most obvious being the possibility that he'll go into the Yankees record book by giving up the historic hit that will push Derek Jeter past Lou Gehrig and put him on top of the Yankees career hit list.
Tillman's performance tonight at Yankee Stadium -- which has been delayed by rain -- also may determine whether he will be eligible to compete for the American League Rookie of the Year Award next season. If he pitches 3 2/3 innings, he'll reach 50 innings this season, which is the limit for retaining rookie status going into 2010.
Poster Chris W brought up the subject of ROY eligibility earlier today, so thanks for that reminder because I (and some other posters) would not have thought to check on that. Brian Matusz also remains eligible for the moment, since he has pitched only 37 2/3 innings, and probably won't reach 50 innings before the team shuts him down.
If Tillman comes up short tonight -- or his outing is interrupted early by the showers that are delaying the start of the series opener -- then his rookie eligibility will come down to whether he gets one more start. Andy MacPhail announced on Sept. 1 that both of the club's top pitching prospects would only make two or three more starts each before the team put their arms on ice until next spring.
Koji update: The Orioles have decided to shut down Koji Uehara because of continued elbow soreness. Check out Jeff Zrebiec's story about that here. MASN's Gary Thorne just said on the broadcast that Kam Mickolio also will be shut down for the remainder of the season.
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Comments
fire trembley
Posted by: Anonymous | September 11, 2009 8:04 PM
That was my last fire trembley I am shutting down until next season. See you next year! Hopefully Trembley won’t be back!
Posted by: Anonymous | September 11, 2009 8:08 PM
Looking forward to this series-first look at Tillman and Matusz against a really good Yankee team. And we'll see if Guthrie can keep up his string of good starts.
Posted by: jim66 | September 11, 2009 8:25 PM
Goodbye and good riddance!
Posted by: ken | September 11, 2009 8:27 PM
Y'all be nice now.
Posted by: Mik | September 11, 2009 8:34 PM
Pete: was Koji's 5 million garenteed or based on some reasonable scale of innings pitched etc?
If he gets 5 million for the slop he gave us...where do I sign up?
I have never heard of an organization so messed up as far as the Orioles & their pitchers at just about every level. We range from the Canadian whose arm nearly fell off to Penn to Koji to Kam to Johnson a few years ago to Howie to dozens of others that get shut down for various periods of time. Why does it seem so many other teams have pitchers & rotations that seem so much stronger & consistant than ours? Bad luck? Bad conditioning? Bad drafting?
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Pete's reply: Nope, it's $5 million guaranteed per year plus incentives for 34 starts and 200 innings per year.
Posted by: jack | September 11, 2009 8:37 PM
Anonymous, please do one more Fire Jim Hunter post.
Posted by: Birdland Todd | September 11, 2009 8:40 PM
yanks announcer on YES just said the orioles are not a very good defensive team. agree or disagree?
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Pete's reply: When Wigginton and Scott are on the infield, I would have to agree. The outfield defense is good. The middle infield is good. Wieters is learning behind the plate. So I guess it's pretty average.
Posted by: release bass | September 11, 2009 8:47 PM
Wow. Tillman. Nothing learned.Fastballs to major league hitters. Silly. Young or not, you think you're gonna throw it by these guys? Nope.
Posted by: jim66 | September 11, 2009 8:52 PM
The red hats look stupid.
Posted by: tomsenior | September 11, 2009 9:23 PM
this game is pure evil
Posted by: Two Bagger | September 11, 2009 9:31 PM
Jeter is a class act.
Posted by: EC | September 11, 2009 9:33 PM
I am pissed! Did anyone see that Wiggy, clapped the moment the ball went past Luke? I respect Jeter and have no issue with Wiggy, going up to him after the game, but the moment the ball goes past Luke, he claps? He is a joke! I am sorry, but they O's are in the game at this point and in my book, you don't applaud when an opposing player, gets a hit, record or no record.
Posted by: Birdland Todd | September 11, 2009 9:33 PM
8 K's
Silly kid.
Posted by: James C | September 12, 2009 12:01 AM
Hey Release Bass,
The Orioles & the Yanks have the exact same fielding percentage. Go tell the YES announcer to stick it where the sun don't shine.
Posted by: Cameron | September 12, 2009 3:47 AM
Birdland Todd,
Really you are upset about that? Heck this was a great achievement by one of the greatest shortstops to play the game.
There is plenty of other stuff to be upset about. Lets see the game was in Yankee Stadium, it was 9/11 and what do you expect.
Posted by: cb coach | September 12, 2009 8:37 AM
Funny how nobody gets on Tembley when he changes pitchers after one batter, and puts a win on the board. What did Tillman learn? He learned that A-Rod is too good! Take way that dinger, really an interesting outing.
Good to see Tillman finish his season with a win.
Posted by: CB Coach | September 12, 2009 9:44 AM