The long, dragged out four game series against the Tigers was kind of fitting considering the O’s dropped three of those games. Four game road series always seem to last forever, but this one was especially torturing because of the mediocre play that ended up costing the Orioles.

The first game featured prospect Chris Tillman who was looking for his first win as a major-leaguer. While his command was a bit

better than it had been in his major league debut, the rookie still hung a few pitches, one of which ended up in the outfield seats. All in all, the start was a decent looking one, as Tillman showed signs of good command by striking out five. He also avoided the loss by keeping the game within reach. Unfortunately, for the team, the bullpen gave up 9th inning homerun, securing the win for Detroit.

Brian Matusz made his debut on Tuesday. He had been called up from double-A Bowie where he had posted ridiculous numbers (7-0, 1.55 era, 46 k’s in 8 games) for a spot start in place of the injured Rich Hill. Matusz had an impressive game, going five innings, giving up only one run and striking out five. He set the Orioles up to win the game while the offense did the rest. Caesar Izturis also had his season’s best game, going 3 for 4 with three RBI’s and a homerun.

Jeremy Guthrie’s pitching performance in game three would have probably gotten him the win on most occasions, but, as usual, the offense decided to stay at home for his start.  Guthrie, who began the year as the staff ace, has struggled slightly this season, although it’s hard to think that he won’t bounce back. The O’s lost the third game 4-2 and then the fourth game 7-2 due to a poor outing by rookie David Hernandez during which he gave up five runs in three innings.

Earlier this week, in off-field issues, the frustrations of a veteran began to become apparent when Melvin Mora voiced his displeasure of being pulled from the lineup. While Dave Trembley stated that Mora wasn’t producing stats, Melvin claimed he felt disrespected. The issue became public and was finally settled with a closed door meeting between the manager and his third baseman.

When it comes to issues such as this one, you can’t help but think it’s distracting to a team as young as the Orioles are. With a clubhouse full of rookies and young talent, a lack of communication needs to be few and far between. Not only

does it involve a player that has been with the club for several years, but it could possibly take away from the authoritative position that Dave Trembley holds on the team. I can imagine it’s more than difficult to have spent an entire career with a team that has not finished above .500, but those emotions are not the kind that a professional ballplayer should be expressing in the public eye.

The Orioles have options to deal with Melvin Mora, although the most viable one will be to keep him on the roster for the rest of the season and use him to mentor the young players. Ty Wigginton is a solid utility player and can step up if Mora continues to struggle. Passing Mora through waivers is another option the Orioles have, and, while it may be a tiny risk, his big contract is one that teams are not likely to pick up. If Mora can clear waivers, the O’s could trade him to a contending team for some more prospective players. If that were the case, the reliance on Robert Andino would gain momentum, and a utility man call up from Norfolk would be a possibility as well.

The Orioles have a series beginning in Toronto with the Blue Jays starting tomorrow. Baltimore leads the season series 5-4, and have recovered from a slow start against their AL East rivals. Still, it’s hard to get excited about a match-up that seems worthless on paper. However, there are a few interesting aspects that will come out of it.

The first thing to look forward to is the second career start of rookie Brian Matusz. After pitching a stellar game in Detroit on Tuesday, Matusz will look to continue to impress while facing the hottest pitcher on the trade market, Roy Halladay. Why Halladay has struggled his past two outings, the experience and the thrill that Matusz should gain out of his Sunday showdown will work wonders on his confidence and development. He was exciting to watch in his first outing and the encore should be nothing short of interesting.

The second interesting aspect of this series is the chance Jason Berken is receiving. Since winning his major league debut, coincidently against Toronto, the young pitcher hasn’t been able to pull off a repeat performance. He has

struggled with command and, on several occasions, has left the game way too early for a starting pitcher. The odd thing about this scheduled start is that Berken had been assigned to the bullpen for Tuesday’s game against Detroit. One can only ask, if he had been used in that game, might another pitcher have been scheduled for Friday’s game?

My feeling is that Trembley put Berken in the bullpen to give some extra support in case Matusz had a bad first outing. He had somebody he could turn to in order to give the rest of the bullpen guys a rest. After the game, however, there was no need to keep Berken as fallback, and placed him back in the rotation. The Orioles don’t necessarily have anybody else to fill that fifth roster spot, and the only viable option might have been Mark Hendrickson, a pitcher who has found a comfortable role in relief.

The Orioles play three games against Toronto, Friday at 7:00pm and then Saturday and Sunday at 1:00pm. Tillman makes the start on Saturday, rounding out the rookie rotation for the Orioles throughout this upcoming series. Hopefully the team will be able to turn their around their post-all star break slump against a team that is also facing difficulties.