Baltimore Sports Then and Now

Brad Bergesen was put on the disabled list after being hit on the shin by a line drive.

Been a very rough week for the Baltimore Orioles. Their newest phenom struggled in his major league debut, their surprisingly great rookie hurler got hit in the shin and will miss at least a couple weeks and the offense still can’t hit the Red Sox.

Let’s start by discussing Chris Tillman. I don’t know if people expected him to throw a perfect game in his first start, but the letdown that seems to have occurred following his initial major league start makes it clear that expectations were higher than they probably should have been.
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Chris Tillman certainly hopes that his major league debut is similar to those of some former Baltimore greats.

With Chris Tillman scheduled to make his first start in the majors, I thought it would be interesting to go back in time and see how some of the great pitchers in Baltimore Orioles history fared in their first appearance and first career start for the Birds.

In almost all cases, the results were pretty impressive and signs of future greatness to come.

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Rookie Brad Bergesen has pitched at least six innings in 14 of his first 18 major league starts.

The Baltimore Orioles couldn’t ask for much more from rookie hurler Brad Bergesen than what he has given them in his first 18 major league starts, but the right-hander sure should expect more from his teammates than what they have given back to him.

It is inevitable that every season each team will have one pitcher who goes out every start and provides a quality performance, but for some unlucky reason seems to always be out there his team forgets to bring their bats to the stadium.

In recent years, the unlucky pitcher for the Orioles has usually been Jeremy Guthrie. However, this season that distinction has fallen to the young rookie.

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