Apple Core.

It's been awhile since we've seen the Orioles; April 17-20 during the eleven game winning streak. But the Os of April are not the Os of late June/early July. This team has given Adam Eaton and Jamie Walker the axe. They've lost Cesar Izturis, Dennis Safarte, and Lou Montanez *tilde implied* to injuries. They've sent Radhames Liz (who was great fun: one third of an inning on April 20, allowing six runs) and Chad Moeller to the minors. They've gotten Melvin Mora back and traded Ryan Freel (Masterson plunked him in the head) to the Cubs. And they've also added Matt Weiters, Nolan Reimold, and a couple of pitchers along the way.

One of their new pitchers, Jason Berken, pitches for Baltimore tonight. Berken throws a low-nineties fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a low-eighties change up. He's not overpowering and relies on good control. That said, he's averaging two walks a start and going only a little over five innings a start. He's quite hittable with pretty even splits (.290 for lefties, .288 for righties).

Mass. native Rich Hill gets the start on Tuesday. Hill throws an upper eighties fastball, a slow curve ball, and a lower-eighties change-up. He does get strike outs but he gives up too many walks. Left-handed batters do have a difficult time hitting him, though. Hitters also tend to have an easier time against him the second time through the order.

Brad Bergensen gets the start on Wednesday. He's another one of their new pitchers and one of the more promising. He throws a high-eighties fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a change-up. He's not a strike out pitcher but he does get a lot of groundballs. He's got good control; he doesn't give up too many walks. And he'll get pretty deep into the game. Left-handed batters have an easier time against him.

Robert Andino has been playing a decent shortstop since Izturis went down following an appendectomy. Matt Weiters is getting a lot of the playing time at catcher. Offensively, he hasn't shown a lot of power, he doesn't walk very often, and he strikes out too much. Nolan Reimold has become their everyday left-fielder. Reimold has plenty of power and walks quite a bit but he's not super fast and his fielding is a little sloppy.