here comes rick kranitz. this might be all for rich hill.er, dave trembley is serving the second game of his two-game suspension, so rick kranitz in charge of the pitching here. >> jim p.: there you are, 92 pitches. probably a little bit of a stretch to let him even face millar because of the numbers. >> jim h.: so he goes six innings, plus, baez coming on. hey mom i need some minutes. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so...... old! they are rollover minutes. they're as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes..... .....saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. get the lg neon from at&t, now only $29.99 after mail in rebate  >> jim h.: rich hill on the orioles bench. birds have the lead 3-2, tying run is on. there's danys baez who is having a very good year for the birds. >> jim p.: he last pitched on tuesda

here comes rick kranitz.re going to have a little discussion. >> jim p.: brian bass has thrown three wild pitches on the year which is actually a lot for the reliever. >> jim p.: that's the curveball. the sixth best scoring team in the american league, so this is the pitching coach saying, okay, this is what we're going to do. we'll see if they're going pitch to lind or they're going to pitch to the guy just coming off a 25 game hit streak. that's scott rolen, you're looking at him right there. >> jim h.: bass will go to work on adam lind who helped the rally in the 8th. he singled to get the man to third who was then able to score. 1 for 4 in the game is adam lind. adam lind played in college at south alabama. he will turn 26 at the end of next week on friday. fastball is behind, 2-1. >> jim p.: we talk about to markakis. >> jim h.: bounced to second base. brian roberts plays the hop and gets it to first. brian bass pitches out of it. nicely done.  hi, my meeting got moved up. i need to ch

rick kranitz had a very yuck pitching staff in miami, he's got a young pitching staff in baltimore. >r the all- star break, you never know what's going to happen, you might see even younger guys that are down in triple-a come up at some point. what would you say the pitching coach is the biggest challenge that faces a pitching coach when you have so many young pitchers come up throughout the season at once. right now three of the rotation are those young guys. >> number one, they need to be true to themselves and who they are. you never know what's going to work for them until they get up here, and they don't know. they know what pitches they can throw, but when they get here, that's the test. that's even, you don't make changes right away. i don't like to make big changes anyway with guys, especially young guys or anybody that are in the big leagues. it's tough enough to try to get the guys out to try to make them do something different. so i work within that frame of mind of what they do best, and then make small adjustments. you know, they need to be true to who they are, you know,

that's what rick kranitz wants to see. lately, the orioles have given up a lot of two-strike hits. they lead the american league in that department. so if he does that, he will be able to get deep into the game. >> gary: thank you, amber. and that flyball will be retired as well on a flyball to jones. a lot of first ball early in the count hitting going on. berken is throwing strikes. >> jim: of course, you know, that's a very aggressive hitting team. they lead the american league in doubles with 190, lead it in hits with well over 108, 144 coming into the game. he had wells who was on a 9- game hitting streak. rolen has 28. this is the only guy who has been struggling. >> gary: lyle overbay has not had a hit in his last 10, three out of his last 37. his average dropped now top .249. overbay will take the pitch outside. >> jim: if you are a veteran -- and that's what lyle is, he came over from milwaukee, you know you're going to play every day. he is one at-bat away from a hot streak. >> gary: going to be nubbed off the bat. >> jim: he may not be able to convince them at the moment

there is trembley and rick kranitz looking on. slider just missed.s in this game by toronto. >> jim p: leading the american league. >> jim h: chavez is 0 for 2. he has struck out and bounced back to the mound. here is a strike. 2-2. >> jim p: and raul looking down at the inside corner. terrific pitch. just missed, ball 3. and he has pitched at least 7 full innings in four of those starts. and he has learned about pitch efficiency to be effective and stay in the game. 3-2 on the number 9 batter, chavez. dellucci, a good lead at second base with one down. hard hit ball towards mora, again deflects off mora, this within into shallow left field! what is going on out there in front of melvin mora? they are bouncing up on him. >> jim p: well, that ball hit so hard. that ball blistered down at melvin, slider that stays in the middle of the plate, and that a problem 3-2. he just didn't get to it. i don't know fits a bad hot, it just caromed up, and is just couldn't get the ball to it. again, the paul just hit extremely hard. plan   . >> jim h: that

. >> well, pitching coach rick kranitz talking about the three rookies in the rotation.> is well, i think he is moving in the right direction. when he misses the strike zone, he misses it low. six game losing streak has a lot to do with the fact orioles are not scoring this young man very many runs. once he qualifies, he will have the lowest run support of any pitcher in the american league, and i think a lot of that era that he's showed so far came with the nine runs he gave fun the second game versus the oakland a's in three innings, otherwise that would probably be a very respectable 3.5 or maybe as much as 4. >> the white sox accepted john danks. how texas let him get away, i don't know. >> well, tanks is very hard to hit. he's been on a hot streak for the last month and a half. has the lowest batting average against him at 1.78. not putting a lot on base, and it's showing up in his run record. he's 2-2 with a 4.5era, though, against the orioles. >> what is the key to the game? >> well, it's keep the jinx on danks. he is only 1-2 with six saves against us, but the or

i saw real good fastball and we haven't seen that on a consistent basis so he worked hard with rick kranitz to try to, you know, he said bob gibson, big wind up. i said, you're a big guy. you don't have to pump your arms although you want to get going. he was so passive. i think he was more worried on what happened on the backside of the rubber than what happened when you actually throw the baseball so he worked very hard and you know, you give up nine runs against the red sox and you don't get a loss. and the orioles come back to win it. it's a negative, obviously, with the earned run average and whatever but i tell you, he didn't go away. he worked hard. he worked on the windup yesterday, unusual a day before you pitch. >> jim h: inside. 2-1. talking about rich hill and pitching backyards, here are numbers. after 1-0 when it should be difficult, around .221. you're supposed to be aggressive and in control. >> you're supposed to be making good pitches. he was having a horrible year. we saw manny when the orioles were in milwaukee. he isn't the pitcher he was last year. there's a walk and o

does -- and i know difficult tream bleeh -- we won't talk about him because he is suspended but rick kranitz likes the fact that he will battle you. he will get better as he gets more experienced. this is aa, back to aa, but he won 2-0 in five games at aaa and then right to the big leagues. that's a very quick ascencion. >> gary: it's amazing how similar these pitchers are. both have quick ascending, both similar e.r.a.s. both trying to keep their spot. rolen is retired. he is 0-for-2 in the ballgame. 2 down here in the 4th inning. >> jim: there you go. youngsters trying to make a living the the big difference here, 2.9 and 6 1/2. that does make a big difference. it gets you a little bit of coverage. for jason, we mentioned only in his last start in anaheim, the orioles actually with two 4-0 leads did not win either of those games. tonight, better. the breaking ball is better and then right there, we talked about scott rolen, he pops up the change-ups. using the complimentary pitches more effectively. >> gary: vernon wells. wells with a nine-game hit streak the he flied out to center. adam j

rick kranitz wants to get him settled back in. >> buck: just to get him focused again.ehind two balls, no strikes. manager trey hillman of the royals has the upperhand with callaspo. he's the second toughest to strikeout in the american league behind dustin pedroia. he puts the ball in play so could you start the runner at first and try to go first and third here at least get teahen to second. >> gary: there he goes. swung on down the line, left field. reimold over. he's got it. callaspo tried to punch the ball. that's all he wanted to do into left field. he hit it too hard and got it up in the air for the out and teahen has to come back to first base. >> buck: just dropped it a bit. came off that back shoulder and create add fly ball swing. >> gary: olivo came on as the pinch-hitter for jacobs in the d. h. role. he's up with a runner on at first base and one out. olivo batting at .234 on the season. there goes the runner again. wieters will throw and not in time. a stolen base for mark teahen. >> buck: teahen is a perfect 6- 6 now. not a bad throw. you can see baez nev

i spoke to pitching coach rick kranitz about him, and asked him what has been so impressive about bergesen in the first half. >> well, i think everything he's done has been very positive. he's very aggressive. he challenges he strike zone, and i wasn't sure he was going to always do that, bout, you know, to date, that's all he's done. he challenges hitters. some hitter will try to force you to stay out of the strike zone, and is he's strayed true to throwing strikes and that sinker. he knows exactly what he has to do, and he's learned himself, i think, a little more than anything, he's learned what makes him better, and what makes him successful. >> so where does brad bergesen fall amongst other rookie pitchers? take a look at some of the top ones? he's right up there. a 5-3 record. really a highlight for the orioles this season, a quite that didn't break with the club out of spring training, but has really contributed in his 15 starts. >> thank you, amber. >>> teach to look at the toronto blue jays starting line- up.    now a look at the orioles line- up. 

. >> reporter: rick kranitz does know a thing or two about bringing up young pitchers.n the field and that might be a good thing for chris tillman. if you remember, it rained bfr brad bergesen and hernandez' debut, both went on to win. maybe the rain is a good luck charm for the rookies making their debuts. the youth movement is taking on the roast are. tillman is the 7th to make the roster this year. he's 21 years old. the youngest oriole to make the team after hinn, he was 20 years old. you have to wond whaer these hours leading up to the game are like. i talked to the catcher tonight, gregg zaun, and he told me right before the game in the clubhouse you'll see that particular person, personality magnified. so if a player is high strung, you'll see them pinging off the wall. and if they're laid back, they're subdued. and he says tillman is subdied right now. kranitz told me this is a moment he's been waiting for his whole life and when he looks back on that 1st inning he probably won't even remember it because of the adrenaline that's running. if tillman sticks to the

. >> jim: well, remember, and this is the 10th start for jason berken, rick kranitz, the orioles pitchingch, everybody says is has to stay down. while that seems to be effective five or six innings, you don't want to be if the strike zone. >> gary: way up high in that one, and no way pierzynski is even going to get a shot at that. >> jim: and really the konerko bat to me is a microcosm of what it's like to pitchny the big league. you have a guy up there who is red hot, he sees 8 or 9 pitches, you make a mistake, and he makes you pay for it. >> gary: pierzynski is one of the many on the ball club that has the bigger numbers on the road. his .345 batting average on the road is one of the best in the league, but drops down to .244 at home. the delivery on the way, 2-2. great pitch by berken as he came in and got him. the first strikeout for jason berken. two down in the second inning. >> jim: well, we've talked about the crispness of his stuff, and when he has problems, the curveball rolls. not this one. this is the perfect curveball. aren't seen it. belt high to chest high, and then the fin