More "Waters" Pun Opportunities Coming

I haven't written about the O's games much lately, but yesterday's deserves some special attention. 27 year-old lefty Chris Waters made his major league debut on the mound for the Birds against the team with the best record in baseball, the LA Angels (of A?). He came out throwing strikes, getting Chone Figgins looking on three pitches. While not blessed with particularly great stuff, Waters showed command of his pitches, hitting both corners for strikes with his high 80's fastball as well as his curve. "Work fast - throw strikes - change speeds" was Ray Miller's motto, and Waters did just that. I don't know if he can be a quality big-league starter, but he does have a little cross-fire action in his delivery which may work well out of the pen as a lefty reliever. There were some Kenny Rogers comparisons being thrown around, so there is a bit of unexpected upside. For now though, a 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K line is something any pitcher would be proud of - congratulations to Chris on finally making it.

In less pleasant O's news, Adam Jones ankle injury has landed him on the DL and may well keep him out for the rest of the year. That's a shame (and I'm not very excited about seeing Jay Payton out there every day) but Jones has played pretty well this season and I look forward to seeing the progress he makes next year.