September 1st means that rosters expand, and the Orioles called up Robert Andino, Brandon Snyder, and Nolan Reimold before last night's 9-6 loss to Boston. For Reimold, it was a return to where he thought he would be for most of the season: the major leagues. This story dates back to this time last season when Reimold was shut down for the season on the heels of achilles surgery (note the little play on words there). Going into spring training, the O's were a bit cautious with Reimold, as they wanted to make sure he had properly rehabilitated himself from the surgery. Odds are he wasn't all the way back prior to the beginning of the season, because he was sent down on May 12th after hitting .212 for the season to that point. Speaking for myself, it was fairly obvious that for the month and a half that he was in the majors, his hitting stances and his running gait was aimed at protecting that left achilles. I also thought that we would have seen Reimold back in the majors prior to now, however I suppose there's always more than meets the eye in some cases. In last night's game, Reimold went one-for-three with a base hit RBI.
Andino was with the Orioles for most of last season, but this was his first stint with the big club in 2010, and he didn't see action in last night's game. Speaking for myself, Brandon Snyder is the most exciting of the call-ups. Snyder is though of as a guy that might one day be able to take over the first base slot that has seemingly been in flux since 2005 when Rafael Palmeiro retired. When he gets into a game, he'll be making his major league debut, which is always exciting for a young player. Snyder hit .256 in the minors this season (with Aberdeen and Norfolk), with 90 hits and 103 strikeouts. Those aren't numbers that'll blow anyone away, however he wouldn't be up in the majors now if they didn't think they could mold him into a decent major league prospect. The Orioles are also expected to use the expanded roster to bring up some pitchers in the coming days, perhaps even Chris Tillman and a reliever.
As for last night's game, the O's led Boston 4-1, only to have Mark Hendrickson blow the lead in the seventh and Boston ended up with a 9-6 victory. Jake Arrieta had a decent outing in my opinion: 3 R, 6 H, 5 K, 0 BB. The key stat for me is the fact that he didn't allow a walk. The one knock on Arrieta has been that he walks too many batters, so the fact that he kept the ball in the strikezone and induced outs is a positive sign. I personally felt that Buck Showalter lifted Arrieta too early, although he had thrown 95 pitches in the game through five innings. I suppose it's easy to second-guess a manager or a player when you lose the game, but this was still a good outing for Arrieta. Jake Fox pinch hit for Adam Jones late in the game after Jones hit the wall hard on a long fly ball, and I would assume that Jones is day-to-day.
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