Baltimore Orioles take on New York as Chris Tillman takes the ball

Viewers in the mid-Atlantic region will see the Baltimore Orioles play the New York Yankees this afternoon on MASN at 1 PM. Chris Tillman will take to the bump for the Orioles, who will look to trot out what should be as close to their Opening Day lineup as we might see. Tillman’s looked very sharp thus far in camp, which is exactly what Buck Showalter and company has looked to see. Showalter did say earlier this week that we might not see catcher Matt Wieters until early next week following his rolled ankle on Tuesday. This is merely a precaution, and Wieters himself has indicated that if this were the regular season he’d be playing.

Courtesy of David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Suk-min Yoon is also expected to make his Grapefruit League debut for the Orioles in today’s game; the Birds are expecting to give him about an inning. Yoon signing with the O’s was a big deal at the time, however it was quickly overshadowed by the Jimenez and later the Cruz deals, but the organization has not yet committed to how they’re planning on using Yoon come the regular season. I suspect he’ll end up in the ‘pen, however that still certainly remains to be seen.

The Orioles have suffered a few injuries this past week besides Wieters; Alexi Casilla hyperextended his knee and sat out yesterday’s 2-2 tie with Minnesota, and Nick Markakis has a left shoulder inflammation. However Buck Showalter is expecting to start Markakis today – possibly as the DH. David Lough was also scratched yesterday due to a stiff neck.

Birds Watcher Podcast: I’m also pleased to announce that I’ll be starting a semi-regular podcast dedicated to the Birds Watcher column, the first episode airing at 10 AM tomorrow morning. I’m going to warn people up front that at first it will sound a bit rough and there will be hiccups along the way. However I was a broadcast major in college and I spent two years working at a campus radio station – so I do have some experience behind a mic! However I suppose what I’m saying is work with me folks!

Fans can log onto the internet at 10 AM using the following link to hear the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/birdswatcherfs/2014/03/16/baltimore-orioles-birds-watcher-pilot-episode. Tomorrow’s show is going to really be a trial run more so than anything else; I won’t be doing shows on a daily basis, however when I do they’ll be promoted on my own personal twitter account, as well as on our Birds Watcher twitter feed. While what I say on the air will obviously be related to what’s written on Birds Watcher, I think fans will see that there’s also a slightly different tone to it as well. But as I said, work with me!