Late Orioles game: Last night's game between the Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix ended too late to be included in this edition. A complete report can be found in later editions or on the Internet at http://www.sunspot.net.
PHOENIX -- The Orioles have faced New York Yankees ace Roger Clemens three times this season and won all three of those games. They have three games under their belt against Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez, all losses.
Throw in David Wells, Mike Mussina, Derek Lowe, Bartolo Colon, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Freddy Garcia and Kazuhisa Ishii, and the Orioles have faced their share of big-name pitchers.
But in terms of sheer dominance, nothing compares to their task here in the desert. Tonight, they'll face Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Curt Schilling. Tomorrow, they'll face left-hander Randy Johnson.
A year ago, Johnson and Schilling finished first and second, respectively, in National League Cy Young Award voting and shared World Series MVP honors. This year looks like more of the same.
Schilling is 12-2 and leads the NL with 150 strikeouts.
Johnson is 10-2 with a mere 136 strikeouts.
Putting those numbers in perspective, Schilling and Johnson have more victories and strikeouts than all of the Orioles starters combined. Entering last night, the Orioles' starting pitchers were 17-25 with 229 strikeouts.
When Schilling or Johnson takes the mound, the Diamondbacks are 25-4. It almost seems unfair when both of them take the mound in the same series. During April alone, both of them posted victories in the same series against San Diego, Milwaukee, Colorado and Florida. And Schilling and Johnson haven't lost games in the same series all season.
The challenge is especially difficult for the Orioles because they're not used to facing these NL West predators.
With 29 career at-bats against Schilling, Jeff Conine has faced him more than any other Oriole, but Conine is on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. Of course, it's not like Conine owns Schilling, with a .207 average, one home run and five strikeouts. The only other Oriole with a home run off Schilling is Tony Batista, who has one in 11 career at-bats.
Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick is batting a team-best .364 against Schilling. He's 4-for-11 with two doubles and just one strikeout. On the other end of the spectrum, there's Ryan McGuire, who is 0-for-13 against Schilling with eight strikeouts.
"Personally," McGuire said, "as a baseball fan, I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him. I love the way he pitches. The thing that separates him is he doesn't walk a lot of people."
Bordick has a team-high 39 career at-bats against Johnson, but only six hits for a .154 average. He also has 11 strikeouts and seven walks. Gary Matthews, who played exclusively in the NL until this season, is batting .143 against Johnson (2-for-14) with eight strikeouts.
Melvin Mora is 1-for-4 against Schilling, and he had the pleasure of making his major-league debut against Johnson, while playing for the New York Mets on May 30, 1999.
Mora lined out to center in his first at-bat, and flied out his next two trips to the plate.
"I don't care about who's throwing over there," Mora said. "They're good pitchers, and they've proved it all around the world. But we have to be tough, and we have to fight. They have a lot to lose."
Injury report
Pitcher Rodrigo Lopez said the nail on his right middle finger is healing. The Orioles have him scheduled to pitch tomorrow, but they still might move him back to Friday, using Scott Erickson tomorrow instead.
Mora, who left Sunday's game with a twisted left ankle, was back in the leadoff spot last night, playing center field. He said he was having trouble moving from side to side on the artificial turf Sunday at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium but tested it without any problems on the natural surface at Bank One Ballpark.
Spring training discord
The city of Fort Lauderdale plans to ask the Orioles to pay for $250,000 in repairs at Fort Lauderdale Stadium before renewing its contract to play host to the Orioles' spring training site next year, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported today.
The Orioles have trained in Fort Lauderdale for the past seven springs, but chunks of concrete have fallen from the roof at the 40-year-old stadium. City commissioners have contemplated demolishing the stadium, which would end Fort Lauderdale's reign as a spring training host and force the Orioles to move to another site, such as Port Charlotte, Fla.
Orioles officials are hoping the stadium can be repaired so they can sign another two-year lease.