Well, last night was a tough loss at home to Durham. The weather miraculously held out for the first game of a two-game micro-homestand. Just a short distance from Harbor Park, my office got shelled with severe thunderstorms right at rush hour, flooding parking lots and causing us to wonder if the Apocalypse had begun. Harbor Park escaped unscathed, though. Considering the two rain-shortened games last weekend, this was atypical. The break in the weather last night at Harbor Park allowed Tsuyoshi Wada to get his second rehab start here in Norfolk after his “Tommy John” surgery. He’s looking pretty good, but he definitely hits a wall at about 80 pitches. I have no doubt that this number will improve over time, though.

I also like what I’m seeing from our newest IF, Brandon Wood. The Tides’ website reports that Wood is hitting .341 with eight ribeye steaks in the nine games he’s played with the Tides. The O’s franchise has made several recent moves that will help the Tides in the short-term. Wood’s arrival in Norfolk was one of them. Also, the “X-Man”, Xavier Avery, is up from Bowie, and IF Ryan Flaherty was optioned from Baltimore. Jair Jurrjens is also back with the Tides after starting Saturday in Baltimore. We did lose Danny Valencia to Baltimore last weekend, though. That’s gonna hurt. Also, the O’s Insider Blog is saying that Jonathan Schoop saw a back specialist at Johns Hopkins yesterday. He’s on the seven-day DL and was scheduled to come off of it tomorrow.

Oh, I don’t want to forget a “shout-out” to Travis Ishikawa, who has hit in 22 of his last 23 games.

I am thinking happy weather thoughts for tonight’s game with Durham. Stinson is supposed to get the start for Norfolk, and he’ll go against Alex Torres. Torres will be tough as usual. However, Norfolk has a lot going on offensively now and a strong bullpen to back up Stinson, so I’m looking for a win out of this one. Hope to see all of you tonight at the game. – RR