Brandon

Fahey

That must mean the strategy worked. Fahey’s first bunt came after Brian Roberts’ leadoff double in the first. An RBI single and a two-run homer followed. Fahey successfully bunted again with two on and no outs in the fifth, but the Orioles failed to score. Giving away outs to Carlos Silva, one of baseball’s worst pitchers so far this season, is hardly the way we would have played it, but since the Orioles won 9-7, it figures that Fahey will bat second against tomorrow.

Fahey was 0-for-6 in his first two games in the second spot. Tonight’s performance will likely give him a few more chances to capitalize on manager Sam Perlozzo’s irrational desire to put inferior players in between Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora.

Fahey, 24, hit .291/.349/.367 with 17 SB in 502 AB for Double-A Bowie this season. He doesn’t currently project as a major leaguer, but he’s not hurting his chances this month.

Bynum is on a minor league rehab assignment at Single-A, with Brandon Fahey the most likely candidate for a demotion to make room for him on the roster.

Fahey isn’t going to see starts in left field, like he did last year, so he shouldn’t do a lot of harm. He has a chance to have a career as a light-hitting utility infielder. If he doesn’t end up on a Tony La Russa team someday, we’d be stunned.

At least he’s not penciled in to see any time in left field this time. He received 43 starts there last year and ended up hitting .235/.307/.307 in 91 games overall. He was at .227/.296/.315 in 286 at-bats for Norfolk this year. As long as he’s used strictly as a 25th man, he shouldn’t be able to do too much damage.

Before Fahey was called up, the Orioles indicated that it’d likely by Chris Gomez two-thirds of the time and Freddie Bynum one-third of the time as the replacements for Miguel Tejada. Bynum, though, hasn’t gotten a start since homering against the Diamondbacks a week ago, suggesting that interim manager Dave Trembley doesn’t like his defense at all. Fahey probably is the top defender of the three, but he’s also one of the league’s worst hitters. If he has to play, he should be batting ninth, not second like he is tonight.

The Orioles kept J.R. House over Fahey, who hit .231/.268/.308 in 39 at-bats. He’ll be back in September.

The Orioles couldn’t play another infielder short with Melvin Mora still out of the lineup, so Bynum goes on the DL and Luis Hernandez gets recalled. Brandon Fahey and Chris Gomez will share time at short when Mora returns.

Mora didn’t seem to aggravate the injury; he just couldn’t play through it. The DL looks like a real possibility here. If it happens, the Orioles would go with Chris Gomez at third and Brandon Fahey at short. Perhaps J.R. House would be called up to act as a bat off the bench.