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Baltimore Orioles: This is why the have spring training. Bonus baby Adam Loewen, 19, was the talk of the amateur draft last year and he pried $4 million loose from Peter Angelos for the privilege of having him in an Orioles uniform. His second outing of the spring came yesterday and it was a rough one reports Joe Christensen of the Baltimore Sun. Of the 20 pitches he threw, only four went for strikes and all four men he faced walked. "I don't know what it was because I've really never done that before," Loewen told Christensen. "I've never been that wild." He is ticketed for Class A this year. Ideally for him and the Orioles, by the time he makes it to the bigs, yesterday's outing will be nothing more than ironic folklore.

Detroit Tigers: Like a lot of players, Ivan Rodriguez does not like the role of the designated hitter. In fact, he's only done it 35 times in the course of his 13-year career. The rest of his time has been spent behind the plate but that might soon change. John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press reports that Pudge is floating the idea of filling in at first and third base when he is not catching. "My first reaction is that's pretty neat. We'll see where it goes. I can tell you that he'll probably take some ground balls," said his manager, Alan Trammell. There are no concrete plans to get him any game time at those positions, however.

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