Oriole #887- Troy Patton

 This POH set featured much better players than the POS set

Troy Patton finally made his Orioles debut last night in the 7th inning of a 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. I say finally because Troy is currently in his third stint with the O's this season; he was called up for the first time on July 21st but sent back to Norfolk the next day, he was called up again on August 1st but didn't make it into a game before being sent back down on the 9th, and was called up most recently on September 7th. All told, Troy spent 24 days with the Orioles before he made it into a game and I'm not sure why, but I know that he must be happy to have finally got back on the mound. He pitched two thirds of an inning and allowed a double and a walk but also struck out David Ortiz to end the inning and didn't allow any runs.

That's not what your signature looks like Troy!

Last night wasn't Troy's Major League debut; he pitched in three games for the Astros at the end of the 2007 season before being sent to the Orioles, along with Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate and Mike Costanzo, in the Miguel Tejada trade that went down on December 12, 2007. As I remember it, Patton was the centerpiece of the Orioles haul and big things were expected of him. Unfortunately, a torn labrum caused him to miss the entire 2008 season, but I hope he is back on the right track now. I find it funny that the Orioles re-signed Tejada and again traded him away before Troy at last made his Orioles debut.

Love those Tides orange unis

I had the pleasure of watching Troy pitch the first half of the 2009 season for the AA Bowie Baysox; he was a dominating 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in 11 starts before being promoted to AAA Norfolk. He struggled to adjust to the AAA hitters after his promotion and had a 1-3 record and 6.45 ERA for the Tides over nine starts to finish out the season. In 2010, outside of riding the Norfolk-Baltimore shuttle, he went 8-11 with a 4.43 ERA in 25 starts for the Tides, so I hope that he is able to make the next step and start the 2011 season in Baltimore.

Troy was always a very nice guy and extremely accommodating with autograph requests, so I'm really pulling for him. We also share the same birthday, although he is younger than I, so that's another thing he has going for him. Good luck Troy!