SPRING TRAINING : DAILY REPORT : Gusts Take Wind Out of Palmer’s Outing

Pitching competitively for the first time since May, 1984, Jim Palmer worked two innings of an intrasquad game at the Baltimore Orioles training complex Wednesday. It wasn’t his field of dreams.

“If our manager had been a pitcher,” Palmer said of Frank Robinson, “we would have played on Field 1, where the wind was blowing in. But he hit 586 home runs, so we played on Field 4, where the wind was blowing out.”

The gusts, estimated at 30 m.p.h., contributed to a pop-fly double and Chris Hoiles’ home run that marred Palmer’s line in the box score.

The 45-year-old right-hander made 38 pitches on the first significant step of his improbable comeback attempt. He gave up five hits and two runs, walked two, struck out none, speared one line drive and missed another.

“I’d like to throw 91 m.p.h., but that’s not an option anymore,” he said of his diminished velocity. “I have to make perfect pitches, and it’s hard to do after seven years.

“I wasn’t pleased with my control, but it was hard to maintain mechanics as hard as the wind was blowing. I felt good, but the real barometer will come Monday.”

That is when Palmer is scheduled to face the Boston Red Sox at an already sold-out stadium in Bradenton, Fla.

A crowd estimated at 400 attended the camp game, after which Palmer said he was confident he would continue to improve, adding that he feels better about his comeback than he did two weeks or two months ago.

Is he commensurately more confident about making the Baltimore staff?

“Absolutely not,” Palmer said. “They have some great young arms here. I’m still an underdog. All I can do is pitch as well as I can for as long as I can. Then it’s up to the club.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to broadcasting (as an Oriole TV analyst) with better familiarity about the players I’m talking about, or I can go to another club, providing there’s an appropriate offer.”

Oriole pitching coach Al Jackson said he would not make a judgment on Palmer based on Wednesday’s performance. “It’s too soon,” Jackson said. “There’s no way of knowing if that’s the best stuff he’ll have or if it will get better.”