Garrett Atkins Banished to Bench, Luke Scott Siezes 1B

I completely missed this since I did not watch the game last night and I am just now getting around to checking box scores but Luke Scott started at first base last night in Arlington. Apparently, it's going to stay that way for awhile.

"Luke Scott right now is swinging the bat well for us. Going in to play the Nationals, where there is no DH, I have to try and find a way to get a lineup where the best eight guys are in there for us," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I think that's why you see Luke playing first base tonight in anticipation of him doing that against the Nationals. That does affect Garrett Atkins tonight, and it probably will affect him somewhat when we go play this weekend."

And this is as it should be. Scott wants to play the field, has offered on numerous occasions to man first base and even before the season had a much better bat than Atkins. Unfortunately, it took desperate times for Trembley/MacPhail to try something like this. (And just in case you think I'm second guessing, I assure you I am not.)

The recall of Scott Moore does not bode well for Atkins either. On the off chance Moore gets off to a hot start, we may finally see the end of the Atkins era in Baltimore. The Rays just swallowed much more money to be rid of Pat Burrell.