Kevin Millar to go fourth as O’s cleanup man

Lineup construction…the alien Trembulous way.

“If I had to write out the lineup tomorrow, Millar would be the cleanup hitter to start the season,” Trembley said. “That doesn’t mean he’ll stay there, but to start the season, that’s what I’ll probably do. I think he sees a lot of pitches. I think he always comes up with one very good at-bat during the game. He’s a good two-strike hitter and he’s a good two-out RBI guy. I’m going to sandwich him between two left-handed hitters.”

...“The guy I want to protect is Adam Jones,” Trembley said. “I could see Jones hitting up in the order against left-handed pitching and maybe down further against right-handed pitching. I think Ramon might be able to protect Jones somewhat. I still think Ramon is going to have a big year.”

Millar hasn’t hit cleanup regularly since he was with the Florida Marlins in 1999. In 148 games there in his career, he has a .264 average with 15 homers and 88 RBIs. Orioles cleanup hitters last year had just 19 home runs, the second-lowest total in the league.

“It’s never handed to you ... in this game,” Millar said. “I always love competition. I love to battle and to have Dave Trembley behind me and to have confidence in me to say, ‘Listen, this is my guy,’ that’s it. Am I going to hit 40 home runs? No. But I’ll give you a tough at-bat every time, and I think that’s what we need to have as a group and as a team.”