Mark Reynolds hit two homers tonight in Atlanta and Nick Markakis added another for the Orioles. But, thanks in part to a play that was not made in Atlanta's fourth inning, the Orioles lost 5-4 to the Braves tonight.
With two outs and none on in the Atlanta fourth, Chipper Jones doubled and Freddie Freeman walked. Then Dan Uggla hit a liner to left. Luke Scott got his glove on the ball, but could not make the catch as a run scored and the O's failed to nail down the inning's third out on...
Orioles third base prospect Josh Bell left Game One of Triple-A Norfolk's doubleheader tonight with a left knee injury. He had just one at-bat in the Tides' 4-2 loss to Charlotte.
Bell is leading all O's minor leaguers in home runs.
On the year he is batting .256 with nine doubles, two triples, 13 homers, 36 RBIs and an OPS of .733.
A club official did not know the severity of the injury yet but initially thought it was likely that Bell would not need to go on the minor league seven-day...
As Jake Arrieta takes the mound tonight at Atlanta, here is an interesting Arrieta stat.
He is the toughest Orioles' starter to get a base hit off of. Opponent batters hit just .233 off Arrieta while that number is .251 against Zach Britton and .263 against Jeremy Guthrie.
There are some observers that feel Arrieta has the best "stuff" on the staff. He has a fastball that hits the mid-90s and a nasty slider. But he struggles with command and control and that is often a battle for him. If...
When the All-Star game reserves are announced on Sunday, my guess is that Adam Jones will be selected to the American League team for the second time.
He would be my pick and, in my opinion, has been the Orioles' best player this year.
Until I looked it up, I almost forgot he hit just .218 in April. But in May and June, Jones hit .313 with an OPS around .850.
On the year, in 78 games, he is batting .286 with 15 doubles, 13 homers, 46 RBIs and an .801 OPS. Sure he could still draw more...
Congratulations to one of the real good guys in the Orioles minor leagues. Single-A Frederick Keys manager Orlando Gomez posted his 900th career minor league managing victory this week.
He got the milestone win Thursday night in a 4-0 win at Lynchburg as Nick Haughian pitched six scoreless innings. Gomez then picked up number 901 in last night's 6-1 win over Lynchburg as Bobby Bundy gave up just one run over seven innings to get to 8-5 and tie for the league wins lead.
Gomez, a native of...
Things can change fast in baseball. A struggling team or player can turn things around with one good night or one good series.
The Orioles need that in the worst way right now.
Most of Oriole Nation seems to be predicting doom and gloom for the 10-game road trip against the Braves, Rangers and Red Sox that begins tonight at Atlanta.
Here are some daunting stats as the road trip begins:
* The Orioles have lost six of their last eight games and are 5-12 over the last 17. Since winning...
In taking stock of the recent struggles of the Orioles' starting rotation, I took a look at some of the recent stats and found that the O's starters were struggling really for the entire month of June.
In the last six games, all at home, O's starters pitched to an ERA of 9.21 and they didn't have one starter go longer than 5 2/3 innings.
The Orioles have just one quality start over the last 13 games and a starting pitcher ERA in that time of 6.58.
But you can go back through the entire...
When Brian Matusz throws his first few pitches tonight, most of us will turn our attention to the radar gun to check out his velocity.
But, just as important for Matusz will be his command and control of his other pitches. All four of his pitches have been finding too much of the middle of the plate recently, as he has given up 14 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings over his past three starts.
So watch Matusz's secondary pitches tonight and how he is commanding them. It could be just as important...
Blake Davis is certainly enjoying his time in the major leagues. He has been with the Orioles since June 18 and is batting .313 (5-for-16) over five games.
For Davis, he is in the majors about two years after it looked like he might make it the first time. He was having a solid spring training in March of 2009 with the Orioles and coming off a season where he hit .284 at Bowie. His stock was on the rise and he made a good impression in big league camp.
But then he suffered an ankle injury...
The Orioles may be teetering right now. Teetering on the brink. They have fallen seven games under .500 for the first time this year and their recent play makes it look like it could get worse before it gets better.
They need to beat Jaime Garcia tonight to avoid a three-game sweep by the Cardinals. Garcia is 6-3 with a 3.06 ERA on the year and has pitched to an ERA of 2.59 in June.
Friday night, they begin a 10-game road trip at Atlanta. The Braves have now won eight of 10 games and will...
The Orioles have failed to follow up their series victory over Cincinnati with more momentum as they have now lost the first two games of the series with St. Louis.
Chris Carpenter pitched a complete-game, seven-hitter on 132 pitches as the Cardinals beat the Orioles 5-1. He is now 3-7 with an ERA of 4.00.
The Orioles fell behind in the second inning for the second night in a row and they failed to get clutch hits for the second straight night. After going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring...
So far, the St. Louis Cardinals are enjoying their first-ever trip to Baltimore. They won 6-2 last night by taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning and they took a 2-0 lead tonight in inning two.
Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer off Chris Jakubauskas to start the St. Louis scoring. It was his second homer of the series, his third in four games and his eighth on the year.
Skip Schumaker's RBI single in the third extended their lead to 3-0 and a sac fly by Lance Berkman made it 4-0. It could...
The Orioles public relations staff put out some interesting notes on J.J Hardy today.
Did you know his nine homers in June is one off the major league lead for the month. Prince Fielder, Paul Konerko and Carlos Pena have hit 10 to lead MLB in June homers.
If Hardy hits one more this month, he will tie Miguel Tejada's team record for most homers in a month by an Orioles' shortstop. Tejada hit 10 in August of 2007.
Hardy, who has hit five homers over his last 11 games, has now homered in...
Right-handed reliever Alfredo Simon returns to the Orioles active roster for tonight's game with St. Louis.
He was out since June 13 with a right hamstring strain. Simon said he feels great. He pitched two scoreless innings for Double-A Bowie on Sunday after spending some time rehabbing the hamstring in Florida.
"I just was working in Sarasota and now I'm ready to go," Simon said. "I just pitched two innings in Bowie and feel ready to go."
Simon last pitched for the Orioles on June 12...
Luke Scott is feeling better today after suffering a right knee contusion when he made a great catch in the top of the ninth last night. But, he is not in the starting lineup against St. Louis.
"Yeah (still sore)," Scott said. "I feel better today than when I left the field. I iced my knee a bunch of times at home. I've got a little stem machine of my own at the house and I did what I could.
"Woke up this morning and still have some swelling. It's still a little tight and sore, but I...
Two words: Don't panic.
Manny Machado homered in his second at-bat in the Carolina League, but he is hitting just .158 at 3-for-19 in six games with Single-A Frederick. I don't think anyone in the O's organization is worried in the least about a player who is playing in that league at the age of 18.
Machado doesn't turn 19 until July 6.
Before Machado was promoted to Frederick, he had been struggling some this month with Single-A Delmarva. In fact he is batting just .176 (13-for-74) this...
It hasn't become as rare as, say, seeing a pitcher throw a complete game anymore, but it still seems pretty rare in baseball these days.
That is, seeing a relief pitcher pitch not one, but two innings, in an outing. It doesn't seem like that would be asking too much, but managers are always thinking ahead and know that a two-inning outing for a top reliever today could mean he can't be used tomorrow.
In the last week or so, we have seen Buck Showalter use both Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara,...
The St. Louis Cardinals had lost five of six games and 12 of their last 15 before tonight's series opener at Camden Yards. Plus, they had the highest ERA in the majors during the month of June.
Despite that, the Cardinals beat the Orioles 6-2 in tonight's series opener. Kyle Lohse, who entered with a career interleague ERA of 5.93, pitched five shutout innings before a rain delay.
Lohse, who gave up four hits with one walk and two strikeouts, improved to 8-4 with an ERA of 2.78.
The...
With the selection of reserves for the All-Star teams coming up on Sunday, we'll know soon which Oriole or Orioles will make the American League squad.
Most seem to be predicting that just one player from this team will make it, but there are several deserving candidates.
They include Adam Jones, batting .294 with 14 doubles, 13 homers and 45 RBIs.
"Personally, it's out of my hands," Jones said. "You know, we've got guys in here having helluva years. I'm just trying to do my part. We...
It probably should not come as a shock to anyone, but Orioles manager Buck Showalter did express concern today over the lack of production from Vladimir Guerrero, his cleanup hitter.
Guerrero has just four extra-base hits, two homers and two doubles, over his last 32 games. His current slugging percentage is .388 down from last year's .496 and his OPS is down from .841 to .702.
"Yeah, there is (reason to be concerned)," Showalter said. "But, Vladdy we all know, he's not conventional. You...