Some quick takes on players that came up big in a four-hour win

Some quick takes on players that came up big in a four-hour win
It you made it through every pitch, every key play, every blown lead and all four hours and eight minutes, you can raise your hand and if I had a pair of free tickets here, they would be heading your way. A couple of quick thoughts after a dramatic win: Adam Jones had two huge hits. His two-run double in the sixth put the O's ahead 3-2 and his RBI single in the eighth put the O's up 5-4. He doubled in the tenth of a 5-5 tie. Jones is now 10-for-23 on the season batting with runners in...
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M's use a somewhat-rare homer to grab the lead on the Orioles

M's use a somewhat-rare homer to grab the lead on the Orioles
The Mariners don't hit many homers but they used a two-run shot from Adam Kennedy to take a 2-0 lead tonight against the Orioles. They hold a 2-1 edge in the third. Kennedy's homer came in the top of the second and just made it over the leaping attempt by right fielder Nick Markakis. It was his third homer of the year and first since he homered in back-to-back games on April 20 and 21. It's the sixth homer allowed by Jake Arrieta, who has now given up a homer in four straight...
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Machado update from John Stockstill

Machado update from John Stockstill
O's director of player development John Stockstill was just on O's Xtra on MASN2 HD and said it might be "a couple of weeks" in all before Manny Machado can get back in a game for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. Machado, who suffered a dislocated kneecap last Thursday, has remained with the Delmarva team which is in Hagerstown right now on a road trip. Stockstill said the club will take another look at Machado's injured left knee when the Shorebirds return home on Friday. He said there...
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Can Arrieta be a stopper tonight?

Can Arrieta be a stopper tonight?
The Orioles have not won a game since last Wednesday at Kansas City. Jake Arrieta started that contest and he is back on the mound tonight for his eighth start of 2011. The Orioles have won just twice this year in the 18 games where they have scored three or fewer runs. One of those two was that last start for Arrieta where the Orioles won 3-2 at K.C. Maybe Arrieta will be the stopper tonight. While we all are so focused on the offense right now, let's not forget that Arrieta may be a young...
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Minor league notes on Cooney, Simon, Mummey and Hoes

Minor league notes on Cooney, Simon, Mummey and Hoes
Right-handed reliever Brandon Cooney of the Double-A Bowie Baysox went on the disabled list Monday due to shoulder soreness. Cooney was 1-1 with one save and an ERA of 2.70. Over 10 innings, he allowed just five hits with seven walks and 10 strikeouts. The Orioles don't believe the injury is too serious and he should not be out long. Billy Rowell came off the disabled list Monday and is batting .231 with no homers and four RBIs over 13 games with Bowie. Trent Mummey, an outfielder for...
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O's hitters get set to challenge Pineda and Hernandez

O's hitters get set to challenge Pineda and Hernandez
Whether Orioles manager Buck Showalter makes subtle changes, major changes or no changes to his lineup today, the Orioles will for sure see some tough pitching in the next two games. Tonight, the Orioles are due to face Seattle's Michael Pineda, the 22-year-old rookie right-hander that is gaining attention with his blazing fastball and impressive stats. Then, Wednesday night, they face the reigning American League Cy Young winner in Felix Hernandez. Doesn't sound like a formula to get out...
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Even without Machado, Delmarva Shorebirds are still winning

Even without Machado, Delmarva Shorebirds are still winning
Even without Manny Machado, the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds are still winning. They are 3-0 since a knee injury last Thursday sent him to the disabled list. Catcher Michael Ohlman led the Shorebirds to their latest win on Sunday at Asheville going 4-for-4 with Delmarva's first grand slam since August 2008 when Tyler Henson hit one. Ohlman connected in the sixth inning as part of a career-best, five-RBI day. Over his last six games, the 20-year-old Ohlman, an 11th-round pick in 2009 out of...
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Hitting the skids: O's go from 6-1 to 8-18

Hitting the skids: O's go from 6-1 to 8-18
Well, when the Orioles began the year with a record of 6-1 and quickly got to five games over .500, none of us probably figured that just 26 games later they would be five games under .500. It is just not a pretty picture right now for the Orioles. They were thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game in losing the weekend series to Tampa Bay. I'll detail some numbers here and most of them are not good. The O's need to turn around this run which has seen them go 8-18 since starting the...
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Luke Scott: "I lose sleep over this stuff."

Luke Scott:  "I lose sleep over this stuff."
After he saw his team score three runs or less for the 18th time over 33 games and get swept by Tampa, manager Buck Showalter talked about some balls that were hit hard and said "the worm will turn." Luke Scott echoed those comments in the quiet of the Orioles' clubhouse, but also said the team-wide offensive slump is wearing on him. Luke Scott admits the lack of offense is bothersome to he and his teammates "We're humans," Scott said. "I take a lot of pride in what I do and I speak...
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Swept away: Tampa wins 5-3 to complete sweep of O's

Swept away: Tampa wins 5-3 to complete sweep of O's
B.J. Upton said he likes to hit at Camden Yards. I guess this weekend he proved it. Upton drove in four more runs today as Tampa completed a three-game sweep with a 5-3 win over the Orioles on a sunny Mother's Day with 16,359 in attendance at the Yard. The Orioles have lost four in a row and six of the last seven to fall to 14-19 and are now a season-high five games under .500. Upton had two-run singles in the fourth and fifth innings as Tampa improved to 20-8 since an 0-6 start. He went...
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A note from Frederick

A note from Frederick
After retiring the last 22 batters he faced in his last start, today right-hander Oliver Drake of the Single-A Frederick Keys retired the first three hitters he faced at home versus Wilmington. When he gave up a leadoff single in the second, that ended a run of 25 straight hitters retired by Drake, a 43rd-round draft pick in 2008 out of Navy. He and the Keys lead that game 2-1 in the fourth. Drake, who made two starts earlier for Double-A Bowie giving up 11 runs, is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.02...
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No offense yet, O's down by three in the fourth

No offense yet, O's down by three in the fourth
It could all change any minute, but the first three innings today here at Camden Yards have just brought more offensive frustration and no runs for the Orioles. Tampa has scored three times in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead on the O's and Brad Bergesen. Brian Roberts, who has just one hit over his last 21 at-bats, has walked twice to leadoff an inning without scoring. He was picked off second by Wade Davis in the first and thrown out trying to advance to third. He walked and was stranded at...
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Showalter's juggling act

Showalter's juggling act
It seems every year the Orioles call on their bullpen to work a lot of innings. Over six months and 162 games, that creates a strain and drain on the the bullpen hurlers. As American League teams begin play this Sunday, right now the Orioles rank last in the AL in starting pitcher innings at 179 2/3. There are extenuating circumstances, of course, when you have a young rotation and some of the pitchers are still learning and developing. Some may not be able to give you the amount of innings...
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Orioles' pitching is struggling this time against Tampa

Orioles' pitching is struggling this time against Tampa
Here is how different this series is for the Orioles against Tampa Bay as compared to their season-opening, three-game sweep versus the Rays. In the opening three games, the Orioles allowed 12 hits total in the three games. The last two days Tampa has 12 extra-base hits off Orioles' pitching. Tampa batters hit just .132 with three runs over three games earlier against the Orioles. In winning the first two in this series, the Rays have hit .321 as a team scoring 14 runs. The Orioles have had...
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Lee talks about his 0-for-5 day and the O's struggling offense (Tatum note)

Lee talks about his 0-for-5 day and the O's struggling offense (Tatum note)
It was yet another Orioles game where the talk was about a lack of offense. Once again, Derrek Lee stood by his locker to answer similar questions after Saturday's 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay. "We didn't swing the bats. I don't know what else to say. We didn't score any runs," he said. "We are putting too much pressure on our pitching staff, scoring one and two runs every day. We're fighting hard, maybe too hard. We probably need to try and do a little less, play small ball or something like...
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Rough day at the office: Rays top Orioles 8-2

Rough day at the office: Rays top Orioles 8-2
Jeremy Guthrie entered his start today at Camden Yards with a run of seven consecutive quality starts against Tampa Bay. He also had given up just three runs total in three home starts this season. But this afternoon, Guthrie allowed three-run homers to Evan Longoria and B.J Upton as Tampa routed the Birds 8-2 in front of 18,961. Prior to today, Guthrie was 9-8 with an ERA of 2.93 in 20 starts since last season's All-Star break. Plus, he pitched eight shutout innings versus Tampa on opening...
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Can the Orioles improve at working the count?

Can the Orioles improve at working the count?
Programming note: Today's game is not airing on MASN, and instead is being broadcast on FOX. More information can be found here. With the Orioles' offense continuing to struggle, the issue of taking more pitches and trying to increase the opposing starters' pitch count often comes up. The Orioles want to become a good team at working counts, but right now, they just are very inconsistent at it. Some nights it happens, but many times it doesn't. Also, when a team is struggling to score,...
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Uehara talks about his recent struggles

Uehara talks about his recent struggles
Orioles reliever Koji Uehara has now been scored on in four of his last six appearances after giving up a two-run homer to Johnny Damon in the ninth last night. He's trying to regain the form that saw him start this season with 4 2/3 scoreless innings. "Major leagues is all about results so when you give up runs it's very frustrating," Uehara said today through his interpreter, Jiwon Bang. Last year, Uehara gave up as many homers, five, as he allowed walks over 44 innings. This year, he...
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For now, Townsend likely to stay put at Frederick

For now, Townsend likely to stay put at Frederick
With Joe Mahoney back on the disabled list at Double-A Bowie and expected to be out the next three or four weeks, some fans have wondered if the Orioles would move first baseman
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Orioles and Tampa notes

Orioles and Tampa notes
A couple of notes on tonight's game with Tampa leading the Orioles 3-0 in the fourth. *Zach Britton had given up just one run in the first and second innings over his first six starts, until Tampa got to him for three runs and four hits in the top of the second tonight. The Rays four hits in that inning was more than the three hits they had versus Britton when he pitched six innings against them in his major league debut. *Tampa starter James Shields is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.69 over his last...
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